City Council - Special Meeting

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the special council meeting. Today is July 23rd, 2026. We're going to go ahead and call to order at 6-0-1. If we can please call to order. Can we please rise for the invocation led by Councilman Taylor-Martinez, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you, Mr. President. We ask that you watch over our progress this evening as you set about to do your religion. We also thank you for all the blessings of our God. We ask that you also keep our children in good health. For the glory of our Lord, the Lord is with us. And keep those who keep us safe here at home. Keep our kids safe.

We ask for this and more in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

All right, Madam Clerk, can we go ahead and do a roll call?

Good job, bro. Councilman Archie. Here. Councilman Connolly.

I'm glad to hear that, attorney.

All right. We can move on to meeting notices, the usual, and then we can move on to item number six.

Want to go ahead and elaborate on that or just read it out straight?

I'm going to read the resolution. A resolution of the Village of Virginia Gardens, Florida granting or denying a variance of Chapter 16, Article 4, Section 423 at 3910 Northwest 60th Avenue, identified under folio number 26-3025-009-0139, providing for findings of fact and providing for effective date.

Should we go ahead and... At this point, you can go ahead and hear from the applicant. Yeah.

We also could hear you.

I don't think, we don't have Manny here, right?

No.

Okay. Go ahead.

Hi, how are you?

How are you? Please state your name and address.

My name is Elka Lucena and the address is 3910 Northwest 60th Avenue, Virginia Garden, 5166.

Thank you. So you're applying for the said variance?

That is correct.

The shed itself is 10 by 14?

That is correct.

Mrs. Howard, would you like to go ahead with the thoughts on the planning and zoning?

Before we can do that, Mr. Preston, if I may?

Go ahead.

Just for the details of this variance request, they're all variances from Section 4.3 of the code. One is to allow the placement of a 10 foot by 14 foot storage shed on the property. To also permit a 5 foot size setback where that section requires an 11 foot 6 inch size setback. To also permit a 5 foot rear setback where a 10 foot rear setback is required. And to also permit a reduction of the 10 foot minimum distance required between adjacent buildings. Those are the four items in the present variance request.

OK. We don't have it on the screen here, do we? Do we have a picture of the residents or anything on the screen? We have this here. You have this here. I don't have one, so I'll just .

I'm just curious myself. Do you have any questions? um 39 cents northwest 60th avenue no 64 64 60th push that away We didn't ask if there were any letters from any of the neighbors, but we didn't say we were unable to make it.

I don't know if we got any.

The corner one? No, the corner one on top. That one.

Well, you guys have been fixing up the property. I did notice the rocks on the side. You guys have been doing some work to the property. There's all the rocks on the side where the boat is.

Yes, we're cleaning it up. We took out the arachnids and we're cleaning it up. There was an original, I'm not sure what, that's the original shed, so that's from 2024. And how big is that shed? That shed was 14 by 14.

So we're actually going down. Where is the shed going to go?

Exactly where the, well, that shed is no longer there. We removed it because it was deteriorated, so we removed that. And what you see on the, well, that's a tent, but that's not there any longer. What we have now is like a nylon shed. Okay.

Oh, it's going to go into pretty much the same location. Same spot.

Exactly.

But it looks like it's not under the nylon.

No, no, no. That's just, that was like a boat awning, if you will. But that's not the current, that's not the current.

It would be a rear setback of five feet?

Correct. And a side setback of five feet as well? Correct.

I mean, one of the big reasons, one of the main reasons before, in the past, we had the setbacks, number one, approaching neighbors' properties, but with utility lines. One good thing is the utility lines are now going underground. So at least from 64th all the way to 57th Avenue, all the residents now will be underground, except for Xfinity and AT&T. But the power lines are now underground. Were there any objections from the residents at all? I will ask this question.

Originally it was 14 by 14.

Will the shed be used for storage?

Solely for storage.

They said no electrical, no plumbing.

He said the other shed was 14 by 14.

That shed that you see there was a 14 by 14.

So they're actually going smaller.

Four feet smaller. I personally don't see an issue.

If you want to go ahead and... What kind of roof are they putting on? No, I think it's the same exact...

So one of the ones they come and deliver and drop on the plate. Yes. Well, not fed, it's shed people.

Right. Yeah. But those are aluminum on the inside. The other one was rotten because that was the whole thing.

Well, do we have a motion on the floor to approve or deny the resolution?

I'd make a motion to approve or deny.

All right. We have a motion on the floor by Councilman Narcy and a second by Councilwoman Conover. Does anybody have any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Resolution passes. Congratulations.

Thank you.

Good luck on the delivery.

Thank you. Oh, they're going to roll it in. I'm not going to need a thing, but it's perfect.

And by the way, thank you for always trying to improve the neighborhood and beautification of it. Yes, thank you. It's appreciated.

It was 20 years ago.

Oh, wow.

You can take it or leave it, whatever you want to do. Thank you so much. Keep it.

Put it inside the shed with a staple and with a little baggie, just in case anybody ever wants to see it.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome. All right, on to item number seven, motion to adopt tentative millage rate and set first budget hearing date and time.

Okay, so this is a big one here. And normally we're not in this predicament. It's been a long time. And I normally have a recommendation, but today I think it's important that we have a discussion on this topic here because most of the county did see a percentage increase in the total taxable value of their cities, villages, and towns. The average increase was 5.5% this year compared to 8.5% last year. But this year, we actually have a 5% deficit on the assessed values in Virginia Gardens. So next year, it all depends on what happens with the property taxes, too. We don't know what's going to happen with that come November. But the new hotel that they're building, they got their TCO two or three weeks ago. That is not on the rolls yet. So we will see a large, we will see an increase next year's taxable value just because of that one hotel going up and on the rolls. But this year is a 5% reduction. So we stayed our current millage rate of 4.85. We're looking at a $96,000 reduction in total taxable value for the village. So no one wants to see an increase. But to maintain our level of service, we need to make some tough decisions here. So I'll show you here. This is what we have right now, 96,000, if we keep it at a 4.8500. Going with a 4.988, it's a $40,000 deficit. With a 5.05, it is a $21,000 deficit. 5.1 is still $2,000. $2,000. adhorm difference. This is our adhorm. This is what we collect from our taxes. So again, next year we will see an increase when the hotel goes online. Right now it's being assessed the same way it was last year. So the rollback rate would be 4.9988. We do have our police contract coming up. There will be a little bit of an increase there. We will have a special meeting tonight regarding that. So this is what we're looking at right here.

We're at 45 now?

We're at 4.850 right now.

So if we did 4.99, we're still going to get a deficit of $40,000?

Still a $40,000 deficit.

But will we be OK?

The main thing is once we set the millage rate tonight, we cannot go any higher. We can always go lower when we start our budget process, but that's why it's important we set the bar somewhere where it's manageable between a 5.0 and a 5.05 to be realistic. There's still going to be a deficit. I feel confident we can make up that $21,000. with a 5.05.

Setting the tentative rate. As the Mayor mentioned, when you set the final rate, the final rate is set at the final budget hearing. you whatever you said today you cannot go any higher you cannot you can keep that or go lower so all you will be doing here is sending the tentative rate to give yourself whatever buffer room the council desires to have the final decision the final uh military is what you adopt at your final budget hearing once we said now there's no oh let's go up another

you know 0.2 mils or two tenths of a mil that's it we're stuck with what we have now what we can go lower so with that being said um you know i was a little confused because normally the rollback rate is the same dollar figure you would take in it from the previous year i even asked purchase what's what's going on with that so it's really strange this is the first year i've seen where it's still less than what we're taking in from the previous year so the value adjustment board throughout the year they had different hearings um property owners including business owners and residents. Residents probably don't make too much of a difference for the business. If the business fights the county or petitions the county to go in front of the Value Adjustment Board, they can lower their taxes mid-year, and that's what happened this year. So we had a large increase of petitions that went to the Value Adjustment Board, and that's what decreased it by $40,000 overall for the village. It's pretty common, but it's not this common to be so much under

So just a quick question. So the people are – I don't want to know who they are. Is it a business that went and said, I want to examine, or was it – It's multiple.

It's businesses, it's homes, any property owner. And it's throughout the whole year. So it's not like they hear everything in the month of January or February. You can file a petition and they haven't heard in two months from now.

I'm just curious. If we're able to go down but not up, why wouldn't we go with the title one in there? I mean rather than putting ourselves in the foot and putting us at the lowest and then we can't go any higher.

We can and we can always go lower once we go through our budget process.

Then let's do the sweet spot that the mayor was saying at 5.05. If you're saying you're confident we can do the 21, we can make it to 21.

Well, it's going to be 21 plus because we have our police contract. So realistically, we're probably looking at about $35,000. $35,000 to $40,000, that's what we're looking at.

So I think if it is tentative and it's only temporary, I'm still going with the higher one and going down from there. We have a motion on the floor?

I'll make a motion, but somebody make a second. Let's do it for discussion only.

What is your motion?

I'll make a motion so we can talk about 5.05.

5.05? Okay. Yes. Okay. And actually, if you go high, you always go down, right? I always go down. That's what the mayor said.

So you want me to take my motion back? So take your second back.

I'll take the second back?

Yes, and I'll take back my, I'll rescind my motion.

All right. Do you want to go ahead and make a motion? I'll make a motion to go to 5.1. 5.1.

Do we have a second on the floor?

Second. Okay. Is that what they said? Second by Councilman Arcee?

Any other discussion? You guys want to discuss it anymore?

Well.

I told you.

Okay, we're in the discussion, so that's a good thing. So let's say, because this happened before, money was tight, and we gave employees raises, but we didn't get one. I don't know how much that would save.

We haven't started that budget process.

Well, I'm just saying, so that's something I want to put out there.

Yeah. Because we work. That's what we have budget, you know, workshops for.

But again, if when we start doing the budget workshops and after those workshops we notice, hey, we'll be fine with 5.05 or 5.00, then we can drop it. But what I would be worried about is saying, hey, let's go with 4.998, 8.8. I never said that. I understand. Okay, okay.

You're going to play the death of that.

Correct. And then we say, hey, you know what, maybe we were better off with 5.05. At that point we can't.

I know. I'm comfortable with 5.05.

Well. Motion is on the table.

We have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Nay. Motion passes. And I guess in the workshops, we'll go ahead and see in the workshops if we're able to drop it hopefully to 5.00. I can tell you this.

My first time as mayor sitting here 23 years ago, our mill rate was 4.84. And we flexuated.

We went on to 4.6.

We got the 5.8. five or 5.6 so um you know hopefully next year we'll be able to lower it back down and well and again it all depends on this um property tax issue we have now what what a lot of the residents don't understand is that money has to be made up somewhere so a lot of people don't want to see property taxes they want to vote against property taxes Money's got to come from somewhere.

We're going to move on to the Mayor's report. Actually, we're going to set the hearing date. So the hearing will be set for September 14th at 5.30.

That's the first hearing.

What day of the week is that? Monday. It says Monday. It's September 14th. Well, you can't go by that.

You can't go by that. I know. I'm not going to go by that, but it is. Look at here.

Special counsel meeting September 23rd.

All right. We're good on...

On the date and the time, Mr. Mayor, do you have anything else to report? The update on the .

I do have a couple things to report. I would like to thank our police department, our chief, our lieutenant, Detective Darwin, and Mandini. We had a very covert operation here last week. It's been planned probably for about two months now, a month and a half. It's been planned for a while. And I got to sit in and hear the briefing. There was probably about 40 officers downstairs in our senior's room. And it was a task force, a state attorney's state county trafficking task force that came in to the village and set up a scene operation in Kennewick. So there was a 25th operation during the FIFA World Cup. There was two going on that day. Ours was the 25th. And the other one was 26 held in Miami Beach simultaneously. So with that being said, we did our operation. It was specific. It was a mother trafficking her two daughters, a 12 year old and a 14 year old. So now it's all online. It's all, there was no children involved. There was no mother involved. I mean, there was no mother involved. These are all detectives chatting and, you know, online. Setting the scenario and the person thinking they're going to come here, meet up at a hotel, and it wasn't like they were staying at the Candlewood Suites in Virginia Gardens to, you know, we have these predators here. No, it was set up. They didn't know where they were going until after that day when they set a meeting place up. Ironically, one of the ones that were caught in the sting was a Dade County Public Schools employee who worked for the Union, I believe, right down the street on 36th Street. So, you know, they had, like I said, 26 operations during the People World Cup. And this operation, if we wouldn't have had it, it would have been held somewhere else. It could have been in Florida City. It could have been in the city of Miami. So it just happened to be at our hotel because we hosted it.

And... Who knows the Canada-Africa draw? Who knows the Canada-Africa draw? Yes.

Well, they didn't even know. The workers didn't know either. So only the manager, I guess, probably. Nobody knew about it. We got the rooms, rented the rooms. The detectives went in there, dressed them. You couldn't even tell. It looked like all of us inside this room right now. And set the cameras up. And they did that. A lot of background stuff that was going on. And So yeah, it was interesting. Again, there was no children involved. Even the mother was not a real mother. She might have been a mother outside of her work, but she was not a mother with a 12 and 14-year-old. So they thought they were coming to meet a 12 or a 14 or and 12 and 14-year-old at the Kenilwood Suites. And they actually had others that participated, got to the hotel, got into the lobby, I believe they got into the elevator and they decided to go back down and leave. They got cold feet. For whatever reason, they couldn't get them because they didn't go into the room. The ones they did arrest, no bond. I'm not sure now. They may be out by now, but at the time, there was no bond. Over the weekend, they're still there. They got their phones. They used Cash App. They were able to track. I'm sure they're going through their phones now to see who they paid. It's a domino effect. They start going back and looking to see who else they're communicating with. So, yeah, it was a very good operation and very professional. We did receive an email from the state attorney's office thanking the village for hosting the event and the cooperation. So I drove by here. It was probably 9.30 that night, and there were still cars here from the task force. It went on until about midnight.

I was just going to say, I almost had a heart attack. That's how it is.

They actually apprehended three, yes. This is just the three people off the streets and, you know, preying on young children. And the mother was an undercover officer.

Everybody was undercover.

There was no children involved. I know one of our council members was very concerned, but there were no children involved.

There was never children involved when those type of operations happened.

You know, everyone's sworn to secrecy. You can't talk about it. And once it's over, you can discuss it. That's why we put it on our social media page to get ahead of, you know, how the Internet is and social media. Oh, Virginia Gardens, they got predators in a hotel. That's not it. That was not it. So, you know, I talked to the lieutenant that night, talked to the chief. Everything was good. Go ahead and, you know, you're allowed to go ahead and post the pictures and everything. So I want to make sure. we got to go ahead from the state attorney's office. And again, it was like you're saying, our hotel in Virginia Gardens. Next report I do have, it's not on there, are two current projects that we didn't receive funding for this fiscal year for the state. One of them is a $1.2 million water line replacement. So on the west side of the village, Councilwoman Debbie Conover's house, and Michael Turner's house, that from 66th Avenue to 67th Avenue, it's a little challenging because the meters are all in the rear of the people's homes. So the idea is to move those water lines to the front of the homes, and that way we're not knocking on doors, we're not having to go to the rear of people's homes three meters anymore. So that's what's coming.

So how are they doing that?

It's in the works. It's going to be, right now the main line runs 66th Avenue from north to south. and the tee off on those lines in the front going under the sidewalk. It's kind of like what FP&L is doing now. They're boring. All the electrical lines are going to bore. The idea is to bore the on.

It's like FP&L. Same thing. Oh, that's not part of your project yet.

So they bore everything. Everything's underground.

Under my house? No, not on the side. On the side of the house and through the parking lot? Yeah. It's amazing how that works.

This thing gets drilled through there.

Yeah, it makes a terrible noise. So yeah, that's a huge project.

No, they have all that set up where they know where everything is. But for example, the project that I'm on right now in the airport, they're going to be doing in two weeks a bore where they're pulling eight pipes at any time.

Mayor? I heard a rumor that one of their machines got repossessed.

What machine?

The one that does that.

Boring. It's not a village project. I know, I know. I don't know. I don't even know about that.

It's boring. A lot of things in the backyard. They're going to have to be abandoned.

So whether they're removed or abandoned, I don't know. We're still preliminary. I don't like to spend money until we know there's a project. I'm not going to go spend $20,000 engineering a project in hopes to receive the money. So now we're starting the engineering phase of that project. We'll cut the line off in 66.

And then the owner will take the removal.

I mean, years ago, I know when I was a kid growing up behind my house here, The garbage cans used to be underground. There was a lid, you'd lift it up, the garbage cans were there, put the lids back down. Do you remember that? Yeah, that was in Lansing, Dad.

I don't ever remember that.

My block was the only one.

Maybe so.

Yeah, no, Mr. Priney had it. That's my dad.

I don't know.

My neighbor had a place to cut his yard, and back in the day, there was a lid. You'd lift it up right by the fence line, and you'd pull the trash out of there.

We have that in Lansing.

When I first came to Lansing, we had that.

What happened is they finally got rid of it.

It was up to each homeowner to see if they wanted to get rid of it or not. Eventually, they were gone. What year did you move into your house, Ms. Howard? What year did you move into your house? I remember that. I was young.

Were you born in 1977?

The other project, we received $350,000 for a roadway project. Some of the roads we had not paved yet, 38 Terrace, 39th and 40th Street, and 41st Street. That money we received there was strictly no drainage involved, strictly milling, overlaying, fixing some sidewalks, ADA intersections. putting some of the speed signs up. So we have like on Woodsboro Drive and Hunting Log, you have some of the speed devices up that are mounted in the ground. So on 41st Street, maybe putting one or two on that block and maybe putting two on 66th Avenue.

On 41st, weren't they going to do the driving into the water?

Yes, the sewer. So that has been, that has been axed, that portion. 37th Street is still supposedly in the works. There was about 16 properties, you said?

11 properties?

Yeah, so they went ahead. What happened is the county wanted us to move our water line on 41st Street. I said, I want to spend that money. If you guys want to come in and connect to the sewer, move the water line too.

And I guess they decided to move it back to the houses.

So some may be really happy not having to pay a sewer bill. that didn't even know about it. So you're looking at a monthly sewer bill that you would have to pay out. Absolutely. So to make a long story short, they got axed on 41st Street from that project. The ones on 37th Street from 62 to 57 are still, it's been quiet, but that project has not been axed yet. They received funding from the state last year. So I'm surprised they haven't come back to us yet because they only have a certain time period. They'll be rushing back to us eventually.

Another mention is that we paid 41st, knowing that we have that project coming along.

That was my main concern, yeah. We just talked last night, I talked this week about that, and I was concerned that they were going to start cutting saw milling across the road, but yeah, so that's just been an accident. So whatever we can do with $350,000, we'll kind of expand it, we'll expand it. We heard anything at all about the $350,000

Yes.

As a matter of fact, it was signed this week. We got $28,000, I think it was, $22,800 for planting trees. And we have $30,000 for trimming, doing a sector email a week or two ago. He hasn't responded. doing a tree inventory.

Okay. I think it's already in the works, the tree inventory.

The tree inventory as in to be included in the GPO? Correct. We'll have a tree inventory. We can include that into that.

Yeah. There you go. Okay.

Are the black olives history now? Do we still have any? Yeah, we have them for a while. Oh, really? Where you been? I've been on my blog, but there is no... I've been on my blog, but there is no...

So for our upcoming project, for our stormwater project, Phase 2 from 6-2 to 6-4 from 37th through 40th Street and a little bit on the west side of the village. I think it's either 39th or 40th. No, is it 39th or 40th Street? 40th Street. 41st street there's a drain over there in 41st west side about third house in from where billy perdomo lives there's a drain there that's just full of roots needs to be redone so that's part of our upcoming stormwater project there's a meeting i believe a pre-construction meeting kind of leaves tentatively scheduled for august 6th with our engineer and our public works director so we will be the shop drawings already been submitted they've been approved and sent back to the contractor for all the storm drains and catch basins and everything else. So we'll be starting that project probably by, I'm hoping by the second week of August. We're breaking ground.

I'm hoping.

Other than that, that's all I have.

You also have a police bargaining contract.

Oh, we need to set a date for the police bargaining contract. We met today with Cle, myself, the attorney, the chief, the village clerk, along with police representative Dan Howard, Montute, Dan Montute Howard. Irene, is it? Elena. Elena. And Virginia Gardens representative for the officers, which was Manny Espinosa. So I think we got everything 95%, 98% hammered out. I kind of have an issue with one of them, with one of the requests, which I can talk about it now, I believe. Is there a problem with talking about it, or should I wait until we Maybe you should wait for the workshop.

OK. OK, we'll wait for the workshop.

And it's not really a big issue. It won't even affect us monetarily right now. But I'm not a big fan of it.

So let's pick a date. Pick a date. Pick a date. So we'll set that in the workshop.

That's going to be a quick one. The police contract, I believe, that's going to take more than 20 minutes.

Oh, is it? No, we have to do it in the budget workshop.

We usually do the budget in August, right?

We did it in September.

We did it after Labor Day.

We just set the budget for the 14th. Last year we did the first budget on September 8th, right?

So if you guys want to look at your calendar now, we can set a date.

Does it matter the end of August, first week of September? You can do it for the end of August if you want.

I mean, we can't do the company because the company is on the 20th. Well, why don't we do this? Last week of August. Last week of August.

I think it's wrong.

Well, the last week of August, Monday is the 31st. The rest of that week is Monday.

No, like the 27th, the following Thursday? And then if we have anything, if we have any variances or anything else, we can always have it on the 27th as well.

So we're doing our budget workshop?

We will not have a council meeting in August unless we have, I'm not going to make a resident wait two months for a variance. So if we do have a variance, do we have anything on the works right now? Okay, so if we don't have any variances from the residents, then we'll just go straight to the budget workshop on the 27th. We won't have a meeting.

So this is confirmed in council meeting on the 20th of August, unless we have something come up from a resident. And then the budget workshop is at 5.30 on the 27th of August. Sounds good, yes. And the lease contract?

You should have received an email from Zoila on Friday, I believe. We had the Bay County Chiefs Association dinner on the 20th. So please let her know if you're going to be attending or not. You don't have to do it tonight, but just look at your email.

That's going to be on the 20th. I know the council did agree on a number for the military.

Sorry, too many things. We're going to have to go ahead and read the resolution.

We have some technical issues with our audio today.

I have eight years of a solution in the Village of Virginia Gardens. Adopting the tentative milling trade for the fiscal year 2026-2027 at 5.1 mills, 5.100 mills, so as to provide the necessary revenue me to determine budgetary needs for the Children's Garden of Florida provided for an effective date.

We have a motion by Councilman Peter Martinez.

Second. We have a second by Councilman Arce. Any other discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Resolution passed. All right, on to good and welfare. Mr. Attorney, I just want to point out, due to your welfare, my apologies for the village not providing the fair air, water, and anything else for others.

Mr. President, I don't blame the village, I blame the chief. Thank you. Oh my goodness.

Wait a minute. Hold on one second. At least you got water. I didn't even get no water, so.

You have the mayor and I, and then we got the separate... I am the senior. Anyway, I have a few things for... Yeah, go ahead. I just find out

It seems like yesterday I announced that the birth of my great grandson, right? He's going to be a year old on the budget on the 27th of August. My daughter is flying me up there for that. Can I be on this on phone or something?

Not during a budget workshop. That's way too much.

Oh, budget workshop.

So it's okay, right?

Why don't you speak up when we're trying to make a date? Now all of a sudden you want to speak up?

If I would have spoke up and said, oh, we've got to change everything because you've got an accident.

You're asking me now if it's okay. No, I'm asking you because you said it was just a budget.

Spencer, turn this mic off, please. Listen, I don't have a mic. What was the other thing? Oh, no, that was it. And also, does it have any bearing that this council, special council meeting has got the wrong date on the agenda?

I already told them. No, we're good.

All right. Okay. No, that's it for me. How is your niece doing? Not good. And now that you mention it, my brother's daughter, They found a tumor in her brain. We don't know what's going to happen. She's been opened up, and then they had to open up again. So anyway, this girl grew up with Falange on them. They were at my house in Lansing all the time. Her name was Candy. And Falange was really tight. Well, anyway. A lot of prayers.

All right. Anybody else have a good offer?

Do we have a motion to adjourn? I make a motion.

We have a motion to adjourn. Any other discussion? No. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those opposed? We close at 6.43 p.m.