City Council - Regular Meeting

So good evening everyone if you could make your way to a spot and we'll get the show on the road, we have a rather lengthy agenda and all of you don't have to sit here all night, but we do. And if you'd like to sit with us all night that's okay too so i'd like to call the city council presentation agenda. To order for the record, today is Tuesday, July 22 2026 and South 505 PM. So we just have a couple of presentations tonight to recognize a couple of folks who have served the city and we have a lot of folks. who serve on committees and aren't necessarily recognized or known, but these two folks have served for many, many years as special magistrates for the city of Homestead. They kind of sat as judges for code enforcement issues and reconsideration, and I know one of them has a reputation of being pretty tough, and I say, you go, girl. But we want to stop for a moment, recognize the service by a couple of folks to the community. Is Pastor Stiles here?

I don't know.

So Karen Jenkins and Michael Stiles, Pastor Stiles. We'd like to recognize you both with just a little certificate from the city. Certificate of recognition presented to each of you.

Come on down, Karen and Pastor Stiles.

So tonight, in sincere appreciation and recognition of each of your years of dedicated service as a special magistrate for the city of Homestead, your commitment to upholding justice, fairness, and integrity has made a meaningful impact on our community. So on behalf of myself, the council, and all the residents of Homestead, we present you this small token and thank you for your unwavering dedication and valuable contributions to our city. Karen.

Well, I'm not a big speaker, but I do, I'm thankful for this award. I've been doing this for the last four years, and I'm just, I love our city, and my way of giving back was being able to make sure that our city was being protected with, you know, all the fines and that needed to be paid, or if I was able to help somebody, I could, but that just shows that, you know, I do it from my heart, and I'm thankful for everybody that has supported me, who's um i want to say to crystal was my original person that actually hired me and accepted me so um and everybody else in the whole council and everything i'm always here i'm always willing to help so thank you everybody

I think I've been here a little longer, 20, just a little bit longer. 2020, whenever it was approached for this opportunity, I was like, nah, my wife already told me I won't be going up in no political, anything political. And so I respect her from that. But this gave me an opportunity to serve our community. When I appointed, I took it to heart. I didn't just look at the responsibilities that was to shape our community, to better our community. I also went to Pinecrest. I took my own time to study to show myself approved. That's the preacher coming out of me. And as Karen can tell you, it was a sacrifice. We can't go eat in our communities. We can't just be out in the public because if you find someone and they want to have their revenge, you're exposed. Tonight, I know that council is getting ready to make a decision. Whatever decision they make, I'm a resident of the city of Homestead. I love the city of Homestead. I'm here with a bittersweet moment. I'm just going to go ahead and try to get out real quick. The time and effort that went into being a trusted hearing master is not just an office, but it's an honor. It's a privilege. I've gone through one, two, three, three managers with code enforcement. I've seen our community change. When you cross 8th Street coming into Homestead, you can see the difference. I know I'm known as the no-nonsense one. Karen can have compassion. Me, when it comes down to littering in my city, I have no compassion. My concern tonight is that whatever the decision is, I hope to God that we have someone that will stand in the position of making the right decision that's based upon our residents of our community, not based upon getting paid.

Because Karen and myself can tell you what the city has diligently given us that can't take our time from being able to review our own cases, making sure we're fair by the people.

When you get someone sitting in a position, sometimes it's not based upon justice or compassion. By not knowing folks like Sister Mallory who lives down on the south end of town, whose husband died and now she has a code enforcement that we gotta be fair with.

not knowing someone that has just opened their business and didn't understand the knowledge or wisdom of being able to be compliant to the orders or within the ordinances that we as residents, and I say we because if you're sitting here in this council, you voted for these ordinances. Me and Karen had to study these ordinances, but also have compassion to deliver and fair and just on ESOP.

As we move forward with this here decision, whatever the city wants, As the Bible say, run unto Caesar what is due unto Caesar. But council, be reminded, the citizens put you in position, and the citizens have the last say so. Have a great day.

Okay, well, that concludes our presentation ceremony this evening. Again, thank you again both to Pastor Michael Stiles and Karen Jenkins, who I've both known at least seven or eight years. I want to thank them for their service and all that they have done. And again, as the pastor said, the sacrifices they've made.

It's funny, I was thinking when you said your wife said, you know, you're not going to be thinking about any political stuff

Well, the last place you want to sit if you're thinking about running for office one day is in the seat you sat in in those hearings. And it takes a special commitment and integrity and view of the city to do that. So again, thank you both. Well, good evening, everyone, and welcome. It's still Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026. I won't vouch that it'll still be the 22nd when we leave here tonight, but I'd like to call the regular city of Homestead City Council meeting to order. It is now 5.15 p.m., and let's see, what's that? No, okay, yeah, you're doing it, yeah. This evening, we will have the invocation by Councilman Konski, followed by the Homestead Police Explorers with the Pledge of Allegiance. Everyone, please stand.

Please join me in prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we commit this day to you. We give you praise, honor and glory for all that you're doing and all that is yet to be done. We ask a special blessing over the city of Homestead, over the leaders, over this meeting tonight, over the discussions and the business that will be before us. Father, we ask for guidance. We ask for discernment. We ask for leadership, wisdom. And Father, we just thank you and praise you for what you're doing in this mighty city. We give you all honor, praise, and glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

We have the police explorers. 24, let's pay attention. Carry, clutter.

Forward, forward. Stand, stand. Left, right, right, right, left, left, left, right, right, right, left, left, on guard, halt, right face, present arms.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

Order arms.

Dead face. Forward march.

Thank you all, please be seated. Madam clerk, we have a roll call, please.

Councilman Kansky? Here. Councilman Canabal? Here. Councilwoman Avila?

Here.

Councilman Roth? Here. Councilman Fletcher? Here. Vice Mayor Bailey? Here. Mayor Lossner? Here.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Next is a public comment section of the agenda. I will first take those who have preregistered in the order in which you were clocked in, which is what I'm trying to do right now to get these These registration sheets in the order of time. First up, Eddie Garza. Come forward and give us your name and address for the record and your comments this evening.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Board. My name is Eddie Garza. I live at 101 Northeast 19th Street, Homestead, Florida. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak today. I'll be speaking in support of Coach Don Dracon, and I wanted to first commemorate his life and his legacy. Coach Dracon recently passed away and was a huge loss for the community. I had the honor of being one of his football players way back in the day, my time at South Dade. And that man saved so many lives, so many young people who he would not let anything become an obstacle for them achieving opportunity to play on the football field, whether that became economics, whether that was academics, whatever it took, Coach Dondre Conn ensured that youth that wanted to play football at South Dade had a chance, and he saved countless lives. I believe we should commemorate his life and legacy by renaming Harris Field into something that's appropriate and it would be in alignment with his family's wishes. Again, I honor him by being here today. We're gonna miss you a lot, Coach, and I thank you all for listening. God bless you guys.

Thank you, Eddie. All right, Mr. Bello, Enrique Bello, also known to most of us as Henry, you're up. Come on down.

Thank you for the time to talk about something that you folks have been considering. We have a property for a long time in front of the park, right adjacent to Chrome Avenue. Your professionals have actually told us what to do. And they have formulated a plan to build a single story building, which at this time is commercial 1A, which is basically offices. But it is my understanding that perhaps you are considering something a little different for the properties that are adjacent to Crowe Maverick.

Now, if you are, you can check with your professionals.

The building is going to be pretty. It's not going to be a big building. But we would like to request and ask for your permission to... Can you hear me? To build, thank you, thank you. To build a sort of a Starbucks, Pinecrest type of a bakery that would serve well to be right in front of the park. um uh it will be done with uh class and be pretty uh and the reason why i'm talking today is that if you are considering it it'd be a lot easier to right off the bat build it in such a way that it would accommodate uh the plumbing and all the engineering that it requires uh for such a uh a business to uh to be in action you know And other than that, I think it would be a great idea in the sense that it's right next to Rome. It's right in front of the park. And the main reason was that if your vision is to do such a thing, it would be a lot easier to do it with your permission right up front. than for me to build it, for us to build it, and later have to break the pavement and stuff to provide for all the lines that are necessary. Now, if you want to really know what we're doing, your professionals have already sketched of what we're going to do, which is going to be nice. It's not going to be big. Like I said, one story. And with that, I end my comments and hope that you folks, if you're going to do something like that, that I'm allowed to do it right up front, which would be a lot easier and a lot cleaner. And thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. Mayor? Mayor? Good to hear positive comments. Councilman Roth.

Just a clarification, what property are we talking about?

Due north of the Dickinson Center, the front's chrome. Most white part.

Oh, that vacant lot that's on? Vacant lot, yeah. Is that 17th?

Yes.

Okay, perfect, thanks.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Bell. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay, next is, is it Vitaly Falkover? Okay, Vitaly. Good evening. Welcome. If I butchered your name, my apologies.

My name is Vitaly Falkovich, 9280 Southwest, 167 Terrace, Palmetto Bay, Florida. I came in contact with your police department. You guys have one of the main police departments in South Florida. not a lot that you see what you get to see when you go to police department and it comes from you and your administration the city manager hiring a great police chief as you look at the budget for the next year i ask that you look closely for the police department and give them a little bit of money so they're able to continue to do what they do it's hard to do their job and i definitely don't want to be doing their job and i'm very grateful come here and do my business and know that no matter what time I come here, that I feel safe when I'm in Homestead. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. All right, Lunacel Alvarado.

Good evening. 1460 Southeast, 75th Avenue. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, City Manager, members of the Homestead community. My name is Loni Salvarado, and I'm the Founder and Executive Director of the People's Project Foundation. First, I'd like to thank you for your continued service and dedication to the residents of Homestead. I truly appreciate the opportunity to speak with you this evening. I'm here tonight to ask you for your support. on an initiative that is about much more than a single event it's an investment in the children and families of our community on saturday august 8th 2026 from two to six at austin park the people's project foundation would like to partner with the city of homestead in hopes to host our back to school bash with the goal of serving approximately 800 students and their families Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and community partners, families will receive free backpacks full of school supplies while supplies last, connect with community services and service providers, and have access to educational and health information. We also hope to provide school uniform shirts and shoes on a first-come, first-served basis, as well as free gas vouchers for families attending the event that will be redeemable at our local 7-Eleven at 6.30 after the back to school event. For many families, these resources provide much needed relief during one of the most expensive times of the year. More importantly, they help ensure that every child begins the school year feeling prepared, confident, and supported. Tonight, I respectfully ask for your continued partnership, whether through helping us spread the word, volunteering, connecting with us with additional partners, or attending the event, providing financial support, and also your involvement will help us reach more families and make an even greater impact. Together, we can show our children that Homestead is a community that believes in them and is willing to invest in their future. And on behalf of the People's Project Foundation, our volunteers, sponsors, and hundreds of families, we hope to serve and thank you for your time, your leadership, and your continued support. We hope you can partner with us on August 8th at Osner Park, and God bless you.

Thank you. And I'm sure each one of us individually will be in touch. Thank you. Okay. Pastor Stiles, you registered. If you're still here, have you said your piece?

Be made aware of

the commitment, and the love that I have for our community. I became the pastor of St. Paul. Let me tell you about the protocol. First of all, I honor every last one of our elective officials. My address is 3106 Northeast 3rd Drive, Homestead, Florida 33033. In 2008, I made a decision to follow what Christ told me to follow, and that is to lead the historical church here within our community with dignity, with honor, and with respect. In doing so, we collaborated and made it possible for us to build a relationship politically, spiritually, and mentally for our community, which came along with more tasks. I've been through a whole bunch of councilmen since I've been here, and every last one of them No matter where you in your district and you call St. Paul or myself, we come to serve.

And that's what I love about being here in Homestead.

I come from a little small community, St. Simons Island, Georgia. Most of you don't even know where that's at. But if you look it up, it's a small, wealthy community. And one thing we take pride in is community. In 2020, when I was approached to come off SWAC, which I love, Councilman Bailey, thank you for all you've done for the Southwest District and what you continue to do. To Councilman Roth, thank you for your service and all you have done. And I can only say thank you to them because I work, and Mr. Fletcher, thank you, because I've worked with them since I've been here. I stepped to the position of being honored to serve our community, not in the political arena, but in a way that we can change our community with the decor and things that we're doing in the community. And I was honored because I knew that our community needed someone to enforce, but also have the compassion to judge. Did I want that position? I didn't want to leave, Ms. Bailey, but our community needed to change. Today we'll be voting or you'll be making a decision on whether you want to go towards a different route or you want to be able to continue to include me and my colleague as residents of this community. that loves our community, that respects our community, and we work together with one another. I watch Karen's cases to make sure that whatever comes behind her will be honored, so no one slips between the cracks. I ask that you please take that consideration as you've done before, and you said that we would be godfathered in, but now we come to another decision that we put so much more effort into learning what our community needs. Thank you.

Thank you, Pastor Stiles. All right, next registrant is Robert Molling, and I can actually say Robert is here.

Stephen, welcome. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak to a dear, dear friend. And one I think all of you would be proud to have anything named after him, but his life was football. Don Drinkon. In 1990, no, when was it? 2001. I sat before the same commission. I was with many different commissioners trying to get the stadium name Don Drink on Stadium. And with the 9-11 thing that happened that same day that I was in that room with the commissioners, with all the other people, and kind of went by the side. And there was different things said about Don that were so untrue just for it not to go. When I was 16 years old, I went out for football in South Dade. And Don Drinkhead is then the coach and was the coach then. And he said, young men, come to practice, you will find a spot for you on the team. You miss one practice, you're gone. We had just merged with Mays High School and we have too many athletes. Not all of us could have a spot. You'd have to earn a spot. Well, my daddy, the very next day, wanted me to come to work. And I had to come to work. He needed me to work on the farm. And I came back the day after that. My whole locker room was cleaned out. And I said, Coach, what's going on? He said, I told you, you missed one game, one practice, you're gone. We don't have room for you. Didn't set too well from a 16-year-old, but I understood. Well, time went on. Never even seen Coach Don Drinkon at the time anymore. I kind of wrote him off. It turned that I got married, had children, and two of my boys wanted to play football. And when my older one graduated junior high, whatever that's called, when you pass on to high school, I brought Brandon up to Coach Stringbaum and introduced myself. He said, I know who you are. And I introduced him to my son. And is there anything you can do for him? between the end of junior high and the beginning of senior high. He never played football before. He played Dick Conley a little bit, but really has not football. But he worked him out in a weight room as a nun. He was in a first year high school. He was pre-high school. And he would do that for a football player. And Brandon works his butt off and proves that he could stick up with anybody that's playing football. And Coach Drink had such respect for him. He would use my son as an icon of what you want to wear, how hard you want to work to get what you want. And then my little son, he came up three years later and he did the same thing. And he got in there and he actually did real good. And they played football for him, learned life skills, learned what it means to be a man. When they graduated, Coach Drinkon had films for them to take to their future colleges. Coach Drinkon would send them to them. And he would send films of other students from other high schools here, Homestead, several high schools, that the coaches didn't promote to football players. And Coach wanted to get education. Anything he could do to get kids in school, anything he can do to keep them he would pay their damn insurance that the mother and father wouldn't even know they're playing football they didn't care about paying for their insurance but you gotta have a little insurance money i'm sure joel fanari's here he can tell you more about that but if there's any way possible we can put our town's name on the line and have that man's name honored honored it's just such a i i saw him in the home in south carolina i would go visit him two or three times a year and he couldn't even walk they had a walker for him and he heard i was his son told him that i'm coming in and i rang the doorbell he got up the damn chair and walked right to the door and uh it was just it was just he's an honor to know him There's some things they said about color. Coach Trincon was absolutely colorblind. He kicked me off the team as quick as anybody. And he was just a man. All of us respect him. If you had the opportunity to know Coach Trincon, you know what I'm talking about. And I appreciate the opportunity. I hope we make the right decision.

Thank you. Hey. Sherry Ader.

I was here about item number 28. I am a City of Homestead electric utility customer.

However, I do not reside in the City of Homestead.

I know that we would not be included in this ballot. I know it's a survey from the residents and I wanted your guidance on how my voice could be heard in this decision.

That's part of the discussion that I'm sure is going to be had later in the evening when we talk about this. I understand that there are perhaps concerns and we're going to have that discussion.

Okay. Would that be under tab 28?

Tab 28.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay.

All right. Was John going to speak? John was registered as well? John Ader? Why not, right?

Thank you for the opportunity, Councilman.

I've only been an apprentice.

I represent the utilities department.

I've been a lineman apprentice for the past three months. I can tell you that time, just the things I've learned from them, the things that we've done for the city, coming in at 2 o'clock in the morning, our response time has been nothing but the best. I know this talk about selling is very concerning. Being me, I'm young, trying to get into this career. I learned countless things from all of them. We come in every day. We bust our butts. We're here at 2.30 in the morning fixing power. We're here all night, working all night. It just raises concerns for me being young, only 21 years old, trying to get my life together and just seeing these things. Don't want to go on FPL, but I'd like to stay within the city. This is where I grew up. This is where I enjoy. This is where my pride is. My father grew up here. My grandfather grew up here. My family's been down here since the 50s, and I'd like to keep staying down here much longer. That's all I have to say.

Very good. Let me just go ahead and say, because I know some of you may or may not be here because it's very late in the agenda. And I was going to preface my remarks this evening by my placement of this discussion on the agenda is in no way a reflection upon anyone in the utilities department. From the director all the way down to the newest hire, it is not a reflection on your commitment, your capability, your viability, and your commitment to the city. know we'll get into that further this evening but i want to be really clear that at least from my perspective not a reflection on anyone who is is part of our homestead family in that department yes sir thank you thank you all right that seems to be everyone who has pre-registered is there anyone else in the audience who would like to make a public comment on any issue come on down

give us your name and address for the record please good evening welcome good evening mayor vice mayor councilman my name is natasha mathurin i live at 128 northeast sorry i forgot my address 128 northeast 26 terrence home sales florida i am a city a citizen of the city of homestead born and raised and i'm just up here today to spread awareness about a judicial candidate that is running on for a judge in the 11th judicial circuit her name is yanef gel carmen baez she has served the citizens of miami-dade county for the past nine years as an assistant state attorney serving the citizens and fighting for the victims of crimes in our county She would be a great asset to the county, and I just wanted to come here and take a few moments to acknowledge her, let the city of Homestead know about her. She is Digital Candidate 128 on the ballot, and thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Thanks for coming out this evening. Anyone else in the audience? Walter, come down.

Walter Jenkins, 4075 Northeast 15th Street, Homestead, Florida. Thank you, Council. We appreciate everything that you do, both here and away from this dais. I just want to give you a quick update with regards to We Can All Race. And you guys have done an amazing job to support that in our community as we have number of drivers that are coming out of the racing area one of our drivers actually just broke a record in Europe and defeated every European driver in under 10 category and that's never been done by anyone let alone an American in the sport of racing so thank you for the way in which you support that in our community we also have other drivers in North Carolina doing other things as you know as well I just wanted to give you an update that your support of that foundation has been integral, and we're grateful for it. So thank you for continuing your support. God bless you.

Thank you, Walter. Before we go to the online, is there anyone else? Last chance, or we're going to go to the folks who are waiting online. So seeing none here in person, who do we have online this evening?

Brandi Ramirez, Mayor.

Good evening, Brandi. Please go ahead.

Ms. Ramirez, please go ahead.

You need to unmute yourself.

Can you hear me now?

We can, yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Randy Ramirez, 2231 Southeast 1st Street. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak today. I just wanted to show my support in regards to the renaming of the Harris Field to the coach's name. But I also just wanted to make a clarification in reference to the item you'll be discussing in regards to the private company taking over the Harris Field P3 proposal. If we can please get some clarifications tonight, because I understand that that would be a 30-year term. And so I do trust a very rough, Erica, Vice Mayor Jennifer Beatty, looking into that long-term length and if they're in support of it, great, because I know that they speak to the community and they hear what the residents would like in regards to Harris Field. The other important item I would like to also show support in is in regards to the code enforcement leadership, Mr. Miles and Ms. Karen, great leaders in our community and they have served with compassion So I'm hoping our mayor and our council tonight would take into reconsideration and allow them to continue on doing the amazing service that they do with their hearts. Please, you know, just asking for that to continue of those two leaders. And also the most important item is tab 28 tonight. If you can please give us clarification now during public comment, because I know there's people in the community that like to hear this, but I asked Randy Ramirez, long time hometown, uh resident of homestead we support our utilities department the men and women that work there barbara the director uh we don't want this this shouldn't go on to about it and i think our council has a heart you know to know that this shouldn't be there so i'm just asking if you can please make sure that this doesn't um continue to you guys vote away from this uh as you saw the young man that spoke We got a lot of great men and women there. And they need our support tonight on this matter to not go to ballot. And if it does go to ballot, then us residents will vote against that. So why should taxpayers' money go towards this? So again, I appreciate your time speaking. And I also want to thank the police chief for having an event recently at the church and making it very clear to the community that the Homestead Police Department is here to serve all the persons in the community, including and he gave us some very good clarifications in regards to the police department not working with ICE and just keeping information updated to the community and letting the community know not to be afraid to call 911. So thank you again and I wish you guys a blessed evening tonight.

Thank you. Anyone else online? Okay, so I will now close the public comment section of the agenda. Before we go forward with some logistical gymnastics on the agenda tonight, Mr. Manager, do we have any additions, deletions, or deferrals? Requested additions, deletions, or deferrals.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. We do have some additions and some deletions. We have an addendum number one, which is CAR item number 5112, It's a collective bargaining agreement re-opener for PBA lieutenants. We also have addendum number two, car item 5113, collective bargaining agreement re-opener, PBA police officers, detectives, surgeons, and corrections officers. Then we also have addendum number three, car item number 5137, non-bargaining one-time caller for the general employees. I believe there is also a couple of withdrawals from the city attorney.

Yes, Mayor. Tab number 25, which is card number 5127. It's an ordinance dealing with the B3 open air cafe ordinance. Councilman Avila has requested that be pulled. It'll be brought back forward with some modifications in September.

And one more. Tab 8, which I will also come back next meeting with some modifications.

Very good.

All right, so can we do one consolidated motion to start with to add to the agenda the three add-on items dealing with collective bargaining agreements and then the deferral to a time certain of tabs 8 and 25? Yes. Motion? Moved by Councilman Fletcher, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Any questions or comments from council? Very none. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

Aye.

Was that Avila? Okay. Okay. So any particular one councilwoman for the record?

I was saying I in favor. Oh, okay.

Okay, came in late. It sounded like your I was like, okay, any objections? And I guess there's a delay in the transmission. I'm sorry. So you're...

There is, yes. And for the rest of the meeting, I'll try my best to try to be very prompt. But when you click the button, there is like a slight 10-second delay that might cause that confusion. Good to know.

I think that's what happened here. Okay, thank you. All right. So we have some very public-oriented items before us tonight. What I would like to do is jump to tab two, which will be the SPH discussion, followed by tab 27, which is the EDC item. Tab 12, the millage rate discussion. Tab 23, the Harris Field. Councilwoman Konski, your item. Move it ahead. And Councilwoman Avila, following that, if you had anything under your business that's not on the agenda that you would like to bring forward early in the evening, we'll accommodate that as well.

Thank you, ma'am.

Okay, so let's move to tab two. This is the first of two public hearings regarding the P3 proposal for a partial renovation and upgrade of Harris Field as proposed by the folks at Sports Hub. Good evening and welcome.

Good evening, Mayor, Council members. My name is Javi Vasquez. I'm with Gunster Law Firm. Our offices are at 600 Critical Avenue and I'm here tonight on behalf of VSGS facilities, better known as SPH, Sports Performance Hub. As you know, Sports Performance Hub has submitted an unsolicited proposal for a concession operator agreement calling for the renovation, activation, and programming of Harris Field Park.

On July 7th, this Council directed the Manager to commence negotiations with the SGS related to our P3 proposal on a non-competitive basis.

Those conversations have begun, and tonight is the first of two meetings. Tonight is primarily intended for public comment, and next time we come back, it will require a determination by this Council to make a finding of public purpose. Mr. Sikiewicz is here with me as is Mr. Terry Bross, and he is going to give a summary presentation for the benefit of the public and for the benefit of this council as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Thanks, Javier. Good evening there. City Council great to see you again. Good to be back here on this exciting presentation. We're really excited about having the opportunity to continue partnering with you all to not just build a historic park down at the main campus. But when we heard about the city's desire to reimagine. Harris Park, we as good partners stepped in and made a proposal to invest five and a half million dollars into the renovation of that stadium, which means a lot of love and care that in addition to the five and a half million. of capital improvement to renovate that stadium and upgrade it and seating and lighting and audio and put up some nice led boards also maintain that facility on an ongoing basis which is approximately a million dollars a year and Uh, maintenance improvement that we would take on privately in addition to the 5 and a half 1Million dollars of capital improvements. I'll share the slide that I shared with you previously, or the deck. This is Harris Park and the 2 grass fields next to it. Um, 5 and a half million, just to be clear, doesn't improve those grass fields, although we will maintain them and upgrade them, uh, as we go along throughout the concession agreement. Um, and again, this is not a takeover of this park. We will continue to operate it as it is operated today. So we've met with. All the stakeholders that use Harris Park and have assured them that they will have continued access and we're actually going to encourage more access to these fields in this park over the term. Um, the, the most exciting thing about it is that this, uh, if. If started when we can start in October will be done by March. of 2027 which would effectuate the relocation of miami football club to homestead in march to begin their season that would be awesome because it will bring more jobs to the city all our players will be living here our staff will be here obviously as we're building the rest of the development over at the regional park in homestead here which is longer construction project But in addition to Miami FC playing its games here, we'll also be working, we'll have a staff to be developing soccer tournaments and exhibition games and youth tournaments, which is big business and a big economic impact to the city of Homestead. Lots of heads and beds, lots of eating in restaurants and great economic vibrancy. And we think that this will be a special place on Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday afternoons for not just live soccer events, but. Also music concerts, you know, concerts in the park. It'll be a great asset for the rodeo for the next couple of years until they relocate to the, to the stadium facility at. So we're pretty excited about it. This is a nice bird's eye shot of it. So what what the 5 and a half million dollars does is it. puts in a brand new, much wider field, a brand new synthetic surface, state of the art, the most current generation of artificial surface. It'll be a blank. So for football games, we'll stripe it for American football. For soccer, we'll stripe it for soccer. and it'll be a blank canvas so a big chunk of the investment is to widen the field and install that state-of-the-art turf we're going to upgrade upgrade the lighting to led lighting more efficient lighting which will also be better for the adjacent neighborhood because it's not the old style lighting that has a lot of leakage past the footprint we'll be able to laser the lighting right onto the footprint of of the field and it won't have much spill outside those white lines there's a new led board which will be put up in in the south end and the north end so two led boards there improved seating uh we're going to be fixing the the seating currently is not in great shape it's deteriorated over the last you know couple of decades And here's another look at it. Another upgrade to this stadium is we'll put a club in the north end there. That'll be an open club for more premium experience than general seating. Here's another view from the other side. The renovation will also include painting and polishing the existing buildings. There's three existing buildings, including locker rooms and bathrooms and a concession building, which will be completely renovating along with the stadium itself. Here's another view, aerial southeast view. Another view here from the bench side and the two grass fields, which we will be maintaining over the period, as I said before. here's the one of the main entrance ways, so this entrance way will be created and it'll enter into what is going to be a food court. so we will have um food trucks in this area and kind of a food hall experience for the patrons where no no food really exists of this level so we're going to upgrade the food concessions for miami fc games and for every large event that's going to be held in this in the stadium here's the other main entrance area which enters into kind of a picnic area for Miami FC games. It'll be a beer garden for music concerts. It might be a special VIP location. Here's an entrance, walking through that gateway entrance in the food court. So we'll have a different variety. Our idea is to put different themed food, you know, Mexican food, Venezuelan food, Cuban food, Tex-Mex, all the different types of ethnic foods in this area, good old fashioned burgers and hot dogs, so on and so forth. This is that picnic area and beer garden concept on the other side, which will be a great place to view the game as well as entertain during a soccer game or a music concert. Here's another view of that picnic area and beer garden. Here's a shot from the grandstands on the east side behind the benches where the benches and entry tunnel will come. Another shot, you can see that premium area in the West, this is from the West grandstand looking to the north. A little bit of a field view here. That's a closer look at that premium area behind the, basically it's a suites platform, but it's just a giant gathering area for premium experience. And that's it. So we're super excited to partner with the city. I'm here to answer whatever questions you may have. This will be exciting to bring Miami FC to Homestead, our final home, and get out of FIU. So thank you.

Very good, thank you now just to kind of set the stage I conceptualize this tonight as an opportunity to take a deeper dive into the concept and the planned renovations and where we might be on dress addressing some of the. brick and mortar concerns that some of us may have had in terms of noise spillover, of accommodating those who use the field, alternative locations, those kinds of issues reserving for our next and perhaps final public hearing a a deeper dive into the actual business deal that's my understanding and you know mr uh pearl or mr manager please you know feel free to jump in at any time i'm aware that there have been more discussions that it's uh you know clearly uh i don't think that there's any illusion that it's going to be a 30 year a dollar a year for for 30 years, and it certainly, all of our concerns that we expressed at the last meeting have begun to be addressed. So Mr. Perl or Mr. Manager, if you'd like to kind of set the stage for where we are in the negotiations now, and I don't even know if you'd call them negotiations, perhaps discussions. I don't even know that the first draft is coming out, but what we might expect to see in the interim and at the next public hearing, how this will be, how this deal may be built.

So before the city attorney comes on, we commenced the initial conversation sufficiently on the terms of the proposal that was unsolicited to the city we haven't really gone into a deep dive yet we just reviewed the preliminary outlay as to what the the entity VSGS SPH is proposing to do. And some of the preliminary concerns were laid bare, such as the existing use at the entire facility, not just on the stadium. How there will be reasonable accommodation during construction and post-construction. I believe the SPH folks have a preliminary relocation plan that is being fleshed out. It's not finalized. The city hasn't provided any comment yet. I believe we received it yesterday, after our meeting yesterday. And also some of the firms and... Like the mayor rightly pointed out, the 30 years and the profit $1 a year payment, all those things have not even been discussed yet in terms of finalizing. We are waiting for this public session to happen to solicit additional comments from the public. As well as there are so many outstanding issues that are yet to discuss, we have an upcoming meeting for next week. at 10 o'clock in the morning. I believe it's on the 27th or 28th, no, 30th, on the 30th, 10 o'clock in the morning. So that conversation would have to fold in any comments or feedback we receive tonight would become part of that conversation next week. And we have the city attorney actually leading this effort with the attorneys for SPH. With that, let me ask City Attorney Mr. Matt Perot to jump in. Thanks.

So as the manager stated, we've had one conversation. Really, it was highlighting the major issues. We have not come to a resolution on them yet. We have discussed the structure, which will be broken into two separate agreements, one covering the construction of the improvements, the other the ongoing operations and maintenance of them. You know we discussed concepts about the useful life of the materials etc and how we're going to accommodate for future improvements But you know these conversations are ongoing the purpose of tonight's meeting is to actually hear all the public's concerns Gather that information because it's your next public hearing when you make a public interest finding one of the things that we will do is explain how we're addressing those, the public's concerns. So you know, I'd like to view tonight's meeting as informational, you know, SPH, I think they come back, they've, for the public, it was they were noticed about this issue. So we'll afford everybody the opportunity to speak, express whatever concerns they have. And then at the following meeting, I think we'll be prepared to address what those you know, how we're how we are meeting those concerns.

Right, so I think that, you know, both in terms from council but, you know, first and foremost from the public, their commentary on this concept of entering into a public-private partnership for a portion of the facilities at Harris Field. That's really what we're here for tonight. It's been noticed to take in public comment, again, with respect to this concept. I will say I had the privilege of having a meeting with our part consultants shortly after our last meeting and I can say that in my meeting that our consultants had no concerns at that point about meshing a revisioning of that parcel with this proposed use. It would be very complimentary and would perhaps take quite a bit of the financial burden off of the city of Homestead to do things that are going to need to be done in the next couple of years. aside from whatever the reimagining of the balance of Harris Field might be. I was very pleased with that, a very comprehensive discussion there. I just want to say that I'm confident that our consultants and the SPH team are very well meshed. And one's not really doing anything without the other. So if council doesn't mind, let's see if there's anyone here in the audience who's joined us tonight to weigh in on the conceptual aspect of this proposal for probably the first true public-private partnership in Homestead. Is there anyone online? As long as you're here, you might as well.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Peter England with the Economic Development Council of South Miami-Dade, or more popularly known the EDC. Anyway, it's a pleasure to be with you this evening. I was here for another item, a resolution that's going to come up later in your agenda, but I did want to take the time to say that just coincidentally, it was the EDC that actually brought the principles of SPH to the city of Homestead in the first place, and we are just thrilled and delighted with the way that this has all worked out to date. We're very excited about this concept with Harris Field. I think that you've learned with your negotiations with this particular developer what a solid partner they are and have been. And I would urge you to look favorably on negotiations going forward with SBH. And that's what I've got.

thank you for kicking off the conversation and hopefully we'll get through this and uh address your item and uh let you uh move on so anyone joined us online okay go ahead who's with us brandy ramirez mayor okay very good ms ramirez thank you mayor um after hearing some comments that were said i think it's very important that we highlight our city manager

Thank you very much from the community's behalf on saying that they waited to hear today from the comments of the public and also of course their mayor and council before pushing forward. So I wanna say a big thank you to him and his team in regards to this specific matter. And also I want to say that the presentation that the developer has stated, everything looks great, supportive of that all the way. I also want to remind the community that's there tonight. I attended the last city meeting and the AYSO parents and community and coaches were there in support of this as well. So I thought that was important to mention. I know that they have letters of support from the community as well. My only concern on the behalf of the community is the length of time. I understood that it was going to be 30 years but the mayor can definitely get a clarification on that if it's less um that's great if there's applause for both sides to exit it in in case there's any issues on both ends on their end on our end whatever that may be but again i believe after hearing the presentation and the improvement um we can you know support this if this is what our community and this is what our Council, I'm sure, has reached out to the community to hear on that. So I trust the decision. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else online? So let me open it to questions or comments from council. I won't close the public comment yet. Some of you may get a whiff of bravery and want to approach the podium or hear something from one of us that motivates you to come forward. So who would like to kick it off, kick off the conversation from here? Sure, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. I JUST WANTED TO ASK STAFF, CITY MANAGER, HOW WAS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THIS PRESENTATION SPECIFICALLY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ASIDE FROM IT BEING PART OF OUR GENERAL COUNCIL MEETING NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS? HOW DID WE PROMOTE THE ABILITY OF THIS ITEM COMING UP FOR PRESENTATION AND PUBLIC COMMENT?

So Madam Councilman, the item was socialized with a public notice on the city's website with links for folks who would like to take a deeper dive on the actual proposal. In addition to that, I believe we supported that effort with additional social media outreach through the communications office.

Okay, I'll double check what those communications look like on our social media. I have not seen it. I think that's something as large as this. We need to do some extra efforts in making sure that we're pumping out this opportunity and treat it similar to the way we did the Charette where we asked for a re-announced and advertised to the locations and the big importance of having the public comment. And I know that our consultants are probably going to do something similar anyway for the revisioning. But for this item happening simultaneous to our revisioning, we need to make sure that we're putting in the best efforts possible. To answer to some of the comments that were made earlier from some of the public comment, I am definitely not seeing a fair trade with regards to what they're asking for on a 30-year term commitment compared to you know, the improvements and whatnot. And I wouldn't be in favor really of anything that would turn over operational power for that such a long period of time. This should be the people's park built by the people for the people. And I don't think that we don't have the ability to do that with our own capacity. But definitely love the renderings and love to see the floating sand and the lights and the landscaping. I think all of that is obviously an improvement, but The proposal is clearly asking for 30 years. So definitely lots to be discussed. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman.

Councilwoman Fletcher, did you want to make?

What's that? Gotcha.

Thank you, and I appreciate Councilwoman Avila's comments. I, too, agree that maybe we haven't put our best foot forward when it comes to getting public comment. I know we have put some things out there on social media. I haven't seen a lot of feedback. I've asked neighbors for input, and a lot of them don't really have any type of input at this time. I think what we might ought to do is have one more additional workshop between now and and the second reading to try and get more public input on what they want to see. Ultimately, I see all the benefits that this provides. There's still some questions from staff that we had asked in our meetings in regards to some of the offsets where we're spending money now to maintain the surface where those money is going to be reprogrammed or taken out of the budget to lessen the impact on on our annual budget but uh... overall again all i can see is benefits for the improved access and the program management you know talking with the the consultants as well all they could do was see the positive impacts of of what this could do for the community actually saw better program management of of all the additional youth leagues that use the facility and improve upon it with this management program that sph has provided for i do have questions in regards again long term with the the 30-year deal i also understand that if somebody's investing five and a half million dollars in a million dollars a year they're looking to get a return on their money so we have to take all that into consideration but i believe the the We need to do one extra step here, and we need to have that one additional workshop where we can get public input, because I really haven't seen that come back. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Fletcher. Councilman Roth?

Sure, why not? um i got a couple questions for staff for one the the the turf that's there now that was brought there by the orange bowl committee is it has it ran its lifespan is it ready to go and we have to replace that now

um mr councilman my understanding is that the official turf usually typically has about 10 years of lifespan and we're almost getting there uh we almost i think we just passed year nine so we're about to get into the what i would consider the sunset life okay so would we have explored already what the cost to replace that artificial turf would cost the city Let me have Alex, the parks manager. I have a number that have been profiled to me, but let him speak to that.

good evening council so as the manager was saying it's almost that end of life and plus it's heavily used with football and soccer uh the cleats are waste that turf um that turf can range depending on what tier of turf you're getting right so it can go anywhere from 1.2 to 2 million depending on the range of turf if you're going recreational if you're going semi-pro if you're going pro all right so

that's one thing to consider right you're talking about 1.2 to 2 million dollars that we're going to have to expend on that park in the next year or so because become unsafe for athletes right okay so i think that part of it's a no-brainer right if we allow sph to partner up with the city of homestead it does take a huge burden of maintenance costs off the public and we could reprogram those dollars somewhere else i also met with the the consultants and they were all for what was happening because that gave them more money to spend in other areas in that park and in my conversation with the consultants that park is almost dead center city in the city of homestead and it's not a destination park it's a pass-through park right you don't go there for any other reason but to either have an event at the pavilion the rodeo maybe the baseball league a little bit there, and I think those fields are underutilized, and then the high school football games, and then your soccer games and practices that you go at Harris Field. But there's no destination there. And part of my comments to the consultants was we need to rethink the park entirely and make it more of a destination park versus just a pass-through park. The 30 year, maybe that's a little long, but if we go 10 years, in 10 years, we're gonna have to replace that field. So we have to balance the maintenance versus the length of time that we allow SPH to operate program and maintain that facility. And I think the one thing that people are underestimating is when you bring the soccer club down here what attraction that's going to be as well we'll have a professional soccer team that calls homestead home and not only will we have that i my understanding is they're also going to begin to create a female professional team and bring that down to homestead as well so if we can get past the longevity of the lease i'm very confident in our management staff in our city's attorney to negotiate a fair deal so that everybody will prosper from this opportunity and i think it is really a good opportunity that's all thank you mayor thank you councilman councilman cannibal yes thank you

Hello. Yeah, you're good. I only see, yes, I agree with you 100%. I only see benefits on this deal. And plus, well, we just saw the World Cup.

how prestigious it was.

We're going to have a professional soccer club over here. It's going to be amazing. So I'm all for it. This is a working process. Those little edges that we need to file, we'll do that. So I'm very happy for it to be here. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Okay, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. I agree as well. I had had my meeting already with the the reimagining and the one piece for me that was a no-brainer that we really didn't even need to discuss was that those fields needed to stay but to make it a destination park 100 i think that needs to be the vision and the way that we're going for me i think the only piece right now that i just want to make sure we are incredibly clear on is the current groups and the clubs that are using the field. I know that there's been great communication and support from them. But whatever we can do as a city to see what those calendars and schedules look like, just to make sure that that piece is baked into there as well. For me, that's the only concern. But I think that this would tie in perfectly with whatever other ideas we have to make this that destination, that destination park. Thank you.

Thank you, and Councilwoman Konski.

It seems to be unanimous. We all agree that this is a beautiful partnership. We see way more pros than cons. I would definitely say that the devil's in the details and there's a lot in this that I have questions concerning revenue sources and the 30 years. I think we all have the same questions. I look forward to additional workshops and what you have. On the 30th, I have lots of questions, just as many of us do, but again, those are all in the details. I don't believe that we are in the business of entertainment. but that's what you're bringing to the table. So we are under utilizing this part, definitely. So I look forward to further discussions and to see the big picture come into fruition and something that's favorable for you and for us and for the citizens. Thanks.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Let me just close it out, at least for us, by saying I'm confident that there is achievable middle ground on the time frame and the amounts paid and the timing as to when those are paid. It's all about recognizing we have competing interests. Sometimes we're not going to be able to resolve those, but we have much more in common than we do as opposites. I believe that as the discussions go forward, I'm hopeful that there will be time to roll out and have some discussions and presentations on the entire deal, both the business aspect of it and the conceptual aspect of the amenities that will be brought to the table and also including how they're going to you know, have as minimal upheaval as possible for the users. You know, not to be dismissive, but we're talking about six months of disruption for decades of a level we've never seen before. So I think that's reachable. I think the manager or one of the speakers tonight indicated that a proposed, I hate to call it a management plan, I don't think that's what they called it, but just kind of a narrative as to who they're dealing with, what they're doing, and where they are would be very beneficial for the rest of us. So I'm sure that before final adoption, we all and the public will have ample time to review what our team and their team has come back and negotiated. So I just hope we can send the signal tonight to keep moving forward.

So Mr. Mayor and council, is it the consensus of the council to proceed with scheduling a public workshop on this?

Yes, but I don't think it would be appropriate until we have most of the details ironed out. There's no reason to leave ourselves open to questioning about loose ends until those loose ends are tied up. You know where I'm going? We're not gonna take a half-baked idea on the road. But I'm confident. Look, we have a template for this deal, and it's the Homestead Regional Agreement. We're not reinventing the wheel here. So I believe to meet their timeframe of being able to put shovels in the ground, September, October, whatever it may be, we can achieve that, that we can have that fully vetted and fully thought out agreement, both business and conceptual, to be able to have a standalone public presentation, followed by adoption shortly thereafter. Not that night, but shortly thereafter.

councilman did you need to add anything just just real quick i know the time is of the essence for this and i don't do we have any meetings scheduled in august at all so we'll have to it's kind of open it's open it's open there's a likelihood that we'll be one right at some point right because i think what what i think what the mayor's saying is we we we need more meat on the plate before we can add the mashed potatoes and gravy there you go right so

Are you hungry?

Always hungry. But I think that's what he's in. And we know it's time is of the essence, too, because they got to get shovels going. They got to get stuff moving in and the relocation of teams. I mean, you know, Homestead is a is a is a very popular high school football field. And I think all of those games are gonna have to be rescheduled and moved somewhere else. And I'm not sure what the locations are gonna be logistically, who's gonna pay for transportation and help them get to those locations and things like that. So I think those details need to be worked out as quickly as possible so that we can all move forward with whatever decision comes by it. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman. Any final comments to my left? Councilwoman Avila, any final thoughts?

Thank you. Almost now. Thank you.

Thank you. So I think I think we've been clear and the public's good and clear that we continue forward and we will do so in all reasonable haste.

Mr. Mr. Attorney, I just I didn't know if the council had any guidance on the workshop timeline. What we should be aiming for.

How much time do we really need to I don't want the scheduling of a workshop to drive the negotiation schedule. I would rather have a product ready to go and then schedule. I don't know how many days, five days, seven days notice of a public presentation, but I hesitate to do that until we're ready to go.

good all right i think that concludes the discussion on this matter so out of the fire and into the frying pan we're going to jump to tab 12. javi yes final thoughts mayor before you move on just you know um real quick and i heard you on the workshop and i agree 100 that you know let's have something tangible about a workshop but um we're very confident that this is gonna move along very quickly and that we're gonna get to a really good place probably as soon as next week with our next meeting with the manager and with the administration. What we would love to leave here with tonight, if possible, is an idea of when that second meeting is going to happen for a public purpose determination, because that's gonna play a big part of what happens and when we put shovels in the ground.

Well, let's just say for sake of argument that you have this ready to go in the next week, by the first of the month. If we schedule something mid-August and there's no major hiccup, we could have a meeting and I don't, well, I do have a calendar here in front of me. We could conceivably adopt the week of the 18th or the 24th? Does that work? So, you know, if we can roll out something with the pretty pictures and graphics and the financial details, you know, if we need to have, what are the dates of the League of Cities? Does anybody know offhand? Is that the 12th, 13th, and 14th?

Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

I'm a little wary about setting up dates tonight.

I agree.

I would like to go have a conversation. I think it's reasonable that Mayor and Council are giving you an assurance that this will be expedited.

We're just talking about hypothetical time frames, not later than the end of August.

I think the ranges have been very acceptable.

Okay. Good range. Thank you, Harvey. Okay. Mr. Attorney, Mr. Manager, we're good to go on this one?

Okay.

Moving on to tab 12. That's the millage rate discussion. As Carlos makes his way down with the not 28 minute long presentation.

um tab 12 is a resolution of the city council of the city of homestead florida establishing a proposed operating military of ad valorem taxation establishing a proposed military for debt service of the general obligation bonds for the fiscal year beginning october 1 2026 ending september 30th 2027 and providing for an effective date how about it mr perez good evening mayor and

Good evening, Mayor and Council. What you have before you is to set the preliminary rates that will be going out in the notices, the term notices in August. We're setting two rates, the debt millage rate, which we're actually reducing because as property values go up and the debt that we pay remains constant, that millage rate will always continue to go down. That one will be going from 0.2446 to 0.2316. The operating knowledge rate that was the one that we're proposing to increase from the current 5.9604 to 6.3945. Now, that is 9.9.

9.95% over the rollback rate. The reason for these are several.

The first one is we've been experiencing double digit increases growth and property values for the last several years, and that's generated a lot of property tax revenues this past year. The increase was only 5.6. So, just for comparison, we would have only generated like 1.6Million dollars in additional revenues. We had one department that it would even cover half of their increase their operating for their operating budget. so what we're asking for the other part of it is that if i left it at the flat rate the same rate that we've had it we would be looking at a 500 000 shortfall no colas and no increases to staff in the general fund which i know that that includes consideration for some police officers now given what we may be facing with the new laws if the ballot questions go through in november and we may be losing 5.6 million dollars in in 2028 Maybe it's a good idea that we don't approve any colas or add any positions, because those may be the first ones to to be cut. So again, all i'm asking is the wiggle room. We have a budget workshop coming up next week, and we also have a month before we have the the budget hearings, so that we will work to tighten. this up and come to a conclusion where do we feel that we want to be with relation to colas as we enter negotiations with the with the PBA and again with positions but at least we have the wiggle room again our goal will be to try to bring it back down bring it flat and not have an increase but at this point this is my recommendation just for the public and my colleagues it's important to note that we can always reduce but we cannot

go beyond this on a final adoption correct excellent point of that rate council any questions all right so let me open the public hearing for a comment from the public is there anyone wishing to make any public comments is there anyone online NO. ALL RIGHT. SO LET ME CLOSE THE PUBLIC HEARING THEN AND I WILL ASK FOR A MOTION TO ADOPT THE PRELIMINARY RATES AS RECOMMENDED. MISMOVED BY COUNCILMAN CANNABAL. SECONDED BY VICE MAYOR BAILEY.

JUST FOR THE COMMENT.

YES.

JUST SO THE PUBLIC KNOWS, WE'RE NOT RAISING TAXES. WE'RE SETTING THE MILLAGE RATE TONIGHT. WE'RE GOING TO WORK WITH STAFF SO THAT WE CAN DECREASE that number back to what it was last year. So there won't be a property tax increase. It's gonna take a lot of, as the mayor used to say, looking for the coins in the cushions, right? 500,000 is quite a bit.

It's a lot more than a few coins.

It's a lot of coins, but this is not raising your taxes at this point. We're just setting it where if we need to, we can, and we're gonna fight to not raise your taxes. I don't think we've raised taxes in the last 8 years as far as military goes. So, right.

Remember, anytime you go over rollback rate, right? It is technically a tax. Correct.

And they see that in their tax bill, because their properties have gone up in value and. And, uh, the county, you know, does their thing. So I just want them to know that. At 1 point, I think during covert, we took it all the way to the max, which was 10. Yeah. just in case, because we didn't know what was going to happen, and we didn't have to increase it at all during COVID. So we were going to be very good stewards with your money. Staff is going to be very good stewards with the budget, and we're going to make sure that we get this where we need to be at.

Yeah, we did that in 20, and it went over like a lead balloon. Yeah.

We had to do what we had to do. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman. Any further? Council? All right, we have a motion and a second. Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Cannavale? Yes. Councilwoman Aguilar?

Yes.

Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson? Yes. The motion carries.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Perez. Okay. That takes us then to Councilwoman Konski. Your discussion item for Harris Field regarding Coach Strickland.

23 tap 23 as just shown as a discussion item at this point so floor's yours thank you thank you mr mayor um we've heard a little public announce uh dedication and comments about Coach Draycon already tonight. So I'm going to ask Mr. Coach Fornari, Joel Fornari, if he will take the podium.

By the way, Mr. Roth, if you want to know what will that soccer situation would affect the South Dade and Homestead Athletic Month, just give me a call.

I'll let you know.

Thank you very much for being here. Let me talk to you about my pal Don Drinkard. You know, Coach's career at South Dade starting in the early 70s, he was there for a few years, then he went to the college level, then he went into private business. And somewhere in the mid-'80s, he gets the football itch again. And he wanted to be in Homestead. And at that time, the South Dade and the Homestead football job was both open. And we both interviewed him.

And at the time, I was a very young athletic director.

I'm still pretty young, not really. But I was a very young athletic director. And we were pleased with what we heard from him. I did my homework and checked it out. The guy was solid. I had one concern when we hired him.

I had one concern.

Coach Drinkon at the time was a little bit older than most of the coaches that we were hiring at that time. My concern was, can this guy relate to these kids? Let me tell you something, folks. That was the stupidest concern I've ever had in my life. I've been involved in athletics since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I've seen a lot of coaches. I've been around a lot of coaches. I know a lot of coaches. I'm a coach. Nobody has a relationship with kids and people, for that matter, better than Don Trinca. You know, when Don was at South Dade, There was a lot of kids that came from single-family homes.

No dads around, none.

I was at the funeral last weekend in South Carolina, and Ryan Drinkon got up and said, you know, my brother Ted and I didn't mind sharing our father with 250 brothers. They were all Don's sons. It was unbelievable. He just went totally overboard, if you wanted to call it that, for these kids. So why am I sitting here talking to the city of Homestead about allegedly a guy who only had roots at South Dade? Well, I'm going to tell you why. But I've got to explain it in the college football recruitment process. If you're a blue chipper, five-star, four-star player, it doesn't matter who your coach is. It doesn't matter because the big schools will find you, and they'll give you the opportunity to play. Where a coach comes in is when you're dealing with the marginal players, and that's not a negative. A marginal player is a kid that's undersized for his position or a step slow. Still a good football player. Still a good football player. Well, those kids have got to go to Division II schools, NAI schools, and JUCOs. Well, those particular programs do not have the athletic budgets to have their coaches actively recruit in person. They have to rely on people around the country to give them information. Well, it started out You know, Coach, he was a great networker, a great networker. And he would get to these coaches, and he'd develop relationships with these people. I mean, for a while, we had a pipeline to California, to the JUCOs out in California, that was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Well, Don's reputation with these coaches kept growing and growing to a point where he was a springboard for these people. And they would ask him about players all around the place. everywhere around town, including across town, Homestead High. And it got to a point where Don was so good at what he did, and it was amazing. I mean, he battled against teams for two or three years against players. Sometimes we beat them. Sometimes they beat us. But at the end of the day, kids were coming to him. Coaches were bringing kids to him from rival schools. Please help me out. Please get my kid in school. Don never stopped. He never, ever stopped. He would help any kid get in school at any time. It was remarkable. Don was a great family man. He was a great family man. As I told you, he was in construction. He was in private business. And when he took the job at South Dade, he took a huge pay cut. A huge pay cut. And he had a family. He had two kids. Well, I'm going to give you a typical Friday day for Don Drinkon, and you're going to understand what kind of a family man this guy is. Get to school at 630. Teach his class. Pep rally, 1 o'clock, 3.30, pregame meal, 6.05, get on the bus, go to the game, play the game, come back, collect the uniforms, get the kids home, get in his van, drive downtown to Bernie Rosen's office, because that's what we had to do back then to get the game films. Come back to Homestead, maybe look at it for an hour, then at 1 o'clock in the morning, Don Drinkon had a contract to clean strip parking lots. He's out cleaning parking lots to help finance, to help make up for the money that he lost going into teaching. So he would be out there until 5, 6 in the morning, go home, catch an hour, 9 o'clock, Saturday morning, back with the coaches. Going over films, that goes to about 2 or 3 o'clock, go sleep an hour, go out and scout an opponent Saturday night, and then Sunday morning, back in the parking lot, clean in the parking lot, back home by 7 o'clock to go with Glenn and the boys to church. That's what that guy did. I mean, and by doing that, you know, a kid that gets a partial scholarship that comes from nothing, that partial scholarship doesn't mean anything to that kid. Where's he going to get the rest of the money? Don Drinkon. Don Drinkon. He's the one that got the rest of it. He got the money from other people or out of his own pocket, or he got it in my pocket a few times, too, which is fine, which is fine. Never a problem. We mean no disrespect to the Harris family. I know Mayor Harris was a prominent mayor in Homestead. He brought Homestead along, did a great job. They named a plot of land after him. That was in 1960. Well, that plot of land has changed quite a bit since 1960. I believe in 92, a little storm kind of rearranged it a little bit for us. But I have seen many names on Harris Field. Dr. Millie Rodeo Grounds. I think the Y was there for a while. I think Miami-Dade had some classes there for a while. And the Orange Bowl was there now. So whatever names are on that facility, whatever they are, the homesteaders, the people around town, will always refer to that plot of land as Harrisfield, regardless of anything else. It will always be Harrisfield. In closing, When they talk to a high school football coach, they always want to evaluate a high school football coach. They'll say, hey, what was your win-loss percentage? How many championships did you win? Coach Drinkon checks all those categories. But there's one thing I've never heard a high school football coach ask. And that question is, how many lives did you change? And if changing lives, folks, was a Hall of Fame category, Don Drinkon would be a first ballot Hall of Famer. And not to insult anybody, a first ballot Hall of Famer is basically unanimous. Thank you very much.

So, Coach Millard, let me ask you, because some clarification. The agenda item is talking about discussing the renaming the field for Coach Drinkon. I'm sorry. You kind of indicated, well, maybe the whole facility needs to be renamed.

I skipped over one of my notes. We are asking that you rename the football field for Don Drinkon, not anywhere else. We understand. I agree completely. I've been cracking this speech for three days and I screwed up. I'm sorry. You're right, Mayor. I missed that. I just wanted to be clear.

You're 100% right.

My fault.

Because, you know, if you believe everything online, there are folks who think that the whole thing should be written down.

No, no, no. We understand. We understand completely. The man, you know, spent a lot of his life on that field. I can tell you right now. A lot. A whole bunch.

Any other questions?

Thank you.

Mr. Raw, call me.

Well, let me ask the attorneys. I know at one point, at least for some issues, a prior counsel enacted a naming ordinance that set out some procedures. Would that necessarily apply here?

It was an old resolution. We'd only, I believe in time that it's been, since it's been adopted, we've only applied it to street co-designations. I don't think we've ever applied that to a facility. I would suggest that if this is, this is a discussion item this evening. So if it's the will of the council to find a way to recognize him and what that looks like on the field with a designation, then direct us to do that. And we'll bring that back to you in some form.

which by necessity would be making reference to the Orange Bowl funding agreement. So I wrote by there, there's a sign that says Orange Bowl Field.

And ongoing negotiations.

Yes, with SPA. And I think we can have it both ways. I mean, I can think of colleges that have Coach ABC Field at Coach... or donor stadium, DEF stadium. I think we can accommodate everything. But I think in terms of our self-imposed naming restrictions, if any, plus any obligations under the Orange Bowl agreement, we come back and whether there be something in the middle, something placed on a future scoreboard or a memorial plaque at the entrance, Those are future discussions, but it seems there's a consensus to drive toward seeing what we can do to name the field. The main football field, is that in his honor?

Okay, well, staff will take that direction and we'll bring something back to you. Councilor Roth?

Yeah, so what I would also like to suggest to the friends of Coach Drinkon is amongst yourselves, come up with a memorial of some sort. It could be a statue, it could be something, and we could also figure out a way to put that there could be a bronze statue of like we have mr chrome in chrome avenue now um i would i would suggest that you guys put together a committee to raise monies to do that what did do what did that statue cost us 100 grand 100 000 well For Mr. Drinkon, I think if you guys could put yourselves together, contact all these kids that he helped throughout the years, $100,000 shouldn't be hard to raise. It doesn't have to be that big, but I want you to think about that, and I think it would be up to us to allow you to place that memorial on that

in that area along with a partial name of some sort for mr even even a memorial plaque at an entrance somewhere with his likeness could probably be had for ten or twelve thousand dollars yeah so you guys can come up with a plan and i i think we would be in agreement to allow it to be placed at the field somewhere so again and if we go forward and have partners uh all that will have to be coordinated sure obviously okay

Council Fletcher. Yes, thank you. And I appreciate Mr. Finari coming all the way from Naples back to Homestead. I've had the pleasure of knowing Joel and Coach Drinkon since I was knee-high to your knee-high grasshopper. not only did he save families and save lives but he bought brought kids to christ as well he was a good family man that deserves the recognition that we can provide him whatever that is i'm here all for it and i appreciate coach finari for for driving this home thank you thank you okay

Alright, thank you. So I think we have some direction there. Now, Councilwoman Avila, as promised, in case you lose your connection or get tired of sitting with us this evening, I made the commitment to allow you to bring any of your end of agenda business forward that you may want us to consider this evening before we move on.

Thank you. I appreciate it. And I do have some connection now, but I can't guarantee that it'll last to the end of the meeting, though I will try because this is a very dense agenda. I did want to make a comment on this item that we just heard. I'm in favor of it. I do support it. Thank you, Councilman Kostki, for bringing it forward. And I also wanted to ask for a reconsideration on the last resolution we passed in our last meeting with regards to setting on the election ballot the the question for the charter amendment for appointed service and term limits this was one of the items that was not time sensitive the other items that we had discussed would have had to be on this election in order for it to be um impactful for the next So I do ask that we reconsider that resolution as it can go on our next general regular election.

Okay. Well, that'll be one of the things we send to the charter committee anyway. So Mr. Pearl, so we need a motion and a vote to reconsider.

Well, I can take a motion to rescind. Motion to rescind that action. Yes. And if I can have a motion to rescind.

Which would result in no charter questions going on the ballot this November.

Correct.

i'll make that motion thank you okay so moved by councilman avalon and councilman roth beat you to it councilman cannibal and this is a motion to rescind the uh adjustment for appointed terms of office so anything further from council any public input okay so i'll close the public hearing and i'll ask for a roll call vote on the motion to rescind

Councilman Ross. Yes. Councilwoman Tonski. Yes. Councilwoman Aguilar. Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Yes. Councilman Canabal. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion carries.

All right. Very good.

Thank you. And then I also wanted to just make a comment on regards to item tab 28 with regards to that ballot question that would potentially go on. But I am not in favor of putting a straw ballot on attempting to eliminate our power company. I think that it speaks volumes for us to have our own, but certainly we don't really have much of the information that we would need to even determine what that impact would be in order to be able to answer questions like what was mentioned earlier, like half-baked. And I wouldn't want there to be any incentive for another power company to want to offer us money after such a question to go out. So I would like for this item to also not be put on the ballot.

Okay. Well, we'll consider that and we'll take that in its due course. Thank you. Okay. All right. So I think at this point, What we need to do, yes, Mr. Pearl, you wanna jump over to the LPA?

We were going to, you had referenced tab 27 earlier with the EDC. I didn't know if you wanted to tackle that.

Oh, I'm sorry, yes. Peter, my apologies. We're gonna jump to tab 27. Can't even read my own notes up here. Thank you for your earlier input. And then we'll go to the LPA.

Yes, thank you. Excuse me, thank you, Mr. Mayor, members of council. I'm still Peter Englund. My purpose here tonight is to simply thank you. The city of Homestead has been a solid partner and collaborator with the Economic Development Council for all of these many years. We've been in business now for, well, since Hurricane Andrew. We recently concluded a strategic plan for economic development for South Miami-Dade County, which takes us to the point of a competitive analysis, but the actual implementation of the plan is going to be in order to make it happen we have to work with all of our partners want to work with all of our partners like the city of homestead to to to conclude this implementation we've already had a preliminary meeting with the manager and the cra director i think as we look at all of south miami-dade county there is no place where there are greater economic opportunities than right here in the city of homestead and i'm not just saying that because i'm here believe me it is true so we're very excited about that we're very excited about the uh the fact that we've had this long-term partnership because we cannot do it by ourselves we can only do it with with your help and your collaboration so i'm here to answer any questions you might have it was a

a 52-page document.

I hope you've all read every word because there will be a slight quiz a little later on. But really, if you have any questions, I'm here to try to answer them.

Council, any questions? So we just need, and I think you've got our expression of support for your continued work and the report that you've presented. We thank you, Mr. Mayor, for codifying the relation, our long-term relationship. Thank you. All right. so i think now this is the point in the meeting where we need to place the yes mr pearl we have a motion on the resolution of support for the edc okay so we have a motion all right moved by the vice mayor seconded by um fletcher kind of seconded by everybody i won't say third okay so let's have a roll call vote on that item councilwoman avila

Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Councilman Ross? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lossner? Yes. The motion carries.

All right. Now, as I was saying, now is the point in the evening where we need to recess the council meeting and then jump to the local planning agency agenda, deal with that agenda, and come back and reopen the council meeting well that we're going to come back to the c r a we had to do the lpa then we'll jump into the council agenda is there a land use items on the council agenda so let's do this let's let's place the council meeting in recess take a five minute break and come back and and open the lpa uh... lpas notice for seven fifteen so we'll take a slightly longer break very good okay so we need to move to recess the council meeting moved and seconded all in favor okay so by virtue of publication we won't jump into the lpa agenda until 7 15. after we do the lpa well

We were there.

All right, if we can all begin to find our seats, we'll try to get this back on track.

715.

Oh, good evening everyone and welcome. I'd like to call the city of Homestead local planning agency meeting to order for the record. It's still Wednesday, July 22nd, 2026 and is now 716 PM. Madam clerk, we have a roll call please.

Board member Kansky here. Board member Fletcher here with member cannibal board member Avila.

Here.

Board Member Roth? Here. Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Here. Chairman Lozano?

Here.

Ex Officio Lawrence Ventura?

Here.

Hey, welcome back, Larry. Okay. All right. Tab 1 is the approval of our minutes from May 20th. Moved by Board Member Roth. Second. Second by Board Member Cannavale. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right.

Mr. Wright? Yes. Mayor, just to our additions, deletions, deferrals, tab 5, card number 5127 is being pulled. That's the outdoor dining for B3 ordinance that we deferred when we opened the council meeting.

Yeah, that's right. We already deferred that. Right. Okay. Very good. Thank you. All right. Moving on to tab 2.

This is the quasi-judicial section of the agenda. Please be advised this item is quasi-judicial. If you wish to comment upon this item, please. If you'd like to address, I'm sorry, excuse me, sitem number would you like to address when the announcement regarding the quasi-judicial item is made, an opportunity for persons to speak on this item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on this item. Swearing in all testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given its due wait. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the local planning agency to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Full agenda packet on this item is hereby entered into the record. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization. Further details of the quasi-judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. In accordance with Code Section 2-590, any lobbyists must register before addressing the local planning agency on the following item. At this time, I'd ask the local planning agency members to disclose any ex parte communications concerning any items on tab 2 this evening. And I would preface that you all received correspondence from a property owner, I think, across the street or from this development.

Correct. Anyone need to disclose on three or four? Just two.

So at this time, I'd ask the clerk to swear at any persons who wish to testify on any of the following items. So anyone in the audience who's wishing to speak on tab two, please stand, raise your right hand to be sworn by the clerk.

Do you hereby swear or affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth to help me God? Thank you. You may be seated.

Tab 2, card number 5091 is an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the rezoning as requested by Flightway 20 LLC of an approximately 8.55 acre parcel of land from Agricultural Zoning District to Light Industrial Zoning District for property generally located on the southwest corner of Southeast 8th Street and Southwest 147th Avenue as legally described in Exhibit A, providing for conflict severability and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. White. Are there any objections to moving this on to the regular agenda with no further comment here? Moved by Council Law.

Seconded by Konski.

Roll call, Madam Clerk.

Mayor, I just need to disclose I did have communication on this item for tab two. Thank you.

Right, okay, good, thank you. Okay, and we're just now posturing to vote just to move this and have further discussion on the regular agenda. So we're gonna have a roll call vote on tab two. Board Member Roth? Yes.

Board Member Konski? Yes. Board Member Avila? Yes. Board Member Cannavale?

Yes.

Board Member Fletcher? Yes. Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Yes. Chairman Lassner? Yes. The motion carries.

tab three mr white yes tab three is card number five zero nine six this is an ordinance of the city of homestead florida amending the city code of ordinances by many chapter 30 zoning article one in general section 30-1 definitions to create a definition for express mechanical car wash and amending chapter 30 zoning article 3 district regulations division 12 B2 Retail Commercial District, section 30-276 use as permitted to allow express mechanical car washes as a permitted use in the B2 zoning district. And amending chapter 30, zoning article four, supplemental district regulations, division nine, mixed use and non-residential development standards, section 30-540, service stations, auto repair, and car washes to establish development standards for express mechanical car washes, providing for conflicts, severability, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. A motion to move this to the regular council agenda? Second. Moved by Councilor Roth, seconded by Board Member Roth, and seconded by Board Member Canabal. If there's nothing further, we'll have a roll call vote on tab three.

Board Member Canabal? Yes. Board member Roth, board member Fletcher. Yes. Board member Avila, board member Koski, vice chairwoman Bailey, chairman Lozner.

Yes.

The motion carries.

And tab four, please, Mr. White.

Yes. Tab four, card number 5070 is an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 30 zoning article one in general section 30-1 definitions, great definitions related to small animal clinics. Small animal hospitals and amending chapter 30 zoning article 3 district regulations division 10 B1A professional business restricted district section 30-241 uses permitted in division 11 B1 restricted district retail section commercial section 256 uses permitted to allow small animal clinics as a permitted use in the B1A and B1 zoning district and amending chapter 30 zoning article 4 supplemental district regulations division 1 generally section 30-397 permitted uses and dimensional standards tables to amend the permitted use table to include small animal clinics, small animal hospitals, providing for complex, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. White. Motion to move this to the agenda. Moved by Roth. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Roll call, please.

Board Member Fletcher?

Yes.

Board Member Roth? Yes. Board Member Cannavale? Yes. Board Member Kosky? Yes. Board Member Avila? Yes. Yes. Vice Chairwoman Bailey? Yes. Chairman Lozano?

Yes.

The motion carries.

So that concludes our items. Anything further from Development Services or the City Attorney for this agenda? Motion to adjourn the LPA. Moved by Board Member Ross, seconded by Board Member Cannavale. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay.

So...

We now need to bring the regular council meeting out of recess. Okay, so we adjourn this. We're gonna reopen the council meeting, moved by Councilman Canabal to bring us out of recess, seconded by Councilman Fletcher. All in favor? And that brings us back to... I guess addendum 1, 2, and 3. Let's take those as a consolidated item and separate votes.

I'll read the titles as these all deal with the same issue. Addendum 1 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida. providing for ratification of an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement between the south florida police benevolent association police lieutenants and the city of homestead in effect from october one twenty twenty four through september thirtieth twenty twenty six authorizing the city managed to sign the amendment to the collective bargaining agreement on behalf of the city authorizing the city managed to take all action necessary to implement the amendment to the collective bargaining agreement and providing for an effective date Addendum 2 is a resolution of the City Council, the City of Homestead, Florida, providing for ratification of an amendment to the collective bargaining agreement between the South Florida Police Benevolent Association, police officers, detectives, sergeants, and corrections officers in the City of Homestead in effect from October 1st, 2024 through September 30th, 2026, authorizing the city manager to sign the amendment to the collective bargaining agreement on behalf of the city, authorizing the city manager to take all action necessary to implement the amendment to the collective bargaining agreement, and providing for an effective date and addendum three is a resolution of the city council of the city of homestead florida providing for a one-time cost of living adjustment for non-bargaining union employees authorizing the city manager to take all action necessary to implement the wage adjustment and providing for an effective date thank you mr manager anything to add to this conversation

Mr Mayor and council, those three addenda were a subsequent product of negotiation with the PBA with respect to council guidance and directive. The first couple of items for addendum number one for PBA lieutenants and addendum number two for PBA police officers, detectives, sergeants and corrections officers. will allocate 1% of their base pay towards a one-time pay supplement that is non-pensionable, based on council directive. Our understanding is that the PBA folks voted last week, Thursday, to proceed with this, with the expectation that they will get paid by August 7th. And they made a special request a couple of days back to find a special accommodation in this agenda, which is why you are getting it as an addendum. And the last one, addendum number three is for the general employees based on council directive is a 0.5% COLA to all non bargaining unit employees, i.e. those employees who are not covered under the CBA.

And these are all for the current budget year. Yes. A slight bump, one time bump in this current budget year. Council, any further questions or comments on this? I know we spoke about it at length in some of our sessions is there anyone online or in the audience wishing to speak on any of these matters okay well i'll close the public hearing and ask for a motion on addendum one moved by councilman cannibal we have a second second second by vice mayor bailey so roll call vote on addendum one councilman ross councilwoman avila

Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Yes. Councilwoman Koski. Yes. Councilman Canabal. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion carries.

And motion on addendum two by Councilman Roth, seconded by Councilman Canabal. Roll call on addendum two. Councilwoman Avila. Yes.

Yes.

Councilman Cannibal. Yes. Councilman Roth. Yes. Councilwoman Konski. Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lassner. Yes. Motion carries.

And as to addendum three. Moved. Moved by Councilman Roth. Thank you. Saved by Councilman Cannibal. Roll call on addendum three please.

Councilman Roth. Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Yes. Councilwoman Avila. Yeah. Councilman cannibal. Councilman Koski, Vice Mayor Bailey, Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion carries.

Thank you. Okay. We have before us tab one, the consent agenda, which consists only of the June 2nd Council minutes. Moved by Councilman Roth, seconded by Councilman cannibal. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay. We did tab two. all right moving on to tab three the appointment of the special magistrate new special magistrates right okay is there a what staff member has tab three yeah

May I cancel? Tab number three is the appointment of special magistrates. There are a pool of three candidates, all attorneys. Their backgrounds have been checked out, both by staff as well as the city attorney. The individuals have their resumes enclosed. The fiscal impact is $125 per hour, with a $750 per hearing as a cap. Okay, so thank you.

So piggybacking on some of the earlier comments tonight by current members, does our code put a cap on the number of magistrates and is this kind of like a random assignment of hearings?

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and Council. This change is to move to the attorney style of special magistrate as opposed to a special master, which is considered a volunteer position.

So by virtue of the retitling, the redefinition, it's more of a legal proceeding rather than a volunteer proceeding.

Right, so the person serving in the capacity, the requirement is that they are a Florida Bar Member of Good Standing.

Thank you, counsel. Any questions or comments? Vice Mayor?

Yes, thank you, Mayor.

Let's go to Vice Mayor, and then we'll go to you, Councilwoman.

When we first discussed this, there were some reasons of why we wanted to go this route. Can you refresh my memory?

Sorry, there are several reasons. In previous years, over the tenure of Homestead, we've gone from a code enforcement board, which some...

Let me interject Council novel what can you hear the assistant city managers explanation.

I am getting it, but if it could be.

If you could move forward.

In previous you know iterations we've gone from a code enforcement board, we then streamlined it to code enforcement special master originally when we had the board, many of the special master positions were garnered from the members of the board, this is probably 20 years ago. After subsequent to that we've had a dwindling number of participant volunteers to be the special master so originally when we would have four to five volunteers, with an alternate now we're only down to two we've published it publicly and we've had little to no response. pastor styles and as jenkins. Mrs. Jenkins have been a part of that, more of the past ones. And in this latest year, I believe it's when in the last year when we reopened it again, we didn't have participants that were willing to volunteer. So that is somewhat of the move similar to the iteration of the Planning and Zoning Board. It's very difficult for us to get a steady number of volunteers to the city. Many cities have moved towards the special magistrate process for a legal proceeding.

Thank you. And there is no option of having both. to have a special magistrate and a special master it's two separate criteria you know pastor styles brought up some some really good points he was on the southwest advisory committee for years and years and the only reason i allowed him to get off of there is because so many especially residents in the the southwest struggle with how um to go about go about um dealing with these code issues and that is one piece that i am going to miss is that knowing the community understanding the community i feel like that is what we're going to lose that with this this is a tough one this final decision today yes i'll rest for now thank you okay thank you um councilwoman avala

Thank you, Mayor. I recall when we were discussing the transition that there were questions that were asked with regards to how we could still maintain residents as being part of the pool of participants. And could you refresh my memory as to what the results of that inquiry was? Unless they have an attorney's license, they would not be able to serve at all?

Yes, that would be their main requirement.

Did you catch that? That was a yes.

Right. So while I can understand the need to fill positions, I don't want to favor this type of role over volunteers that exist and that are willing to participate. I think it was made for me to, and probably just maybe I assumed, but I thought that there was like a retiring of our existing volunteers or that there was a struggle to keep a commitment of their service. And that's not what I heard tonight. And I do really appreciate the recognitions that were made for them this evening during the presentation. And I had not had a one-on-one conversation with them directly to verify that they don't want to serve any longer or vice versa. But hearing their commitment and hearing how much they bring the perspective of their love of community and their fairness and how they make these decisions, that is worth gold to me. And while I respect attorneys and it's not fair, I don't see this as being fair to the process, to our residents. And so if we can have it to where we have the magistrate process or this, right, the magistrate process is the one where that includes the attorneys. If we can have that process as a supplemental option that we can activate in the event we need to when a special master is not available, I don't see why we can't as a body decide that that's the best choice for us in our city. So I can get the attorney to confirm if that is an option. I would appreciate it.

I'm not aware of a city that goes on dual tracks. I mean, if it's something that you'd like us to explore, then we'll have to defer both this and tab 11 and bring that back to you.

So the only cities that I know of that have more than one process are the ones that are comprised of an entire board, like a nuisance abatement board, which would comprise of seven members, which we cannot fill, and a special magistrate, there's no city Mayor Mrakas, In Miami Dade that i'm aware of that has a special master and special magistrate both serving the city at the same time. Mayor Mrakas, it's either a.

Mayor Mrakas, clarification I don't necessarily think that we have to style or not that you're recommending it, but I don't want us to be boxed into styling the way we do things based on. Mayor Mrakas, precedent set by other other cities, we can be a leader in some things, and you know things outside the box here as well. And let me ask, are we not able to provide any amounts of stipend to our volunteers? I can understand that we wouldn't want to offer, you know, what the requirements are for an attorney, licensed attorney, et cetera. But for a volunteer serving on a board or a committee, it's not unheard of that there's a stipend associated with the time served. So if we were to have such an option, perhaps we would be able to fill our board, making it a little bit more feasible for people to serve time.

Yes, we have always provided a stipend. In fact, we raised it recently and that did not garner additional people to volunteer. It used to be $75 forever. Then it went up and we still were unable to get suitable volunteers for the position.

Okay, thank you.

Other than the two that we already have.

Got it.

And so just similar to my comments earlier about how we're engaging with the community. Our communications team does a great job when we're trying to have a major 4th of July event or having a game watch scenario. But when it comes to things like this, I don't see the robust community engagement and social media presence where we can promote that these opportunities exist and making it a top of mind conversation piece. So I just can't support an item where we're pushing out opportunities for our citizens and our residents to serve when we actually have, you know, some that do without really fully vetting that we did everything we could to fill our capacity. Thank you.

Thank you. Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. Is this Time sensitive? Do you like to defer it? Is that what you're asking? So I also I was also not aware that we had to standing that we're still interested in continuing. And although it was raised from 75 to 125 now jumping for it being 125 an hour with a cap at 750. That is a huge jump. Can we maybe have a discussion and see if we come somewhere in the middle and reach out to the public again? That's what I personally would like to see.

I would also like to defer it. I want to have that conversation also.

So this would be. So somebody's going to have to move to defer it and the companion item.

Any further discussion? I move to defer. Okay, I'll second.

Just to be clear, this is for both tab three, the appointment and tab 11, the companion item.

Please. Yes.

Both items, three and 11.

okay yes councilman pleasure thank you um i know we we passed it's in our book where we passed the ordinance earlier this year to move to the special magistrate portion are there legal obligations

We passed on first reading, which is your tab 11, that was making that change. Second reading is what would be deferred based on this evening's discussion. So that piece had not yet been fully adopted.

Okay. I just need a little further clarification on the legal ramifications because there's some specific language in here mainly related to school camera citations.

Right. We got no respondents on that one. And that was a police officer, a retired police officer. It didn't have to be an attorney. And we reached out to the Police Chiefs Association, and we had no volunteers. So we are reaching out. We're just not getting responses.

I'm good with that. I'll have further discussion later. Thank you.

Was there anything to add? I'm just thinking out loud. I mean, we've already let two people go. I mean, can we get them back until we figure this thing out?

Well, certificate of appreciation isn't here's your retirement.

Well, I mean, they left here thinking that they're done. I mean, how much time do we need to defer this to figure it out? I mean, I'm on board. I'd rather have local people. Um, you know, policing their own people, you know, these guys don't even live in the city and they come here for two or three hours a day and leave, and they don't know the Southwest section from the Northwest section. And I just don't think it's a, it's a reflection of what, you know, our code compliance in our magistrates should be. I just, I. I don't know how this came, but maybe we talked about it before, but I just don't think it's the best move for the city.

That's all. Let me be the flip side. I've recently heard about, and we've seen before us over the past several months, where very lenient, fine reductions have been granted. Sometimes for matters that have been, that are repeat offenses and have been pending for years and years and years. Let me make the analogy to the past due electric utility and other utility bills. There was no process. I think there are times that we need to get beyond who you are and not have those local pink goggles on and treat everybody equally and I see the opportunity to have outsiders as an opportunity to treat everyone equally, everyone gets treated the same. And I was going to speak to this in our hearing later. We're going to have, for example, two different property owners that were years and years in violation. So here's my little story. When I left office involuntarily in 2007, my little personal protest was is I didn't write the check for my business license until the very last minute. And someone in City Hall, one of the few people who even want to get caught speaking to me, called me and said, you need to go pay because the mayor's about to send somebody to shut you down. It happened in 2008. So here we are, we've seen people with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars of liens just vaporized, yet because I was a political outsider, the city was going to pursue me for one year of late payment of business tax. That's not fair either. I've never been a proponent of bringing in a lot of outsiders, but maybe this is one where we need people who don't know the history, who just know, did you violate the code or not, and tell me why you did and why you shouldn't be assessed. And I think we're gonna have a better result and a stronger message to our community with having these professionals in place who aren't perhaps jaded by being a local. As Pastor Siles said, you gotta have thick skin. It's just human nature to be sitting up here in judgment knowing that you may run into one of those folks in the grocery store or in a restaurant or even in church somewhere. The appointment of these magistrates takes that out of that, and I think would tend to more ensure that everybody's treated equally versus who you are versus what you did, or what you did versus who you are. I'd be willing to go forward on this, and I commend our two folks that we recognized tonight. just you're gonna hear me say tonight on tab 28. We're not Podunk Homestead anymore and we gotta stop thinking that way and thinking self-interest, we gotta think big picture. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. So we have a motion to, yes.

Thank you. Yeah. And before we vote, I just wanted to also offer this perspective. And I agree, Mayor, nobody should be treated the way that you were treated on that situation. And the item later is pretty egregious. It's almost a million dollar in original fine amounts. So that'll be an interesting conversation. But with regards to the last six years that I've sat and served on this board, I think maybe three cut and tested special master decisions were brought to the council for reconsideration. So for over all those years of service of the special master, and I have, and I think maybe I heard one slight complaint about the way a case was heard and proc, but that was more about process and procedure, which was resolved almost immediately when I brought it to, to administration's attention, but to have six years of my, of my tenure there, I feel that that is a show of how successful, how impactful, and how proper the volunteers of our special master, their service and time has been in hearing these cases and making proper calls and it only coming to us less than a handful of times. So while I do see the point in case that you're making on the other side of that coin, I just don't think that the graph is greener on the other side of this. So I would like to really try to explore. And I do believe that our volunteers would be willing to continue to serve. So I hope that's the case. Thank you.

Okay. So I think we have a motion to defer the companion items. Councilman Roth? I think you did have a motion already. A motion to defer both of the items. Motion to defer. And I think we have a second. Do we have a second? We did. So let's grab a roll call vote on the motion to defer 3 and 11.

Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Konske? Yes. Councilman Cannavale? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? No. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lozano?

No.

The motion carries. Okay.

That takes us then to... No, speaking of mitigation of liens, tab 4. Who's going to present this? Okay. I know you've got the applicant has counsel. Good evening. Good to see you again.

Now, okay. Hi, good evening council. How are you? My name is DC little Lopez from Lopez legal group offices at 89 50 Southwest 74th court suite 20 tool on Miami, Florida, three, three, one, five, six. And, uh, quite the timing on this item. Uh, I want to, I'm here to tell you today about a success story that we have here in the city of homestead between my client, Roger Tomasino and homestead city government. Together, these two entities have resolved numerous code violations that go back close to 18 years. I represent Mr. Roger Tomasino, his company, Landmark Precast, who manufactures concrete pipes right here in the city of Homestead. Good for the economic development of the city. And we are here to ask for a reduction from the award issued by the special magistrate. And we're about to give you three reasons why. But before I do, my client, Roger, your commercial resident. I'm not going to go ahead and restate everything that you probably have in your notes. I read the Director of Code Compliance's memo and many other things there are factually correct in terms of timeline, the two addresses that are mentioned. One of the things we want to underscore here is Mr. Tomasino has been now in full compliance with the city's code violations. He invested into that compliance $300,000 of his personal money to come into compliance. One other thing to also mention that we mentioned to the special master was the extraordinary hardship that Mr. Tomasino endured going back to the 2008 crash. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Tomasino's wife passed from cancer. And right when he was getting ready to come into full compliance, COVID hit him. So I'm sure these are all things we can tie to. Additionally, there were some city compliance issues. One of the things I'm going to get into is a fence issue that he had. There was a permit for a fence from 2015. He brought that fence into compliance. And actually, let me take that back. The property owner at the time, who was someone else, not Mr. Tomasino, brought that fence permit into compliance. But yet it took nearly 11 years. And to the creation of contact with Mr. Director Perez, who came on board shortly, a couple years ago, he approved the permit administratively. So we noticed that there had been some falls through the cracks. And though Mr. Tomasino agrees that there's some definite liability on his point, we are willing to see how we can get to a better resolution with the city in terms of the outstanding balance. Now, the special master went ahead and commuted the fine to about $145,000. That's good. But like I mentioned earlier, Mr. Tomasino has already spent $300,000 of his own money. We're trying to bring this into full closure. We want to sunset this issue with the city. We understand that there's some fault on our side, but we also recognize that there was fault on the city side, and it was a vicious cycle. This council passed an amendment to the code, I want to say about a year and a half ago, which allowed for a carve-out for a business tax receipt, which is the lion's share of these fees. Mr. Tomasino, in December of 2025, went ahead and got this carve-out, and we've been in that process with the special master. A couple of things we want to recognize. is that number one there have been some employees here in the city that have been very very helpful including but not limited to officer valencia director jose perez tanya malcolm and ironically special master karen jenkins you know we went before her in april she brought it down to 80 percent of a reduction and said if i could bring it down lower i would have but she's capped out and we respect that We're here before you today because we understand that this body has the ability to commute this fine even more and help this resident. As I explained to my client, I don't believe the city of Homestead or its council take punitive measures against commercial residents. In fact, I was here before you about a year ago representing another client where you guys were able to help us reduce the fees he had. And that's why we're here before you today. I'm not going to take more of your time. I see you have a link to the agenda.

Okay. Thank you, council. Vice mayor.

Thank you, mayor. So, um, additional discussion a little on the last item um for me it's not who you know it's understanding the history um this btr issue is one of those examples of people in the community understanding what changes um although positive have come to better our city That comes with growing pains and it comes with issues that we can blame on predecessors, we can blame on whatever the issue is. But the fact is that mistakes are still made at the city level. I have lived through moving my business and dealt with all of those headaches much more than I would ever like to relive. And that's been one reason that I spend my time trying to speak to residents understand through code, because it's a ridiculous, ridiculous process. And obviously, there's reasons that it is so strenuous. But this is one of those examples of things that I feel fell through the cracks. I think we could have done a much better job in the beginning going after, just like the... Electric bills, right? We look back and obviously could have done things differently. But this is definitely one of those cases that I feel deserves another look. So I'm curious to hear what my colleagues think. But yeah, this is the perfect example of understanding the differences that we have that we've seen happen over the years and how it is affecting businesses and it's so hard for the small mom and pop um businesses to survive so thank you thank you vice mayor council go ahead it makes it easier for me i know i know um you mentioned he's a commercial resident that is correct does he live in the city of homestead

No, sir.

No, he does not live in the city homestead. What was the original amount that was due?

The original amount was combined $720,000. And it's been reduced to?

$145,000. That's a pretty good reduction.

That is.

I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman. Anyone further to my left?

council fletcher am i on the left oh no yeah yeah we'll do fletcher and then you you're on my right anyway yeah so i kind of looked at this similar to how we did the last couple of items similar to this and Again, they've taken their time, but they have come into compliance, and I believe that it's up to us to make the final decision on whether or not we're going to help reduce that or not. My feelings are that they've substantially bettered the location from what it had been, and we should look at reducing the fines up to our maximum allowable amount, which I believe is 95%. Is that correct?

James, do you know? 95% reduction, is that our maximum? Which would equate to how many dollars? 95 against the seven, whatever. So let's say 5% of whatever the max was.

And I do want to mention we've, Mr. Tomasino has already made payment one. I believe he paid $7,500. So obviously that would go towards.

Of course, built into the number that's been approved are the non-negotiable hard costs.

Of course, yeah.

I'm happy to make that motion.

reduce to our maximum allowable event minus the hard costs let's hold that in advance and and hear from councilwoman if you don't mind councilwoman thank you mayor so there are three different violations here and so i do look at them a little differently um there's really not a lot of compassion from me on the garbage trash and the junk the overgrowth like the visual property condition issues. Also, I need clarification. This is a new property owner. Was this a conveyance for purposes of property management or a conveyance of a sale of a business to a new operator

so if i may um on on property one the one that is 1115 northwest 4th street the owner has been the same owner for at least 18 years if not longer and property 1201 northwest 4th street was an acquisition he purchased in 2022 okay and so

you're representing both owners, and so this request is for both separate entities, both separate owners?

It's the same owner now for both properties, but the lien carried over from prior owner to the current owner who owned the original property I also mentioned earlier. On one of the properties. Correct.

Got it, got it. So looking at the operating without a business license case number, Was that the original owner or the, that would be the original owner, correct?

Correct, yes.

Okay. So to my colleagues, if you look at the original lien amount of $409,000, the penalty basically is almost $38,000 a year penalty for that operating without a license. And I said it before, I think the finding process needs to be commensurate with the error or the charge or the crime, right? So I don't necessarily think that that's a fair representation of what we should be finding. But that's the code. So that's what the population is. And so that was reduced down to 82, 180, correct? That is correct. And so, you know, for an 11-year period, I don't necessarily know if that's still, you know, fair. But I think I would be in line with Councilman Fletcher to be more lenient on that particular case number. But when it comes to the garbage accumulation and the building permit issue, is that the safety building requirement? I wouldn't be in favor of doing too much of a reduction. But I'm willing to continue to listen. I know that Councilman Fletcher made a motion, so just wanted to put that out there.

He's kind of holding that in abeyance. We wanted to hear from you first.

Yes. If I may. So I just want to be clear. In 2022, you purchased 1201 Northwest 4th Street.

Yes.

And you purchased it with $311,642 worth of liens. That's correct. Why would you do that?

Whatever the lien amount was at that time.

Why would you do that?

So that process for the liens, in other words, the fines that the prior owner had were already in process of being cured. So when the purchaser, my client, was buying the property, he was told this is going to be settled. Unfortunately, at the time of closing, they were not. He said, I'm still going to buy it. and I'll try to finish with the work you've done. Mind you, part of the issue there, sir, was that in 2015, that fence permit, which is tied to CE15060086, is a fence that was already past inspection. They were ready to close on the permit, but unfortunately, the city at that time said, we can't close on that permit until you close on these other issues that you have. which is a bit interesting because if you have other issues then cite me on those other issues but if i'm already in compliance on this issue with the fence then let's close that that fence permits are remained open for 11 years and there were multiple times that the fence permit was tried to be resolved and closed and each time that that attempt was made city staff said you can't close that until you close other issues that you have And so in 2025, approximately in the summer, Director Perez was able to close that permit. There was no additional work done for the fence. However, even after he closed it, it took about five more months after that for the closing of the permit to reflect on your system. That's why I recognize those employees, including Ms. Tanya, who was the last person we dealt with in December, who administratively closed the permit on your end. So I see your point. Why would you take that? And you're right. There's definitely liability that we accept because it's not that you were not on notice that there were issues. But as we go a little deeper in this, and we started seeing, wait, there's just a disconnect here on some of the items. If you look at your memorandum there from the director of code, you'll see that every violation that's been issued to Mr. Tomasino subsequently has been resolved within 30 days. And I think that speaks volumes of the staff you have with you today. You're doing a great job, Mr. Manager, because the turnaround time working with commercial residents or residents that live here has, by my take, taken a full turn. And that's good. So that would be my answer to that, sir.

Sure. So, I mean, it is always buyer beware. Absolutely. And you took on this $311,000 worth of liens and fines. And here we are today, negotiating it. The 1150 Northwest 12th Street, or 4th Street, you said that he's owned that property for how long? 2004, so we're talking 22 years. Okay, and he accumulated $409,620.21 worth of fines and liens for what?

So it was a series of items, sir. There was a business tax receipt issue. There was also some garbage.

How long did the business tax receipt issue last?

That probably was the longest. I don't have that number right in front of me. I'm sure your staff does, but that was the lion's share of the fine.

And what took him so long to resolve the BRT? Right.

So I underscored this a little bit earlier. He went through some hardships, the 2007, 2008 economic crisis that affected everyone was a big part of it. Shortly thereafter, he lost his wife to cancer.

May I ask a question? Absolutely. How much is the BRT license?

You were asking me the question?

No, I'll ask staff. I'll ask anybody. Who can answer that question? How much is that license? It's $45. $45.

But to gain that license, we had to make over $300,000 in investments in the property.

Right, but it's not like you just bought the property. You owned the property for 22 years. So to me, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense why... It took you so long to come into compliance. You've been there for 22 years. The license is $45. What changed from the time you bought the property to when you ended up without the BRT that caused all these problems?

So if I could, Councilman, I hold the list here of all the receipts that it took to get that compliance with the BTR.

Yeah, but what triggered that? Because he was already there for 22 years. He was there from 2000, whatever day you said. He didn't have those issues then. What triggered that process that brought this up to $400,000 in liens? over a $45 license.

So my understanding, sir, is that when he became the owner and he starts operating his business, he is told he needs to get this business tax receipt, this business tax business tax license. And in order to do so, he has to make all the corrections for the type of business he's going to be operating there. So the trial for that is everything that's in here. That leads me to believe that whatever the usage was of the property prior to him buying it was different than what he started using the property for.

so he he 22 years ago he bought this property or whatever started this business there and never obtained a brt because he couldn't comply with what the city's requirements were at that time is that what you're saying so he elected to continue to do business in violation of the city's codes for all that time is that right

Sir, if I may, he was trying to come into compliance, but it's a process. It was a $300,000 process to do that.

I understand. But you're talking 22 years ago. And here we are today talking about $400,000 worth of liens and fines. It took you 22 years to solve. That's kind of, that's just not the way it works.

I understand, sir. Well, we tried to work with staff and I think- 22 years.

There's been like 14 managers, 15 code people. I mean, that doesn't make any sense to me.

I can wholeheartedly- Thank you. In a moment of levity, it was only 2013, 14. He's owned it longer than that. Yeah. Now, and to your point, though, Councilman, and I think Mr. Lopez touched on this earlier. This is a similar case to an earlier client he was here with, the old Brooker Lumber Company property. Right. And I referred to it as the circular firing squad, the chicken and the egg, that only until recently when we made the code change. could you pull permits to do the work that required you, that you were required to do in order to get the, what I used to call the occupational license.

That's correct, sir.

So I think that was, you know, it's just facts. And the code's been amended now to avoid that circular issue.

And now you're able to stop the hemorrhaging because since you can get the temporary license, to this gentleman's point, you can mitigate the daily compounding of the fees. So, you know, again, that was a code amendment by your body.

And that's going forward from less than a year ago.

Mayor Henry?

Yes, sure.

Thank you. And I'm glad you made that point, Mayor, because as I'm trying to listen to what's going on, it was our own system that was not allowing him to come into compliance with obtaining a BTR. And so that's why I'm more lenient towards reducing the fines on that one. But with regards to the ACTUAL VIOLATIONS OF DEFENSE AND THINGS LIKE THAT, THE WORK THAT THE SPECIAL MASTER HAS DONE BY REDUCING IT TO 80%, THAT ALREADY RELIEVES THE FACT THAT, YOU KNOW, THE COMPLIANCE OCCURRED YEARS AGO, AND SO FINES CONTINUE TO ACCUMULATE. SO IN THAT PARTICULAR CASE, I'M IN AGREEMENT WITH THE SPECIAL MASTER'S RATE. I'LL GO WITH THE MAJORITY ON THIS, OF COURSE, BUT THE REALITY IS THAT THE BUSINESS license issue for me is one of the things that we finally figured that out and you know we're seeing these cases that are like decades of problems and hopefully there aren't too many left to have to sift through but um it's kind of where i sit on that thank you thank you councilwoman i uh

Yeah, there are circumstances with every case.

I would like to second Fletcher.

Okay, so you made a motion to offer a settlement of 5% of the fines. Now, if our package is correct and the fine amount, the lien amount, well, the fine amount was $7,2300, which does not include the hard cost. does that 720 include the hard cost so 721 262 dollars and 61 cents is all inclusive of the hard cost and so it appears that the 720 300 is the lean amount the consult the the lean amount for both parcels so councilman to clarify your motion would be to concede a settlement of hard cost plus 5% of $720,300.

That's correct and I believe that number to be $36,977 as provided in the book.

With credit for the $7,000 already paid. This is a difficult one for me because on one hand we're sending the message that you can sit back as a property owner and give us the proverbial middle finger, I'm not gonna get a business license receipt because you can't do anything about it and I'll pay for it at the end at a huge reduction or I'll find some buyer that was gullible enough to have it passed on to. I don't think it sends a good message. But today I took the opportunity to talk to the Assistant City Manager and Mr. White, and we did not, contrary to what was alleged gonna be done to me for one year of not paying my license on time many, many years ago, there's no, at the time, and there may not be now, we have no mechanism to truly enforce the curing of that kind of violation. that all we have are the continuation of fines. But I'm sorry, but I have to believe that the stuff that had accrued that you bought was a case of not what you're doing, but who you are. And your seller walked away scot-free, laughing all the way in the bank at full price, and gave the middle finger to the city. Now, do you get left holding the bag for that or not? And that's really where I really have the problem. So let me ask Mr. White or Mr. Pearl, do we have anything in place now that allows us to affirmatively enforce violations other than just ongoing fines and placing liens against properties? Do we have the ability to go in and shut down businesses for any kind of violation?

I want to be clear. I wouldn't say it's for any kind of violation. If you recall, there was an instance where we had a property. It was a residential property at the time. That was an ongoing nuisance and we were able to go to court and get a court order that required that that property be vacated because of the ongoing activity there, so there are mechanisms at our disposal, but we have to evaluate those on a case by case basis to see what's appropriate.

But a garbage junk and debris, I think that was yeah forget about the broken fence, I think that was fixed and just that fell through the cracks. but are we at the mercy of derelict property owners today for those kinds of violations there have been instances where the city will go out go ahead and take corrective action and then place the lien on the property for the cost of the corrective action of that corrective action but i don't know how often that that's no the actual cure of the violation right is not

The mayor is saying like a revocation of a certificate of occupancy as opposed to a business tax receipt. If it's just a tax receipt, that's what it is, a tax receipt. It's not the permission to operate. Right. So with a violation such as this, then code would have done its normal process at the time, which would be to cite, notify, cite, fine, lien, and keep going.

So is the answer a revisiting of that very draconian certificate of use ordinance that was floated?

Right.

That if you revoke the certificate of use, you can actually shut down a business for code violations.

Which this is not the case for this one, or is not the case on the norm for any of them.

I mean, look, if we can make it easier to get a certificate of use so that we can then snatch it when there are violations, But the impediments that were in place in that first draft to get a certificate of use was a whole other story for me. But pardon me, I'm getting out in the weeds. We've been here since five o'clock. All right. We have a motion in front of us. Is there any further comment? We have a motion for a relief to the tune of 5% plus cost with credit for the $7,000 already paid. ANY FURTHER FROM COUNCIL OR STAFF? WELL, LET'S HAVE A ROLL CALL VOTE ON THIS ONE.

COUNCILWOMAN KONSKY?

YES.

COUNCILWOMAN AVULA? YES. COUNCILMAN ROTH? NO. COUNCILMAN FLETCHER? YES. COUNCILMAN CANNABAL? YES. VICE MAYOR BAILEY? YES.

No, because I can, and you still win. It's just the principle of the thing. Not personal, and I know there's any circumstances, but for me, it's about the message that we're sending.

Understood. Thank you, counsel.

Nobody else is going to have your situation. Thank you so much. Thank you.

YES, COUNCILMAN ROTH. I HAVE A QUESTION FOR THE ATTORNEYS. MATT, ONCE WE FILE A LEAN AGAINST THE PROPERTY, CAN WE GO INTO A FORECLOSURE ACTION AGAINST THAT PROPERTY?

and why didn't we then so what what do we yeah it's there there's an economic analysis before you go through a foreclosure process um you have to look at superior you have to look at the superior liens before they leave did we is implicit in that a time frame for payment was not included in your

Okay, we need to deal with the timeframe for payment. I know the larger payment, you were given six months. I don't know that that's necessary with the much lower amount.

Are we okay with 30 days?

There's been a question as to whether or not 30 days, not greater than 30 days full payment, which is. About 2029 $30,000 fine.

I think we don't have a problem. We have we had every intention of paying the original agreement in October, but 30 days was well, and that was at the 145.

Yeah, I think we so Matt, do we need to revisit this? in terms of rescinding and re-motioning.

If you'd like just to make it comprehensive. Yeah, let's do that. To be paid within 30 days of today.

We need to rescind the prior action and then do it again with that timeframe built in. So, Fletcher's motion to rescind the prior vote, seconded by Canabal. Roll call on the motion to rescind.

Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Roth? No. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Canabal? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lossner? Yes. The motion carries.

All right, so now we need a motion for settlement with a time frame for payment. Councilman Fletcher?

Vote for the amount previously stated and a 30-day time period.

In full within or before 30 days. It's been said by Councilman Canabal, so let's have a roll call on that.

Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Avila?

Yes.

Councilman cannibal customer wrong. Councilwoman Kansky vice mayor Bailey may lost no, no. The motion carries.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

All right.

That takes us to tab 5. Correct. It'd be more talk on this than the last one. All right, so we, but wait a minute. Not so fast. So I guess in short, this is an expenditure of, Almost $47,000 to add the championship seal to the one water tower out by the racetrack at the city's sole expense to be, as I understand, removed by year end together with the 250 logo in between now and then we decide what's going to go on there. Also my understanding that the operator of the track has declined to contribute to this effort. Is that correct?

I don't think that's correct.

Well, let's hear from staff.

That's correct, Mr. Mayor.

That's correct. Very good.

Mr. Mayor and council, earlier in the fiscal year, we had presented a budget for the upcoming championship, and mayor and council had approved a budget of, I believe, $100,000. which was inclusive of assisting the Homestead Miami Speedway folks in terms of hosting the championship game coming up. This item is a follow-up to that provision in the budget. I realized that we had asked them for counterpart funding and it was not successful, but the funding is already in the budget, up to $100,000, not essentially for this, but for city participation in promoting the championship.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Manager. My thought would be that money could be better spent for banners, for a whole lot less. If we're going to help advertise the event and have it seen citywide, only those going to the track generally are seeing that water tower. For me, that's a lot of money, particularly when our partner's not contributing, despite the fact that it's been budgeted.

Mr. Mayor, is this, can I just ask, is this time sensitive to get approval to have this installed?

It can be deferred, Councilman.

I think we moved to defer so we can have further discussions with the operator. Thank you. And I understand that, you know, there are some other things that may be coming up that are quite big. That are more beneficial. That are more beneficial than the water.

Than a one-time wrap.

Yes, sir. Thank you. So a motion to defer.

I'll second that. Okay. Okay. Any further discussion? Sorry to cut off your fun. But we have more. We have more. We have bathroom paint. All right. So roll call vote on the motion to defer.

Councilwoman Avila?

Yes.

Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Cannavale? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lozano? Yes. The motion carries.

And moving on to tab six, the final platform, HG phase one.

Yes, bear with me just one moment. Please be advised to find items on the agenda are quasi-judicial in nature. If you wish to comment upon these items, please address the announcement regarding the quasi-judicial item is made. An opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. Swearing in all testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to either be cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given its due date. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the council to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. The full agenda packet on each item is hereby entered into the record. persons representing organizations must present evidence or the authority to speak for the organization. Further details of the quasi judicial procedures may be obtained from the clerk. In accordance with code section 2-590, any lobbyists must register before addressing the council on any of the following items. At this time, I'd ask council members to disclose any ex parte communications concerning tab six and tab seven. And for the record, to reiterate on tab seven, you all did receive correspondence from a resident.

Okay, tab seven only for me.

Okay. All right.

So at this time, I'd asked anyone in the audience who's wishing to speak on the item. Tab six and tab seven, please stand raise your right hand to be sworn by the clerk.

You hear my swear affirm to tell the truth and nothing but the truth to help you God.

Thank you. You may be seated. tab six car number five zero nine zero is a resolution of the city of homestead florida granting final plot approval as requested by hg phase one llc for the redevelopment of 150 existing rental assisted and affordable housing units and the development of 100 new rental assisted and affordable housing units totaling 250 units on an approximately 8.744 acre parcel of land located at 1501 Southwest 6th Street, as legally described in Exhibit A and providing for an effective date.

Okay, thank you. Well, it's the final plat. I don't know that we need any input. Moved by Councilman Roth. Seconded over here to my left by Councilman Fletcher, represented by Mr. Arza, who's not here for $125 an hour tonight. Oh, he's just wandering. Well, come earn your keep. Enter your appearance.

have nowhere else to go tonight i'm so sorry i'm adele valencia from allison law on behalf of dbc proceed we're delighted that the project is moving along we'd appreciate your assistance with the approval of the final plan. If you have any questions, I'm joined by my colleague, Benji Power. But by way of reminder, this is a public-private partnership with Miami-Dade County to really improve and enhance the quality of these affordable housing units and to add some more. So with that, I thank you.

Very good, thank you. Yes.

I just want to say thank you so much. It has been quite a process getting there. But we were just speaking about it earlier today, driving through there now. It is just such a difference. And to think about years ago when we saw what the inside of those apartments looked like and all the sweat and tears and everything else that went into it. I'm very happy to say transformation. Thank you. Thank you.

All right.

make the motion it was already oh it's already what's your district okay all right so it's been moved and seconded for adoption and approval of the final plat let's have a roll call vote councilwoman konski councilman roth councilwoman avila yeah councilman cannibal councilman fletcher yes vice mayor bailey yes the motion carries all right thank you good night all right moving on to tab seven

Yes, tab 7, card number 5091. This is an ordinance of the City of Homestead, Florida approving the rezoning as requested by Flightway 20 LLC of an approximately 8.55-acre parcel of land from Agricultural Zoning District to Light Industrial Zoning District for property generally located on the southwest corner of Southeast 8th Street and Southwest 147th Avenue as legally described in Exhibit A, providing for complex severability and providing for an effective date. This is first reading.

Okay. Council and Mr. Arge is here. This is, I think, the mirror image of something we did several months ago next door.

It is. It is. It is. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council Members, Mr. Manager, Madam Clerk. Yes, it is. I mean, I've got a brief presentation if you all wish to see it.

No. A longer presentation. Thank you. No offense. And we'll be happy to come back in September and speak some more about this project. All right. But I appreciate your support.

councilman fletcher it's your district would you like to move it move it with one statement okay we did receive a letter of opposition from one of the residents i think that some of his points were well made but at the same time they are going to be in accordance with our site plan so i appreciate the the thoughtfulness that the resident went through to provide us that input and i'm going to reach out to him personally i haven't yet but uh very well written letter with a lot of good

good thought into it so i appreciate that and again more appropriate for discussion site planning but not for the just the naked rezoning all right i asked fletcher to it was his district no one would you like to second it by roth any further discussion a public comment close the public comment roll call vote on tab seven

Councilman Cannibal? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lassner? Yes. The motion carries. Thank you all.

Thank you. And before we move on to tab nine, since eight was deferred, It's that time of night where we need to move to extend the end time of this meeting from 830, and I would suggest 930. Moved by Canabal. Seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. All in favor? Any opposed? Everybody out there? Okay. And that takes us to tab 9.

Yes, tab nine, card number 5096. This is the first reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 30 zoning article one in general, section 30-1 definitions to create a definition for express mechanical car wash and amending chapter 30 zoning article three district regulations division 12, B2 retail commercial district, section 30-276 uses permitted to allow express mechanical car washes as a permitted use in the B2 zoning district. In amending Chapter 30, Article 4, Supplemental District Regulations, Division 9, Mixed Use and Non-Residential Development Standards, Section 30-540, service stations, auto repair, car washes to establish development standards for express mechanical car washes, providing for conflict severability and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. White. Any issue with waiving the staff report? Did you move it? One. Okay, move by vice mayor with a comment.

Thank you, Mayor. I know this isn't part of this piece, but I just want to urge everyone if you haven't been to the car wash off US 1 and 288 and seen what craziness it is at all hours of the day. i know that this is not part of the discussion for for this now but before we consider anything going on that corner which is already an incredibly terrible intersection um i do urge you to go and see the major issues that the car wash on 288 and us-1 is causing that demonstrates demand on one hand and our uh

incumbent on us to really take a hard look at site planning inclusive of traffic all right so second move by vice mayor second by councilman roth with a comment yeah so earlier in my briefing we talked about the one we approved a couple years ago out in the oasis public's plaza which hasn't even broke ground

and staff had informed me that they had done nothing to do anything out there. So I asked them to reach out if they want to come and talk to us, see what's going on, because we don't have nothing on the east side for car washes, nothing. So the closest one is, I think, on US 1, the sports car wash or whatever it is. Just so I hope they reach out and find out what's going on, if they're dead, if they're not going to come back.

I think Mr. Harza represented that approval. He bailed out already. Can't blame him.

was that if i may the uh the last contact i had said that they had pulled that plan and were not interested in homestead anymore last time i heard that was my understanding but that's going back that's going back over a year correct no okay so i think we have a motion and a second still roll call vote on tab nine councilman ross councilwoman avila councilwoman avila

Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Yes. Councilman Canabal. Yes. Councilwoman Konski. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion.

and that takes us to tab 10. tab 10 is the first reading of an ordinance in the city of homestead florida amending the budget for the water and sewer utility fund for the fiscal year beginning october 1 2025 ending september 30th 2026 by increasing the total budgeted revenues and expenditures by two million three thousand six hundred and ninety four dollars providing for severability and an effective date very good i think in short for the public this is

Newfound money, but yet with restrictions on use, and this is the perfect fit. Moved by Councilman Canabal, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey. Anything further from Council? Yes, Councilwoman.

Just for the record, my understanding is that there were no restrictions on the use of the money, and per the briefing that I had with Carlos, the funds were able to go right into general, and that it could have Um, then it could have been applied to any of our capital improvement projects, but given the. Urgency of the well, I am in favor of the project, but just for clarification of the record, but wasn't some of the pay fast money dedicated to water projects.

It's settlement. Okay.

It's settlement money councilman is absolutely correct. There were no restrictions on the money. It could have been used for anything. This became a project that. Appeared to be a high priority, so it was very good.

Okay. All right, do we have a motion and a second? I think we did. Let's have a roll call vote on this.

Councilwoman Konski? Yes. Councilman Cannavale? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion carries.

Moving past tab 11 to tab 13. 13. Yes.

Tab 13 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the award of a contract to one-stop aquatic safety LLC for ITB-202603, pool operations and lifeguard services, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Moved by Councilman Ross, seconded by Councilman Canabal. Any further questions or comments on this item? Hearing none, roll call, Madam Clerk. Councilman Roth.

Councilwoman Avila. Yes. Councilman Fletcher. Councilwoman Konski. Yes. Councilman Cannavale. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lozano. Yes. The motion carries.

And that takes us to tab 14, good old Pump Station 11.

Tab 14 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the award of a contract to Acosta Tractors, Inc. in the amount of $2,317,499.35 for ITB 2026-24, Basin 11 Pump Station Force Main Project, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Moved by Councilman Canabal, seconded by Councilman Roth. Any further from Council? Roll call, please, Madam Clerk.

Councilwoman Apulow? Yes. Councilman wrong. Councilman cannibal. Councilwoman Kansky.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. They lost. No. Yes.

The motion carries and have 15 for backup generators.

15 is a resolution the City Council the city of homestead Florida approving the award of a contract to pantropic power Inc in the amount of 1 million four hundred and sixty three thousand three hundred and twenty three dollars for ITB 2026 20 purchase of three backup generators for wastewater treatment plant providing for implementation and providing for an effective date moved by councillor on say why councilman cannibal any further from council roll call please on tab 15

Councilwoman Karnski? Yes. Councilman Roth? Yes. Councilman Cannibal? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes, let's keep them running. Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lozner? Yes. The motion carries.

And tab 16.

Mr. Perl, Tab 16. Tab 16 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the City's fiscal year 2026-2027 Community Development Block Grant and Home Investment Partnerships Program Annual Action Plan, authorizing the City Manager to submit the Annual Action Plan to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, authorizing the execution of required documents and taking of all actions necessary to implement the Annual Action Plan, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

i know we've all been briefed on this juicy subject okay so moved by councilman cannibal second by fletcher the question by the vice mayor not a question unasked um so first of all it is ridiculous how long anything at blakey at um the pal gym has taken right we've had terrible luck with the contractors and so forth i would like to specifically have that one of the first pieces done is the front door with impact windows. We can wait on the other side of the building, but I think that that would be just a quick, easy fix that will be welcoming. We are ready to start opening Homestead Gardens, and we need to have a lovely entrance to our PAL gym, please. Thank you for that.

Thank you, Vice Mayor. Okay, I think we had a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

Councilman Ross? Yes. Councilwoman Kosky? Yes. Councilman Canterbury? Yes. Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Avila?

Yes, and I'll have a comment after the roll call, thank you.

Vice Mayor Bailey? Yes. Mayor Lawson? Yes. The motion carries.

Councilwoman? Thank you, Mayor.

in piggybacking on what Vice Mayor Bailey was saying, I was bringing it up during my briefing that the CDBG action plans that we do every year, it's just a common occurrence where we're rolling over funds that were unused to stay in compliance, and we're rolling them into debt payments, et cetera. I really would like to see our action plan be 100% executed, especially with the dedication of the funding that we do annually, I think, to the PAL gym. it's been a challenge to get things done. So in in support of what she was saying, but in light of what I was trying to bring up during the briefing, I would really like to see this be a year where we don't have any funds left over to do a debt reduction payment just to stay in compliance.

Thank you.

Thank you. All right, that takes us to tab 17, a renewal of the F dot funding of some of the US one landscaping maintenance.

Tab 17 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, approving the second renewal to the FDOT Turf and Landscape Maintenance Joint Participation Agreement, authorizing the city manager to accept and execute the second renewal, take all actions necessary to implement the same, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

Do we have a motion? I move. Moved by Councilman Canabal, seconded by the Vice Mayor. Any further questions from Council? Roll call, please.

Councilman Fletcher? Yes. Councilwoman Avila? Yes. Councilman Roth. Yes. Councilman Cannavale. Yes. Councilwoman Konski. Yes. Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. Mayor Lawson. Yes. The motion carried.

And that takes us to tab 18. Yes, sir. Tab 18 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, authorizing the City Manager to accept the grant award from the Florida Division of Emergency Management for the City's Watershed Master Plan to enter into a grant agreement providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. Thank you. Do we have a motion?

moved by councilman roth second by councilman cannaval is there any further council question or discussion hearing none let's have a roll call vote on tab 18. councilman wrong councilwoman abula

Yeah, Councilwoman Kansky, Councilman Fletcher, Councilman Cannibal, Vice Mayor Bailey, Mayor Lozner. Yes, the motion cap.

Tab 19. Tab 19 is a resolution of the City Council of the City of Homestead, Florida, authorizing the city managers to negotiate and execute a professional artist services agreement for the Lozner Park Bathroom Facility Mural Project, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date. Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor. Do we have any of the artists present tonight? If maybe you would like to say something if you're here, talk a little bit about why you would like to be chosen. I think we've got three amazing groups to choose from. Come on up. guessing you are the trio in our package okay well thank you very much for your submittal and if you don't mind your name and address for the record and um

We just, we were under the impression that you guys would have questions for us too. And I feel like just to state why maybe we should be chosen is aside from our experiences working with different municipalities throughout the states, we've been experienced in painting murals for over 10 plus years. We're all professional artists, practicing studio artists, visual artists, and we've done, yeah, That's awesome. We've done all kinds of different projects throughout the years, including playgrounds and public spaces and projects with the city as well. And it'd be an honor for us to work with the city of Olmsted. I'm not sure how this control works for you. We are all international artists as well. I am a mixed Panamanian Puerto Rican artist as well. To give you a little bit of our vision of what we pictured for these murals. Yeah. Take it out. Yeah. Can you hear me now? Amazing. Yeah, just to give a little bit of context and what we wanted to present for the murals is an initial draft, which we can slide over, is for every different elevation on the building, we wanted to include a lot of the fauna nature that we found, specifically to the park in Lozner. And we pulled inspiration from different artists within the Miami Vice influence, according to the call to artists, and things that we come into contact with in Miami, artists like Roberto Burle-Lamax's landscape architecture, David Hockney's influential paintings, and the Memphis group from Milan, who's influenced all of Miami Vice's 80s kind of aesthetics. As you see, we have different animals and plants. Some of these animals, we kind of highlighted them as main subjects to also give the influence of movement and freedom for people and the kids visiting this park. I think one of the earliest childhood memories that I have, obviously, is playing at a playground. playing with family. But what I remember most is like movement, running and going through the slides and things. So we kind of wanted to give that feeling a bit Do you want to slide to the next one?

I also want to mention that we put detail onto this design where a lot of things complement the surroundings of the building. For example, on the butterfly, there's actually on the south elevation, there's a water fountain right there. So we specifically placed some of the items to the surroundings of it, as well as the north elevation, the bird on top. We noticed that there's a dumpster and an electrical box on the bottom, so we wanted to make sure that these designs actually complement the surroundings of the building.