City Commission - Regular Meeting

Test, test, one, two.

The City of Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting today is Wednesday, September 16th, 2026. And today we have our second and final budget hearing, followed by a regular Commission meeting when that budget hearing is completed. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

Commissioner Good. Vice Mayor Hernandez? Present. Commissioner Rodriguez?

Here via telephone.

Commissioner Schwartz? Here. Mayor Castillo?

Here.

City Manager Dodge? Here. City Attorney Gorin? I'm here. We have a quorum.

Thank you very much. And before we get started, allow us once again to congratulate Maria, Commissioner Maria Rodriguez on the birth of her son, who She's taken care of today. She and Jeremy have a baby boy. Commissioner, congratulations.

Thank you.

How's he doing? Is he behaving?

He's doing super good. We got home yesterday, and first night was a success. So having a lot of fun with him.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Congratulations. And I know it's a new adjustment, but you The day will come very soon where you can't even remember what it was like not to have children. And it is a blessing in every way. And we congratulate you. Similarly, I'd like to congratulate you.

Thank you so much. And I agree.

Thank you. Similarly, I'd like to congratulate my wife, Lisa Castillo. Today is our 37th wedding anniversary. And it's a credit to her that she allows me to celebrate this occasion here with all of you. And so in light of Commissioner Rodriguez's new duties and my occasion, I'm hopeful that we can get today's business done very, very quickly. And with your cooperation, we will be able to do that.

Mr. City Attorney, will you please read? Yes, Mr. Mayor and Commissioner, if you will. This is the 6 o'clock set schedule and advertised second public hearing with regard to millage and budget. For the public record, 26-2955 is the second public hearing on adopting a proposed millage rate and tentative budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027 for the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida. For the purpose of the public record and pursuant to state statute, the purpose of today's public hearing and meeting on this specific set of issues is to recompute and to publicly announce the proposed operating millage rate of 5.6690, which is 4.54% above the rolled back millage rate of 5.4226, and a debt service millage rate of 0.2507, as well as to amend and to adopt the tentative budget for the general fund, the utility fund, and all other funds of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, and to invite the public to speak regarding the proposed millage and budget. Public hearing, Mr. Mayor, which will follow with the reading of the ordinance referencing the millage and a public reading with regard to the ordinance governing the adoption of an annual budget. Thank you, Mayor.

OK. Mr. Dodge, I think that we cannot DISPENSE WITH THE READING OF THE BUDGET ANOTHER TIME BECAUSE WE HAVE A SPEAKER THAT IS SIGNED UP. BUT BEFORE WE DO THAT, COMMISSIONER GOOD, IF YOU WOULD PLEASE JOIN ME AT THE PODIUM. Commissioners, ladies and gentlemen, such is our respect for our residents that even the budget of the city of Pembroke Pines will be interrupted in honor of a very, very special occasion. And so this is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, honoring Gloria Thornhill. on her 100th anniversary, her 100th birthday. 100 years, wow. Wow. Commissioner, will you please read?

And congratulations. We are so fortunate to have you with us today, and we are so fortunate to be there at that point in our lives as well. So on this occasion of your 100th birthday, whereas Gloria Thornhill was born on September 12, 1926 in Midway, Georgia to parents of Jamaican heritage and is the youngest, the youngest of three children. And whereas Ms. Thornhill pursued her education at Gillespie Sheldon Institute in Cordell, Georgia, Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Georgia, and New York State University Hunter College Graduate School in New York, New York. And whereas Ms. Thornhill dedicated 25 years of her professional life to the New York City Human Resources Administration, serving in various social work and supervisory social work positions and later made Pembroke Pines her home in 1979, where she has been a cherished member of the community. And whereas Gloria has been blessed with a loving family, including her son, the late Clarence McLean Knorr, two granddaughters, and one great-granddaughter, and has demonstrated a commitment to serving her community as a Red Cross shelter manager during hurricane seasons in Broward County and as a poll worker.

Now, therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, Mayor of the City of Pembroke Pines, along with the City Commission, hereby recognize and honor Ms. Gloria Thornhill on the joyous occasion of her 100th birthday. And we celebrate this remarkable milestone and extend our warmest congratulations and best wishes to you for your continued happiness and good health, and on a personal level. I just want to tell you something. The year you retired from HRA in New York, I was named a deputy commissioner there. And you and I worked in the same, we didn't get to work together because you had retired. I don't know why you left so soon. But I was also in adult services that year that you retired. And when I saw your resume and the information for this, it gave me a rush of pride. to be able to welcome you back. You helped thousands and thousands of people who needed help as a social worker. And I'm so proud of you. And thank you very much for everything that you've done, not just then, but since then, with your family and your presence. You're an inspiration. And we here in Pembroke Pines want to wish you a happy, happy, happy birthday. So why don't you come up? Can you come up? I'm going to ask you to say a few words.

What do you think?

I'm speechless at this point. But I am very, very happy to accept this honor. We do things, not for this, but then it makes you feel very well when you are recognized for what you have done, and I am very happy about it. Thank you.

Well, God bless you, God bless you. You know, they asked us to do this last year when you were 99, but I said, nope, she's gotta make it to 100. She's gotta do her part, and you did.

Yes, 104 days. And four days.

Okay.

Okay.

And you're all welcome to stay, but we're gonna do the budget now. Could you do me a favor? Could you find a way to send me some of these photos too? Because our photographer isn't here yet. Thank you so much. Yes, perfect. She is amazing. Okay, and we thank you for your indulgence. And as they make their way back, Mr. Dodge, if you would please offer the presentation. Yes, Mayor.

This is a review of the proposed budget for fiscal year 26-27. It was presented to the public in a workshop meeting in August and first reading on September 3rd. We're going to do an overview of all the funds of the city, the general fund highlights, the road and bridge fund highlights, and the utility fund highlights. All funds review, if you look at all of the funds of the city, the total budget is $596,926,977. The first fund is the general fund. And the general fund is the fund of all operating and funds for the operation of the city. And that's $297,918,135. Then there are several other funds that are independent from that that have no bearing on ad valorem, such as the road and bridge fund of $7.8 million. the building fund of $7.9 million. And the other major fund is the utility fund, which is an enterprise fund of $87,832,709. That fund is independent, said all of those funds come from water and sewer fees. The taxable value as of July 1, 26, increased by 4.97% to a total taxable value of all property in the city of Pembroke Pines of $20.9 billion. The proposed operating millage rate of 5.6690 will generate approximately $112.7 million in tax revenues. The debt service millage rate is .2507, which is .0355 lower than the current rate and will generate approximately five million for debt service payments. The aggregate proposed millage of both of them combined is 5.9197, which is 0.0355 lower than the combined millage rate for the current fiscal year. This rate requires three affirmative votes at the first hearing to approve a tentative millage and four affirmative votes at the second hearing, which is this evening, to adopt the millage. And the value of each mill is $19,875,863. The general fund 10-year millage rate history, going back to 2017-16, as you can see each year, the millage rate itself has decreased over all those years that you can see from 2017-18 to the proposed rate of 26-27. In 2017, the rate was 5.6736, and right now it's 5.6690. The aggregate millage rates and taxable value comparison for the 10 top Broward County cities. As you can see, ours is 6.2. It was the adopted in 2016-17. The proposed rate now is 5.91. So there is a change of $9.99 per 1,000. over that period of time. And you can see in a graphic where we stand as far as the preliminary role, you can see we're really very much at the lower end of other municipalities within Broward County. The general fund residential taxable rate, we have 56,829 residential properties, of which 40,451, or 71%, have a homestead exemption. 2,597 single family properties have zero taxable value, which means they do not pay any taxes at all to the city for all city operational expenses. The general fund residential fire assessment rate history That assessment was approved on Monday. These are the rates from 2017, which was $271.48. This year, it's $437.63 for residential property. It's a change of $29.49. And you can see that it adjusts each year. That depends on... contractual services for employees, as well as capital expenses for replacement of equipment from fire engines to rescue vehicles. Okay, where do the funds and the money comes from? In revenues, of all the revenues the city receives, the $112 million, That only represents 38%, which is the ad valorem rates. We have charges for services, which represents 16%. We have some special assessments that represent 12%. And we receive franchise fees from the state for, I'm sorry, franchise fees on different services that we offer. rents and royalties at 77%, and that's property that the city rents for different functions. We do rent out cell towers, and that generates about $1 million a year. The how is it expended? The police department makes up 37% of the total budget of the city. The fire, 26%. Public services for maintaining the landscaping and all of the facilities of the city represents 10%. Recreation in the area of parks and special events is 9%. And the others are administrative, such as technology services, general government, finance 2%, and community services that represents programs that we offer for our aging residents. The general fund personnel budget, the personnel budget of the $297 million, $177 million of that includes negotiated increase of fire and general employees. Net changes in positions include police. We added one support specialist. In fire department, we added three lieutenants and one assistant division chief. Engineering, we added one senior city engineer. The capital budget is a very small portion of the $297 million. It only represents $10 million. It includes major capital items such as $1.4 million for 18 police vehicles. That's not only the vehicles, but that's all of the equipment and everything that needs to be attached to that vehicle. $420,000 for portable radios in the general fund government buildings. We have 900,000 bathroom renovations for our charter schools, which are city-owned facilities, $485,000 for playground improvements, $325,000 for windows and doors to prepare building 39. And that building is going to be used for storage of surplus and auction storage The capital budget in the fire department is $1.2 million for one fire engine, $1.1 million for tactical support unit, $492,000 for an ambulance, and $325,000 for pavilion and construction fire training facility. And we have $600,000 set aside at the Howard Foreman campus, which is for the widening of our road network. The next fund is also an enterprise fund. It's the Road and Bridge Fund. It stands at $7.9 million. This budget includes improvements needed for ADA compliance and share costs of South Broward Drainage District for a pump station out west, which is to assist with any kind of flooding issues that we've had over the years. Appropriations include managing public rights-of-way, landscaping and maintenance, pressure washing of sidewalks and medians along city major roads, litter control for rights-of-way areas, swales, drainage, rehabilitation, and street lighting. The utility fund is also an enterprise fund. This utility fund budget stands at $87.8 million, which includes $14 million for capital projects. The capital projects list is $7.8 million for wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation, $2.4 million for water plant equipment improvements, and the Biscayne aquifer well replacement. $1.8 million for metering upgrades, $1.1 for the Howard Foreman campus water and sewer utility improvements, and $1 million for force main pipe replacement. One issue that we would want to share with the public, because sometimes it's asking, well, the budgets continue to raise. But what we can do that over the past, Several years, the city entered in what we call outsourcing or contracting employment services. Over that period of time, it has saved the city almost $69 million. Examples of that is we hire a company that does the operation, maintenance, and management of the rights-of-ways and the wetlands maintenance. That estimated annual savings is $637,531. If we had hired the traditional public employee to do that, that would be the additional cost per year. Calvin Giordano Associates, they are a company that operate the maintenance and management of city parks. That has saved us roughly $1.3 million per year. and Calvin Giordano and Associates Facilities and Grounds, the operation and management of municipal facilities and grounds. The initial savings the first year was $504,000. Annual savings of $2.4 million up to the present time. We also have a company called Facilities Contract Services. This is like an employment agency that we obtain employees from that perform in every single department. And they could be in finance. They could be in administration. They could be in recreation. And that estimated savings is about $5.7 million per year. If there are any questions, Mayor, this is a presentation we've made before, and we're open for any questions from the public.

Thank you very much. So my first speaker from the public today is Nancy Batista. If you could come forward and your name and address for the record. There's a button there that says speak, and if you'll press that button, please. You're on.

Nancy Batista, 901 Colony Point Circle, Pembroke Pines. Welcome. Been in Pembroke Pines since 1981. Welcome. I have a question about the budget that concerns personnel. But I need to make sure I get questions for the budget. OK. I don't know how to say this. I'm on Social Security. My COLA this year was 2.8%. Last week at the meeting, Commissioner Good inquired about, the last commission meeting, Commissioner Good inquired about the 10 to 12% pay increases that a number of our professional employees are getting. As of Monday, he had not heard back. And so he could not tell me what the reply was. So I'm going to ask the question.

Mr. Dodge? Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. It varies by contract. For example, All pay increases are through contract negotiations for the union members, and they can vary from year to year.

OK, I'm not talking fire and police. I'm talking finance. General employees.

Yes, that is the same.

Recreation.

Yes, that is the same, ma'am. There is a union contract whereby wages are negotiated and they vary based on performance with the general employees they can get up to 5% based upon their performance. It can go from 0 to 5. Also, on an annual basis, they negotiate an annual increase adjustment for salaries. And that pretty much equals the 10% that you would see in the budget. The information that you referred to from Commissioner Good, it was provided. In a couple cases, there were a situation where an employee was missed that increase, and it was made up the second year. So it seemed to be a little bit higher, but it does match. So that is based on a contractual obligation that is negotiated with the union.

OK. Yes and no. A $30,000 increase a year is a big increase.

Well, I think he just explained that. I understand.

It's contractual. Maybe we need to look at our contracts. I'm just saying. It doesn't seem right.

Can I ask a question? Ms. Batista, thank you for your question. Mr. Dodge, I don't believe she was asking about contractual. I think she was asking about the executive management team.

Well, she didn't say that.

Well, it's my impression, since she asked me the question about the executive management team and the 10.2, if you can address that for her, please.

It follows the same process. For those who are not in a union, the city has honored those same percentages of increase for management as well. So the percentages are exactly the same.

And I can tell you that as the only one here who was here during the recession, when we fall into a state of financial urgency or financial difficulty, and we are forced, as happened during the Great Recession, to take cuts, everyone takes the same cut. That's the way Pembroke Pines operates. The salaries here are adjusted based on competitive negotiation and salary comparisons. And when times are bad, we all take the same cut. This is one team, and there's no There's no distinction between executive or frontline person when it comes to taking cuts or getting salary increases. I can tell you, because this is looked at all the time, that the salary structure in the city of Pembroke Pines is competitive to that of other cities.

Oh, I know it's competitive. I've inquired. I've made public requests for other cities.

We're very much in line with cities of our size and complexity.

OK.

And like I started this, I said- This is going to have to be your last question because we have to get to other speakers. But go right ahead.

Well, I'm going to make one statement and then a question. I have to go back to the fact that my COLA is only 2.8%. Right. And 25% of your employees, I'm sorry, your voters in your city, that's all they got this year.

The union contracts don't negotiate on the basis of what the Social Security COLA is. They negotiate on the basis of what the comparable salaries are for the positions that they represent.

And my next question has to do with one line item. I can't remember the line item. The name of it is subscription and fees, professional prescriptions or subscriptions and fees.

In which department?

There was a line item that has $116,000. I wanted to know if that line item includes every department or if that was one department. If you give me a second, I'll look it up again.

Is that the one in the administration budget?

It's throughout the city. Lisa can address that. But I believe that line item, whichever budget you took it from, includes several. Lisa, can you address that, please?

Ms. Chung?

Good evening, Lisa Chung. I'm looking that up right now, ma'am.

Show of hands if anyone else wants to speak. OK, thank you. OK, we'll call you. Anybody else? Just those two? OK. While you're looking that up. That's all right. I don't need to answer. We'll get you the answer.

Well, that's all right.

Shauna? Your name and address for the record, please.

Good evening, Shauna Lee, address 9701 Southwest 11th Street. And I was here for the last budget, the first budget reading. And good evening, by the way, everyone. I had asked about the Juneteenth budget, the line item for that, and if it was possible to have it increased. I'm not sure. I don't think you've covered that today. I'm not sure where we are with that. I know Commissioner Good pointed out another $500,000 that maybe could go towards special events. I think that's what we saw. And I did address that some of the other activities were substantially more than what was given for Juneteenth. And as a taxpaying citizen, someone who's volunteered and worked hard on this national federal holiday, I just think that it is something that should have something added to it, because every year it has increased. The citizens of this community have really taken to it. They are very happy about it. having it. I know the employees are off for that day. So I know when it first started, there was a book that was read. And now, thank you for having this celebration. But I think that we should continue to have it increase. I know the first year, when Vice Mayor Hernandez spoke about it, he said we were going to do better the next year. We did. And then this past year, he said we would do better the next year. But when I look at the amount, it doesn't align with the amounts of other celebrations. And some of the celebrations, like the Caribbean Heritage Month, there's nothing allocated for that. And so I would like to know if that's something that you all are going to vote on, and will it be increased? Mr. Dodge?

Yes. At the last meeting, Commissioner Good requested an extra $500,000 be put in for those kind of events into the budget. We did modify the budget to make that happen. However, those events that are designated, those projects will come back to the commission to vote on the amount based upon what they are.

Wonderful.

Good job.

That's my question. You got it done. I don't want to wait until May. And like last year, everyone was scrambling to see if there was money left over. So to get the scraps of what's left over, if there's any, I'm just asking if we can have something.

It won't be left over. It'll be designated at a particular time.

Now you know, of course, because we've talked about this before, come January 1 of 2027, the rules with respect to what we can use public dollars for change and it's my intention because of the new law not long after we're done with this budget to begin holding meetings workshops amongst ourselves to begin thinking about how to conform to the law and still stay true to the traditions of our city And that will mean some changes in how we present things. It may mean some more ticketed events rather than free events. It may mean some more sponsored events. rather than subsidized events. I don't know what exactly it will mean, but we will sit down and we will go through it because it's important, and we must do it. We must do it because the law has changed, and so we must comply with the law, but we also must show respect to the city's tradition. So we're going to find a way to do that, and you're going to be part of that discussion. You're Your board is going to be part of that discussion, and we'll get there.

Well, the good news is that Juneteenth is one of the holidays. Yes, that's correct. It hasn't been taken off. That's correct. So at least we don't have to do many adjustments when it comes to that.

But there will be others that we will have to look at.

So the one that I'm addressing now, it's Juneteenth, so I'm just asking you all to respectfully look at that.

And I want to thank you for your advocacy, and I want to thank Commissioner Good for his advocacy, because you ended up getting that money into the budget, and I'm thrilled to hear it. Okay?

I'll be checking. Thank you all very much.

Ulysses, your name and your address for the record, please.

Good evening, everybody. Commission, thank you for allowing me to speak. My name's Ulysses, and my address is 1300 Southwest, 130th Avenue. It's Century Village. So I just have one question. I was noticing your budget, Mr. Dodge, and I saw the vendors that we have, and I know them well because I do contract work here, so I do full permits and The inspectors are from Calvin and Associates. So I saw them there, and I saw, I think it was an HR company, I think, that we use. That's fine. My question is, how often do we RFP them, you know, request for a proposal?

We have a procurement ordinance that governs that. The RFP for building services has been widely used reviewed by this commission, probably in greater depth than ever before. It is currently now on the street.

How often do we do it? I mean, how often do we put out the RFP?

It depends on the procurement, but I think it's every five years, and then there could be renewals.

I believe with that one it was. It may have been a little bit longer, but others are less. Some could be three years. It's going to be five years. Calvin and Associates, do we know on them? On the building department, the number of years, I don't recall, do you?

I mean, how often have we RFP'd them? And the reason I ask, Mr. Mayor, is that in the corporate world, if we don't put out a bid for them to challenge what they're charging us at this point, or even keep them honest. I mean, customer service is important. I've dealt with the Calvin and Associates quite a bit. Electrical inspectors, plumbing, the whole AC.

they don't they represent the city right okay so i i believe that they should uh be scrutinized well as i say that that rfp is on the street uh oh it's already out yes yes oh it's on the street right now oh and uh yeah and uh we uh we uh uh have a procurement ordinance that governs that and uh That's how it works.

That's great. That was my question. I mean, just to keep them honest. And I know we've spoken about that.

Mayor, if I could jump in, because we have spoken about it outside of the dais. And I do think it's important, incredibly important, as you state, Routinely have competitive bidding you don't know if you're having the best price best efficient most efficient service without going to a competitive bid I joked about I was raised a Catholic and now I'm Anglican But ultimately I'm of the religion of competitive bidding just because I believe that's exactly how a city should So and I know others on the dais were advocates of that particular contract being sent out to, when they say the street, that's a technical term. It means it's out for anyone to review to bid. So I appreciate your comments. I didn't know what you were going to speak on tonight, but I appreciate it. I didn't either. I just saw it. I appreciate it, because I agree with you in having not just a constituent, but someone from the industry I really appreciate the comment.

Well, thank you, Commissioner. Thank you, Vice Mayor. And thank you for answering my question.

Thank you very much. Good job. Thank you. OK. Anyone else want to be heard on this? OK. We will close the public hearing. And we will have, do we need another roll call, Mr. City Attorney?

Mayor, if you will, I can read into the record the first ordinance, which is establishing the millage for the new fiscal year.

Yeah, my question was, it says roll call here. Do we need another roll call?

I think the roll was already taken, Mr. Mayor. Okay, go right ahead. Thank you, Mayor. For the purpose of the record, this is the budget public hearing number two. It's a motion to adopt proposed ordinance number 2026-09 on second and final reading with a public hearing required by state law. Proposed ordinance number 2026-09 is an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, establishing the operating millage rate of $5.6690, or $5.6690 for $1,000 of taxable assessed property value, which is 4.5% above the rollback rate. of 5.4226 for the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, pursuant to the 2026-2027 city budget in accordance with chapter 200 of the Florida statutes and establishing the debt service millage rate of 0.250 Pardon me, 0.2507 for the debt service on the general obligation bonds approved by the electorate, providing for conflicts, providing for survivability, and providing for an effective date under the provisions of the city charter, the code of ordinances, and principally state law. This is now a public hearing and consideration by the mayor and commission to approve the millage for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you very much. Can I have a motion, please?

I will move.

Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second? Moved by the Vice Mayor, is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion on the item?

If no one's going first, you're good?

No, we'll go down the line, I guess.

OK. Thank you. So I want to first thank City Manager Dodge, but also, in particular, our Assistant City Manager, Lisa Chong, and her team, which they're not sitting up there, but I see them. And I appreciate everything you all do, especially responding to our questions. Oftentimes, whether it's a resident or others that may not have worked with municipal or county government, they ask you that one time you vote on the budget. But the reality is that having experience working in Miami-Dade County government for that mayor and that budget, the final budget that I worked on before I left to the private sector was $8 billion. So much larger budget than we're dealing with here. What I can tell you is it's a year-long process. You may vote in September for a fiscal year that kicks off October 1 and ends September 30. You may have budget amendments. But it's not two votes in September, a first and a second reading. It is an ongoing process throughout the year. So I do want to thank the administration for being very collaborative in the development of the municipal budget. I understand there were challenges. I understand that there's uncertainty moving forward through no fault of our own. But having worked with, as I mentioned, budgets much larger than this, I mean enterprise funds much larger than this, this is a very professional budget and put together by outstanding professionals in this city. And oftentimes, having been a staffer myself, I know you're not appreciated. And your salaries are public. Your compensation is public. And you actually become kind of like a piñata. And folks criticize or outright insult municipal employees. And I think it's despicable because you're public servants. And you show up to work every day and you serve the city. And I say that I'm looking at you all, but I'm looking at our firefighters, both command staff and labor, same with our police officers. I can only speak for myself, my wife, and my children. I love living in the city of Pembroke Pines because of what you all make this city. Well, I mean, you can clap, but I wasn't planning on that. Thank you. I really appreciate it. And it's not always smooth. We have disagreements with administration, with command staff, with leadership. But overall, I wouldn't want to raise my children anywhere else in South Florida. I love this city. We have a world-class charter school system that folks move here for. Our police officers and our firefighters are the best in the business. And as I've said in previous meetings, you show up at a restaurant that they happen to be at, they are rock stars. Kids flock to them. Parents thank them for whatever it is that they have done in the community. Again, having dealt with much larger departments, despite the fact that we do have challenges and there are issues that I'm very vocal about here and in private, I think you guys all from Mr. Dodge on down do an outstanding job Throughout this process, I've worked with Manager Dodge, Assistant City Manager Bonilla, which I think is behind me, and all the Assistant City Managers. My questions have been addressed. I have gone through my priorities for my district and really the broader city because you have to look at it beyond just your district. There are areas that I hope we improve upon. But if there's one that I focused on in our last meeting with Manager Dodge was I wanted to see this budget come together as transparently as possible. I understand we're governed by state law. But ultimately, I want to go even further than that. That's why I requested for the manager's presentation to be organized a certain way. I don't like the word function sourcing or outsourcing, but private contracting has saved this city $69 million. By the way, on your procurement question, I hope to save more. I really didn't know he was going to say that today. Thanks for coming. I think it's an efficient budget. And I do believe that if you don't know Charlie Dodge in person, He's all about efficiency and keeping costs low. So I guess you could say in Dodge I trust in that respect, even if there are times where I disagree with a decision and he and I hash it out. We have conversations about it. But I do believe he's doing a very good job along with his team. Finally, yes, our budget is balanced, must be balanced by state law. But having had a career in media, fielding questions from reporters about differences in budgets. Municipal budgets represent your local values. Oftentimes, local governments get grouped with Washington. I can tell you one major difference between local governments and Washington. They can print money. We can't. We must be balanced. We can't run trillion dollar deficits. And it's concerning when those types of comparisons are made. Or when you have public servants who we will call 911 for, hope they save our life, but we question their annual earnings. Incredibly unfortunate. I congratulate you, Mr. Dodge and the team. I don't know what the vote will be like here, but because my questions were answered, because my issues, my concerns were addressed, over a series of several summers, I'm voting up. I will be in favor of this budget. I wasn't necessarily in favor of the first iteration. But working with your team, I feel comfortable with the investments in not just our labor force, IAFF, FOP, but also, very importantly, in our parks and recreation out West Pines. Out in West Pines, in particular, Chapel Trail Park, West Pines Soccer Park, where families like mine gather with their children. And by the way, are protected by Pembroke Pines police and firefighters. So Mayor, I felt normally I don't have that long of a comment on something like our budget, but I felt it was important because I feel like some of our employees or anyone who works in government these days, I think they feel attacked. And municipal employees, county employees, state employees, they are our neighbors. They're not them. or in some obscure other community. There are neighbors. There are friends. And they work very, very hard to make this one of the most desirable cities to live in in all of Florida. If you don't believe us, there are surveys out there, Wallet Hub, among others. So I will be supportive. But Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to thank the Pembroke Pines Employment body not only the municipal administration, but also our charter school teachers our charter school principal I see one over there for what it is that they do for our city. Thank you.

Thank you very much vice mayor Commissioner good Yes, thank you.

Mr.. Mayor, so you know this is Probably one of the most difficult budget processes have experienced since being elected nearly nine years ago. So a lot of competing priorities are surrounding us. Makes it really very, very difficult. Our country is experiencing things that we don't don't normally experience. And it's putting a lot of pressure on government, as well as private businesses. And it's putting a lot of pressure on the households that have to maintain their living, their lifestyles, their ability to afford things. I do have a number of comments. I do want to probably make those comments in the budget portion of this item here. But I will say that there are a number of competing priorities that has driven my decision, at least for the millage rate. Thank you, sir.

OK. Commissioner Rodriguez?

Hi, not much comment on this. I'll hold my commentary for the budget as well, but I do appreciate staff fielding some of the questions that I have asked and incorporating the conversation we had during the first budget hearing. I will say in regards to both the millage and the budget rate, I hope that we can produce what we approve here to the residents and not have the conversation end here in September once the budget approves, but for our residents to know that the budget overall is approved, but we can always have a say on individual items across the entirety of all of the months until the next budget. So I want to make sure that we are really helping our residents understand this really large budget and that they have a voice in that as well in the future.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Schwartz. Thank you, Mayor. I want to first thank the administration and finance. Lisa Chung and your staff have done an excellent job putting together a document that the public has had an opportunity to digest. Ms. Bautista, who spoke earlier tonight, I want to acknowledge, just for the moment, the decorum and the exchange of professionalism and respect that she was given today. But Ms. Bautista and others in social media land haven't gotten the same type of interaction online. And it's quite disappointing. And I'm hoping that going forward, that our residents who ask tough questions of those who work for our government don't get eviscerated online. It's totally uncalled for. That being said, my questions began in July. Actually, end of June, really. after the second meeting that we had in June. I began formulating some concerns. I spoke with residents. Residents called me, emailed me. We met for coffees. We had kitchen table discussions about what the future of Pembroke Pines in this year's budget is going to look like. Families who are struggling with fuel prices, groceries, trying to figure out how to put clothes on their kids' back, and managing the balance of making sure that this local government can provide the high quality services necessary to ensure that their quality of life doesn't change as much as their individual households are currently facing. So I asked a series of questions through July. I asked a series of questions through August. even so much as just a couple days ago. And it was quite extensive. Probably more questions I've asked in the 14 years. This is my 15th budget. In the 14 years I've set up the response, generally, I was pleased with the number of questions that had been answered. There's still more to go. Not everything's been answered. And given the scope in which I asked, I do recognize that it may have been necessary for us to have had a workshop back in April going into what we knew was a potential difficult decision year. But not having the ability to do that, we get the budget on August the 1st. Then we get to digest the 500 plus pages of a budget. We get to answer some questions or ask questions of staff. And in the month of August, we have two commission meetings. And sometimes it takes just a little while to formulate the best approach to get the best response possible to be prepared for a meeting like this. So my initial send out to administration I offered to pare it down for first reading. And I want to thank Lisa Chung and the administration for allowing me to be prepared for the first reading. Then came the fire budget, which is separate from the first reading. It's a separate budget. It's a separate hearing. And I was, again, pleased that Lisa Chung and her staff and the administration were able to satisfy those questions so I could be prepared to respond. Last night, after five, I guess, we got a 366-page document with answers to the majority of the questions I had asked. Quite voluminous to read through 366 pages of PDF. But I appreciate the effort that staff made to make sure that I was prepared, and my colleagues, because the entire commission was prepared for that. So Ms. Chung, again, I want to thank you for your professionalism. So I don't intend to go through the hundreds of pages tonight. That's not my intent. Good. I want to focus on the numbers that we're actually adopting tonight. The use of reserves, the changes since the first reading, discretionary versus required expenditures, and several items that I believe need clarification before final action is taken this evening. I'll start off by asking about the individual accounts through the city manager to our finance director. What's the final general fund revenues and the final general fund expenditures that we're voting on tonight? Mr. Dodge?

Trump, Assistant City Manager, Finance Director. The general fund revenues, $297,518,135. Mr.

Dodge, thank you. Commissioner, I'm going to give you some leeway, but we're on the millage. The budget is the next item, but go right ahead.

Well, so here's the thing, Mayor. I need to have these...

answered so i can decide whether or not miss city attorney yes what is the sequence we are commanded by state law to follow let me respond mayor i asked this very question jay i asked this very question what is the sequence that we are commanded to follow under the state statute governing the approval of millage the statute refers to millage as the first item in the in the delivery and the second of which would be the budget as well and it's been that way since Ever, right? Since Chapter 200 was adopted. You've been here? 15 of them now. Okay. I've been here 23, almost 24. Yeah. It's been this sequence each and every time. Every time, yeah.

I had to check.

Yeah. So if you have questions on the budget, we need to save it for when we're on the budget. Right now we're on the millage.

Okay. So in order to get to what we're going to ask our taxpayers to fund, We need to figure out how much reserves we're using, right? I asked the city administration to come back after first reading on what potential frontline reductions, what reductions could be made that would not impact frontline services. So may I highlight those, Mayor?

Those are budget questions, sir. We are on the millage.

OK, so the administration says that there's $3.885 million in reserve draw that does not support recurring operations. But the administration also indicates that there's no separate breakdown identifying what the $3.885 million actually funds. So how can the commission independently verify and vote on the millage if none of those funds, if none of those reserves support recurring expenditures? I don't know how else to say it.

Those are budget questions, Commissioner. And I'm trying to give you as much leeway as I can and make sure that we adhere to state law at a time when things are very litigious. So I have to ask you, and I have to ask you, please, last time, please, we are on the millage. Your budget questions will be acknowledged, will be addressed, will be answered. That is the next item. All right. We are on the millage.

We're going to have to move the question then now.

OK. Is there anything else on this? All right. Mr. City Clerk, please call the roll.

And Mayor, just for the record, the public comment is still available should the mayor accept any on the record for the ordinance before the commission on the millage.

And four votes are required, correct?

as proposed by administration, the answer is yes. Please call the roll.

Vice Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Commissioner Rodriguez?

Yes.

Commissioner Good?

I'd like to have a minute more, Mr. Mayor. All right. Keep going.

Commissioner Schwartz?

I'd like to wait for Commissioner Goode.

We're going to take a five-minute recess, and then we'll start from scratch. Thank you very, very much. The motion to establish the millage rate has been read. It's been moved and seconded. Mr. Clerk, will you start from scratch on the vote?

Vice Mayor Hernandez. Yes. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Yes.

Commissioner Goode.

Again, Mr. Mayor, I just want to reiterate the difficulty in this question and having to weigh all the issues that are before us, whether it be the city, whether it be residents, businesses, other agencies, and things like that. I do recognize that we have a lot of very important issues that we have to address this year. I'm going to make my vote a yes, sir. Thank you.

Commissioner Schwartz.

I ask the city attorney, would it be lawful to recess this portion without taking any action and move to the second reading of the budget without any voting, and then come back to this so we can have a more robust and informed conversation. The city attorney said it was lawful. Is that correct, city attorney?

Let me respond to you on the record through the mayor, if I may. If a motion is made to recess this meeting and it's adopted by the body, then that's what the body can decide to do. It's not independently decided by the mayor or by any member of the body. If a motion is made to recess for that purpose, it's on the motion. Maker of the motion would have to make that on the record.

I don't understand that answer. The question was in the sequencing, which I had asked you before.

Yes.

Must we pass a millage before we entertain the budget? And I was told that the order in which this is presented is how the state statute commands us to proceed. Commissioner Schwartz's question is... must we pass a millage rate before we can have a discussion?

No, that wasn't my question.

Well, that's my question.

Well, OK, it's your question.

You can ask your question.

I did.

I didn't get an answer to that question. I don't believe that I misstated your question. The question before us is what is the sequencing, correct?

May I respond, Mayor? The sequencing is, as I described it earlier, the millage must be approved before the budget is adopted.

There it is.

Right. But my inquiry during our five-minute break was without taking any vote, without taking any vote, can we recess this portion to have a conversation about the budget without taking a vote and then come back and then vote? I find that out of order. Well, this is the city attorney. Can you please advise the chair?

The chair, if he finds the motion to be out of order, if you disagree with that, the body would have to decide on the mayor's decision to call it out of order.

I can't, based on the city attorney's advice, commissioner, violate the state law. The city attorney has said that the state law is clear. And we have a particularly, how shall I say, picky, Stay right now with respect to procedure and process. And it's my job to make sure that we comply. If the city attorney has said that we must pass a millage rate first and then entertain the budget. And so it's your turn to vote.

No.

OK. OK.

Mayor Castillo.

Yes. And by your vote, the millage rate is established for the next year. It will be the 12th year, correct, Ms. Chong, that the 12th consecutive year that we lower the millage rate. Is that correct?

It's actually the 11th.

Oh, this will be the 11th.

Yes, sir.

Okay. So it's the 11th year. I don't know of very many cities that can say the same. Not many at all. And I'm very proud of the... Administration for putting this budget together. This is a difficult time. It's not an easy vote for me. It's not been an easy vote for any of us because of the times that we live in. But we have produced a budget that will continue to support, as Vice Mayor said, the work plan that is necessary in order to produce one of the finest cities, not just, Vice Mayor, in the state of Florida, in the United States. Pembroke Pines is one of the finest places in the United States in which to live and raise a family, do business, recreate, shop or retire. Period. End of discussion. It has been rated that way for a very, very long time. And I think that the administration has put forward a responsible plan for this. the continuity of those standards under very, very difficult financial circumstances. And I thank you for it. Mr. City Attorney, what is the number on this?

I'm going to address that, Mayor. For the purpose of the record and for the Florida Department of Revenue, the permanent number for those who need to pay attention is 2062. The delivery of the millage ordinance will be delivered as required by state law to the Department of Revenue and other organizations, including the property appraiser and the tax collector. But the millage has adopted 2062. Next up, Mayor and Commissioners, the third public hearing regarding the budget to be adopted by the City Commission. If you will allow me to proceed.

Yes. I also want to say that I happen to agree with the sentiment that several have expressed here that the state law is reverse in how it should be done. It is very, very difficult for us to follow a state law on establishing a millage rate without having second reading on the budget first as one drives the other. And it just seems to me that the state's law places the cart before the horse. Be that as it may, my opinion does not trump the law. The law is what the law says. And we are following the state's laws because we must. And actions will be taken if we don't. And I'm very clear about that. And so we're going to be following the way our state commands us to proceed. So please read the next item.

Thank you, Mayor and Commission, for the last public hearing regarding the budget. It's 2026-10, which is a motion to adopt proposed ordinance number 2026-10 on second and final reading with a public hearing as required by law. For the record, proposed ordinance number 2026-10 is an ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, adopting the budget for the fiscal year 2026 to 2027, and adopting the five-year capital improvement program for the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, in accordance with section 5.08 of the city charter, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. BPH number three, which is the public hearing on the last segment of the approval, is 2026-10 to approve the annual budget. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Can I have a motion, please?

I will move it.

The move by the Vice Mayor. Is there a second? Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Commissioners, with your indulgence, because we have a student who has to get to school tomorrow, I would ask you all, please, to rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led today by Ella Marsala, who is a Pembroke Pines Charter High School sophomore. She's 16 years old, and she lives in the city of Pembroke Pines. And Ella, when you are ready, please lead us in the pledge, and then we will continue standing for the national anthem.

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. O say can you see By the dawn's early light What so proudly we hailed At the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars Through the perilous fights O'er the ramparts we watched Were so gallantly streaming And the rocket's red glare The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home

Thank you, Ella. Beautifully done. Thank you very much. And we have today two presentations. One of them is the Natalie Belmonte Award. Miguel and Selenia Colon, are you here today? Do you need to leave right away? OK, could you do me a favor? And with your indulgence, you're going to enjoy our discussion on the budget. And then we're going to give you this beautiful award. And please don't leave, because there's a $50 Home Depot certificate there. I don't want to. I know that. Money is being offered for people to hang around these days. But this is a real certificate. And also, I know that Dr. Jurado, you are here. And you will give us a little bit of your time. And I appreciate that. And it's also Hunger Action Month. Are you guys here? And I want to thank you. Are you pressed for time? I can do this right away. If you don't mind. Thank you. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Hunger Action Month, whereas since 1981, Feeding South Florida, our good friends, and we can't thank you enough for how well you helped us during COVID and all the time.

I'm a 35-year resident of Pembroke Pines as well.

Well, so you know the story, and we thank you for that. Since 1981, the Feeding South Florida has worked to address hunger and food insecurity in the city of Pembroke Heights by providing our community with immediate access to nutritious foods and other vital resources and supports, and whereas hunger does not discriminate, it knows no race, religion, age in South Florida, affecting approximately one million individuals facing hunger Food should never be impossible choice for the community of the City of Pembroke Pines and whereas Feeding South Florida leads hunger and poverty advocacy efforts in our community while transforming lives through innovative programs. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, Mayor of the City of Pembroke Pines, do hereby proclaim September 26th as Hunger Action Month and urge residents of the city to join us in supporting Feeding South Florida during this month of action. No one In the United States, you go hungry. And I want to thank you for everything you do to help make sure that that doesn't happen.

I remember the distributions here in 2020.

A few words?

Yeah, on behalf of Feeding South Florida, I do want to thank the city of Pembroke Pines. As we've heard, a lot of people are having a hard time with the things that are going on, the high cost of food, the lack of affordable housing, phone bill, light bill, car bill, everything that's just hitting. So we do appreciate this. The need is growing exponentially, but the community does pull together, and it's municipalities and cities like Pembroke Pines that allows us to continue to do the work we do. So thank you.

We're proud of you, and we thank you. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Motion on the budget has been made and seconded. Vice Mayor.

I don't have additional comments other than what I already have stated for the record. I did make the motion. I believe Commissioner Rodriguez seconded it, so I turn it over to you, Mayor, and our colleagues. Thank you very much. Commissioner Goode.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So just a quick question to the city manager. Aside from the events line item, is there any other changes that have been made to the budget?

Yes, Mayor. For the events, we added that amount, but we also were able to credit the money that was originally set for elections. And that came off, so we didn't have to add the full amount. amount of the $500,000 to the beginning surplus.

OK. And thank you for that then. So at our first budget hearing, I did a lot of commenting on how I felt about the budget. And since that meeting, I have asked for additional information. I've had conversation with several staff members. I'm still absent some information. It was very, very important to me. And some of the questions or the responses that were made to me, I don't know that I'm in full agreement with... with the responses, because I certainly have additional questions on the responses that were given to me that I've yet been able to get additional responses to. So those items, of course, I'll just reiterate some of my highlighted issues. Again, one of the items was we talked about having a solid waste manager. Mr. Manager, I know that we had conversation And you had indicated now is probably not the time to do that. I still believe that now is the time to do that. I, again, reiterate my concerns about the fact that here we are still with an outdated ordinance that staff hasn't been able to get to. the fact that we have other type of operations that are occurring in the city that I think that there may be leakage in terms of what potential revenues that may be due to us, which this position probably can pay for itself. Also, the fact that we are going into a new age of the county entering into solid waste authority because this city did not join that solid waste authority because we have our own plans which we believe are much more effective and efficient and cost friendly to our residents and our businesses. I think it's very important to have somebody to help guide us through some of that because we are a favorable target for the industry right now. They really see us as an advantage. And I think this is a great opportunity for us to be able to really take that interest and see what we can do with it in terms of providing more benefit to our city. So I still believe that that position should be funded now going forward. But it hasn't been added.

The other thing I- Commissioner Good, or maybe to you and the city attorney, I don't know, whoever wants to jump in. But from the dais, we have the ability tonight to, say, fund the position of, what would we call it, solid waste director?

Just a solid waste manager, just somebody who's the authority within the city that has very, very good understanding of the industry, an industry expert.

Okay. So to Mr. Gorin, we have that ability from the dais as a commission.

May I respond, Mr. Mayor?

Yes.

The answer is yes, and the reason is that the budget is submitted by the city administration by August 1st under the charter. It is the manager's proposal to the commission, and that's before you this evening, but you control the conclusions that are reached in that budget. I knew the answer. I just really wanted to hear your voice, Sam, and the answer.

Commissioner Good, I'm just stating on the record, if you are to make that motion as part of another motion, I'm going to be supportive, but I wanted to just put on record that we have the ability, the five of us up here, well, four of us here, and Commissioner Rodriguez on the phone, to make that adjustment to the budget. So I'll be supportive.

We do. And if I can just clarify, my view was informed by the manager's view. He and I had a discussion because we had this discussion on the dais. And his view is that until and unless the city commission authorizes us to go into the ventures that would force us for good reason not to join the solid waste authority, that in that instance, it would make sense to have this position. Right now, we have Mr. Gomes, who has been doing as good a job as anyone could in guiding us together with the city manager, who I think is pretty good at this topic. Certainly, if we were to open a venture, city manager agrees that we'd need the position. What happens if this commission decides to not go down that road and to instead join the Solid Waste Authority, as we very well might choose to do? Then you're stuck with an individual who we have to pay a salary to who would not actually have a job. But that individual would have won if we decided to go the other way. And so as I understand the managers, the way he explained it to me, there's a sequence to this. And the sequence is that when he is prepared, he will come to us and offer that alternative. If it meets the approval of the city commission, at that point, he's going to need somebody who can be that overseer. Is that correct, Mr. Manager?

That's my position, Mayor.

So the other thing is, in order to fund that position, which in the instance of us agreeing to go down that particular road makes total sense, it would need to be paid for out of trash fees. So we would have to amend the trash fees upward in order to include the position. And so the manager convinced me, based on his experience, that this was something that we should not do now. That doesn't keep this commission from choosing to do it anyway. But I think that what the manager is saying is at least sensible enough to consider. And so I wanted to say, because you mentioned that it was me, my opinion on this comes straight from the manager. I didn't have a view on it. before you brought it up. So please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So everything that you said was certainly in the conversation that I had with the manager, and I have the right to have a different opinion to that. And the only additional thing that I would add, other than what I've already said about why I believe that this position is very important, is that even if we do go into the Solid Waste Authority, we're still going to need a position that ensures that we continue to remain in compliance with the many rules and regulations that they're about ready to throw onto all the membership that's in the Solid Waste Authority. So, I mean, they're ramping up and they're going to start everybody that's in the solid waste authority are going to find themselves highly restricted and they're going to find themselves in a need to have somebody that is fully engaged and active on a daily basis to ensure that there's compliance. And so I recognize the position that you say this way or that way, I still think that position is very, very important. So what I'd like to do, and I'd just like to dispense with this right now and just make a motion that we add that position to the budget.

And that's an amendment. Before there's a second, I have a... Commissioner Goode, you've been in industry for over 20 years. I don't want to box this in for a compensation package. Can you give a general range of what today's compensation package, how much that would actually cost?

I actually have my next issue is going to talk about that, about compensation. But for right now, I can't. I can tell you, though, that certainly that the fair compensation for this is not going to be any kind of substantial impact to the budget in any way shape or form so Commissioner good.

Yeah, and I again I Respect you we have 38,000 Accounts That we that we collect for the trash disposal so whatever that compensation package is it's divided by 38,000 and

And don't forget the business accounts.

Okay. So generally, City Manager Dodge, how many business accounts do we have? Roughly. I don't need a...

I'm not sure, Commissioner, but it would be a combination of your residential and your commercial both. Okay. So it's not an equal amount.

I know it's not equal. Would you say $50,000 for the purposes of that?

He doesn't have the number, Commissioner. We can bring it back to you, give staff a chance. They were prepared for this question.

I think the staff may have been prepared, because I know Commissioner Good asked the question ahead of time.

Well, if they were prepared, they'd have answered. He's saying he doesn't know.

Well, perhaps the manager doesn't have the answer, but someone from staff might. Now, I'd like to know, what is our total? Mr. Dodge, does anybody here know? Because it's a simple math equation.

As far as the number of commercial accounts?

Yeah, roughly.

I don't have that number, and I wouldn't want to guess.

OK, can we now pull up the account and see how much we collect every year? Do we really have to go to that point and divide by 12? Can we find out how many accounts we have? I don't want to be combative. I don't want to be argumentative. But Commissioner Good has a valid point. And the mayor raises the point that fees are going to go up. So I'd like to be able to do a simple math equation And we can go with $38,000. If we don't know the commercial, then we know at least it's going to actually go down. Can we start with 38? We can agree to that. So if the compensation package was, let's say, $380,000, which it will never be at that point, you divide that by 38,000. And how much is that per account? Can we do that? It's simple math. Now, we know it's not going to be $380,000. We know it's probably going to be half of that. So can we not say that the sky is going to fall and fees are going to go up? If we can just divide.

Commissioner, let's not dramatize this. No one said the sky is falling. No one said anything. We simply said that it would have to be paid for by trash fees.

Great. And if we can say that it's going to go up $0.25 a bill per month, to make sure that we're not getting hosed by industry.

Again, no one's talking about getting hosed.

Commissioner Good wants to protect the public by having a consultant who is in industry, who is well-versed in industry, to protect the interests of our residents. He wants a compliance person familiar with the

familiar with the industry on board. We have an assistant city manager, and we also have Rose, who deals with the residential pickup all the time. The manager has recommended against it. Commissioner Good is making a recommendation to include it in the budget. The item has been seconded. You have asked for detail the staff do not have.

So let me ask a follow-up question.

None of that other stuff is on the table.

OK. So Commissioner Good, are you looking at making a budget adjustment, or are you looking to add this to the current expenditure line? Are you looking to pull something out in order to make this work?

Before we get into this discussion, we have a second, right? You seconded it?

I moved it. I believe Commissioner Rodriguez seconded it. She did. No, no, no, no.

I'm talking about the amendment. The amendment. Well, I haven't been able to. Put a position. Right, right. Commissioner Schwartz. So before we get into the discussion on the substance, we need to have a second. I'm seconding Commissioner. So Vice Mayor has seconded. Commissioner Schwartz.

All right, I didn't realize we didn't have a second on the table. My apologies. We have $3.88 million in reserves that we're funding. I asked the administration to find cost reductions. I have a list that they've proposed. We have new positions that have been created. There's a proposed cost for that. I question Commissioner Good. Are you looking at leaving the expenditure line the same? Are you looking to increase our reserve contribution in order to fund this proposed position?

So I would, if you put me in that circumstances, I mean, I believe that I would leave that to the city manager to make the determination on that. If it had to be, it could be an increase in the reserve fund of a few dollars that probably would never be spent because, again, I believe that this position will create the additional revenue to support their own salary. If I may. Personally, honestly, and professionally, I've seen that.

Okay. And I don't disagree that we leave it up to the manager. But this budget has $4.2 million in vacancies. position vacancies that were identified in April that have not been updated for this budget hearing. So for the last five months, there hasn't been an adjustment for $4.2 million in budgeted vacancy. We're using $3.88 million in reserve for a vacancy. OK. Mr. Dodge, is that correct?

I think I need to explain it a little differently. Yes, we have in the budget, in order to balance it roughly, I think it's now, Lisa, at $4.1 million? Yes. It's at $4.1 million. And then we have estimated budget savings. So the two combined was close to $9 million. If you were to balance the budget and not use any estimated budget savings or reserves, you would then have to increase the millage to bring in that $9 million. I have never recommended that approach because we've always been very efficient on how we manage expenditures. So we've had surplus funds remaining at the end of the year. Budget for it and tax people for it, we just estimate that we have estimated budget savings, and we say we're going to use reserves. They're not designated for any purpose. So if you're going to add something to the budget, That's fine. But if you're going to cut other things, it's not going to reduce anything, because you would only reduce that amount from the reserves. In other words, Commissioner, if I'm following you, that you've made a list of all of these vacancies and everything, and we can reduce the budget. You're not really reducing the budget.

I didn't make the list, sir. You provided it to me. All right.

Well, sir, that was an illustrative example that was used. For a subsequent year, when we get into Amendment 3, I presented to you what are some approaches we could do. If the ballot passes, what is it we would look at? We took a snapshot of this budget, and we had vacancies. Those vacancies, some of them already may have been committed for and filled, but they're not in the budget. And every year you have those where people retire. And it takes a few months probably to fill them. So there are monies left over. And all of those monies have gone into your fund balance. How do you think we accumulated $66 million that we used for the strategic plan if we had not saved those dollars. That was an investment of creating capital so we didn't have to borrow money.

Mr. Dodge, in this year's budget, there's $5 million of estimated budget savings in this year's budget. Correct. But yet, the last two years, The previous two years, it was approximately $11.2 and $13.3 million. Correct. We have a budget savings of more than half in this year's budget than we had in the previous two.

OK, I don't understand your point, Commissioner. What is it you're trying to?

We are straying now from, it's a relevant question to the budget, but we are straying now from the motion. Your question had to do with how Commissioner Good saw his motion passed. He's responded to that, that the city manager would have to come back to us with his plan.

Well, my motion is that we add the position using the surplus funds, whatever that would be.

And then the manager would come back to us with his plan for how to fund it. Are there any more questions on the amendment?

Yes, I have a comment. if we can get clarity as well as when we're saying that we're going to fund it with the, um, with basically extra funds, would that be reoccurring? Cause from my understanding, we don't want to necessarily make a salary position out and pay that out of funds that we only have year to year. Mr.

Manager. Well, I think, um, What has been said, and it's appropriate, that if, in fact, this is part of solid waste, then that fee should be in that budget, not so much the reserves. But that's something we can figure out how to do. And I know where Commissioner Schwartz was trying to get, what was it, $0.25 a month increase? I don't think that's something we have to do immediately. We can wait six months and figure out where we are based on customer base and revenues versus our expenditures and make a recommendation at that time what needs to be done. But, I mean, if it's the commission's desire to fund the position, then so be it, and we'll work on it. But I don't think this is going to break the budget or change anything in the budget to create it, to make it imbalanced, in other words.

Any more questions on the amendment?

I need a second. Did you second it?

The vice mayor has seconded your item. Okay. Any from the public? On the amendment, all those in favor say aye. Aye.

Aye.

Anyone says no? Motion passes unanimously. Commissioner Good.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So my next item was dealing with was employee compensations. And again, I have additional questions. I know that we voted on a collective bargaining agreement for our general employees. I know that when we took that up, there was a reference to it being a 5% increase to the employees. But there is another item that was added to that, which is some annual increase that gets added that I was not even aware of. So when we took that item up, I was only believing that we were giving And generous 5% to everybody, but it turned out to be a bit more. And then it's not applied equally across board. As you've heard the city manager earlier say something to the reference of, well, they didn't get it last year. They're going to get it this year. And so it kind of doubles. And so I think it's very important for us to have a little bit more conversation about compensation to employees in a more informative context, because the more I get into this, the more I realize that we are going to benefit if we understand it a bit more. I'm just going to leave it there. I have other questions.

Can you make a note of that?

He can make a note, but I'm going to bring it to you myself.

Okay, good.

This is an issue that I'd like to bring forward and talk a little bit more about how we can put policies and some guide rails and how some of these things are going so that, you know, there's not an unexpected, you know, compensation that we otherwise wouldn't expect.

Yeah, we'll look forward to that.

Yeah, and the other thing was, again, was the FCS. I mean, I did get some information from the FCS, you know, you know, the staffing and things like that. And I will tell you that just brought more questions to me. FCS, again, of course, is the employment contractor that we use. And again, I just, you know, I got a single year. I didn't get the multiple years like I was looking for in regards to, you know, seeing how the positions are changing or, you know, the staffing levels, what the compensations are, you know, I don't even know what some of the job descriptions are on some of these positions. And when you look at some of them, you just ask yourself, what is that for? And some of them just seem to have a multiple number of position titles. And when you think about it, you say to yourself, well, how do you need that many people when obviously one or two would would resolve that. So there's more conversation that needs to be had, and I think it has to be done again on the dais here a little bit. We need to be understanding a little bit more how many people are over in the finance, how many people are in the police, how many people are in the charter school, and what those roles are. And listen, it's easy to sit there and just load up. you know, a bunch of positions. Do we really need those positions to be loaded up, you know? But that's something that the city manager and staff during a review process can explain it to us because none of that has ever been explained to us, how many people they need, you know, what percentage of their departments are being staffed by contracts and, you know, and how they're being compensated. I mean, I saw in there too that they're probably, I think, I read something about they're getting a 7.5% increase, but then there's a burden rate of 19%. What are we paying a burden rate for on these FCS contract employees? I'm thinking you just pay one price and you're done.

Do you want to bring this item back soon?

Sure. That's clearly on my agenda for things.

We can get into all of that.

Yeah, to have more conversation as we move forward. Yes, sir. And then, again, too, I asked for information regarding a projection of what we anticipate to be for rollovers, what kind of things are in the capital. You know, and when we talked First budget hearing, I kept making reference, Mr. Manager, and I apologize to you. I was saying we need to have a capital budget, a capital budget. It's not a capital budget. I misspoke. We need to have a capital fund, a separate fund specifically for capital that has to get approved every year just as we approved You know the operating fund the general fund so that way you know because there are projects that have been there for a while And we've had conversations about this mr.. Manager, and you even share with me you know that some changes are going to probably come up with some of these capital projects because of cost increases and things like that and so I think that rather than just I said you know in it in a in a Commission meeting approve an item that's a capital project. And then it gets tucked away. And it takes a couple of years before that project actually can get expended. But a couple of years means, well, obviously increases. And we should see that on a regular basis. We should see that on an annual basis. And we do that through a capital fund. And we approve it the same time we do as an operating fund. So again, but I don't have any of that information. And that's really relevant. to making decisions on the budget that we have, because the budget does include about $10 million of capital projects. Is that correct?

Yes, for all departments. But they're mostly in capital and mostly in police and fire capital expenses for equipment.

OK. Again, it would be helpful for me to recognize if I'm making a decision on capital projects today, what capital projects have been left over in the past that still hasn't been completed yet. So I mean, it's very important for me to make a decision on that. But again, I'm just going to reemphasize the capital fund. We should be really thinking about putting one together. So Mr. Mayor, for right now, that's all I have. I appreciate it.

Very good points, Commissioner. And I want to thank you very, very much for your attentiveness to this. And we look forward to your item. Commissioner Rodriguez. We'll come back to Commissioner Rodriguez. Commissioner Schwartz.

Thank you. And Commissioner Good, I think it's a good idea to have that fun discussion. It's just easier to digest everything. All right. So I want to try to be as brief as I possibly can. The expenditures from first reading to second reading. There's now a $250,000 flock reduction. There's $147,000 for media FCS reduction. There's a revised election expenditure incorporated. Has that been changed, Mr. Dodge, in the final number for the expenditures?

Yes, it has.

And what's our total expenditure reduction from first reading to second reading?

It's broken down into different categories. Lisa can address that. Just the total. But they had been add-ons and subtractions. I understand. I'm looking for the expenditure reductions. So the fund balance that we have in this budget now, I believe, is $4.1 million, Lisa?

The only changes we made between the first and the second would have been the $250,000 for the election and the $500,000 that we added for the parks. So we added an additional to about $247,000 to beginning surplus.

Ms. Chung, you said? Whatever else, Commissioner, is reduced from the budget will reduce the beginning surplus. for the balanced budget. It will not come from anywhere else.

Ms. Chung, you mentioned parks. You meant the recreation side. Recreation, okay. Mr. Dodge, you had mentioned that we have $2.5 million in contingency that has been budgeted on first reading.

Correct.

Why would we not just take it out of contingency?

Because the contingency are set aside for anything that may come up that wasn't anticipated. It also, we set aside money for future for contractual negotiations. And to spell them out would put us at a disadvantage if we're dealing with the any bargaining unit. So we don't really identify that breakdown.

I had asked between first and second reading for a five-year history of those contingency expenditures. I don't recall. I may have missed seeing it, but I don't recall seeing the breakdown of what the contingencies were.

As you know, we gave you 363 pages of stuff. We said, were you able to get to that item yet?

That one was one of the pending that we hadn't gotten to.

OK. There's a few that are still pending, Commissioner.

OK. Which goes to the next point. Administration identified approximately $1 million in contingency and another $2 to $3 million of general capital that could potentially be reduced or deferred. So why use the $3.885 million of reserves before evaluating those expenditures?

Commissioner, I still believe you're confusing what we had presented when we were talking about cuts for Amendment 3. That was just a projection in time to give an illustrative example for the 27-28 budget. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the current budget. It's an assumption.

It's an assumption. That's all. It's an assumption. Reserve policy. After the final changes were made in first reading, where does the projected unassigned general fund balance stand relative to both the city's 10% policy and the 25% benchmark presented in your response?

We are above that. I believe that was answered in the report to you. Lisa, do you have that in front of you?

Yes, sir. So the reserve policy says we have a minimum of 10%, which we have exceeded. The GFOA recommends anywhere to a three-month equivalent, which is around 25%. And we normally hover within that range between 27% to 30%.

OK, I'm just trying to get on the record. What's our current funding percentage for that?

I would say right now we're at possibly about 30%.

About 30%. And Mayor, I recall, before I even got to the commission, I think the height may have been 40% at some point. And it was a good thing we had that, because we had Hurricane Oblivion come through here. We had a lot of cleanup, and we had to wait several years before we got reimbursed. It was like over $4 million or something like that, if I'm not mistaken, on the cleanup costs that the city had put away. But there was a discussion. I mean, this was... This was a while ago. This was probably 2008 or 2009 range, where the city commission pressed the administration to kind of pull back the reins a little bit and kind of tampered down, 40% was just too much. So the question is, is 27%, 28%, 29% the right percentage or not? And that's really a discussion, I think.

You're talking about the hurricane cleanup fund?

No, not the fund itself. Just the overall reserve policy. I mean, it's probably been 20 years since it's been discussed. And I just don't know in today's dollars.

I'm not sure I heard the question.

Do you have enough money in the hurricane cleanup fund?

We do, because we have other reserves that even if it's not designated there, if you need it, we would have the cash to handle cleanup and wait for reimbursement from FEMA.

OK. All right, so going back to Ms. Bautista, she had emailed me specific line items. I emailed that information to the administration. I just need, on the record, for some clarification. Just for the executive team, only the executive members of management, the proposed increases, is that salary only, or is that total loaded compensation?

Mr. Dodge? Whatever you ask Lisa, she'll have to respond as to how she calculated that.

Ms. Chong?

Could you refer to that specific question?

Yeah. The salaries that are budgeted for executive team members, city manager, assistant city managers, is that salary only or is that total compensation as far as the increase?

That's salaries only.

All right, moving on. Okay. Mr. Dodge, he addressed the vacancies earlier, so I will miss that one. Okay, the media communications expansion. What measurable service deficiency is this communications expansion intended to correct? What is the purpose of this? We dropped the, I think, $147,000 out of communications. The remaining balance, what are we going to be doing with that new position that's under your... That's within the senior manager budget. Your line item.

When you say the new position, we're replacing the, we're advertising for a director for communications. That's not a new position. I don't recall the salary that was established by HR, but it's whatever that might be. If there's extra money there left over, of course it's not spent. It eventually ends up in fund balance.

or to the waste consultant.

To a what?

What I'm trying to say is we're going to prioritize city needs.

Well, you're commingling two different things. I understand. It goes into a fund balance. What we just approved by motion will be handled separately.

OK. So I believe communication is important. I also believe not overpaying for social media posts, personnel. I think we have the loss of independent media. All of our media now is paywall. You can't see anything unless you pay a subscription to First Amendment journalists who are supposed to be covering the city. You can't even read this stuff anymore. We have Instagram. We have Twitter. We have Facebook. We have ad buys. We need to be able to measure the return on investment of those efforts. I think we would get more bang for our buck administration were to reconsider who can actually post. Because I do believe there's a benefit of having city employees sharing the information out to the public. And there's some restrictions to who can and who shouldn't. And we're not getting a return on that. We just had a discussion about attending certain events. And these events could certainly be more well attended if we had more folks within City Hall being able to go to their own social media and put it out. I think that would be beneficial to the entire community. I think it would be, I mean, I trust our staff is going to put out appropriate professional stuff. I've yet to see a staff member of yours, Mr. Dodge, eviscerate people on social media. I don't ever recall seeing it in all these years I've been here. So I'm hoping that we can make some improvement on how to allow our city employees and our FCS employees to go out and share this information. They have a following. I don't know if it's appropriate to pay certain positions $25,000 for a digital community newsletter. I just don't see it being a good return on investment if we don't have the ability to look at read-through rate and that sort of thing. So I want to move on from there. I want to stress that before I move on. We have some really good people in this building. They work extremely hard for the best customer service possible. But we also have employees who are very disappointed in their supervisors and getting the support from their supervisors, whether showing up to actual events, going to events, wondering where they are throughout the day. I think we can improve those things. Because the optics right now are not good. Moving on, I want to thank IT. Matt Kefford and your team, with the amount of change that's happening in the world and being able to keep up with everything and making proper selections on software and trying to make sure that we're not duplicating efforts with different software packages, it is a tough, tough task. You will always have my support to try innovative things. And I'm never going to complain that we are replicating efforts if technology is moving faster than our procurement process. It's definitely not your fault. However, Mr. Dodge, I don't want to get locked into a long-term software relationship if that software is going to be changing faster because technology is improving. I think we need to be strategically consider it of our convenience clause and be able to exercise it to end relationships if there's a better deal for us and the best bang for our buck, the best return on investment. I think there is a value to making the investment, getting the return on investment, and letting the public know that we're doing everything we can to protect those dollars and making sure that they're being used in the right way. So I know, again, think about where AI is going to be a year from now. Think of where it was a year ago. How many people are using it today versus a year ago? And how many exponentially more people are going to be using it a year from now? So it's just only going to get even that much more difficult, not only just for our local government, all government, to be able to keep up with that. So I want to make sure that if we make the investment, that we're making it, that we can actually do performance metrics and be able to capture those things. And so our open government costs, oh my God. So we have, to the public, when we invest in a certain product, these vendors get so big. Microsoft is killing us. The cost that Microsoft is getting from Pembroke Pines is jaw-dropping how much they are asking for this one city to pay.

It's just us?

No, it's not just us. I mean, Microsoft is- Well, you said this one city. Well, I'm saying this one being us. I mean, the amount of money that we are paying Microsoft, it is mind-blowing. We may need an act of Congress to break up monopolies, because it's to the point now where we're beholden to big tech. I appreciate Carla and her team for the amazing work that you're doing to bring the Pembroke Pines administration together working in one unison. The investments that we're making in this year's budget is a testament to the outcomes of this current fiscal year and since you've been here. And I just want to personally thank you and your team for everything that you're doing to make this place to work a place that people want to come to. So the small amount of dollars that we're investing is going such a long way. You don't have to spend a quarter of a million dollars to make a big event impactful. Sometimes it's the smallest events that make the most sense. So This this one thing mayor, and I don't want to be too clunky with it, but it's the building fund and I spoke with Our finance director and With mr. Stam to figure out how the dollars of the eight hundred thousand dollars. It's in our backup now That there was like two I think almost two million dollars was requested but if we did that we would we would we would incinerate the fund so we're only taking eight hundred and And it's a fun balance. Ms. Chung, help me out here, because I'm swimming a little bit on this one. There's something a little bit wonky about that. I just need to...

I'm sorry, Commissioner. Which fund do you refer to?

The building fund. The building fund. The building fund, yeah. It's something I will get with staff. This is going to be a follow-up item. I just want to state on the record that I think some of this, because we have it out on the street, may get resolved at some future point. So I'm just putting a pause on that.

Anything else?

Yeah, just a few more. The utilities... I want to thank Tim Welch and his team. The confidence that you have given our community on water safety is profound. People are confident in their drinking water. They are confident when there's a water main break that we have immediate response. We certainly have challenges. And the recent write-up about where we've come with our pilot project gives me great confidence that we are going to be a leader in this sector of how we deal with PFAS. I know it's a tough task. I know it's a tough order. And I know we don't have all the answers yet. But thank you, Mr. Welch, and your staff for continuing to lead It's money well spent. I had a question, and I'm waiting for the response. But I asked for expenditures that exceeded $100,000 and just kind of measure it from a performance metric standpoint. I'm waiting for that response. I'm just putting it on the record. I don't need it tonight. Lastly, the four-day work week. Oh, my. This is the third rail of Pembroke Pines when it comes to those who work in this building and the four-day work week. I remember back in 2008 sitting in the audience when that commission went from a five-day work week to a four-day work week. And the cost savings was roughly $181,000. We now are looking at, I think the city manager was tasked to see what it would be like if it was a five-day work week. To me, from an energy savings cost and that sort of thing. The public, the highest call volume at least I get is on Fridays. And then I get to say, you're going to have to wait till Monday. Oh, I can't do that unless it's August, because every other month, there's at least one Monday that City Hall is closed. Again, is a 7 to 6 the right work day for our staff? It may or may not be in some cases, but not all cases. I just think that we should continue to explore ways to be able to provide customer service so we're not chasing down water bills. And they're trying to pay them, trying to get a hold of somebody and that sort of thing. Water main breaks and stuff like that happen on Fridays. And I send a text message. And Tim Welch and team, they go out there and do it. But I'm the one getting the call. I think we can staff a phone for the phone. I will tell you this. We are paying our executive management team extremely well, and they should be available for the same amount of time the elected body is available. I look for ways to lower the millage. I found a few things. I voted no because I know that there was opportunities for us. So the only way we can make that up is to continue to identify essential expenditures and discretionary expenditure. We owe the public that. I'm not grandstanding, and this certainly isn't word salad, because sometimes I see that the next day after a meeting. It's just unprofessional. The public dollar. The public dollar is sacred.

We have a charter school system. Excuse me. I was asking you. You can wrap up. We have one more commissioner that wishes to speak. Absolutely. Please continue.

We have a charter school that will run $0.65 on the dollar. And we're outperforming many, many systems throughout the state of Florida on $0.65. I challenge this commission to do the same for our general fund. I think it could be done. I'm prepared to do that. I'm prepared. When they say this is all you're going to get, I'm prepared to make that decision. Pembroke Pines is a beautiful city. It's been my home now 37 years. I would live nowhere else. You know when you miss Pembroke Pines? When you go travel somewhere. You know, it's like, it's good to be home. And I agree. We may not agree on everything. We can certainly have those discussions, but whatever the next 12 months is going to look like, I think we can do it together, working together, and making those difficult decisions of what's a priority, what's a need, what's a want. If we can make those decisions, I think we're going to be much more efficient. Thank you, Mayor, for giving me the time. OK. Commissioner Rodriguez, are you there?

Yes, I am. I apologize for missing earlier.

You were recognized, ma'am.

Um, I just wanted to say again, thank you to staff for what they were able to prepare. I know that mostly, uh, what I talked about from first reading to second reading and what my colleagues talked about were, um, for the most part acknowledged in this one. So thank you to all the staff and Lisa Chung for doing so. I also wanted, and this doesn't have to pertain to the budget, but since, um, Commissioner Schwartz brought it up, if I can get clarification as to what He mentioned regarding a policy that our, our staff can't post about the city's events. I've seen plenty of staff and I liked their posts, you know, promoting their own events. So if that can be answered, even though it's not part of this budget conversation, just cause it was brought up.

Mr. Dodge, is there a prohibition to staff posting about their events? I see it all the time. Francine does it.

Christina does it. Mayor, I think we have to have coordination. And I think that's very important that any employee can post anything they want. We don't know if it'll be appropriate. That's why, as in any department, you have structure. I'll certainly look at those suggestions. It is very important that it's very careful what we post to make sure that there are no issues.

Good. Thank you. Commissioner? So I completely understand that, the fact that obviously only one person or like a social media manager is going through and posting itself, but how Commissioner Schwartz made it seem, and maybe it's my misunderstanding, but what he made it seem is that they couldn't go outside and post on their own stuff. which would be a First Amendment issue. So that's why I wanted clarity on that one.

Yeah, we don't regulate what people do in their personal time, but they can't represent the city of their personal views on anything.

Yeah, but clarity, if it's posted on the social media page of the city, anybody is free to post or repost whatever that might be. Yes.

Oh, okay.

Okay. And I think, and on the, in the same vein on the communications department, I've looked obviously because it's one of my fields of interest. I've looked to see what other cities spend in communications and we by far underspend in our communications department by a significant amount, especially when you look at population sizes in, in other places in Broward and in all of Florida, our city is quite large. And as of recently, we had a very, very, very small team in our communications. It was about two and a half. I know we're increasing that, but to say that that part is that, you know, we could cut back in that department by any means. I don't agree because one of the biggest things that the city does is communicate to the residents and then therefore the residents communicate to us about a whole host of scenarios and if we do something, but the public doesn't care what we're doing, it's kind of like, did we do it in, in theory? So I want to just emphasize that I do appreciate the investment that we're putting into the communications department, because in theory, that is always a way for us to be much more transparent with our, with our residents.

Okay.

Um, And then lastly, I know it was mentioned last time, and I spoke to Mr. Judge about it. It's a very small portion, but the interns that we do contract with or work with in the city will hopefully be getting a stipend moving forward. So I appreciate them putting that into the budget as well. And that's it from my end.

OK. I'm going to be very, very brief, and then we're going to vote and move on with the meeting. We are in and possibly headed toward difficult times financially. Every city, every county in Florida is proceeding with eyes wide open. It is more important now than ever before if we're going to talk about things like tax reductions, budget reductions, that these be brought up early, not late. late is not helpful. This is a large and complex organization, and the things that we do have to be done thoughtfully, even when our other partners in government may not choose to do things in a thoughtful and studied way. The reason that Pembroke Pines has been one of the leading cities in the United States is because we study everything very, very carefully. We do not get involved in knee-jerk reaction. All the more important why I felt, gosh, Charlie, I guess it's 23 years ago, that we should do a visioning. I brought this forward as a rookie commissioner because Pepper Pines didn't have a visioning structure. And it is at that visioning that we should not at the last minute make a list on a yellow pad, but throughout the year begin preparing our list of what it is that we want to vision into the budget. And that should really be about 99% or 98% of everything that we have to say on that budget. And then we inspire staff with the information that we provide them at the visioning to go forward and create a budget for us. And if they meet the objectives of the city commission in following that instruction, there really shouldn't be a list of questions this thick with an addendum that staff have to prepare last minute as they're trying to deal with a bunch of other items. It became very clear to me, because I'm here at City Hall just about every day, not every day, but just about every day, that the fourth floor was nearly paralyzed by the amount of information last minute that came to them regarding budget stuff. Some of it the most basic of questions, but it took time to put it together. And try as they might, They couldn't come up with all of the answers because there were hundreds of questions. A lot of them, the appearance was, I walk away from this appearance having only seen it today, were AI generated. So I think that what we need to do now that we have that tool is front load it. If you've got questions, if you've got issues, if you'd like to propose different kinds of cuts, if you're looking for different kinds of goals, if you're looking for different kinds of metrics, let's have that up front. In terms of communications, communications is a portion of our strategic plan, which, as you all know, was adopted by this commission unanimously. The metrics for communication are very well established, as is the business plan for that operation. I commend the administration for the iterative steps that they have taken to achieve every aspect of the strategic plan. And I know that the city manager will be planning a presentation soon on where we stand on the strategic plan, because certain of the items that we had in there have been complicated by events that occurred after the strategic plan was adopted. So we're going to have to sit back, and we're going to have to take a look at that. But we are advancing the plan that we said we together entrusted one another in advancing. And so this budget is in line with that, and I intend to support it. Mr. City Clerk, if you would please call the budget vote.

Vice Mayor Hernandez? Yes. Commissioner Rodriguez?

Yes.

Commissioner Schwartz?

Unfortunately, no.

Commissioner Good?

No.

Mayor Castillo? No.

Yes. And by your vote, this budget is adopted. And I want to thank everyone for their comments, their participation. And the thing about budgets is the minute one is finished, the next one begins. So I know that the finance office will be working on that. Now that we have, while your thoughts are fresh on the 2028, is that the next one? Budget. Let's get those in. Let's start now. Let's not bring it up last minute. And I think that things will go along much, much better. Vice Mayor, I have a presentation to make. If you will join me at the podium.

Mr. Mayor, while you're walking down, if I may? Yes. For the record, and for those who need to have the information in their records and files by tomorrow, the permanent number for the ordinance as adopted, which adopts the fiscal year budget for 26-27, is 2063. 2063. Thank you, Mayor and Commission.

Thank you very much. Yes, sir. Mike?

Thank you, Mayor. By the way. So Mayor, we have the Colon family with us today. Gabe, can you put their presentation up on the screen for me? I've got it on my screen here. So the Colon family is our District 4 winner for the month of August. So here is the Colon family's home. It's absolutely beautiful and definitely representative of the district. Wow. We're happy to announce them as the winner for District 4 for this month.

What a beautiful, beautiful home. Turn around this way because we're on TV. So what you see?

That's therapy for you. It is. And I take care of the flowers, but it's just something that we enjoy.

We enjoy doing it together.

Yeah.

Thank you for keeping District 4 beautiful. I do have to ask, you don't have to say the subdivision, but which community are you in?

Grand Palms.

So Grand Palms is a beautiful community. For those who don't know, right off the 75, just west of the 75, they have a beautiful golf course, and they have a Whole Foods in front of it. We're working on the traffic. But thank you for keeping the community beautiful, because when you keep your home beautiful, the entire community benefits, your neighbors and everyone outside of your community. Thank you.

Well, thank you, Vice Mayor. And in keeping with tradition here, I present you, sir, with the Natalie Belmonte Great Yards Award. And I present you, ma'am, with the Home Depot $50 gift certificate. And our code compliance people are the city of

Mayor, we'll be back in October with District 1. Commissioner will be giving you that address shortly.

Thank you very much. Dr. Jennifer Jurado is the recognized expert in Broward County on sustainability. and all things good for the environment, water management, and the future sustainability of our county. Dr. Rado, we're honored to have you with us. If you would please come forward and offer your presentation. There's a button there that says Speak. If you can press that.

You're on. Thank you. And do we know whether or not the presentation was uploaded? Yes.

I can see it.

OK. I can see it now here, too. It just wasn't on the screen.

It's not on my screen for some reason. Oh, no. Here it is.

OK. Not a problem. So mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, also city manager Dodge, really nice to see you all again. Appreciate a few minutes on your agenda today following your budget discussion. And hopefully what I have to share will be helpful in this next year. I'm here on behalf of the Broward County Commission, I'm trying to advance this slide. Let me just figure out that. which was able to allocate funds mid-budget season to support the launch of a resilient Broward grant program. That program was launched September 2nd, so the portal is open now. And we've just been reaching out to the community to make sure, in addition to all the technical staff, that the leadership is well aware of the grant program that's been made available this year. It's really focused on flood risk reduction, largely driven by sea level rise, rainfall intensification. Of course, we're seeing damage losses, economic disruptions, personal losses across the county. Whether you're inland or coastal, we know that this is an issue that's driving risk and exposures moving forward, as well as currently. It's just worsening with time. So our commission spent a great deal of time and effort in organizing the resources together to allow for the undertaking of a countywide resilience plan. This was years in the making. It was involving all of our municipalities, our drainage and our water control districts, the business community, et cetera. We ran dozens of scenarios. In the long and short, I'm not showing all the results, but what I am sharing are the strategies that were modeled for the flood risk reduction. What I would say here is that they are countywide. You're advancing faster than me. And the banner on the right shows how the projects are characterized. Sea walls are clearly relevant in the east, not so much in the west. In the west, we're focused largely on conveyance improvements. Pumps, control structures, and culverts. That's really the focus in the west, in addition to storage where it's lacking. Next slide, please. in the work, and this may not, because of scale, be the best graphic. You can go online and use the viewer at resilientbrower.com, but essentially you can run your own scenarios based on the dozens that were evaluated. The one here shows two-foot sea level rise, 100-year rainfall event, 20-year storm surge. The image on the left is no adaptation. The image on the right are the adaptations that were modeled as part of this program. You can't see the details, but if you were online, you could. And there are notable reductions, particularly in the red and the orange areas where you would have larger or greater flood depth. The goal is to reduce depth, duration, and damages that are associated with these events. Next slide, please. What we did was translate the types of things that we know we can implement on the ground to the model. There's again lots of things that can be done, but in the end we want to focus most immediately on conveyance improvements because those projects can be done today. We don't need to wait for redevelopment. It's a capital project that can be put in the ground delivering flood risk reductions now and moving forward. Next slide. It was important when we went through this work because we knew this was going to be an expensive plan as it is for all communities that are dealing with evolving flood risk. What's shown here are the annual and recurring cost savings that were modeled by McKenzie as we translated the model output to economic factors that matter. This is about reducing damage loss reductions to our homes. It's about preserving the affordability of flood insurance. It's about making sure that we're property can be insured, preserving the tax base, economic activity. The lower numbers there are basically the valued benefits in the 2070 time frame. And these are annualized costs, average annual costs or savings. Next slide, please. So big plan, where do we start? I emphasize the conveyance improvements. Those in total are estimated to be about a billion dollars countywide. We expect the total public expenditure over the 50-year timeframe is on the order of $9 billion. But it's a billion looking at those conveyance improvements and about two billion more when we look at additional pumps that would be needed in the coastal areas. So the county commission, next slide, was eager to focus on recognizing a lot of this infrastructure isn't county infrastructure. These are the municipalities. It's the drainage and the water control districts where a lot of water management operations occur. And knowing that budgets are tight, and that we stand to benefit through organized improvements. The county allocated $20 million this year to help support implementation of projects that meet that first area of focus, those capital projects, culverts, control structures, and pumps. We're able to provide 25% cost savings. The goal, our obligations as staff is to leverage that. five to one, so that every dollar that's put in from the grant program translates to $5 overall in installed infrastructure. The County Commission has included in the five-year budget the recurring $20 million. Clearly, that has to get voted on annually, but the goal through 15 years of steady progress is that we'll be able to install $1.5 billion in flood risk reduction projects, and that time frame through the leveraging of local dollars with county municipality. And clearly, there are state funds available as well. Next slide. So we have posted the grant criteria online. Don't need to go through the details. They're there, but there will be a review and a ranking and a point allocation. Next slide. We'll be coming back to the county commission with recommended projects. Some of those recommended projects within the area of Pembroke Pines are noted here. These are what we modeled, but I also want to share it isn't the end all. There's more than one way to go about the projects. If you have other control structure projects, pumps or culverts that we didn't model that you know meet the criteria on the previous slide, those are eligible as well. But there may be some that are more pressing. And we're looking at a three-year grant term. Commissioner Good, I heard you mention, let's get capital projects done more quickly. Clearly, that's the goal. But three years would allow for planning, design, permitting, and construction in that time frame if you're not already permitted. So the goal is just to make sure that we can get to construction, because that, for us, is the deliverable. You have to construct the project, and it's lump sum reimbursement. Next slide, please. details that staff wants to get into the website and pull up the specs. Overall, we're interested in helping drive a one-foot drawdown in your system pre-storm through these types of projects. And as the 203 study with the Water Management District on the primary canals, those get enhanced. Then we're talking about being able to do that drawdown more regularly, not just pre-storm. So it's a constant ability to more actively manage the system. Next slide. So the timeline is shown here. As I noted, the portal or the program launched formally on the 2nd. The portal is open. It closes at the end of October. We'll be reviewing those applications through the end of the year, bringing them forward at the beginning of the calendar year to our board, and then looking to contract by March. Ideally, we're all in the position where we can have this conversation again next year with good projects that are lined up. and continue to move forward with flood reduction investments that work together to benefit the communities. So I appreciate the time on the agenda. I know you had a long meeting, but I did want to get this out just because it is the program launch. Thank you.

Thank you so very, very much, and for everything that you do. to keep us high and dry. And much, much appreciated. Mr. Dodge, I know that you and your staff will have some familiarity with this or will want to figure it out. This is very much needed. It's a lot of money. And when you need something right away that's very much needed and it's a lot of money, in the environment that we're in, to me, it involves leveraging funds. And I don't know what the flexibility of your grants are, but these are capital improvement projects, and they should be bonded. All capital improvement projects, just about all of them, should be bonded. Pay as you go is never an option that gets anything done, certainly nothing big, whether it's transportation or whether it's infrastructure of this kind or whether it's roads. or whether it's anything else. It needs to be leveraged, otherwise you never get it done. By the time your planning is finished, the cost escalation has gotten to the point where you can't proceed with the project because you can no longer afford a price that you were counting on from three, four, five, six years ago. That's why these long-term plans do not work, because they're not properly sequenced to the project. I know that some of this is beyond your capacity. But I think that if you meet with people in Pembroke Pines about anything this important, you're going to walk away with some financial know-how of how we think it works. Because we've gotten our hands around how to do big, difficult things before. And the only reason the big, difficult things that we'd like to do aren't there is because we don't have the ability to finance them. It's the only reason. It's certainly not for any lack of internal capacity to achieve the objective. So I want to thank you. And I want to encourage you to meet with the staff. It's certainly a significant issue. We have areas of Pembroke Pines that are systemically flooded. And it's only going to get worse. And I can't ever forget the experience that we went through with Tropical Storm Etta. It was horrific. in our city. And I hope and pray every single day that we never have to see that again. So I want to thank you for coming forward. Commissioners, anything else? Go ahead.

Yeah, I just want to take a point of personal privilege. I've worked with Dr. Jurado probably for, could be over 20 years now. I remember back in the days when you were first working with Broward County and working with David Lee, who was a well-known and respected professional in his own rights. And I know that he was a very important person to you. And what's really very encouraging to see is how you've just expanded beyond the things that David did back in his time to be one of the foremost leaders in water and natural resources planning and policymaking. And for you and the role that you played today in Broward County as a Deputy Director for Public Works Environmental Services being here in person, is a compliment to us. And I just want to thank you very much. And I think people should recognize that throughout this nation, you are well-recognized for the things that you do. And we're very fortunate to have you. Yes, we are. Thank you.

Sure, appreciate that. Anyone else? Thank you for your service on the Water Advisory Board.

I didn't know what Commissioner Good was going to say, but I was basically going to say the same thing. Thank you for coming, and thank you for partnering with our city. I lived that experience way before I entered elected office. I think Mr. Landry probably lived that experience too, Tropical Storm Etta. We couldn't get out of our neighborhood for four days. And I know that state representative Robin Bartleman worked with the state to state government also to bring some massive pumps out here to try to get that. That was a once in 100 year storm. That was the one. And it really was damaging. Luckily, we did not have loss of life. I also want to put on the record Mercedes. Santana Woodall from the drainage district and the great work that that she does representing not just Pembroke Pines she has a much broader area but what she does so I look forward to working with you and your team and please I mean if there's anything that we could do as elected officials but also obviously I don't want to speak for the manager but the administration please reach out because this isn't a problem that's going away and mother nature knows no geopolitical boundaries

Thank you. Eager to receive your applications and work with your team. Thank you.

Anyone else? Thank you so very much, Dr. Arato. OK, I see no. Thank you. I see no items at the request of the public. Is that correct? I see no commission order item or appeals to the Board of Adjustment or announcements of committee appointments. No items have been pulled from the agenda, Mr. Clerk. Oh, there is an item.

No items have been pulled, Mayor.

Okay.

And a member of the public wants to speak on item 16.

Mr. Koren? Is this about item 16, sir?

There we go. Yes, it is, Mayor.

Would you like to wait until that item is brought up so that Your comments can be made then?

I'm sure it's going to be a long evening. No, not at all. We're almost there. Almost there?

OK.

I'll wait. No problem.

Thank you very much. Thank you very, very much. OK. Commissioners, consent items consist of 1 through 11. I see none of the items listed on the Monday night memo. What is your pleasure?

I will move to approve the consent agenda.

The motion has been moved for 1 through 11. Is there a second? Seconded by Commissioner Good. Any discussion? Hearing none. Seeing none from the public. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. City Attorney Number 12.

Thank you, Mayor and Commission. For the record, the first reading on item number 12 is as follows. It's a motion to pass proposed ordinance number 2026-11 on first reading, proposed ordinance number 2026-11 on an ordinance in the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, amending chapter 155, known as and entitled the Land Development Code, by amending section 155.453, also entitled Mixed Use Development, referenced as MXD, to amend section 155.453, subsection C3, to provide for 10 acres minimum project size, providing for codification, providing for conflict severability, and providing for an effective date. Item number 12, references 2026-11, a ordinance first reading on the floor for the mayor and commission's consideration.

Thank you. I will need a motion. Thank you.

I will move it.

That's moved by the vice mayor. A second, please? Second. A second by Commissioner Good. Any discussion on the dais? Any from the public? The clerk will call. This is first reading. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Thank you very much.

Mayor and Commissioner, for the record, and as required by law, this particular item will be heard for second and final reading and a further public hearing in the chambers on October the 21st in these chambers this year.

Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you very much.

Number 13, please. 13. Thank you, Mayor and Commission. This is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number 2026R21, which is a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Penrith Pines, Florida, approving the fiscal year 2026-2027 agreement with Broward County providing for disbursement of home program funds for home buyer slash purchase assistance program, authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute the agreement for the designation of subrecipient and disbursement home program fiscal year 2026-27, with Broward County in the amount of $3,002,628 and associated documents therewith, if necessary. Providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for effective date. Number 13 on the floor, 2026R21.

Move by Commissioner Good, seconded by the Vice Mayor. Any discussion on this resolution? Any from the public? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed, show passes unanimously.

For the record, Mayor and Commission, the permanent number for this resolution for the record and for the county is 3961. Thank you. 3961. 14, please. Thank you, Mayor and Commission. Number 14 for the record is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number 2026R23, which is a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, approving the amended local housing assistance plan for fiscal years 2025 through 2028, authorizing and directing the appropriate city officials to execute any necessary documents and certifications required by the state of Florida, authorizing the submission of the local housing assistance plan for review and approval by the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, that's the FHFC, providing for a conflict, providing for severability, providing for a public hearing as required if there is any member of the public present this evening, and providing for an effective date. Number 14 on the floor, Mayor.

Thank you. This is the LHAP plan. Moved by Commissioner Good. Second. Seconded by the Vice Mayor. Any discussion? Seeing none. Any from the public? Seeing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously.

The recommendation of the commission, the number is 3962 for the clerk's benefit. 15, Mayor, may I proceed? Please. Thank you, Mayor and Commission. Number 15 is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number 2026R24, which is a proposed resolution number 2026R24, which is a resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, confirming the authority of the City's Investment Committee. and the appropriate city officials to select a group annuitant transfer funds and to do all things necessary to effectuate the termination of the retirement income plan for general employees of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date, 2026R24, number 15 on the record, on the table for consideration. Thank you, Mayor. I will move it.

Let's move for the vice mayor. Seconded by Commissioner Good. Thank you very much. Is there any discussion on item 15?

To the city attorney, is there any voting conflict for me to vote on this item, city attorney? May I respond, Mr. Mayor? Yes.

The answer is no.

Anyone else? Any from the public? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. REGULAR AGENDA. REPORTS OF THE LEAGUE AND MPO REPRESENTATIVES. COMMISSIONER RODRIGUEZ.

DO YOU HAVE A REPORT? NO REPORTS ON MY END. I BELIEVE COMMISSIONER GOODE HAS BEEN NOTIFIED OF THE OTHER MEETING DATES OF THE SECONDARY. AND THEN WE DID SIGN UP TO HOST THE DIRECTOR'S MEETING IN SEPTEMBER OF THE FALL YEAR, IF I'M NOT MISTAKEN.

Okay. Anything else? Thank you so very much.

No, that's it for me.

Thank you so very much. MPO? Yes, Mr. Mayor, thank you. So we had a meeting, a lot of routine stuff that was taken care of, but probably the most important thing was The Broward MPO does annual federal and legislative priorities. One of the items that I did bring up, ask for an amendment, and it did get unanimous support, was to include in the legislative priorities for guidance on the development of uniform policies regarding those micro-ability devices. So at least we were able to get that on their priority list. So we're hopeful that at this next legislative session that they will also lend their voice to be able to give us guidance on how to handle this. That's fantastic. Because we all recognize it needs to be a regional issue.

Anything else? That's it, sir. OK, reports of the city manager. Reports of the city manager?

No items, Mayor.

Thank you. City Attorney, anything?

No report, Mayor and Commission. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Commissioner Schwartz, you are recognized for item 16.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll be quick so you can go home and celebrate your anniversary. Congratulations on that. So discussion of possible action to have the city of Pembroke Pines participate in the first North Prairie Airport 5K, the participation level would provide up to 100 city sponsored registration fees at the discretion of the city manager. I was made aware of this event through Broward County Commissioner Alexandra Davis, who led the charge when she first got into office. Her goal was to get more community involvement within the airport. She's worked with Broward County Aviation Department, Broward County Aviation Department, worked with the FAA, and they're actually closing the runway for this event, which is a really, really big deal for them to be able to pull this one off. The event is on November the 7th. This is a registration event. I thought about the successes that we've had for 5Ks, participation levels, giving away Snowfest tickets, and that sort of thing, Pines residents. I put 100. For or against a certain number, I kind of want to leave it up to the city manager to decide that. But I can really see our first responders getting out there and doing the whole team thing. There's going to be a lot of excitement around it. More details will follow, and I'll let Commissioner Davis lead the charge on that. She and I had a brief conversation during the 9-11 event. She was aware of the event here and just hoping to get my colleagues' support. So I'll move, have a motion for the city to sponsor 100.

Well, before you make your motion, we have someone from the public, and then I'll turn it to you.

If it's on the item?

Yes.

Okay.

Please. Mr. Corrin? On the five-key specific. That's what he has on his sheet, Commissioner.

Okay. Okay.

Your name and address for the record, please.

George Koren. I live at 6751 Southwest 11th Street in Pines Village. And it is my understanding that we are about to do our testing in the airport areas, the communities, for pollutants and things like that. I see the county going forward with a 5K race in an airport could soon be deemed unsafe for the residents, for the participants in everything. I see that as a slap in the face to the residents that are adjacent to the airport. And I do not see how the city has worked so hard to get to this point in time that the county can do this to us. And I surely hope that the commission will not support any item to increase activity at North Perry Airport. The only thing or most important thing that the commission, county commission, city commission can do is work toward decreasing the number of operations. This is what causes the pollutants, the noise, the lead, and things like that. Now, they have also recently added a twin engine program that provides airplanes with two engines, bigger engines, so two times plus the noise and the pollution. So I highly recommend tonight that the city commission do not support this item. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else from the public wish to be heard? Commissioner Schwartz, for your motion.

Okay, I make a motion to support the commission of our county commissioner, Alexander Davis, and have the city of Pembroke Pines participate in the first North Prairie Airport 5K. Participation level would provide up to 100 city sponsored registration fees at the discretion of the city manager.

Is there a second to that motion? Is there a second to that motion? That motion dies for lack of a second. Thank you very much. Is there anything further, Mr. Dodge, Mr. Gorin, for the good of the whole? No, sir.

Happy anniversary.

Thank you very much. And Commissioner Rodriguez, all my very best and all our very best. And thank you for participating. And good night, folks. This meeting is adjourned.