Community Redevelopment Agency - Regular Meeting

Alright. We are ready, and we are on the air. Good morning to everyone.

Good morning.

Welcome to City Hall. Today is 05/07/2025. I I see the air sign. Are we good, sound team? Arlene, can you check with oh, Joanne's checking. Okay. Alright. Great. Well, thank you. Today is 05/07/2025.

We are here for a regular community redevelopment agency meeting, but as I say, the start of city commission meetings, the meetings are never regular because there's always important subject matter that is on the table for discussion as there is today. So let's go ahead and please rise for the pledge of allegiance. God bless America.

Alright.

And everywhere else is how they say it at the chamber. Let's go with roll call.

Board member Shuham.

Here.

Board member Hernandez?

Here.

Board member Kalari? Here. Vice chair Quintana? Here. Board member Biedemann? Here. Board member Gruber?

Here.

Chair Levy?

Here. All right. Let's go ahead with any conflict disclosures today. If hearing none, let's go ahead to 9AM citizens comments, if any. We have two cards. Let's start with Bob Lichtman, and then we'll end with Kathy DeBona, followed by Lena Hershey. Bob, welcome. Good morning.

Good morning. Bob Blickman, Hollywood Beach. Happy Wednesday. I'd like to start my comments off with thanking former chief or chief to me, chief O'Brien. You know, come here a lot and I talk about the flooding that we have on the beach and the problems that we have.

And I've been working with staff trying to get things done. And we had been working previously with Gus trying to get everybody together to do a site visit down along A1A Corridor. But when Gus left, Chris O'Brien took over. And he met with us, myself and Rich Schapazian, who's been here before. And he asked us, what can I do to help? So we explained the situation. And I said, the one thing that we always want to do is get a site visit. It's one thing to talk about something. It's another thing to see something. So lo and behold, a week or two weeks later, he gathered everybody together FDOT, Mr.

Morello and his staff, the CRA and their staff, and other people. The mayor attended. And we came out, and we saw some of the problems. I can talk about a dip in the road, but yet you saw the dip in the road. I could talk about water in the street basins just under the catch basin. And you can see that. So by getting everybody together, which he did and we want to thank him for that they came up with a plan, a pilot program that they want to institute. I'm not going to tell you what it is. Maybe they'll tell you. But nonetheless, by getting everybody together, joining together, seeing what the problem actually is instead of listening to it, seeing it with your own eyes makes a big difference.

So I just want to personally thank Chris O'Brien for just getting everybody together and getting them out there to see what the problem is. So kudos to Chris. The other thing I'd like to say is, you know, we have a lot of dead trees along A1A. We all know this. But if we can just remove some of these dead tree stumps that are there, or trunks rather, you know, It would just benefit the entire city just for the look of it. We just need to get rid of it. I know there's a plan underway to do it, but better to do it sooner rather than later. It's just an eyesore. It doesn't bode well for the city itself. We want to attract people.

But when you're driving down the A1A Corridor and a third of the trees are dead and all you see is a dead tree trunk, we need to move on this a little bit faster. I know that the CRA has a plan to do this. But I'm just telling you from the summer's coming, we're going to get many, many, many more people here. It's just the appearance of it. So we want something that looks much better to entice people to come back, spend their money here so we have more money. And everybody will be happy, especially the businesses, I'm sure. Thank you much. Have a great day.

Thank you, Bob. All right. Kathy DeBona, Hollywood Beach Civic Association and the Hollywood Beach Business Association.

Hello, everybody. Good morning. It's always a joy to be here.

We love your Hollywood Beach tan.

Thank you.

Yes. But, you know, I'm here not only because I'm the president of the Civic Association and the vice president of the Beach Business Association. I'm going to leave the business association to the business association members that are here. And I'm going to concentrate a little bit on something a little bit different. In my heart this morning, I was just filled with joy and gratitude.

And that's because of all of you. Each one of you I consider my own commissioner. I don't care what district you represent. You represent me and all that I care about. And when I think about all the good that has happened over the fifty one years that I've been here, going on fifty two, good lord, I have to thank each one of you and those that came before, certainly.

But in addition to that, it's the people that you have hired and brought here that continue to make Hollywood the star, the star of the universe for me. I love my city. I think you each know that. I fight for it to the end. But I have to turn around now and say thank you so much to the staff and all of the people that support our city in every way, on every minute of every day, I thank you all.

And I thank each one of you. Secondly I know I'm getting close. Secondly, I wanted to bring your attention to the fact that I sent out an invitation for May 20, and it was supposed to be a legislative update for the Civic Association. That turned into ballooning into where the Hollywood historic the Hollywood Council of Civic Associations wanted to sponsor it. It was going to be inviting all the civic associations and went on and on.

And of course, they extended the session. And so I got the calls to say, you know, you might want to think about doing something a little bit different and maybe save that for another date until they're done with Tallahassee and all of their meandering up there. So we decided we're going to focus on FDOT. And I want to thank our illustrious mayor for his idea. And I also want to thank Gene Bould. Many of you may know him, and some of you may not. But Eugene, would you just wave over there? Eugene has recently joined us with the Civic Association through Frank Darice and Andrew Zulu. And he has become the vice president. And he's done a remarkable job.

I just found out also he was just appointed to the political committee as the chairperson for the Sierra Club Committee. He's up and coming, and he's really quite a character and quite a man. And he does quite a bit for us. I wanted to make sure I mentioned it. And finally, I just want to say I hope that you'll all join us on the twentieth and that you have a marvelous Hollywood day. Thank you.

Thank you, Kathy. Alright. Elena Hershey. Let's talk business. Elena.

Good morning. Hollywood Beach Business Association. Good morning, everyone. Actually, have a letter of support, so if you would like, I could wait till the item is presented, and I can bring the letter.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Alright. Thank you for the citizens who joined us here for comments. Today's consent agenda includes items five through nine. These items don't usually require individual discussion. However, if there is a speaker card or a request by a member of the board to remove an item for individual discussion even though we do have some lengthy presentations coming up, we will be happy to do so. Just a note to the members here as you can see on the day is we have a revised copy of the minutes for item number seven. There was a Scribner's error that was corrected. And so just to note that number seven has the revised copy up here for us. So are there any speaker cards on five through nine?

No speaker cards.

Motion to approve. Second. Second.

We have a motion from board member Shuham and a second from board member Kalari to approve the consent agenda items. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously. Alright. Susan, we have a regular agenda and beginning with a presentation by our our CPA firm that has handled our 2024 financial report and the fiscal year audit. Of course, Davis and Associates. Welcome, Susan.

Thank you, chair. Yes, we have the firm of S. Davis here today. They are going to be presenting the annual financial report and also the financial audit results from 2024. They'll be doing a presentation. And then, obviously, you can ask if you have something pressing during the presentation, feel free. Otherwise, they can answer afterwards as well. So with that, I'll introduce them.

Thank you, and good morning.

Good morning. Miss Davis.

I don't have to introduce myself.

You're our neighbor and a friend.

We're happy to be here to thank you. Well, thank you. Song and dance, too. We're happy to be here to present the audit results for 09/30/2024. My name is Tanya Davis. I'm the audit partner with S. Davis and Associates. And I have with me Joy Chambers Nicholas, who is the audit senior on the engagement, the real brains behind it all. But she was in charge of the engagement. So we'll just go ahead and move directly into our audit results and overview.

If you have any questions during the presentation, feel free to ask. Or if you have any questions at the end, you can ask them at that point in time as well. Please feel free to tell me to speed up or slow down as I go along. So our field work for the audit of 2024 was significantly completed on March 15. And the report was issued and dated the ACFA issued and dated 03/28/2025.

And you all should have a copy of that. We performed the audit of the financial statements in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, with government auditing standards, and the provisions of Chapter ten five fifty, Rules of the Auditor General. And we did that audit on your governmental activities in each major fund. We issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements, which is the best type of opinion any entity can get. It's also called a clean opinion.

And that is probably the most important part of our auditor's report. And if you're following along with the ACFR, that's on page one of the financial statements. Internal control and compliance. We did review internal control and compliance. We look at internal control to determine the nature, timing, and extent of our testing.

We don't actually do an audit of internal control, But we review it. We do walk throughs. We make sure that procedures are in place. And we noted no deficiencies in internal control or on compliance in regards to government auditing standards. We also perform a financial conditions assessment, which is required by the state of Florida.

And the CRA did not meet any conditions that indicated that you were in a potential state of emergency or had any decline in your financial operations. Just to do some highlights on the numbers, this doesn't represent, of course, all of the numbers in your financial statements, but it just speaks to some of the most significant variances. Total assets of $20.24, dollars 143,000,000 approximately. 2023, 125,000,000, an increase of approximately $17,500,000 And that was primarily due to capital assets. All of your ongoing projects, your streetscape projects, your underground utilities, and things of that nature was the primary reason for the increase in capital assets.

Total liabilities decreased from $12,000,000 in 2023 to $4,000,000 in 2024, primarily due to the satisfaction of the bonds payable. Your net position your net position, the quote unquote equity, if you were in a for profit organization, increased from $113,000,000 to $138,000,000 And you'll see that. The reason for the increase on the next page as we go over your P and L numbers Of that, dollars 75,000,000 of it is invested in capital assets and $63,000,000 of it is restricted for future community redevelopment. The statement of activities, which is your P and L. Your total general revenues and contributions increased from approximately $47,000,000 to $53,000,000 due primarily to the tax increment, which went from $43,000,000 in 2023 to $48,000,000 in '20 Regarding 20 your expenses, they also increased from approximately $24,000,000 to approximately $27,000,000 primarily due to expenses related to general government.

Your net increase in net position, which is your net income basically, was just about $25,000,000 in 2024 as compared to $22,000,000 in 2023. And that's on your government wide financial statements. In terms of just total category numbers for your fund financial statements, the Beach Fund had total assets of approximately $49,000,000 and total liabilities of approximately 2,000,000 The total fund balance is $46,000,000 With regard to revenues and expenditures, total revenues of $38,000,000 total expenditures of 36,000,000 which produced a net change in fund balance income of $1,500,000 Downtown fund, total assets of $17,000,000 liabilities of approximately 1,500,000 Your total fund balance for the Downtown Fund is approximately $16,000,000 Revenues of 15,000,000 approximately expenditures of approximately $16,000,000 There is a slight deficit in your change in fund balance, a slight loss of approximately $300,000 And that was primarily just due to your capital outlay. Any questions regarding to the numbers?

All right. Please click in, Pete. Board Member Hernandez.

I'm sorry?

That's Okay. If we can go to page five for a moment. Just two back. Two back, yeah.

There you go.

Okay. It it said we have total revenues of $37,000,000 but yet we have total assets of $48,000,000 Where is the $11,000,000 difference, if I may ask?

Between the revenues and the assets?

Yes.

Well, assets are just

Money that carries over.

No, no.

That's fund balance.

That's net assets is money that carries over. So I think what you're looking for in terms of money that carries over is that net change in fund balance.

Well, I'm looking for $11,000,000 somewhere, which is the total assets.

Turn to the fund balance sheet.

This is as of 09/30/2024. Right?

2024. Right. And remember, we're looking at 2024.

Yeah, I know. Correct. This is '9

to 10.

And I

don't know that

the comparison between assets and revenues is what we should be looking at with respect for that?

Are you looking for net fund balance available Well, we can do

it either way. Total fund balance is $46,000,000 Total revenues is $37,000,000 So there's $9,000,000 difference there. And there's $11,000,000 overall. It's a large number. I'm just curious as to where it would be.

Well, total revenues, you compare to total expenditures. And that difference is $1,500,000 Total assets and total liabilities, total assets minus total liabilities equals the actual total fund balance. And so if you're looking at the difference between that 46 and the 37, is that what we're looking at? That's related to monies that have been carried over, accumulated. And

that was my question. So where is that money? That money's in the bank someplace.

That money is Cash. Is in the bank someplace. It's invested. It's in your net assets. Maybe restricted for some of those things

that I mentioned. That's what I wanted to know. I wanted to know that Okay. Sorry. Have a nice one. That's how

you can help.

Okay.

It's in the carryover that we have every year in our fiscal budget. That carryover is dedicated to the project. So in other words, let's say a portion of that is for the phase four. Since we didn't have all the money for the project, every year we've been carrying over money, that's where that's embedded.

Well, if that was the case, it should be part of the total expenditures.

Not yet expended though. No.

I I understand. And that's by the way, I get a lot of people that wanna answer my question. I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to hone in on something. So if you have something that you have dedicated funds for and you're carrying it over, it should already been someplace where it's dedicated, not as it shows right here, was it a total fund balance versus total revenue. And so you need to be able to explain it in a way that I can explain it to other people. And right now, it just looked like there's $9,000,000 floating in the bank someplace that it's not allocated. Otherwise, it would be here in a form that it would say allocated to something.

So if we look at page three, that net position, that is your accumulation

of

the difference between your revenues and expenditures year over year over year, Okay? And so that $11,000,000 that you're talking about is somewhere in either net investment in capital assets or restricted for future community redevelopment or in cash.

One, two, or three. How can we hone in as to where it actually is? Can we do that? And if you don't have it now, it's okay. I just need to be able to know where that money is because right now it's a general statement and I get it.

Okay.

But I need to know if we have it in cash. And I need to know if it's something that's already been dedicated to future projects, and I need to know if it's part of the investments that we have. So that that was my point. That's all. I mean, it's it's a sizable amount of money.

We we can make our for our downtown CIP, in other words, we can make this available. We have our capital outlay and we also have in in that information what the balance would have been from the previous year, the carry forward, what the new funding would be, the available funding, and what we anticipate for capital outlay.

I don't need to see it in 10 different pages. I need to see it in one piece of paper that tells me this is the amount of money we have. This is the amount of money that we have invested. This is the amount of money that we owe and it's already dedicated for. It should be it should be something that could be simple.

If have

that information, we can make it available.

Okay. Thank you. That's all.

Very elementary.

Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. Simple enough. Thank you. Please continue. Well, we know there's fund balance there, and as Susan mentioned, for the upcoming, you know, fiscal year as well for the beach and for the downtown. So I know we have budget discussions coming up in just a number of weeks, and so that's where a lot of that was gonna be presented.

That's correct. We're gonna be looking at that and there will be a budget amendment coming forth for your consideration.

Yeah. And I know the CRA board will have both beach and downtown decisions to make on on what to do with those funds. Yep. All right. Go ahead.

Any other questions on the numbers before we move on to those items that we're required to report to governance?

No, ma'am.

Okay.

Again, just a few pages of things that we are, per our standards, required to report to you. Our responsibilities, plan scope and timing was denoted in the engagement letter that was dated 12/12/2024. Significant accounting policies are in note one to your ACFR, your financial statements. Management is responsible for the selection and use of those policies. That extends to you all as the governing body of the CRA.

We noted that there were no transactions that lacked authoritative guidance or consensus. And all of the significant transactions were recorded in the proper period. There are some significant or sensitive estimates, and that's related to investments, realized and unrealized investment income, your compensated absences, your OPEB and your pension disclosures, and the depreciation expense. All of those estimates are considered reasonable based on our audit work. Presentation isn't moving.

But I will speak to see if you can

If we can move the

passage I'll speak

to just my hard copy.

Okay.

If that's Okay.

Please do. We'll try to catch up the presentation.

Okay. There are some sensitive and significant and sensitive disclosures that we have to inform you all of. They are in note two for cash and investments, note three for capital assets, note four for your commitments, note five your long term liabilities and obligations. Of course, your fund balance is a significant disclosure, which is in Note nine. And your tax abatements are included in Note 11.

All of this is included in your financial statements. Per our audit, all of your disclosures are neutral. They are consistent and they are clear. There were no corrected or uncorrected misstatements in the financial statements or no adjusting journal entries were found. Some other items.

There were no significant difficulties dealing with CRA management or primary government management. And we deal a lot with finance of the city in terms of doing this audit and the financial statements. There were no disagreements with CRA management or the primary government management. As far as we know, there were no consultations with other independent auditors or accountants during the course of our audit. There were no discussions held prior to the current year that were a condition to our retention.

As you go through your ACFR, you will see a section called Management's Discussion and Analysis. We've applied limited procedures on that section, on the required supplementary information, and on the other supplementary information. We must state in a governmental audit that the auditors reports are intended solely for your use and for certain bodies in the Florida legislature. However, because it is governmental, the financial reporting package, your ACRA is public record. And that concludes our presentation. Any other questions?

No. Look, we certainly are happy to see an audit result that has no deficiencies, as you mentioned in the outset. We'll certainly, of course, Susan and the team and the budget team will take note of the notes and that's always noted. Yes. And so I don't see any other questions. So I thank you for being here, for completing the audit, and for providing your report.

Thank you all very much.

Thank you so much. Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, we do have item 11 up next and that is a presentation by the executive director regarding the update on the a one a storm basin inspection And we welcome as well folks that are here from FDOT to help be here for this item. Susan.

As you recall, about a year ago, we had worked with FDOT on collaborative efforts on the storm basin inspections. FDOT did the first basin inspection, and then the CRA did three basin inspections. Today, we will have EnviroWaste's Michael Rosenberg doing the presentation for the four basins that they completed the inspections on. And I actually would like Mr. Rosenberg to discuss the methodologies that they use because they're very complex with divers and machinery.

And if the tides are high or low, they have to come back. And so he'll explain that. And we have FDOT here because there were deficiencies that were identified and we would like to have FDOT this is their system we would like to have FDOT chime in on how they will address these deficiencies. So with that, I'll introduce Mr. Rosenberg from EnviroWaste.

Morning everybody. My name is Michael Rothenberg from EnviroWaste Services Group. No problem.

I'm sorry, mayor. The computer froze. It's loading right now. Give me one second.

Let me just explain one thing, mayor. The the the basins that are gonna be presented today are Liberty Street Basin, the Buchanan Street Basin, Oklahoma Street Basin, and Iris Street Basin. So you're getting basins at different areas of the Beach CRA District. We know that the Irish Street Basin, because of the streets that feed into that, is very low lying. And the Liberty Street Basin has its own qualities. It's further up towards the northern part of the beach and it's close to where the pump will be installed. And so with that

Thank you. We pride ourselves on safety and customer service. That's most important to us. And we appreciate the City Of Hollywood giving us the opportunity to assess and inspect these four basins for you all. These are some of the pieces of equipment that we use.

We have high pressure jetting trucks with vacuum services where we can remove the debris from inside the storm water systems. This is one of our CCTV trucks where we gather the inspection information in video and reports and then report back to the city with our findings. Again, these are the four basins that we worked on: Liberty Basin, Oklahoma, Buchanan, and Iris Basin. The New Hampshire Basin these are some of the findings we found. The general condition of the basin was in good condition.

There was one utility board through one of the 24 inches concrete pipes. When I get to the end of the presentation, we'll go over what we actually found as far as maintenance needs for each basin. This is a picture of some obstacle that we found in the pipe. I believe this could be a piece of one of the backflow preventer valves that came loose. One of the Checkmate valves that was installed in this particular basin.

These are the findings that we have in yellow highlighted areas. Just to be a little clear, this represents the utility bore through the pipe and then at the bottom check vape valve is in working order other than the obstacle that's in front of it. This is the typical inspection report that we provide for each line segment that we inspect. And this one shows the utility bore at 40 feet. This is two pictures, one from further away.

The utility bore went in from 03:00 position across the pipe and out the 09:00 position. And that's just a closer view in the second photo. This line was cured in place pipelined previously. The existing pipe is concrete pipe. This is the BFP for this particular basin.

I'm sorry. New Hampshire Liberty. It's in working condition. It's sealed. It you can see And as you can see in this particular any of these basins even at low tide, the tide is above the outfall pipe.

So you can see that this is obviously in working condition. This is the Oklahoma Basin. You can see the blue star represents a checkmate valve on the outfall pipe and shows the system in itself. Next slide. The lines highlighted in blue are some of the deficiencies we found infiltration, cracks or leaking joints in the concrete pipe we recommend sectional liners for the infiltration unable to TV the Checkmate valve at this location there was construction going on the seawall So we weren't able to get an actual shot of the valve at this location.

The work is in progress. As soon as they get done with the construction, we can reassess it. This is another snapshot of a line in the Oklahoma Basin. It's joint angular. This is one of the deficiencies we found.

Let me back up one slide. That's an offset joint, open joint, and has infiltration. We recommended on this particular pipe either a sectional liner or a full length CRPP liner. This is the Buchanan Street Basin. Checkmate valve is leaking as you'll see here in the next few slides.

No repairs needed in this basin other than the Checkmate valve. At the last inlet before the outfall pipe, this is just a picture of after us dewatering the system to clean and maintain it. This is some of the infiltration you would see typically in a manhole coming through the riser walls. There's the outfall BFP Checkmate valve and you can see that it is leaking around the actual seal. So these Checkmate valves are in placed and then they have bolts on either the top or the bottom that spread a spreader bar to seal it against the walls.

Whether or not it was installed correctly or there's some debris behind it when they did it, it's hard to tell. This is the Iris And Magnolia Terrace Basin. Highlighted in blue are some of the deficiencies. Again, sectional point repairs. There's some broken pipe on a few of the lines.

And full length CIPP liner was one of the recommendations. Again, this is infiltration. I didn't see anything that was immediately needed to be taken care of. It's either leaking joints or hairline cracks with infiltration. And that just references the findings in that particular basin.

A little more detail. This is one of the pipe segments that had leaking joints in it inside the circle there. You can see the infiltration coming through the leaking joint. This was the PVC pipe in this particular picture. This is one of several areas in this pipe would either require a sectional or a full length liner.

Typically, you do sectional pipes, if there's only one or two repairs in the pipe, you're better off doing a sectional. It's more cost effective. If there's more than three areas in one segment, then you're better off doing a full length lining. Because the more sectionals you put in, you might as well just realign the whole pipe. Again, here at the end, this concludes the Four Basins and the findings we had.

I just wanted to bring this picture up again. If you look at the picture at the top middle, this is the debris before in most of the catch basins we experienced. You can barely point out at the bottom of the picture with the amount of debris in there, the pipe that's coming in. It's 24 inches pipe it's 75 to 80% full of debris even if all your BFPs were working and all your pump stations were working with that amount of debris in the system you're only working with 20% of the capacity of the system We need to definitely maintain these systems on an annual basis in the coastal areas. We do plenty of work in all the other districts in the city of Hollywood.

And the coastal areas, especially after our storms, the sand comes up over the beach and it just totally inundates these systems. So you can take care of all the repairs and put all the backflow preventers and everything else in. But if you're not maintaining and getting the debris out of there, there's not much you can do. So the tide could go down. And you could have four or five hours worth of standing water because you're only working with 20% capacity.

I gotcha.

Any questions?

Gotcha. Well, if you could mister Rosen

Rothenberg.

Rothenberg. Rothenberg. Sorry, Susan. Rothenberg, you had mentioned that pipelining was a recommended solution to some of these infiltrations that we saw in in the in the photos. You showed where a checkmate valve was its seal was leaking on one of the basins. You also showed a utility bore that penetrated the pipe. What's the solution for the utility bore? Is it I mean, it's one thing to relocate the utility, but is it also sealable? I mean

Yeah. You could it's penetration? Once the once the utility is relocated underneath or over the pipe, then we can go ahead and put a sectional liner in there.

But you would say the utility has to be relocated? Or do you seal around it?

SPEAKER It has. Yeah.

I mean, if it's I don't know what's if it's The practical.

Problem with this issue, you could certainly get a full length liner through there, A sectional because it rides on a packer, you couldn't get over that utility. But CIPP, you probably get a full length liner in there. But you'll always have debris one: on the upstream side held back because you're going to have that lift at the bottom.

Gotcha. I gotcha. All right. Well, Susan, I'm happy for the call me on the CRA board members who have questions for Mr. Enviro Waste here, Enviro Waste Services Group. Let's go ahead with the queue. Board member Shuham.

Thank you, chair. And thank you, mister Rothenberg. Great, presentation and very much appreciated. You're referring to a a Checkmate valve, I always thought they are referred to as check valves. Is that two different FAHERTY: things?

Checkmate is the style. There's Wapro. There's Checkmate.

JACKIE Oh, Checkmate's a brand.

JACKIE Brand. Correct.

JACKIE I guess my first question is that the repairs that you're recommending, is this something that your company does? Or are you only investigating recommending others do the repairs?

We can self perform all the repairs but the full length lining, which we have subcontractors that will perform that work for us.

Okay. Susan, a couple questions for you. And then I'm going to need James, I think, James Pool. Can you remind us why the CRA retained Enviro Waste Systems for this work?

Yes. So about a year ago when we were looking into expanding efforts into resiliency projects, it became apparent that it was very necessary to look into the efficacy of the gate valves, but not only the gate valves because sometimes the gate valve can say that it's working, you know, and it's been calibrated. But if the system that's feeding into the gate valve is compromised, it really doesn't jive with how well the whole system is working. So if there are infiltrations, if there are deficiencies, if utility companies have punctured the pipes, this all compromises the system. Now, the system is owned by FDOT.

We have been asking FDOT to do these same system analysis, go in and do the exact same work that EnviroWaste did. It had not been in their capital program to do it in the same way that we felt was necessary and urgent to do because there is an urgency here. We're also planning the next phase we're under construction on the next phase. We don't want to be, you know, investing monies when the system on the other side of A1A isn't functioning. So what we have been asking from FDOT is we will go in, we will do the work, Okay?

We will provide the results of the analysis. We want you to take care of the repairs on that analysis. The basins that were done a year ago, which we asked, they did have deficiencies, the ones at Arizona and New York Street, if you remember, that those repairs still have not been done by FDOT. So we feel it's our responsibility at least to complete the analysis to provide a full comprehensive package to FDOT. The analysis today was on four basins.

The next item on the agenda will be considering doing the 10 basins that are left under our purview. That will leave in total three there's 21 basins in total. So it leaves three basins that we will not do because FDOT is coming in very soon to put the pumps in at Sherman Street, at Van Buren Street, and at Bougainvillea. When they're doing the pumps, they're going to do the same analysis at the basin that's adjacent for the pump. So we didn't need to spend money on doing the analysis there.

So today's analysis, the 10 that have that are going to be coming up will be a full comprehensive package even though already today we know an approximate cost of the repairs for these four basins. If you recall the basins that we did, there was the New York Street basin, this was last year, had an approximate cost to repair of $119,000 and the basin repair at Arizona Street because it had a lot of concrete sediment in it was a repair of $146,000 We already know this is quantifiable. We have the information today and we are also going to have the information after we finish the analysis of the 10 basins. We feel it's the responsibility of FDOT to correct the deficiencies and the representatives from FDOT are here today And I think that they will I know James Pool is here.

JULIE Mr. Pool, could you come up here? First, I want to thank FDOT so much for being here. Also, last night, we had the update from FDOT on the traffic mitigation and MOTs for the pumps. So thank you so much. Your staff did a great job. So I guess my first question is, do you have any take any exception to what you've seen in these reports so far? It all looks pretty good.

Everything I saw this morning looks good. Okay. I greatly appreciate the efforts. It's difficult to do the inspection out there. It's quite tedious because of the infiltration, all the dewatering that's required to get the equipment in there.

So

the recommendations seemed very straightforward and what we would expect for the deficiencies that were observed.

There

was one where he mentioned the infiltration through the holes where the bolts were for a backload device. And you might have mentioned replacing the device altogether, but maybe we can get by with getting the bolts screwed back in. That works.

Do you putting the CRA aside, what is the process typically for FDOT to do this type of maintenance and repair work? Inspection maintenance and repair, I should say.

All right. Well, have to qualify my response because I work in development. I'm on the design side at DOT. Tony Castro, our district maintenance engineer, wasn't available this morning. But they have a contractor that is tasked with overseeing A1A and US1 and the roads in between, so all our Eastern Coastal Road areas and the current contractor now is named Versar many of you have met them out in the field they're tasked with doing regular inspection and maintenance of the storm sewers. And anything that's brought to their attention that's deficient, they should be tasked with addressing.

How about inspection? Like what is the process for FDOT to do what the CRA just did? Is there any sort of calendared inspection program?

Not that I'm aware of. I don't know the details of the frequency.

Okay. And are you suggesting that this repair work, now that you see what needs to be done, is going to be done by versa?

That would be my understanding. That's how the situation would normally work.

And when would it be done? How quickly? I know it's not under your bailiwick, but obviously we're in the midst of trying to revitalize this corridor. And we have phase four projects. We have residents that suffer flooding. So how do we get this repair work done quickly?

So the latest findings here we just received ourselves. So I know that they're reviewing it and they're coming up with their plan. I don't know that they've committed to a date, but my expectation is that they should be out there in the months ahead that this is something that they

Okay. So when FDOT sees this, this is the kind of thing they get out there and take care of promptly?

Okay. Ideally, yeah. Think that's

Okay.

I mean, that's exactly my question. Because it hasn't been taken care of. Now that we actually have physical pictures of it, we know that it needs to be taken care of. I just want to leave here today knowing that this is a priority and it's going to be taken care of.

Yes.

And then the next question is, when you get pictures like this, do we get reimbursed for this inspection effort? And we have another agenda item coming up to do this again because it has to be done. But it's significantly more costly than the four basins we just did. So is there a mechanism to reimburse the city for doing this because we are basically doing FDOT's work here.

Yeah. I'm not aware of a mechanism for that.

Susan, how I understand the maintenance work, the physical work. But what about the inspection work? Haven't we saved them? I mean, the four basins Okay, but the next item, what's the status of working with FGOT for reimbursement on that?

So we have asked for reimbursement. Also, the two basins that I spoke about before at New York Street and Arizona Street, those deficiencies still have not been addressed.

And let's stay there for a second. So we have our friend mister Poole here saying that they have an ongoing contract for this maintenance work. And are you confident that that company, Verser, is aware of the deficiencies that we found at those two locations?

We have not contacted their vendor directly. We have contacted FDOT. Right. But have you Do

seen any communications with FDOT and Mercer?

I have not on these two basins. Now, I think Vin is here, director of public utilities. He might have. Usually, we're copied on all the communication. I have not seen communication between FDOT and Burster on correcting the deficiencies at Arizona and New York Street.

I mean, if you have nothing, then don't don't come up. Okay. So James, Mr. Pool, I'm sorry. How if we haven't gotten those two done that FDOT's known about for quite some time and now we have this additional work, What is it that the city, the CRA, FDOT needs to do to get this done? We're entering into rainy season right now. And we have this known.

I think you're doing it right now. You're giving us a reminder. I can go back and follow-up to see what the plan is. I personally wasn't aware that they hadn't addressed those yet. And unless another inspection is done I don't know how you know that they haven't done it.

Susan, how do you know it hasn't been done?

I need to verify that they haven't done it. And if they have, show us the work that was completed. Show us the evidence.

So James, could you come back here for our next CRA meeting and update us on the or your counterpart who's responsible for maintenance. What was their name?

It's Tony Castro.

Okay. Could we make sure Mr. Castro is at our next meeting with answers to these three questions? One, have the repairs that he's been made aware of been done by Versa, the ones today and the ones from New York? How and when will the CRA be reimbursed for the inspection fees?

And for me, really most importantly, what is the game plan for maintenance by FDOT on FDOT storm water systems going forward? It just sounds like from what we're seeing from EnviroWaste that there's been a lack of maintenance. Just the buildup of debris is shocking, honestly. So in that maintenance, what and Susan, if you don't mind following up on these specific questions what is VRSA doing to prevent that level of buildup from ever happening again? I mean, we have residents subject of flooding whenever it rains.

And this consultant comes to us and shows us completely 20% only 20% of the capacity of the pipes is active. So these are simple, simple, simple solutions to what for our residents is a humongous problem. Okay?

Okay.

Thank you.

And I think that's it. Oh, the only other question is when you did your triple r, I know you lined a lot of these pipes. So are you or has someone looked to see if the same pipes need relining? Or is these are these areas that were missed?

The exceptions to the lining were the pipes that had conflicts. Right, Ruben? You remember Yeah. This?

Any of the lining work that was done

GREGORY You have to come into the mic, if you could. Sorry.

DELL: Any of the CIPP work that we looked at is in good condition. I mean, the typical lifespan of CIPP is well over fifty years.

Okay. So that's great news.

Except for utility bores or something hitting the utility itself. Because the IPP, once it's done, I mean, a lifespan is well over fifty years.

So where you're recommending sleeves, why wasn't that done?

Because there isn't one.

Oh, so when you did your RRR, you did it where you needed it. And now in those six years that have passed these additional? I gotcha. Okay. Thank you both very much. And I know, Mr. Fult, that you'll talk to Mr. Castro. And if we could just make sure he is at our next CRA meeting with kind of a game plan for maintenance, these repairs, and reimbursement of the inspections. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. James, you might get called on again. Let's go to board member Coleri.

Hi. Thank you. So it's almost like Groundhog Day, deja vu. We had this exact same conversation a year ago, give or take, with the lining. And I think I had asked, when you go, you spend this time and the money to go in and look at these deficiencies in the pipes, why can't it be addressed at the time that they're there?

And so now you just answered that it's another company that comes in and does aligning. My biggest concern is if you go to page 20 or slide 21 or 23, it shows those cracks from February. And now it's rainy season aren't I mean, I'm only going to I'm not a engineer, but I'm going to go to my medical world. And if you go in and do a colonoscopy or you do an esophageal scope and there's a crack and you don't address it, it's going to continue to get larger and cause more problems. So we're spending an exuberant amount of money to look and find the problems.

And the picture that was shown here was February. If you're if we have not have confirmation, and I looked to Susan to know from pipes that have had the same issues, if not larger, from a year ago and they're still not been addressed, those cracks and breaks are even bigger, which are gonna create even more of a problem. So it's disturbing to know that. And the last meeting we had, I clearly remember we are not being reimbursed. We're asking for the money, but we are not being reimbursed for the camera action.

Right? So that's a a lot of money that we're spending to pinpoint the areas of deficiency that need to be fixed. And that's on our city's backs. So we're being proactive, the city is. But it does not sound as if And so that's very concerning. So I think not to and it's not fair to you. But I think that it's really, really important that some type of agreement or partnership is established. And we can't talk about it again in a year from now. I mean, it's very frustrating to hear this. And then it's even more frustrating when our residents are going to call, complain, and hear the same song and dance.

So I don't know how we can arrange this to get it done. Can we give you directions, Susan, to get this arranged?

So we have actually offered to lay out the money that we are doing now. We've even offered to, if we need to, lay out the money to correct the deficiencies. But we want an agreement to get reimbursed for those funds that we're laying out, whatever is the quickest and most efficient way to get it done. But

we we want want to be making it up. I mean, proof is in the pudding. You have the pictures. You see the issues. We know they need to be repaired. Time and delay only creates a bigger problem. So to me, mean, we're doing the work, this is really a no brainer. So I don't know who we need to talk to. Maybe you can give us a name. We can get them so at the next ERA meeting, we have a commitment.

Because if that work hasn't been done from a year ago, we have problems. And that cannot continue. In addition to that, so this debris that you show on this slide here, is there I think you're off the hook. I'll have you come on up. This debris that's here, I see the large grate that's there. Is there any device or type of solution to prevent such an abundance amount of debris caught in there? Do the grates need to be smaller? Have you found anything that we can invest in that would help prevent that?

There really isn't Because if you put some sort of fabric underneath the grate to catch any of the sand or plastic or any kind of debris, then it just builds up in the street. And if you routinely remove that debris, then the water is not going be able to go into this estimate.

Yeah. But wouldn't a routinely removal be more cost effective and safety than having you come out and do this at 20% until we figure out that that's the problem?

Oh, absolutely. I mean, anything you could do to eliminate that. But you have to start with the deficiencies in the system. Because where the infiltration is, that's

where It's sand this.

That's where sand's coming in. I mean, obviously, lot of it comes from the beach. And it comes down the roads and washes into the inlets and manholes. But any deficiencies in the existing pipe, you're going to have and that's twenty four hours a day, three sixty five days a week, because this is always underwater.

DELL: I So think in a just common thought process is you put the cameras, there's the hole. We need to have some type of mechanism that says, Okay, this is the hole. Get the lining in, fix the problem, and then have maintenance to clear out these things. It has to kind of all kumbaya. Anytime SPEAKER

you come in and do any type of rehab, the post inspection is included in the lining price. You would see the repair and then a whole another post video inspection just like these pre video inspections would come follow the repair.

So you guys have to work in tandem to be able to create a smooth process then is what you're saying?

Yes, other than this falls underneath FDOT. And if they have lining contractors, we wouldn't be involved in that.

So do we have the same problem? I guess James it's James? Do we have the same problem in other areas that have this similar piping, like other coastal areas have the same issue? And are they being as proactive, or have you heard of any other municipality that actually has this tandem arrangement that is working? Or is this the same problem up and down the coastline? Because that's the cat fact. We just need to go straight to the top and try to get this fixed.

I'd say we have a few similar challenges in other parts of our district. We have five counties. But they're the most pronounced here. The sand issue is really bad. The beach is so close.

Anywhere in coastal areas, we experience these problems.

But I know you experience the problems. But I'm talking about you find the problem, you find the cracks, you fix it within a timely manner, not a year, not five months, because it's only going to get bigger. So I guess my question is, if you're putting the cameras, you're scoping the pipes, fix the bleed, and then check it, make sure it's not bleeding anymore. It has to be coinciding, bleeding with each other. That's my ask. Do you have that anywhere else in your five counties or coastal cities that you have this arrangement or that you have been successful with that you know of?

I don't think there's anything quite like this one. The symptom is the flooding. That's what the public sees. And this is the lowest lying section of A1A in

Good.

So we can be the pilot program to establish some type of correction so that you you don't continually have this issue going on. Like, we can't keep doing this. It's like a waste of money.

Yeah. It sounds sounds like the contractor that's on board with F. O. Like you said, responsible to do maintenance and repair and reporting that when it's beyond maintenance and it's we need liner needs to be more frequently reporting and and active in this area, perhaps more than even others, to everyone's point that they've made here.

Right? I maybe we can we can work like, a meeting and bring your all minds to the head and find out a way that we can really be proactive and address the situation instead of having you come back every year and do the same song and dance because it's getting exhausting.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Let's we have two more board members who would like to speak on this, and then we think we know where we're headed on this. Let's go to board member Hernandez.

Thank you, mayor. Vin, could I could I ask you to come up if you don't mind? Because I I think that the FDOT has their hands full with five counties and different things and this being the lowest. How often would you if this was a city structures, how often would you clean those out?

As a practical matter, it's usually once per year, maybe twice per year for trouble areas.

We consider it Can we consider this troubles area?

Speaking from a practical perspective on a utility management, for example, the city has over 4,000 catch basins. So if you do the math of how many can be covered, and so we inspect all of them once, at least once annually, and then we follow-up with a vector for those areas. We task vectors for those catch basins that need the servicing. I can give you an outline of what the utility is doing in conjunction with the CRA and FDOT.

You confused me with everything you said. If I ask a straight and I know what you're saying. But I know we inspect them, but we don't based on the paperwork that I have, we don't have a name associated with the inspector of that particular catch basins. We don't have the date of when it was inspected. We do have results as to it was cleared and not cleared. Somebody needs to come back. I get that. I'm not looking for that. My question is on this particular section, which is a one a, which was for years, Bob has come up here and says, we have flooded. We need to look at these things. Now we have taken the time and spent the money to identify them. If we clean this out twice a year rather than just once a year, how much would that cost the city to do something like this?

I I don't know. I don't have a count of catch basins off the top of my head or or whether it can be done internally, added to our workload. Let me just give you a thumbnail sketch of where we are. This doesn't look like progress. But from where I took over, it is progress because formally, what FDOT would do was send out an inspector or their service. And you'd get a list that they looked at the outfall and it was good. There was no information. All they did was they looked at it. There was no action taken. What we're doing here in partnership with CRA is we're expediting the issue.

Because you could still be having this conversation just about getting FDOT to come out and do the video line. So we're making that investment doing those video inspections. And it's not a stranded investment. Here's why. It's going to give us all the information on which areas to prioritize in terms of I and I, that's inflow and infiltration.

That's all the pinholes in the pipes, the outfall failures. And we can focus FDOT on that. I can task the next phases and I just had a field meeting out there with Tony Castro and James Pool and the mayor and Chris O'Brien and some concerned residents. The next thing we're going to pilot is putting WaitPro valves, check valves, between where the city system ends and where the FDOT system begins. That may actually be more cost effective because rather than wait for FDOT to service their system, we'll isolate our system from theirs with a check valve.

And any INI on our side of the system will correct. We'll maintain our catch basins. And to the degree that we can get an agreement with FDOT, we'll maintain those as well as to get and try to get the reimbursement back. But that may be more cost effective than waiting for FDOT to do all of this I and I repair. So we're going to pilot that in a few basins and see where it goes from there.

I'm going to ask you the same question. And I'm to ask you if you could just answer my question because I know what you said. How much would it cost us if we go out there with a vac truck and clean this thing twice a year? Do we know?

And commissioner, I don't know how much that would cost. I don't know how many catch basins are involved. And and so I don't I don't don't

know many catch basins do we have? I need answers to the questions because we did this is this is a

Sorry. We have 21 basins.

Okay. George, if if hold hold on then. I need to have an answer to some of these questions. If we need to actually go out there and maintain this system because the DOT is not doing so for whatever reason, I'd like to be able to have a cost associated to that so that if the CRA has to sit with the DOT and says, we we're doing this particular project because we cannot afford to continue flooding that's taking place until they actually come online and be able to do something like this. I need to be able to have a cost associated with that.

And if we can't get it from our city utility director, then we need to get it from the private sector, if we would. Mr. Excuse me. Can I Give him a second, Peter?

So I don't feel so bad because I'm asking EnviroWaste if they have a unit price for doing the work that he cleaning the catch basin and he doesn't know

of. Commissioner's point, we own a vac truck. And we have people. And really, what he's asking is time and expense in house of running the truck.

GREGORY Yeah. I think I've seen as many as 20 or 30 a day. There's 200. I think there may be an estimate of several 100.

VINT Vin, I'm just getting frustrated. With all due respect, I just need the answer to my question. If you don't have the answer, then I'm going to ask him to give me the answer. What would cost to be able to clean this out twice a year?

So along A1A, it's always under water. So it's difficult to say, you know, you can stick the vac truck down into the basin that's full of water. This particular area that, to my, I would like to say it's not the way to go about it because you don't know what the results are going to be. You need to plug and dewater, clean each inlet, and then drag any debris that's up and down every line that comes into those inlets. That's the way to in this particular area. Now, out west, it's different most

of time. I'm not looking at west. I'm looking to try to alleviate this problem. Basically, what I hear from everybody is, we can't do anything about it. And that's not an answer because there is way of going about it. You dewater the area and you were able to expose some of the debris that was there. So if you were to do something like that each and every time, which is the worst case scenario, how much would

that be?

There would be a significant cost reduction in doing it on a annual basis or biannual basis.

Biannual basis. Much

faster than

And and that's what I need to know. And the reason that I need to know is because we need to find a way to alleviate what's going on in that coastal area until we get the Florida Department of Transportation to come up with a plan that we can address some of the infiltration that's taken place, some of the relining that it's needed, some of the bore that took place and nobody noticed that it's causing infiltration into the system. But before we do that, we can't just sit and wait and let the flooding continue. So I need to have, if it's at all possible, give me a high number of what it would cost to maintain those things twice a year.

How Generally.

Yeah. I I just Generally,

the cost would be probably less than half if you're not looking for video inspection.

I'm not looking for video inspection, so give me a number.

Less than half of what you spent this

And what do we spend?

No. No.

I mean, if you look at the upcoming item, the upcoming item is 220,000

per ton.

Yeah. 84,000.

84,000 is what we spend for this. So to clean them up, you're telling me that it's gonna cost us $40,000, $10,000 per per catch basin? No. Well, much that's my point. How much would it cost to clean out the catch basin twice a year?

Because, again, due to the environment of the coast, we would have to plug and dewater. So it's a little more than just going out and sticking the bag.

I get it. How much would it be?

Like I well, per catch basin?

Yeah.

I I'd have to run the

There's 20 some of them. Look, I can't I can't believe for the life of me and and all other please forgive me that we can't get a cost of what it would cost for something that gets done every day all throughout The United States. Never mind Hollywood. So I my frustration is

typical inlet cleaning Yes. Is anywhere from $2.25 to $3.50 an inlet. Mhmm. 100 $2,225 or $350 an inlet and anywhere from $2 a foot to $5 a foot for jetting the lines.

Okay. So let's say $1,500 per I'm just going at the high end or something like that. Dollars 1,500 will clean up twice a year. If we have 21 of them, so let's say 2: $40,000.50

Yeah,

thousand you may dollars have 21 underneath Hollywood's jurisdiction, underneath everything we did with FDOT and Hollywood's jurisdiction, there's many more.

Okay. So basically, what what I would ask, and I don't know if I have the support from from from the board, is let's get a cost in order for us to maintain this while we talk to the Department of Transportation and bring everybody on board, see if we can have a symbiotic relationship with the City of Hollywood and the Florida Department of Transportation to be able to get this cleaning. We need to be able to try to get the flooding under control and the barrier item. That's all I'm looking for. It it is not an option.

We need to be able to do that. Half of the trees that are dying, it's because of some of the water retention that we have. If we only percolating at a 20% what we're supposed to be doing, we have those trees soaking in water that may not be able to do so. So doing something like that and for the millions of dollars that we have, we invested in the CRA is pittance in comparison to what we're losing. The property values are, you know, people don't wanna go where it's flooded And Hollywood is starting to get the reputation that don't go to the beach because it's flooded.

Your car is gonna get ruined. Similar story that it's going on with the lakes. We need to be able to approach this in a way that, yes, it may cost us money but we're gonna have to spend the money until we get the Florida Department of Transportation to come with us and says, okay, look, you've identified a problem. You're spending money at the problem. If reimbursement is not something that we're willing to do, we have to be able to swallow that pill, if you would, and be able to treat this as a problem that we have.

It's a Hollywood problem. DOT is statewide. And so therefore, that's the reason, Ben, I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. I was just trying to get a number so that we can put a number together so that when we sit with the Florida Department of Transportation, this is costing us x amount of money because it needs to be done and it's not being done. So that's my point. We need to be able to have a number. I'm gonna ask for support from the board if we can ask, give direction to the CRA interim director to see if we come up with a plan that can they can address with the with the Florida Department of Transportation. Do I have support from the board?

You certainly do. Okay. And we all want that and thank you. But before we call on board member Biederman, I just wanna point out that while the cleaning and the removal of debris will help the flow of draining, you know, water out of the beach, we still haven't solved the issue of the backflow coming.

And and

The pipes that don't have backflow preventers, which is a

whole And going through that. I just needed to get a price first so that we can realize that we're going to be spending money while the other issue is being addressed. And then get a cost associated with this. If we already have contractors from the Mr. Pool, can you please come up, if you don't mind? And I'm sure that you're probably busy on the phone talking about what's going on here in Hollywood. You guys have a cost per either unit which could be lineal feet or by the diameter of the catch basins to be able to realign those things. Is that correct from your current contractor? I know you're in the design phase, but do we

have Yeah. So Versaar would use a sub more than likely. And it could be someone EnviroWaste, another contractor that does lining. But, yes, we have a statewide average cost for lining.

We can get So for if you have someone like that and the current contractor that's familiar starting to get familiar with matches that price, maybe you can use somebody that's already familiar with that. I'm not saying how FDOT should be able to address that, but you can see that this is getting to the critical point. I mean, it's past the point of no return. We've identified the problems. We've identified how to fix the problem. We've identified a cost to fix the problem. Aside from talking to the contractor who did the board, which we've got to identify who that is so they can actually do we know who it is?

We don't. We believe it's AT and T, but we really have not identified it.

Well, they love us then. But we need to be able to find a way of removing that obstacle so that we can do what we need to do or even at a more expense reroute that line and that's gonna cost more money. So can we try to come up with something, a plan, and I know you're on the design part, you're not at this, at the tail end of this, to come up with something that we can do on a yearly basis so that we can avoid these issues? Because you could see that we're just getting to the point that there's nothing else that we can tell our businesses. There's nothing else that we can tell our residents.

And the worst that we had to do was identify them. This has already been identified in order for us to be able to expedite these things. We're spending millions of dollars on the South Side Of Hollywood Boulevard and it doesn't make any sense to have one area flood and the area doesn't flood because then you're going to turn neighbors against each other. And that's not what we want to do. So this doesn't sound like it's a never ending problem if we address it.

And it doesn't sound that it's very expensive if we nip it in the butt, if you would, no pun intended. So I'd I'd like to have your cooperation and maybe we can just get together with the mayor, could spearhead this thing, with the CRA and FDOT and just try to get this. And maybe the contractor on our end and Vin as a utility director and says, we can put a plan together and this is what it would cost and this is when we can start it. And the sooner we can start it, the better. And I gotta tell you something, it's not uncommon for the Florida Department of Transportation if they don't have something in line or in their budget to be able to say, we have this in budget for two years from now.

So we will refund you money two years from now because it will come in our budget just like they've done with the Seminole tribe when it came April was being done. It wasn't in their budget. It was something that they were gonna do years from then. The tribe decided to do it ahead of time and they came to those conditions. If those the case, then let's find out, get the get that information. The mayor will let us know. You will let us know and see if we can move this forward. I mean, the I the island, you know, the intercoastal has been suffering long enough and it'll get to the point that people will just stop coming whenever it rains, and that's not what we look for. So thank you, mister Poole, for your cooperation with Thank you. Thank you.

But we we need to be able to address this in a way that even if we gotta front the money to be able to get it done, we need to be able to do it. Susan?

And board member Hernandez, that's exactly what we did ask from FDOT. But I think that what we will do is now that we know the cost of like the repairs for this particular four basins are about $162,000 What's still unknown is the 10 basins that are going to be coming up. So what we can do is add the costs of the maintenance that you're suggesting to that overall spreadsheet. So we know the cost of the repairs and the cost of either annual or biannual inspections to that overall cost.

Did you click that? Hold on.

Thank you. We've identified four. And if rather than wait for the other ones, I would address and I would ask that if we get the permission from the FDOT to be able to fix this four while we work on on trying to get refund from them, whether it's now or later on and what have you, whether the contractor that we choose meets their requirements for all of this work, which I got a feeling that they're more than qualified to do something like that. But work with them when it comes to those things. But if we have four that we know that we can fix at 168,000 I would jump on those right away.

Identify with the other ones as we go along. And if as we identify, get with the FDOT, say this is happening, we've identified this, we have a contractor that we're ready to go right now, and try to work out through those iron out the issues of this contractor, that contractor. Because this has been going on for years. And it'll go on for more years unless we actually take the bull by the horn and fix it. And that's what I'm asking for support for us to be able to say, look, we need to be proactive.

And I think that I got the support. So at the end of the day, let's move forward with fixing this floor, identifying more that need to be fixed In the South Side, they were spending millions of dollars on to do it. See if we can identify that so that as we move on, we can fix those as we go along. We already know what the problem is. We know how to fix it. Let's do it.

Thank you, Peter. Let's go to board member Biederman.

Thank you. So I have a couple questions also. And, you know, I I feel bad you're, like, here taking a beating for your colleagues that aren't here. So I'm I'm gonna start out by saying it's very frustrating every time we're dealing with FDOT. And when we have residents that are dealing with staff and they're not getting anywhere, they go to us.

So maybe it's time that we contact our lobbyist or senator Pizzo and say, hey, listen, go to FDOT and, you know, get some action for us. Yeah. That might be the way we need to go. I'm not disrespecting the mister Pool that's here but, it's not even his division and he's being a mention coming out and trying to answer some questions for us and we appreciate that. I might not always say it but we do appreciate.

So I think some of my questions might have been answered already. But I think one of the things that commissioner Hernandez brought up and I I kind of agree with some of the things he said is maybe we need you know, we bought a vacuum truck recently, right, Vin? Maybe we need to buy another vacuum truck. And what does it take? One more staff member to operate it? Or is it a multi person job? Or

It's accrued by two to three people and I have added Vactor trucks to this year's budget request.

Okay. So I mean, that's something we could all support and then we could get some of this stuff done. I did to to answer commissioner Callery's question, I did see something somewhere, some show or whatever it was that there are these baskets that they put in the storm grates to catch the debris and those are easier to empty out than a vacuum truck. Right? So maybe we need to price out these, catch the the baskets like a pool filter that catches the leaves before it goes into the pump.

Maybe we can price out those baskets and see if that's a suitable solution without and, you know, I mean, they might be have to be emptied once a month or something like that with all the people that are littering and everything else and other things that clog it. Enviro waste? Okay. Sounds like a garbage company. Is when you when you did all this inspection, is this a physical inspection that somebody goes in there or it's just a drone or a camera that goes in there?

Oh, yeah. We have self propelled CCTV cameras.

Alright. That's what I thought I remembered seeing. Yeah. Because, you know, kinda to me, it sounds like, you know, and this is gonna be very graphic, I guess, but if you go to a GI doctor for your annual physical, they fix while while they're in there, they fix what you need done. So maybe this needs to go hand in hand that when when you're down there and these, there there needs to be some budget that you could fix stuff while you're down there instead of coming back, you know, to us and saying, hey, listen, found a $160,000 worth of stuff to fix.

Can we fix it? Maybe it needs to be like a one one stop shop kind of thing. And I'm surprised that we didn't come back, you know, knowing that there's somebody bored a line through our thing. And how long ago did we know this, that we haven't even tried to investigate to find out whose it was?

No. As soon as we got the report, we sent the report to FDOT because that utility company, who was most probably working for a construction, a private developer, that utility company would have had to have secured a permit to transfer State Road A1A from FDOT. So as soon as we got that information, we sent that to FDOT because they need to find out who that utility company is.

I could tell you in five minutes who it is. All we have to do is cut the line. We're we're gonna find out real quick who it was. I think that pretty much covers what my questions were and what my comments were. But I'm glad to hear that we have an additional vac truck in next year's budget. Hopefully, it doesn't get hit on the floor.

The only thing I'd like to state is when we work for the city of Hollywood and we find efficiencies in the lines, we turn around the report quickly. And usually within days or weeks, we're right back out there to do the repair. It all falls on the city. And FDOT is a customer of ours as well. And we do the same for them. I mean, give them daily updates of our findings so they would know in advance.

So you should know the answer to Commissioner Hernandez's question. And that is, what's the rotation of FDOT? FDOT? And how often do what's their RFP and their contract to have you or your competitors service these catch basins on a regular basis?

So for when we work for FDOT, we haven't done A1A FDOT. We've done other districts in the area. And if we go in and CCTV something, the contract has lining prices in it, has sectional prices in it, has grouting in it. So as soon as we turn that report over to them, within days or weeks, where it depends on if we have to order materials we're back out there making a repair.

That wasn't the question. The question was, how often do they inspect and vac truck their lines?

Or at least what's standardized?

How often do they so it's like he said. It's like he said, if they have 4,000 inlets in the district, we start at one end and we move through it. And then as soon as we finish up the 4,000, we go right back to Inlet number one and keep going. So it's, you know, and we're doing, depending on how many crews we have out there, we're doing anywhere from 30 to 100 a day for them.

How many VAC trucks do you have?

Here locally in Broward, we have five vac trucks. We have six in Miami and then Tampa and Orlando. So I mean, we have a fleet of 50 to 60 vac trucks. And we do a lot of emergency know, what last year with all the storms, everything else. We have pump trucks, back trucks, everything available one: for the city of Hollywood.

Gotcha.

So just to finalize, Susan, can you touch base with Adam Reichbach and find out if we can talk to either our state senator or our lobbyist and maybe we just have to go to the head of the snake?

I I will absolutely do that.

I snake don't is the right word, but to to the head of the I

don't know. Some people might refer to them.

I don't know. I don't know about that. We appreciate our partners including FDOT. Let's not forget that FDOT is spending tens of millions of dollars on pumps that are being installed on the beach in the next few years. So, yes, we have to push them on on the inspection, maintenance, and solutions for these outflow pipes. But let's remember that FDOT is one of our most valuable and important partners and we appreciate sincerely all the work that they're doing to get things going in Broward County and in the city of Hollywood. So let's not take that out of context. Alright. Let's go ahead to commissioner Cleary, board member Cleary.

So this is good government in the works. By any chance, James, did you get confirmation from your colleagues in reference to the repair of New York Street and the ones from last year yet, by any chance?

I haven't, but I thought they had been out there. I can't speak for maintenance, but I thought that some progress had been made. So we'll just get confirmation details.

Ma'am. So I love the fact of the catch basin. Great. If we can implement that, biannual maintenance would be great. And to work on an agreement for repair and lining if needed with FDOT, whether it's reimbursement or do it tandem, I think would be amazing.

And the VAC truck, Vin, you had mentioned about the CRA, I mean about purchasing another one and going through budget. But here's something I would strongly suggest. We're talking about the beach and the flooding, but we have to be cognizant to be good governor of our entire city. So obviously, we are investing, if it works on the beach, we have flooding throughout the entire city with the same issues. And that includes, if we don't do the good government, that increases claims, insurance claims.

Then our residents are the ones who get penalized because they either are going to be dropped from the insurance agency because of the claims being made. Their lives are going to be inconvenienced. And really, it all falls back on the responsibility that we have as a city to do the best that we can to provide great quality of life. So if that VAC truck is needed, can that, while the CRA is in effect, be included in our CRA budget instead of the general budget because it is to prevent blight, which would be caused from the flooding? So to me, I feel is what the CRA's sole purpose is, is to provide these situations.

That way it eliminates the two trucks that we're already using within the city. Now it can be focused just in our downtown and our beach CRA, the vac truck. You see where I'm going with that by any chance? Okay, good. And if this works, then it's proven that by providing that proper maintenance and providing those catch basins, we can implement that throughout the remainder of the city because we have areas that flood as well.

So that would be my suggestion. And I fully support the request of Commissioner Hernandez that we all agreed upon. But I also feel that this is such a great opportunity that we can utilize not only to address the concerns on the beach, also our downtown CRA, but then we learn from it and make sure that it works and we can implement it throughout the rest of the city that are also experiencing flooding because we're all in this together. So that would be my suggestion.

Thank you.

A truck,

that truck for CRA would be my choice. Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you. Let's go to board member Gruber who's been patiently waiting.

Thank you. I think most of what I'm going to say has been said at least a 100 times already, but I'm going chime in. But correct me if I'm wrong, on the vac truck, you mentioned that it's not just a vac truck on the beach because there's always water in there, like it has to be sealed every time we're doing it. So a vac truck in itself is not the answer to this? Is it that's that's what I thought I heard for for the ones on the beach. Yeah. It's what?

For the for the ones on the beach or any any inlets that are underwater all the time, it's best to plug and dewater to remove the debris. I mean, it doesn't matter how much pressure you use on a jet hose. Our trucks go up to 3,000 PSI. You're not going to move debris underneath water.

And does our staff, Vin, have the expertise to perform those tasks as well if we give them a vac truck? Like, I'm not familiar with it. Wouldn't be able to do it.

So, yes. I'm not sure how they don't do it every day, but yes, they have the expertise.

Okay. Okay. Great. And then, so I'm looking at this picture in the upper right hand corner and it's reminding me of like when you remove a hedge that's been there for twenty years and you see a can that, you know, of, like, some beer that they stopped making fifty years ago. So is is that so how how long has has it been since that's been cleaned? Like, you from your your expertise, like, is that to me, that looks like like ten years, but that could be

a

week not on

here to throw anybody under the bus.

Well, no. I'm saying is that something that

I don't There's your answer. He said it hasn't been clean in a while.

Okay. Yeah. Right. So so so I get so to to me, I just want to know from from FDOT since we're at 20% capacity, you know, when the last time that was done, there's a contractor that is contracted to, observe and maintain. And and from FDOT, if, you know, they can now come back and do it so we never get to 20% capacity, whether that's once a year, twice a year, and I I think they they that's a simple answer from them. This is the last time it was done. Yes, we see this based on this. We can do it x amount of times. If the x amount of times that they can do it isn't sufficient, then we have to figure out a way to do it ourselves because 20% is ridiculous. So, yeah, if we can just reach out to them and get the answer to that, that's my 2¢.

All right.

Thanks. Then have to do it ourselves. Or yeah. Yeah. But we can't leave it like this.

Yeah. Let's go to Vice Chair Quintana.

Thank you so much. Listen, far be it for me to tell FDOT what to do. But it just seems to me like good business practice in terms of not throwing good money after bad for, FDOT to to save money by having their contractor actually do the work they've been contracted to do. And And while I understand that right now, it's a Hollywood problem you said that we're the lowest lying area in FDOT's jurisdiction but I can tell you that FDOT's going to be facing this in many other coastal cities because there's going be others who are going to be in the same boat. So I want to support what Commissioner Kalari said about this potentially being a pilot project for FDOT where they could really set up some best practices for their future challenges.

I also think that, while the need at the beach, like much like with our stormwater master plan, the need at the beach is the most urgent. And, of course, we need to address this. Whatever we need to figure out to address it, we need to make it urgently so. But, again, supporting what commissioner Kalari said, there are other areas of our city that also experience problems with catch basins that are not well maintained. And I'm concerned with what Vince said that he's got a crew of two to three people, and he just got an extra truck and that they I don't know how well they're able to keep up with the work that his two to three people crew has to do citywide as it stands.

So I'm a little bit nervous about having him put his two to three people focused just on the beach and then what happens to the rest of the city.

Just to clarify, Vice Mayor, I was asked how many people are needed to crew a Vactor truck. And I said two to

three people. Okay. So you have more than that? How many people do you have?

We have about eight people. So how we handle it is we have a map of the city. We have zones that we look at every month of the year. And we send a triage team out in advance of the Vactor truck to inspect the basins. And then, of course, send the Vactors to the basins that need it.

And at that rate by stormwater permit, we're only obligated to maintain each catch basin once every three years. What I've done since I've been here, we stepped that up to at least putting cans on each catch basin, 4,000 of them, once per year. And with the advanced crews and by the way, streamlining communications so now a resident can call and get a live person and say, I have an issue with my catch basin. And we've been pretty effective in dispatching crews that same day or even week to clean the catch basin. So we're trying to stay ahead of it.

With regard to the A1A Corridor, in terms of CIP, the A1A Corridor is far ahead of the rest city in storm water management because all the pump station investments that we're making. And we're in unknown territory trying to navigate with FTOT about maintaining their system and trying to get an agreement or understanding in place to reimburse us. Because if we launch into the work, we could get it done right away. But after two, three, five years, becomes by precedent, will become our responsibility forever. And ten years from now, they may question, why are we doing FTOT's work?

So we're navigating this new territory because of the urgency. And we're doing the best we can. And everything that we're doing is documenting. In terms of the videotaping, it's going to help us prioritize the basins. I did speak directly to Tony Castro a week or so ago out in the field.

And the plan of action on these telecom and other utility penetrations was I told him, FDOT has a procedure that when they find that utility has damaged their utility, they have a procedure to go after that utility and have their insurance company pay for the repair. So we're going to pilot in these basins, we're piloting that effect where we're going to point out to them the penetrations and make a list and just follow-up with them to see how they're tracking internally. Because they do have a process in place to deal with utility conflicts.

Yep. Yep. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Vice mayor. All right. Board Member Schuham to

Yeah. I just don't want to lose sight of my initial comment, which is Susan and Mr. Pool, I would like Tony to be here and explain to us the process for inspection, maintenance, etcetera, the status of the repairs. I don't disagree with any of this. If it's not getting done, we have to do it.

But if it is getting done, we need to know about it. And the other thing, Vin, I'm just thinking is if there is an existing contract with a company, I don't know if we like Versaar or not, but if there is an existing company, maybe the ILA simply says that the city has the authority to direct that contractor as well. In other words, it's an FDOT contract, but in and this could be the pilot in coastal cities where expediency is critical, maybe there is a way to allow the municipality to operate under that FDOT contract in some fashion. I don't know if anything like that's been done before.

The utility does have a contract. It's with EnviroWaste. That was the contract that I

No, you have that.

I have that, yeah.

Right. But this work is under FDOT streets. So we cannot as I understand it, right, we can't tell EnviroWaste to go clean out an FDOT basin, can we?

That's that's the sort of new territory that we're navigating.

Right. So my my thought is is is it simpler to work with FDOT to allow the city to direct an FDOT contract?

I think I think your point, board member, about having mister Castro here or speaking with the district secretary between now and the next meeting to come up with a game plan and then report to us at that meeting what their

I game plan just want to conclude by saying all of this is stuff that Susan has been working on. She's been trying very hard to get an ILA. And I know Vin has been working with them, too. So while this is all great, it is stuff that the staff has been trying to accomplish. Thank you.

And look, here we've been talking spending time talking about the the maintenance and some of the inflow that we've seen through the camera work. But all of that is in addition to the need to install additional backflow preventers and check valves and all those alpha pipes that don't have them because, you know, what we're really experiencing here is salt water tidal flooding that sits there is the most acute situation versus the draining of rainwater. Correct.

So what I was alluding to is we are piloting, putting backflow preventers at the demarcation point between the cities.

I think that'll be important to see the result there too.

Yeah. And then that'll at least can maintain our own and we can isolate FDOTs and flow. Yeah.

Boardroom and Gruba, did you have anything else? Alright. That concludes the item. Thank you so much. Well, I'm sorry. Before we go, Bob Glickman, I offered an opportunity for him to speak. Bob, come on up.

Good morning, Bob Glickman. Thank you for the opportunity. A couple of comments. First, I was talking with Eugene back there. He's actually suggested maybe we can ask the District four commissioner to come to a meeting.

Secretary?

Yes, secretary. And hear it firsthand. Maybe we can also ask Commissioner Fuhr to come to a meeting and hear it firsthand. Also, maybe has a little bit more clout with the local office than we all have. Taking you back into the Hollywood time machine years and years and years ago, when they used to clean out the streets, they would come to the middle of the street. They would remove a manhole cover. Then they would clean it from the middle of the beach streets down. I don't see that they do that anymore. I don't even know if we have the manhole covers in the middle of the streets. But that seemed to cure it. And they seemed to have come out once a year way back when. So they don't do that anymore. But we didn't have to ask them. They usually came. We owned a hotel on the beach.

I live on the beach. And they would just routinely come every year. So maybe we need to put that routine back in service again. The other thing is, on page eight of this report, in yellow, it says that the Checkmate valve was sealed. I don't quite understand what the word sealed means. Is it functioning or is it not functioning? That's a question about that. And on page nine, it says, the survey abandoned camera blocked by cable. And on page 10, it shows fiber optic cable through the drainage system. Well, I remember coming here, I think, last year.

And we talked about any contractor that was working along A1A or any place in the city. And they were going underground. They had to notify either the city or the CRA. And we would know ahead of time who did the work and who did the damage. So we were able to go back to them. During this conversation here today, I don't hear that we actually know who may have done this damage so we can go back to them and make them pay for it. Why should we pay for it? Residents shouldn't pay for it. Cities shouldn't have to pay for it. CRA shouldn't have to pay for it.

So I don't recall that we've implemented that. If we have, we need a better understanding to know and force these companies, whether it's AT and T just to pick somebody that they're shoving cables underground, you know exactly what they're doing. I mean, I'm looking right now at, by New Mexico Street, they're building a new condo complex there, Eterna. And they've dug up the street from one side of A1A to the other side. And they have metal plates on the ground. God knows what they're doing. They got all the traffic backed up. But we don't know what damage they may or may not be doing. Has the city or the CRA been notified about this? Do we know exactly what they're doing?

These are just some questions that I just want to bring to your attention so we can get ahead of it instead of be behind on it. Thank you.

Thank you, Bob. All right. Well, in good timing then, item number 12 is a resolution of the CRA to issue a purchase order to EnviroAce Services for storm water basin inspections and evaluation along A1A for 10 additional basins all the way from Hallandale Beach Boulevard to Sheridan Street. This is in an amount up to 220 k in furtherance of what we all just discussed. Can I have a motion to approve please? We have motion from board member Kalari and a second from board member Shuham to approve item number 12. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the item carries unanimously.

Alright. Well, that covers all of the substantive work. Why don't we take a five minute recess and then we'll come back and talk about item number 13 and some future ideas. Thank you. Recess.

Recognize, the company of our former district one commissioner Deborah Case is here, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome Deborah. Always good to see you. Alright. Item 13, I'll turn it over to the executive director. I know she had mentioned that she would be looking to perhaps withdraw the item. Susan, I invite you to speak on 13.

Thank you, mister chair.

She's having general discussion. Sure.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, Vice Chair, Board members. So I am respectfully requesting withdrawing item number 13. I truly appreciate the confidence having appointed me acting executive director as well as the unmitigated assistance and support of city manager George Keller and assistant city manager Raylan Story, who I've spoken to many nights this past week as well as the support of CRA staff. This was not an easy decision.

I have been working hard at this position the last sixty days and I have tried making this dual position fit over the last sixty days. But projecting the expanded responsibilities moving forward, it's just not the right fit at the right time for me. So with that said, I am again respectfully requesting withdrawing the item.

Thank you, Susan. Well, you do have the authority to withdraw the item so we are considering it withdrawn. I think since we are, of course, here, ladies and gentlemen, we do have, of course, at the pleasure of our board an opportunity to discuss the executive director position. So I think we we ought to do so instead of doing that now, instead of doing that during comments. And mind you, we will not solve everything today.

But as you all know, ever since the resignation of the former executive director, mister Komejo, the city manager had expressed a willingness and, of course, his pleasure to assist the CRA in its transition. We know the CRA for the downtown is ending in its current form come this year and it's already received its final, you know, TIF payment by the county and the city in terms of its contributions. So we know that will wind down to be a different CRA over the next five years as the county ILA will continue to support with some dollars as we all know for the five years post 2025. We also, of course, know that the beach CRA will be sunsetting in the 2027. And so we really have already been at least I know a lot of us have discussed the priority being the completion of existing capital improvement projects which are very sizable on the beach specifically with phase four and that those most of the dollars, of course, are already designated to be spent now.

We will have, during the budget discussions, a need to talk about dollars that are realized in the final year of the CRA now that need to be expended for downtown as well as just, you know, carry over in the CRA on the Beach CRA that's that's still requires decision making by the board here on how to designate, you know, the investment of those funds to fulfill the the purpose of the CRA. And so clearly though, with Susan advising us that, you know, she feels she's really needed to to manage the projects that are remaining, the capital projects, and that's where her skill set comes best. We certainly, I think, are very fortunate to have Susan at the ready and and know knowing where she needs to focus her work for the benefit of the CRA. And so that will leave some tasks that that was were undertaken by the former executive director for years, you know, with someone who needs to fill them. It's my impression that the board would not prefer and I don't think we we ought to, of course, and reasons are clear that we would want to look outside or elsewhere for anyone to fill the executive director position given the timetable that we have and the horizon for this particular role as we know it today.

Clearly, the beach will need continued work and and and care on behalf of the city post Beach CRA and, of course, that will will take place as but downtown will at least continue to have that that CRA title and and and legal function for at least five years post 2025. And so or else we forfeit funds. So I just would like before we comment, I would like to hear from the the city manager because I think the board will be looking. I expect, ladies and gentlemen, to the city manager to advise us if the city management sees an opportunity for itself to step in and and handle this. Otherwise, then our only choice is to hire someone and and start looking.

So George, I'd like you to advise the board what you think your capacity is and what your outlook would be. And, of course, this is not the end all final conversation here, but you have expressed the willingness if need be to step in and and be the executive director of the CRA and through utilizing the different offices of the city government through the enhanced services agreement that we have to continue the function and let Susan continue the CIP projects which need that every day, you know, work. So please, city manager.

Yes. Yes. Thank you, mister Mr. Chair, Vice Chair, and board members. For the record, George Keller, city manager.

We've obviously, in the last several weeks, last couple of months, been spending a lot of time with Susan and talking and working through things. And we were already in a transition phase over the last couple of years. And you have formally adopted the transition plan, which we're now implementing. So we've already started working more closely together, kind of hand in glove. We had a meeting yesterday for about an hour just going through the details of the budget development process and how the city budget development and the CRA budget development processes we track along really aren't parallel tracks anymore.

They're weaved together now and increasingly so in detail. So we're actively engaged together as it is. It's just a matter of who covers what title and role right now. If you wish me to serve in that role, I'm happy to do that. And long ago, I did serve as the CRA director long before this body and the way it's constituted now, as well as a number of different roles in the city.

So I'm happy to do that if that's the board's desire. We will continue to figure out all those spreads of where everything gets assigned to make sure it's covered well. Right now, the city has a number of key vacancies right now. Obviously, you're aware, city attorney, assistant city manager, fire chief, CRA director, and a few others. So we're filling those as quickly as we can. So I want to be careful exactly how we load some of those responsibilities. But we will certainly be able to manage that. And I will do that as well if so choose.

Thank you. All right. I'll accept that. We have a motion to appoint the, city manager as the CRA executive director. Second. Second from commissioner Caleri. So let's open it up for discussion. I'll go through the queue. Let's go ahead with Commissioner Colari. And mind you, we don't have to have an in-depth discussion today. But I'll open it up for anyone's comments. Go ahead, Board Member Colari.

So first, I just want to say it's very noble to first, I think I had requested for Susan to take on the position. So I'm sorry if I put that stress. And then I think it's noble that you put yourself first. That's the most important because you are dedicated. You are challenged with, if you're anything like any of us, perfection and doing what's right.

And so I'm really glad that you took the time because to reevaluate your goals, your desires. And I really think that your commitment, by far, exceeds what you've done. And I really just want to say I'm really proud of you for making this tough decision, but doing what's right for yourself. Because at the end, it will be what's right for this city as well, because we still have you and your dedication. So I think that that's amazing and noble. God bless you.

Thank you.

And I agree with George stepping in. I think the timing is everything. And I think that due to the fact that we have one sun setting, and if you're willing and able to take on that responsibility with the assistance of the amazing staff that is here, I think great things will come. So I appreciate that as well. This is really an opportunity for people to realize that sometimes biting off more than you can chew may not be the best thing for all.

And I'm glad that you're just staying aboard and that you're going to continue to do the great work that you've already done and be an ally to the city by seeing the CRA's tasks be completed. So thank you so much for everything. And thank you for personally reaching out to each and every one of us, expressing your concerns. And I wish you nothing but the best. But thank you for staying aboard.

Thank you, commissioner Kolari.

Alright. Board member Biederman. I guess I'll be the devil's advocate.

George just went through a whole process of I don't have an assistant city manager and we're a permanent people are in the city attorney's office and all these positions that are open. And I just, you know, Susan, I believe would have been capable, although it's very stressful. I just don't wanna see George overextend himself because he wants to just step up. Right? And I don't know that George is even gonna be here for the extent of the CRA, you know.

So and and and I'm not looking to be disrespectful. I'm looking for the best interest of everything and and you do a great job at what you do. But that being said, we need somebody that kind of can fill in. Right? And we can't, like, do a search.

Nobody's gonna take a job for a year and a half. That being said, Gus Imbrano is familiar with what's going on. I think that he'd be perfectly capable of stepping in to continue the progress that the CRA is doing if he's available. I'm just throwing it out there, I think that would be a great option that would have somebody that knows exactly what's going on and has relationships and familiar arrows for you know what I'm talking about

to continue talked about earlier today about the flooding that was taking place on an a one a. And we had to hire the contractor to actually tell us what, in essence, we already knew. But now we have the proof that it's happening and somebody else that might be doing, that's supposed to be doing that job, it's not doing it. Now we can streamline and say, if they can't do it, give us the permission for us to do it. And let's find the funding for us to do it. I think it's better if we have one person that we go to rather than to have several people to go to. So for that is the reason that I support George Keller for the position. And I hope I have your support in order to do so.

All right. Thank you. Let's go to Board Member Shuham.

Thank you, Chair. First, Susan, we all know that you could do it. And we all know that you would do a phenomenal job if you had so chosen to. But I think all of us collectively feel the relief that you feel. Personally, you know, I adore you.

And to see you so stressed, it wasn't good. And so on a personal level, I totally agree that I'm just grateful that you had this decision when you had it. And also just grateful that you can now focus on the things that you like to focus on without this hanging over you. And I want to reiterate what Commissioner Hernandez said, that what you have done these past sixty days has been nothing short of amazing and very, very much appreciated. You were there when we needed you.

And you will be there to make us come through this in a way that is best for the city and the CRA. So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Schuhann.

Of course. George, Commissioner Biederman raised exactly my questions. You're only going to be I have March '3 down. And working backwards from there, we all, as a board, are going to have to decide when we start that search. Same exact question about being shorthanded right now. Do you have the capacity to take this on? But notwithstanding all those questions, we don't have a lot of options. I know when this first came up, there was talk of Raelynn. Raelynn's hands are incredibly full as well. So for me, it's really dependent on you.

And if you're telling us that you think you have more than enough capacity left to do this, then it's the obvious and really probably only solution to move forward. And I just want to say thank you so much for agreeing to do it. I think that it will add efficiencies going forward. And so I certainly support the motion, again, based on your sentiment that it's something you think you have the bandwidth to do. So thank you very much for offering. And I don't know if it's something you wanna vote on today or not.

Yeah. Let's do it. All those in favor of appointing the city manager, George Keller, to act as the executive director of the CRA. Going forward, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. Item carries unanimously. I don't know if I should say congratulations, George.

But Deepest condolences.

No. But thank you, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm recognizing commissioner Caleragh. Go ahead.

With That being said,

though Sorry. Go ahead.

With that being said, the concern that comes along with that is obviously that's added work on the city manager Scope. Yeah. Scope of practice. So in addition to that, I still believe that Susan is going to have a lot more responsibility on her plate, even though George is going to depend on her and she's going depend on George. So with that, I'm assuming that there will be some change in the contractual amount.

Well, that's between the executive director and the deputy director. If she's stepping back, if they want to discuss salary, that's within the purview of the executive director to discuss with her.

I'm talking about the newly appointed CRA director as well. Are we because it's more is it between us

and us during the city commission meeting if you wanted to bring that up. Well, I guess, now that he's executive director, we can talk about that too. But I don't think he's looking too much, but I think

Well, it's added responsibility. So with anything that comes along, it'll be increased. And it'll be a new job title description or added to. And I think that that is also something that we should consider because we want the performance. So I just want to make sure what?

Go ahead, George.

What's the matter, Kevin?

You you pay him

a lot of money now.

Right. And he does a great

sixty hours instead of forty hours.

How do you know that? A CRA is pretty tiny.

You're the top management lady. I'm barely

at City Hall now.

So hold on. Hold on. So that goes along with my concern when we had our CRA director that we paid over $250,000 Actually, I think it's 300 on the books.

It's $2.33 what I saw.

So no. You need to go back and look at the paperwork. And that was to maintain the CRA and manage it. So my concern is he has a big responsibility to manage the entire city. So that's George's job. And now we're going to be depending upon him to run the CRA as well. And we had and that's been my argument this whole time in the past We had a CRA director getting paid big bucks to do a job and we held their feet to the fire. We had to do reviews. We had to do the whole nine yards. And now, we're saying, okay, George, you're taking on the responsibility. We're gonna hold your feet to the fire and we're gonna compensate nothing. That's my concern.

Well, I let me just say the the CRA districts are part of the city. We're talking about the beach in downtown. And the CRA, in its essence, is really a fund, a revenue fund that is in is put in place by Florida law to allow for extra funding to be invested in in areas to eliminate slime blight. And so in the end, I think it's well within the purview of someone who acts in the role of city manager to also administer those same taxing districts with extra funds within the city. I understand your perspective in terms of this is additional responsibility. All I'm saying is it's very natural. It's still within the same city and what they do.

Well, as we have all learned George, hold on. Because we need to this has to be put out there.

Listen,

everyone knows, and many of us up here know the discussions that we've had in the past. The CRA director managed his tribe on his own. And there was a lack of communication for many years until we pushed, pushed, pushed. And I clearly remember our CRA director in the passing that how important that position is and that he should be compensated as much as a city manager is getting compensated. I'm not making any of this up. It's on the record. We've all heard it.

We didn't agree then and we don't agree now.

We surely did agree because we paid an exorbitant amount of money to run a district.

No. He was He to be made to to be paid like an ACM, and that's what we did.

No. No. No. He did not

ask a 100% of what happened.

Let me bring this back back to order real quick. George, we just appointed you the executive director of CRA. I think one of the first things you're gonna do is work with Susan on what she knows the responsibilities, the missing, portions are. If you come back to us once you've, you know, learned about it more and you wanna speak further about it, we're happy to listen. But for now, it's a little premature before we hear from you, your own assessment Right. Of the role and whether or not, you know, you're asking for additional compensation to Commissioner Kaleri's point or not.

And I just want it to be fair and just.

Yep. Yep.

That's it. That's all I'm asking for. Not today.

We're happy to listen, but only after your review.

I appreciate that. And that's the best way to approach it. Better to go forward, well informed, as opposed to just shooting in the dark sometime. It's perfectly appropriate that Susan continue with some additional assignment pay, in my opinion, because she's still going to take on some additional loads there. And as far as with mine, thank you for thinking of that, because I wasn't I didn't really want to ask about it, because that's not the most important thing. When you do maybe my final evaluation this fall And whatever consideration you gave me for this prior year, you can just roll it into that if you like to and just lump it together if that'll make it easier for you, okay?

That's one way to do it.

Thank Final

comments, Board Member Hernandez? Did you have anything?

Thank you, mayor. Actually, that's where I was going. Compensation wise was the former executive director of the CRA was making $323,000 a year by the time you add up all of their benefits and compensation. And my understanding is yours is not anywhere near that. So I just wanted to match what it was being done since you have added responsibility.

But have and listen to the discussion. We're going to leave that up to you and bring that. But my point is, from my perspective, I'm willing to pay what the other person was paying because you're not only going to be doing that job, you're still going to be doing the job of the city manager. And the way I see it, it's a 200 and some odd thousand dollar savings to us. And it's only you've already integrating both the CRA and the city.

It is up to you as to whether you use city resources or CRA resources to do some of the tasks that need to be done. At the end of the day, those tasks need to be done and you will be able to know what needs to be refunded to the city and whatnot. I'm sure that you will keep records of what resources are being done without having to go out and look for a new CRA director or anything like that, which at this point I don't think that we would probably do. All right.

Thank you. Let's have closing remarks by Board Member Biederman, and then we'll wrap this topic up.

So the way I understand it is part of what George's responsibilities were were meeting with us. George is meeting with us. Let's distinguish it with Jorge and George, I guess. Part of his responsibilities was meeting with George Keller. That he's not gonna have conversations with himself. And if he is, then we need to chuck him in to memorial.

It happens.

So I'm I don't I don't see it as this grandiose more responsibilities that he currently does. I mean, half of the CRA is now working for him anyway. So it's not a full CRA that it was when Jorge Camayo was in charge. I mean, half of the people are working for the city now under Transition. George Keller. So I just don't see it being that much more that we have to compensate more. I really don't. I mean, I I think we should take advantage of the savings and and move on.

I Alright. Well, it's not really it's it's not really before us and like we said, the city manager, once he assesses the additional responsibilities, will come back to us if he feels like there needs to be a conversation. And he also invited us to to, you know, judge for ourselves come his review time.

So And

not only that, but he also, is taking 10% to Susan. So it's we're we're we're not saving that much money because we're paying Susan more money and, and she's gonna be doing more responsibility. Mean

I think it'll all work out I

just don't get I just don't get this whole thing.

Go ahead.

So then what was the whole push just now to hire Gus Ambrano to come back and be in his we're going to pay him nothing to do the job?

No. He's going get paid, but a it's gonna full time body there doing the work.

That is not needed.

It's not a

part time body.

That's okay.

It's not needed. I think that there is some room for compensation and the 10% compensation for Susan was if she was gonna take the job.

No. That would have been

50%.

10% is her assignment pay, which mister Keller just said that he'd like to keep in place, but that's his decision as the executive director that we just made.

That's his decision. Alright.

This is why it's good for them to talk about it professionally. Board member Hernandez, anything before we go?

Yes, sir. One person that has been sitting here and listening to everything that we talked about is the interim city attorney. He's actually doing her job as the interim city attorney and the job that she used to do as an assistant city attorney. And the only thing that I believe that we're compensating them is 10%. So I think we need to be able, while even though we're in the search of a particular thing, we need to be looking at how can we compensate this individual who has done everything that we have asked of them.

And one of the things, at least that I've asked, is please, whenever a question comes up that you don't know, just tell us you don't know, get the right answer, and give us the right information in order for us to move forward. And she's been able to do just that. Can we do anything for compensating this individual a little more for the efforts because we are saving over city attorney's salary and her salary just by giving her 10% more of what she's doing.

Look at the she's employed by the city attorney's office. And mind you, we can speak about that at the city commission meeting.

And I'm okay. I'm just saying because I'm listening to everything that we're talking Consistency. We should be consistent when it comes to our employees.

JOSHUA Right.

Well, know. But my point is we need to be able to bring that up a little bit, even during the time that we look for that. And and George, I don't know if it's within your purview or within our purview. Believe that's our purview. So we need to be able to talk that at the city commission level to be able to compensate that individual as well. Alright.

Thank you all for your comments. The Thank you George for stepping in as executive director of the CRA. Alright. And now instead of calling a five minute recess because I'm fine, let's go ahead to informational reports by the deputy director of the CRA, Ms. Susan Goldberg.

Thank you, everybody, for your support and understanding. I'm really truly humbled. I thought I was going to get destroyed this morning. Okay. I was just up all night, so I apologize. Okay. So informational reports. So April 9, which was a couple of days after the last CRA board meeting, we had a fabulous meeting with Coffee and the crew down at the beach at the community center. We had over 50 people come, residents that are really impacted by the phase four construction. They came.

Everybody was interested, engaged. Our contractor was there. CRA staff was there. We were able to really speak one on one to everybody. And FDOT actually came to the same meeting to talk about the impending pump construction project.

They didn't have too much information at the time, but at least they came and the community was very appreciative. We will continue with those monthly Coffee with the Crews down at the beach for phase four. The other news that I have is we actually have a date. It's a couple of days, May for the near shore artificial reefs that we have been hearing so much about after the last 18. There is a field trip.

I'm calling it a field trip. It's a meeting at the site, but we're also going to do some carpooling. It is at the Lake Worth facility where the actual modules are produced. They're a combination of lightweight concrete and fiberglass. I think you will find it fascinating. I've been there several times already. You will see the actual modules. You'll be able to take some pictures. And so that is May 15. That's that field trip.

And then the deployment again is May. That's when we have the barge on hold and that is obviously depending upon currents. Now, the first it's a two day deployment for those near shore reefs. There are 48 reefs if you recall. It's a two day deployment.

The viewing vessel is only on the first day. So as soon as we find out what that day is, there are seats for all of the elected officials and for the sponsors on that viewing vessel. It's very, very interesting. Like, either the next day or the next week, we have arranged for the jet drilling of the cable that's going in the ocean to where the camera's gonna be mounted. So what we've done thus far is we've put the cable in on the sandy beach and that cable is connected to an IT and a Comcast drop that we've done in the Chase in the public restrooms at Keating Park.

That jet cable will be done, let's say, a couple of days or the next week. The vendor is going to have a mounting on one of the artificial reefs for the camera. We already have the camera in the office. Super interesting to look at. The camera will be mounted and should be operational within a day or two of it being installed.

We already have in place a maintenance agreement with the guy that's installing the camera for a year to maintain the camera, troubleshoot if anything goes wrong. But what's great about this and I'm super excited about is that people all over the world will be able to dial in, go to YouTube, have Hollywood Beach on, you know, the world vista, what we're doing for the environment, as well as, you know, for tourism and and for the good for the good of the world, really. I mean, what we're doing, this is a really good thing. So looking forward to this coming to fruition.

Alright. That's it. Thank you, Susan. Alright. We look forward to that. Thank you. Susan, could I just I just put you on the spot a little bit and you can give us an update on the the band shell and some of the concepts for I know Margaritaville

Yes.

So

we have been working with Public Works to get the same precast panels that we have along the Broadwalk, which are easy to maintain. It's actually concrete. It looks like coquina, but it's easy to pressure wash. We've been working very closely with public works to get panels made for the base of the platform at the band shell. Now for the whole circumference of the band shell, we have been working and Lisa has really been spearheading this with C Med for that love mural to be actually implemented with the artwork that the artist has but to be implemented with mosaic material that will be long lasting.

Our intention is at the next CRA board meeting in June to bring you that information on a more formal basis on where that is.

Okay.

Alright. Let's remember that the vibrancy of the colors in the artwork is going to be a point of interest. I've seen other love murals that are browns and this is not going to be a brown, right?

So And the good thing about choosing mosaic materials, which are

really They're not

a chocolates

store like they have in Fort Lauderdale where the

mural No.

I think these are going to be like pinks and orange and beach Yeah. That the good thing about the materials that will be utilized is that they maintain the depth of color, the resiliency, the reflectiveness. Because it's like iridescent glass, it's ceramic, it's not paint that we know with, you know, coastal situation will fade very quickly. So we're looking forward to bringing that next month.

Excited. Thank you. Alright. So ladies and gentlemen, next and finally on our agenda are comments by the board members, general counsel, and executive director, if any. Let's go ahead and begin with board member Coleri.