Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

And we are here for a regular city commission meeting. As I always say, there's no meeting that's ever regular, because there's always interesting and important items on the agenda. And today is no different. Before we rise to the moment of silence and the Pledge of Allegiance, I would like us to please reflect on a loss by one of our former mayors, Mara Galanti, who was the longest serving mayor in the city of Hollywood's history, I think about 20 years. You might remember that during those decades of her service, by her side was her husband, Donnie. who at the age of 84 earlier this week, unfortunately, I regret to inform everyone, passed away. So we wish condolences to Mayor Galanti and her family, her sons, Michael and Stacy, and their grandkids. Mara had written that it's been, obviously, a devastating loss for her personally. They were really... you know, always together, even at the Rotary auctions is when I would see Donnie with her most often annually, always in good spirits. And I know he was a medical doctor here in Hollywood for many, many years. And so lots of patients and lots of people, you know, develop that personal relationship with him. So we honor him for his service as a doctor in our community. And again, our condolences to the Galanti family. So please think of them as we rise for now the moment of silence, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

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

Thank you all. At the start of each meeting, we take an important moment to recognize our veterans, active service personnel, and their families. So if you are a veteran of the US Armed Forces, a family member thereof, active service, please rise. We'd like to recognize you. Thank you. Pat, I'm going to activate the mics. And as soon as I finish clicking six times, go ahead.

Commissioner Shuham.

Here.

Commissioner Hernandez. Here. Vice Mayor Kaleri.

Here.

Commissioner Gruber.

Here.

Commissioner Biederman. Here. Commissioner Quintana. Here. Mayor Levy.

Here. Thank you. On consent, today we have items five through nine. Are there any speaker cards, Pat? No cards. How about the dais? Yes. Hold on.

Motion to approve whatever one Kevin doesn't pull.

You might want to reconsider, Commissioner Biederman.

No, I'm pulling. Okay. Item number eight. Eight.

Okay. So the motion, Vice Mayor Kaleri moves items five, six, seven, and nine.

Second.

Second from Commissioner Shuham. All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Hearing none, those items carry unanimously, and we'll take up item number eight at the start of our regular agenda. On to 1 p.m. presentations, proclamations, and awards. We did add, at the request of Commissioner Biederman, an important, meaningful proclamation. So if you could please include this as item 10A, Pat, or however it's been added to legislature, I understand. A proclamation recognizing National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. And you guys will hear all about it from Commissioner Biederman, who now has the floor. Chief Levy, please come on up. I understand you'll be accepting the proclamation. Chief Devlin, I know the fire department and police department participate in this group's annual parade to help kids and expand awareness for childhood cancer at Joe DiMaggio every year. So thank you for your teams for doing that. And Commissioner Biederman, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. In recognition of National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, September 2026, whereas September has been designated National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to come together to support children and families impacted by this severe illness and to inspire hope through research, compassion, and action. And whereas cancer, though challenging, cannot dim the courage, spirit, or determination of the children and families who face it, Every year, these children inspire us with their incredible strength, resilience, and will to overcome. And whereas childhood cancer, no boundaries affecting children of all backgrounds, but together through...

I'm sorry. Hold on. I get a rare call from Adam Reichsbach.

Whereas childhood cancers know no boundaries affecting children of all backgrounds, but together through unity and love, we can give them a fighting chance to lead healthy and full lives. And whereas the city of Hollywood stands united in its commitment to supporting these children and raising awareness about the critical need for continued research and care that can save lives, and whereas thanks to the tireless efforts of medical professionals, researchers, and advocacy groups, great strides have been made towards finding new treatments and cures, giving families new reasons for hope. We celebrate the dedication of organizations, volunteers, and communities who work to brighten the lives of these courageous children, offering support and love and hope. And whereas the Mystic Force Foundation will have their ninth annual Gold Ribbon Parade on Saturday, September 5, 2026, traveling north from Nicholas Children's Center in Miami, through Hollywood to Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital at approximately 1130 AM. Now, therefore, Josh Levy, Mayor of the City of Hollywood, Florida, and the Hollywood City Commission hereby proclaim September 2026 as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Thank you. Chief, do you want to talk about how we participate real quick?

I'm glad to.

There's a lot of sirens and a lot of flashing lights in that parade.

Obviously, we're extremely happy to support this cause and do anything we can to raise awareness, raise money, and get rid of this horrible disease and support all the families that are going through it. The parade is one way that we do that. We come out in force with the police and fire vehicles. We line the streets. and have the parade pass by all the children that are in the hospital, and we have families that have gone through this with us. So again, anything that we can do to raise awareness, get support, raise some money, and get rid of this horrible disease for these families.

Thank you, Chief. Amazing. Thank you. Let's take a photo. We'll spread the word about the parade that way.

Are you ready?

So I know that Representative Woodson is making her way from Florida International University. So as soon as she arrives, we'll look forward to her update on the 2026 legislative session. But let's go ahead. I think we have, where is Cindy Ehrenberg? We don't have Cindy, but we have someone else from the Children's Services Council of Broward County regarding the CSC and their annual report. Welcome.

Great. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners. Good afternoon. Great to see you. My name is Sue Gallagher. I'm the Chief Innovation Officer at the Children's Services Council. I've been there for almost 20 years. It's been my honor and privilege to serve there. On behalf of Cindy Amber Seltzer, I bring greetings to all of you. Really, thank you for this opportunity to share an overview of the Children's Services Council and its results here in Broward County, and happy to answer any questions that you may have. Let's see, I don't know if they gave me the control. That's scary. All right, here we go. So as you may remember, the Children's Services Council is a statutorily authorized special independent district that was overwhelmingly supported by the voters in 2000 to create us and reauthorized in 2014 to sustain us. Currently, our millage is up to 0.5, which is $0.50 for every $1,000. And we are providing the necessary infrastructure for children and families to have opportunities and support they need in order to thrive. The work that we do is governed by an 11-member council, which includes six people who are in positions designated by the statute and five gubernatorial appointees. So you'll see that we have Broward County Commissioner Senator Nan Rich, Superintendent Howard Hepburn, school board member Deborah Hickson, Judge Alperstein, and we also have the head of our regional Department of Children and Families and Department of Health. So these folks provide our policy direction and oversight for all of the work that we do at the council. You'll see briefly our mission statement is to provide leadership, advocacy, and resources. So it's not just funding, but it's how do we create a high quality, coordinated system of care, continuum of care for our children and families here in Broward. Here's Cindy. She is our one founding president and CEO, and only president and CEO. Cindy brings her visionary leadership of collaboration, data-informed work, and collaboration. MICHAEL SELZER.

Does she have a relative named Michael Seltzer? No? There you go.

She apparently is very well known.

I thought he was the only Seltzer I'd ever met.

And so Cindy has really cultivated the 100-plus network of providers that CSC currently funds and really has done amazing work in creating a high-quality continuum of care for here, us, and Broward. Why the CSC? Some of you may remember back in 1999 and 2000, the things in Broward for children and families were rough. There were four grand jury reports on the child welfare system. There were over 12,000 young people being referred for crimes. There was a high rate of teen pregnancy, 10 per 1,000. And infant mortality was unacceptably high. So there was a crisis. And voters and electeds asked themselves, what more can we do to get out in front and change these conditions and these outcomes for children? And that's why CSE was created, to provide those prevention, coordination, and quality improvements to that system and continuum of care. So I'm going to share with you an overview of CSC's countywide investment, and then share with you what it looks like for the investment in the city of Hollywood. From the last full fiscal year, which was 24-25, the total funding for CSC programs was about $134 million. And that served nearly 200,000 children. And there are a total population of children birth to 18 in Broward of around a little over 400,000. So we directly served about half of those children and families. We are very conscientious about being transparent and accountable for every tax dollar spent. Currently, 93% of our budget goes to programs that are funded. There's a 4% administrative cost to run the CSE. And then there's the 3% required government fees that many of us have to pay. As I said, I'm going to share with you some of the outcomes and funding areas that CSC has been successfully implementing. And these are based on figures from the last full fiscal year, 25-24. Early care and education, CSC invested $11 million. Caregivers reported benefits not just of their child's well-being and safety and development, but also their capacity to work and to stay employed and take care of the things that they need to take care of. Additionally, this funding brings down more dollar matching from the federal and the state government. We invested $24 million in family support, which is that prevention arm of keeping families out of the child welfare system, keeping families together. You'll see here the results include improving family functioning and the capacity to handle the stresses of our lives, which are very challenging these days, and also the most important indicator, which is no verified abuse reports, which would trigger a removal of the child from the family. And then folks are really satisfied with the experiences that they're having as well. So quality is important. Big focus of the work that we do, almost $30 million goes into youth programs, middle and high school programs, where we are working with young people to develop their competencies, character development, leadership skills, self-esteem, self-worth, and civic engagement. 93% of the youth increased their level of resilience. And importantly, 92% of the youth served in diversion programs did not have a reoffense 12 months after program completion, which the literature says they're not likely to reoffend. And so as you can see, we are heavily invested in data to really measure, is the effects of the programs that we're funding working? Another area that we fund is after school and summer programs to ensure that kids don't lose their skills over the summer, to help continue to engage their school attendance. And as you see here with the outcomes, $20 million invested. 95% of parents believe that the after school summer programs help them keep their jobs, help their children progress. And 94% of children improved their homework completion. So it's a real boost for families here in Broward. Another area that we fund significantly is almost $20 million in special needs, providing supports to children with special needs and their families. 100% of children demonstrate acceptable social interactions, and 100% remain safe, which is a great peace of mind for many of the families that we serve. And so what difference has this made? So when we look at the data over 25 years, we can see that the number of children in out-of-home care in Broward has decreased from around 4,000 to this year around 1,200. So we've seen a significant decrease in that. We've seen that the number of youth referred for crimes has gone down from 12,000 to about 1,200 this past year. We've also seen that there have been decreases in infant mortality, teen pregnancy, and increases in educational attainment, like high school graduation. So what does this look like for the city of Hollywood? In your city, in the fiscal year 24-25, nearly $10 million was invested, and over 16,600 children and families were served in a wide array of programs. Some of the providers who are serving your residents include the city of Hollywood, the Community Enhancement Collaboration, which provides foods and supports to folks in the neighborhoods here, Hispanic Unity of Florida, Memorial Health Care. And these are the agencies who have their headquarters here in Hollywood. And you'll see later that we also serve a variety of other nonprofits and organizations as well. Here you'll see that the families here and the children here in Hollywood are served by an array of services. These essential services and opportunities provide the foundation for development and to develop the skills that folks need to be able to contribute to their community. It was nice to hear the proclamation this morning around the supports for children with cancer. CSC funds the Joe DiMaggio summer camp with the David Posnick Center for Children with Cancer at the hospital. So we're really glad to be in partnership around that. Here is the fuller list of nonprofits and agencies who are providing CSC-funded programs here in Hollywood, folks like the Boys and Girls Club, Handy, Pace Center for Girls, Hispanic Unity of Florida, the YMCA. Over 60-plus providers are providing these programs. And also really important to recognize that these programs employ staff. So when you look at the total number of staff that CSC funding creates, the number of jobs in Broward, it's around 4,000 a year. So it has significant economic impact. Some of the specific areas that we fund here in the city of Hollywood are after school programs. 204 children are served there. Over 4,700 of your residents contacted 211 to get information and referrals about supports that they needed. Could be health care, could be food, could be housing supports. CSC funds that service for children and families here in Broward. We also were, and this is the community enhancement collaboration, over almost 3,500 families were supported with food distribution, as you know is a critical issue in our community these days. Additionally, CSC funds school nurses. Over 2,500 children were served through that program. And lastly, CSE continues to innovate. We've created an approach called asset-based community development, which is about activating the gifts and contributions of neighbors. And we have a program here in Hollywood that's been successfully running. The community connectors issue to their neighbors over $15,000 in community grants for them to design, implement, and evaluate their own community activities. And something special happens. when people are doing the work with their neighbors and for themselves. And so we're wanting to model that for the children and families in the neighborhoods. And it also touched the city commission. In October 2023, we used the asset-based community development approach for the commission in the community, where folks got to sit around tables and co-create solutions in a very innovative and generative way, where people got to see each other's gifts and strengths and assets and how they could be used to improve our community together. And lastly, building on the values of transparency and accountability, CSE offers a wide array of reports. We have an annual report. We have an annual performance report, which provides contract data for each program that we fund. We have an annual comprehensive financial report that's won awards for the last 24 years. We've also created a popular financial report that people can actually read and understand, which is important and part of the transparency. We do a budget book that talks about what's happening in the community, what the programs are doing, and what we need to fund going forward. And we also have resources, the Family Resource Guide and the Funded Directory, to ensure that families get connected to services and opportunities that help them and their children thrive. And with that, I'm happy to take any questions.

Well, thank you so much for that overview about CSE and how far the organization reaches to help kids and families in Broward. It's been a safety net that we're all aware of. But you've certainly shown how far and how through a lot of the nonprofit and the governmental agencies that you reach people. And so I know the net is cast wide. So thank you so much for being here. Let's call on Commissioner Quintana.

Thank you, Mayor. Sue, I just wanted to express my appreciation for all that the Children's Services Council does for our Hollywood residents. And in case someone out there doesn't know about how important the after-school programs that you offer through our community centers, I know that there's one at the MLK Center, Kay Gaither Community Center in Washington Park in District 6. Without this support that the Children's Services Council offers, those families, those parents would not be able to work to the same extent that they are now. What do you do if your child is out of school at 2.30 and you don't get off of work until 5? And so should that program not be available in the future, that's going to very heavily impact the economics for families in Hollywood. You also offer the summer camp program, which, again, gives a safe place for those kids to go. And it's all prorated according to the family's income. So many of our families don't have to pay for that care. because their income is so low. So I just wanted to highlight that that's just one of the ways that the Children's Services Council supports our city. Of course, the story time in the park. I'm so very grateful for all the books that you've donated so that kids who might otherwise not have books at home are now going to have books that they can collect at a small library and really learn to love reading with their families. So I'll leave it at that. Thank you for being here today. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you.

Well, Representative Woodson, it is great to have you here. I know that you are making your way from Florida International University, so happy to have you here, and Bob Woodson as well. Thank you so much.

Looking forward to your report on the 2026 Florida Legislative Session, though, for us who were at the Chambers event.

I know you had an opportunity to address us in that arena, but here we are, and so looking forward to your report. Thank you for being here.

Good afternoon, Mayor, commissioners, my sitting commissioner, Commissioner Biddleman, city manager, deputy city managers, the administration staff, and the entire city of Hollywood. My name is Marie Woodson, and I partly represent House District 105. which is parts of Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Myanmar, Hollandale, West Park, and Pembroke Park. Thank you for having me this evening. Yes, I was at FIU, so I apologize for being a little late. And it's pouring down. Actually, I'm soaking wet now. I feel wet. But I wanted to make sure that I was here today, even though you have heard a lot of legislative updates already. And we were at the chambers the other day where we discussed some of those issues that happened in Tallahassee. But it's always good to come in. and talk to you, and mostly to present a check for my neighborhood, actually, the Bova Heights neighborhood, which I take great pride in because I work very hard on that appropriation. And I'm grateful to Speaker Perez, actually, who helped me to get this one and also another one for the police department. Unfortunately, the governor vetoed the one for the police department. And I would tell you, it takes a lot of work to get an appropriation. The work happens at our level. And once it goes to the governor, it's either yea or nay. He either strike it, or he let it stay in the budget. So I'm not going to give up, because my police force, my police men and women, they very important in the work that they do. I truly appreciate them keeping us safe in our city. And they put their life on the line for us every day. So we owe it to them. Why would you veto? AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE POLICE, I CANNOT UNDERSTAND IT, BUT THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED, AND WE'LL MAKE SURE WE GO BACK NEXT YEAR AND TRY TO GET IT IN THE BUDGET. THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER KELARI. BASICALLY, I WOULD TELL YOU WE WERE VERY BUSY DURING THIS PAST LEGISLATIVE SESSION. I was assigned to eight committees. Eight committees is a lot in Tallahassee because sometimes some of my colleagues might get four, they might get five, six, or seven. I had eight. And for me, it was a privilege because I get to sit on almost every committee and I get to participate in them, especially the budget for the state of Florida. We were able to work through the budget. It took us a lot longer this year because we had some issues in Tallahassee, as you all saw on TV, on the Florida Channel. It took us five and a half months in Tallahassee. Usually, we're there for four months. But we could not come back home until we balanced the budget for the state of Florida. And the budget was approximate. Well, the final budget is $114.5 billion. And I was one of the few who was assigned to the budget committee. As I mentioned to you, those eight committees that I was in, the first one was the overall budget committee, where you have a say in the entire budget. You have to look at the budget and work with all your other colleagues. I was also the Democratic ranking member in the health care budget subcommittee, the insurance and banking committee, which is an important committee for us in the state of Florida. And I wish we would focus on that one more than what we were focusing on. which is the property taxes, even though it's important. But I think insurance right now, everybody's asking for some relief in insurance. And also, I was a member of the Education Administration subcommittee, where we discussed colleges, universities, funding for all the different schools. I was also a member of the Health and Human Services Subcommittee, the Joint Legislative Budget Subcommission, where we go and look at those appropriations during the year. As a matter of fact, I have a meeting coming up now. I was a member also of the Rules and Ethics Committee and the Select Committee on Property Taxes. That committee was extremely important to me. And I don't miss an opportunity to talk about this one. And I want the resident of the city of Hollywood, I know all of you have heard about it, and we all have some differences depending on what we think needs to happen. But I want people to know. that I want everyone to get some relief when it comes to the property taxes that we are paying on our home. I'm a home owner myself. We own our home for the past 30 years. However, we have to be strategic. We have to be calculated before we put something out to the voters. Basically, AJR 1R was introduced recently. as a way for us to start having a conversation on how we can not just eliminate property taxes, but see how we can reduce it and eventually see if we have a way to eliminate property taxes. Well, that's not what we had. Because what we came up with, we came up with a proposal to basically what it would do in 2027. Right now, everyone gets $50,000 deduction on the home, on the property tax that you pay in your home. What's being proposed in the amendment that is going to go to the voters on November 4 is for you in 2027 to get $150,000 as opposed to $50,000. Well, that sounds pretty good. In 2028, you would get $250,000 on your home. It all sounds good. We are putting a lot of things on the line by doing that, by putting it out to the voters and not educating them on what they will be losing. Basically, they will be losing police, fire, infrastructure, social services, parks and recreation. All those services that you receive come from poverty taxes. Now, we said that we carve out education. No, we didn't. We carve it somewhat, because the money that you collect from property taxes that goes to education, you don't get dollar per dollar when it goes to Tallahassee. It's put in a pot and distributed to all the counties that they have. So if they tell you they're carving out education, no, they're not, because education would not get the same funding that they usually get should that amendment pass. So I want people to think about this one very well before you go and cast your vote in November. Yes, I believe the voters should have a say. We should put it out to the voters. However, we need to educate the voters. And the main thing that we do not have, we do not have a plan to offset the funding that we would be losing from property taxes. That's what I want people to know. And I, myself, introduced several amendments. My colleagues introduced several amendments. They did not take any of those amendments that could have made this one better. Now, we need to really look at what we are proposing because you don't want to call the police and you don't have any police officers to come to your home. You don't have to have a fire. You don't want to have a fire in your house. And do not have someone to come out and help you, a fireman or a firewoman, because I always make sure that I include the woman in there as well, because they provide the same services. So this AJR is going out to the voters on November 3. I would like for you to think about it real hard before you cast your vote. And I know how I'm going to be voting. I'm not telling you how to vote, but I'm telling you, you will be losing a lot. I think the state of Florida needs to take a better look at this and also educate the voters. That's the most important thing for me, which is why I'm taking some time out this afternoon to talk about it. Because if we do not educate voters and they just go and cast a vote, all of us would pay the consequences when it comes to that amendment. So I just wanted to make sure I take some time and talk about this one. And it's a lot more to this amendment, but I don't have all afternoon to talk to you about it. I'm just telling you the basics so you would know. And I'm not preaching to the choir, because I know all of you all know better, but I'm talking to the resident of the city of Hollywood, to the resident of Broward County as well, and the resident of the state of Florida. That's who I'm talking to. Another bill that I wanted to talk to you about a little bit is the DEI bill that would really have an impact on our counties and our cities. You know we introduced this piece of legislation. I really believe that we are tying the hands of local government a lot. And as I always say in Tallahassee, local government is closer to the people. You see what's going on. You are here. We in Tallahassee four or five months out of the year. You are the one who is always in your community. doing the work, talking to the people, seeing what's needed. This bill would keep you from doing a lot of things that you usually do in your cities, because basically what we were told is the fact this bill would restrict you on doing anything that has to do with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Look at this room, right? What do we have in here? We have a diverse room. I wouldn't say, well, the dais a little bit, but you don't have much diversity on the dais, but I want you all to look at the room and see. Florida is a diverse state. You have people from all over. Equity, we all want to be equal, right? We all want to, you want to have a piece of the pie, I want to have a piece of the pie. You want to be included in everything. I want to be included. And I should not be included just because of my color, my ethnicity, or whoever I choose to love. So with this bill that we pass in Tallahassee, even some activities that you used to have, you will not be able to have them unless, like I tell people, unless if you're being creative. And being creative, you have to be very careful, because you can get yourself in trouble. You can be taken out of office with this bill. It's a lot of things that we see eye to eye in Tallahassee, because I work very well with all my colleagues. But there are certain things that do not make sense to me. And this is one of those bills that do not make any sense to me when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because even myself, maybe I wouldn't be sitting here as a state representative. Wouldn't it be for diversity, equity, and inclusion? Because you all know I'm originally from Haiti, born and raised, and came here to the United States at the age of 21. So to me, this is a very important bill. This is a bill that does not make any sense to me, because the mere people who either voted for this bill or was for this bill they were in the position because of diversity, equity, and inclusion. So I want you all to think about this one very hard, because you can be taken out of office should you do some of those activities. And the bad things about this bill, when we were asking certain questions, The sponsor of the bill couldn't even explain those bills and told us, you need to check with your attorney. So your attorney is going to be very busy when it comes to that bill. And hopefully, they would steer you in the right direction. Because to me, it doesn't make any sense. It's a lot of other bills that we passed this year. We did not get to pass as many bills as we usually do. Almost 1,400 bills were introduced. We only passed 280-some bills. So there were some issues in Tallahassee. And I'm hoping next year we can just go back, do the work that we need to do, and get out of Tallahassee. Come back here so we can work in the district where we're supposed to be serving the people. There were a lot of other bills, and I'm pretty sure you all were watching, but I don't want to go one by one because I know you're not giving me a lot of time. Another bill was Senate Bill 1296 that I wanted to mention. That one has to do with the union, where we are really keeping the union from existing, and it is wrong. That's another bill that I voted against because I think we're always coming after the union, and I don't think we should do that because the union fights for the people. They advocate for the people. A lot of things that are in place without the union, they would not be in place. So that's another bill that I think that we should not have introduced in Tallahassee. And we introduced some good bills. One bill that was killed was the bill to increase to decrease the age limit from 21 to 18 for where a kid can carry a firearm. I'm so glad that this bill did not pass, because we're having so many issues right now in our community, and we don't need to have more issues with people under 21 carrying a bill. Actually, if it was up to me, I would increase it to 25. because I think that's the age that kids mature more. And we have too many issues with mental health these days for us to allow them to carry arms at the age of 18. So I'm not going to take a lot of time to go over all the different bills that I wanted to talk about. We had joining prevention, a whole bunch of bills. The data center bill also, I know you're familiar with that one. I think we really need to put some policies, some stronger policies in place to address the data center issues because they are coming to our community and we do not want the taxpayers to cover the cost for them to exist. I'm going to stop right here, and I'm going to do this check presentation, Mr. Mayor. I know you didn't give me a lot of time. I see you giving me the eye.

You got all the time in the world, Representative Woodson.

You giving me the eye already. But one thing that I would say, I have been elected since 2020. I have served in the state legislature. I have passed 18 bills, 16 of them I recorded. Thank you so much, Commissioner. Thank you. Eighteen bills, two of them that I passed this year. I passed them on the House floor. The Senate didn't get them to the finish line. I want you to know this position here, which is an honor for me and a privilege to serve in. I don't take it lightly. I don't take the voters' vote lightly. I work every day just like you all. And I see the sacrifices that you all make as well to serve. And it's a privilege for me to serve in the seat. And when I go to Tallahassee, I want you to know you do get your money's worth. Every year, I get money for all the cities. As a matter of fact, the city of Myanmar got more money than you do.

I'm doing a check presentation this afternoon.

Two big check presentations.

Time's up, everybody.

Didn't you tell me I had all afternoon? All right. I just started. I have a whole book here for you. No, but no, I really appreciate the time, Mr. Mayor. I do my best in Tallahassee, and I do my best in the district, and I always give a shout out. You have the best team in the city of Hollywood when it comes to the management and staff that you have, and I thank every single one of you as well because I work with every one of you. So let's go get them. Let's continue to work for the betterment of the city of Hollywood and the state of Florida. Thank you.

Thank you, Representative Woodson. Well, thank you so much, Representative Woodson, for all that you do for us in Tallahassee.

And I know you ran through a lot of the bills that you...

obviously made note of. But with regards to this appropriation, I know it supports the Boulevard Heights senior program that Memorial operates. I see Judy in the audience. She's an avid program member. And it really, when we have an opportunity to go and attend the program and see the benefits to the seniors in Hollywood, it's just, it goes such a long way. It really, honestly, is like the center point of their life, this program. And it's so... The program itself is so enriching for the seniors, and it gives them that camaraderie and helps them out of isolation. It goes such a long way. So thank you. Those dollars that you're showing us now go a long way.

Yes, sir. This is $170,000 for the program and the Bova Heights community with Memorial Hospital. They have a program already, and we wanted to expand that. Yes. So Judy, this is for you, OK?

All of it is yours. Come on up. Let's take a picture with that.

If you would like to take a picture. Thank you so much.

Let's go down there and join Representative Woodson.

Thank you, sir.

Everybody shift this way a little bit. Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam. Okay, ready?

We got one more coming. There we go.

One more. All right.

All right.

Very nice. Thank you all so much. Thank you. All right. On to our 1.30 time certain item, ladies and gentlemen. It is past 1.30. This is an ordinance on second reading advertised as a public hearing in conformance with state statutes and city codes from the Department of Financial Services. Ordinance of the City of Hollywood, Florida amending Chapter 110 of the Code of Ordinances entitled Local Business Tax Receipts. Generally, amending certain subsections as written on the agenda regarding the local business tax rate schedule and amending, again, certain subsections under administration and enforcement. Adam Reichbach, our city manager.

Well, good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Adam Reichbach, Deputy City Manager. Today, before you today, is an ordinance to amend on second reading chapter 110 of our city code of ordinances related to local business tax receipts. Just to provide to you a little bit of a history and background on local business tax receipts, in current form, local business tax receipts changes were made at the state level in 1993 with regards to Florida statute chapter 205, which required municipalities and counties to create what's called an equity study commission before they were to adopt a local business tax receipt in their respective jurisdiction. In 1994, the city of Hollywood established that equity study commission. And then in 1995, we updated chapter 110 of our code of ordinances relating to local business tax receipts and the categories that we have currently here in the city of Hollywood. And so just to provide some context and a little bit of another history lesson is that per chapter 205 of the state statutes regarding local business tax receipts, we are able to increase by state statute up to 5% every other year the fees associated with them. To provide some context for you, we've made those adjustments in the year 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, and the latest increase that we did was in 2010, so about 16 years ago. So in addition to those proposed increase, there are some additional changes that we're proposing to Chapter 110. That includes an exemptions category. In accordance with state statutes, several individuals can qualify for an exemption to paying a local business tax receipt. This includes veterans, surviving spouses of veterans, spouses of active duty military, or persons that have an income of less than 130% of the federal poverty level. In the ownership realm, any change of ownership, whether by sale, inheritance, merger, or other transfer type does require that the successor owner apply for their own separate local business tax receipt. Indicated, we already discussed the rates. increase of 5% across the board, and we'll go into a little more detail in a few slides. We're also proposing to simplify and streamline the refund process regarding the qualifying criteria for that. In the proration category, we are offering an opportunity whereby we'll be able to prorate the tax, and that it'll be calculated based on the number of months remaining in the fiscal year at the time of the application. And in multi-service, a business is taxed based on the principal activity of that business, but also ensuring that they are required to have their own local business tax receipt for every single service that they offer. So just to provide a little more context on a local business tax receipt, the purpose of a local business tax receipt is to provide the permission to conduct that business or that profession within the jurisdictional boundaries of the city or in the county. And local business tax receipts does allow the city to keep records of all of our businesses that are located within our jurisdictional boundaries. And they apply to all businesses, not just storefronts, and all services that operate throughout our community. So we did take a look at some of the common LBTR, or local business tax receipt categories. About 87% of local business tax receipt categories are actually within 10 categories, lodging being the number one category at 55% And then the others are listed on the screen as well. And just to provide a little context of what that means in terms of the rate increase that's being proposed before you today in this agenda item, for that lodging category, which again represents over half of our local business tax receipt, the increase that we're proposing, the 5% increase, is a difference of $3 per year. The other categories listed on your screen, including service profession for a single occupant or a single owner, is a $14 increase. Licensed business for a single owner, $9. And a commercial rental property is $3, similar to the lodging category. And again, this is just a listing of the 10 most common categories representing 87.7% of the LBTRs that currently exist in our code. And I also wanted to provide to you what other categories are as well, because obviously these are not the 10 don't call for all the categories that we have, but we do have additional categories as well. And you'll see on the right side of your screen that that represents what the increased amount is for each of those respective categories. And the second page of those categories can be found here. I will just tell you for context, sorry, I'm a numbers person, so you'll have to indulge me for a second. The average increase across the board, across all categories, is a difference of $14.06. And the median is $9, again, representing that 5% increase. And so with that, I will take any questions you may have.

No questions for you from the dais. Are there any speaker cards on the item? Thank you, Adam. So just a comment. I know I voted against this item when it came for first reading. And I still support the administrative changes, though I don't support the 5% increase. I think when you quantify the 5% increase, it's a very incremental amount. And I think in this time of high cost of doing business in general, I don't think we need to pinch that 5%. It's only going to generate from, I think I recall, Adam, a conversation about $140,000 or so. It's $125,000. $125,000. So I just still am not going to support this because of the rate increase. I also don't love the idea that, and I know the state legislature, frequently has bills that seek to eliminate or limit the local business tax receipt. And I think when cities go so far as, even in our city, to apply the LBTR to, for example, just property ownership, I think it's referred to as commercial rental. So if you have a house that you're renting out or you're just a landlord, basically means your property owner, then here we're charging them as if they were a business. And you can define it that way. I think that goes beyond the idea of merchant. And some of the bills in Tallahassee seek to limit the category of business that an LBTR should apply to, because sometimes people can think that it's gone a little too far. For example, I saw commercial rental in your presentation, Adam, reflects just a 4.3% share of the total collections for the city. And I think that kind of goes a step too far, if you ask me, in terms of what the LBTR should apply to. So for those reasons, I oppose the item, but I'm happy to accept a motion on it. We have a motion from Commissioner Shuham, second from Commissioner Quintana. Gruber, did you want to speak or no?

I also voted no the first time around. It is such a small amount. I mean, given how people are struggling these days and what we just did to our water bill, I know one thing kind of has nothing to do with the other, but I'm still against this increase. But I would agree to the proposed changes as far as those ones. Yeah, the administration one, like the exemption for veterans and stuff like that. So if it doesn't pass, if we could make those go.

All right, we have a motion and a second to approve the item as presented. All those in favor say aye.

Aye. Excuse me, Mayor. This is a public hearing. Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm going to go ahead and open the public hearing. Are there any speaker cards? Again, like I said before.

No cards.

Public hearing is now closed. Let's go ahead and call the roll.

City attorney has to read the ordinance.

Read the ordinance.

AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD, FLORIDA AMENDING CHAPTER 110 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES ENTITLED LOCAL BUSINESS TAX RECEIPTS GENERALLY AMENDING SUBSECTIONS UNDER GENERAL PROVISIONS, AMENDING SUBSECTIONS UNDER BUSINESS CLASSIFICATION AND LOCAL BUSINESS TAX RATE SCHEDULE AND AMENDING SUBSECTIONS UNDER ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT.

COMMISSIONER SHUHAM. YES. COMMISSIONER HERNANDEZ.

NO.

Vice Mayor Kaleri? Yes. Commissioner Gruber?

No.

Commissioner Biederman? Yes. Commissioner Quintana? Yes. Mayor Levy?

No. Let's show the ordinance passing on second reading 4-3. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Where are we? Item 13? All right. Thank you. Item 13. Is it 215? It's not 215 yet. So let's go ahead to the regular agenda. Regular agenda. Let's take up item number eight. It was pulled from consent by Commissioner Biederman. Item eight is a resolution of the city commission approving authorizing the city to execute an interlocal agreement with Broward County to provide cost share support for a water conservation incentive program and a total amount not to exceed $124,000 and change over a five-year period. Commissioner Biederman.

So I pulled this because I think it's one of our important programs that not a lot of people know about. And I think it's an opportunity to inform the public about one of these issues. So thank you, Ben.

Good afternoon. So just to give you a little context, this is an excellent example of intercity and county cooperation. This began in 2007 when the South Florida Water Management District promulgated the water availability rule, which capped everybody's withdrawal from the Biscayne Aquifer to their 2007 levels. Two things came out of that. One was to examine conservation to see how much curtailment would extend the use of the water supply, and also alternative water supply. So on the technical engineering front, different projects came out. such as withdrawing water from the Florida aquifer or projects like the C-51 canal to develop alternative water supplies. But they also studied and found that a significant savings could be made by public education. And this is an example of that. This is 16 communities combining resources for a website. The website is called conservationpays.com. It offers rebates for those cities that want to participate in rebate programs, but it offers excellent information, education about water conservation, such as FAQ. I recommend the FAQ page. It has great educational benefit for consumers. They can see how much or calculate how much their toilet uses in water. Back when this program started, if you can put yourselves back in that time, there weren't a lot of low-flow devices available. But today, if you go into any home center, there's many water-saving showerheads, aerators, and toilets of many styles. So there's many options available to the public.

And can you touch base on the rebates and stuff like that? A little bit more details on how we could help them.

Well, this city doesn't participate in the rebate portion of it, or sorry, the low-flow device portion of it, but this ILA solely participates in the marketing and the website, and they begin with the outreach.

So this isn't part of the rebate on the toilets and the shower heads?

It advertises it. I was asking my staff how much we contribute, and we don't. Rebates are not part of this. It's just the marketing, just $25,000 a year for the website and public outreach. If we did participate in that, it would be separately billed to us. But that's a different program then? Yeah. OK.

I thought we do also.

Let's hear from Commissioner Quintana.

Well, I don't know. I bought a toilet and got the $125 rebate for the toilet as a Hollywood resident. So I think through the county we're able to get the rebates. The toilet and for the aerating and the water saving and for definitely...

I know all the devices are offered through the website and I asked the staff specifically how we pay for that and

So we're all Broward County residents. We're City of Hollywood residents, but we're also Broward County residents. And so we are able to get the rebates as Hollywood and Broward County residents. We just have to go on to the county website.

Right. ConservationPays.com.

Pat, do you have a motion on this? Yes.

Yes. I have Commissioner Shuham made the motion, and Commissioner Quintana seconded it.

OK. Yeah, okay, all right all those in favor say aye aye Opposed hearing none Thank You Vin motion carries unanimously All right, it is not yet 215 so on to our item 14 resolution the City Commission approving authorizing the city to execute the first renewal of blanket purchase agreements with DRC emergency services and DNJ enterprises and TFR enterprises for emergency response and recovery services should they be needed And an annual amount not to exceed $3 million over a one-year period for the Department of Public Works. Are there any speaker cards on item 14?

No cards.

We have a motion from Vice Mayor Kaleri to approve the item. A second from Commissioner Gruber. But Joe, if you wanted to share anything or just a quick overview on what this is, just for the benefit of the public, go ahead.

Yeah, so I could just give you a little overview of it. Basically, it's a contract for whenever there's a storm event. We have these contracts that come in to remove the debris removal. We have three companies so that we can do it faster. And if we don't use them or have a notice to proceed, we don't pay anything so they're in standby. So this is just to renew our contracts so we don't get caught with our pants down. Okay, that's one way to put it.

That's one way to put it. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none. Thank you, Joseph, for your descriptive explanation of... What that is. Well, we don't want to get caught that way, that's for sure. Unless you're going to Class Soiree Steakhouse, everybody. First Tuesday of the month or something like that? I don't know. First Monday? Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, it's not for everyone.

How did you all know what day it was?

Sold out, right? We all read the news. We read the news. So I see some folks walking in here, although it's not 2.15. So let's get to talk about the modification of our community shuttle program routes and schedules within the city in order to improve the level of service. This is item 15. And then we'll have our last item, 13, following that. This shouldn't take more than eight minutes, Andrea.

No, it shouldn't.

Unless we want to redesign on the fly.

You never know. Let's not go there. Thank you, Mayor. Andrea Winget, Director of Development Services. So this item today is really showing the city commission's desire to continue to keep the community shuttle program that we have. You may recall about two years ago, we We established a community shuttle program throughout the city that includes four different routes. Since that time, cities have not been able to modify the routes of this community shuttle program. The county has recently opened up the ability to modify routes or schedule the times. And so we're asking for the commission's support to continue to work with the county on these routes. And then we will come back to you with an interlocal agreement once we establish and finalize what these new routes will be. Of the four routes, we have two that we're looking at to make some changes. And those are changes that this commission has expressed over time to ensure there's connectivity from the east to the west. crossing I-95 and providing that connection point at the Target and Public Shopping Center for there to be continuity from out west to the east making those transfers. Thank you.

to show us some maps.

You would like to see? You have a presentation, right? I do. I do. But we have six minutes, though. OK.

This is an opportunity to educate people who want to increase ridership. And let's start now. Absolutely.

Absolutely.

All right.

I hear a motion.

Let's hold that in case there's an amendment and all that good stuff. So let's just see it first.

OK, so here are the four routes that we currently have that we have established today. And you can see the green route actually operates very independent of the other routes. And that's what's caused a little bit of angst to the commission over time.

Which one has the least ridership right now?

No, it's either the red. We can get there. It is the green. Mostly the green, but the blue. And those are the two that we're looking at making some of the route changes to. Because remember, we want to make sure we keep the 7.1 passengers per hour in order to maintain our funding and the programs. So here's the existing blue route on the left. You could see on the right with the gray boxes and circles some of the areas that we have changed. We're going to continue to keep the downtown Publix on that route. We're adding in University Station. We're crossing I-95. We're adding in the tri-rail. And we are adding in the Publix Target shopping center. On the green route, really the only changes, we used to travel further down Johnson Street before coming back south to Hollywood Boulevard. And we're also going to ensure that connectivity to the Publix and Target shopping center as well. And again, this is really just the first step in a process that will probably be about a year long. Originally, we were due to submit our support for this program before your next commission meeting. The county has provided some additional time in order to submit that. But since we're already coming forward, we wanted to continue on that. We just found out earlier this week. And then we will come back. We'll work with the county. I'm sure there's going to continue to be more tweaks from what we're showing you today. And then we will come back with an interlocal agreement where the commission will continue to support it and approve the final routes.

Andrea, just as the shuttle stops at certain private property sites like, for example, the Target and the Publix, I think we have agreements with those shopping centers, right?

To my knowledge, yes.

So maybe, and I don't think that there is a poll where they, you know, shuttle stops here, like a shuttle stop sign.

Correct.

Maybe that would be good for people who are not, you know, you just, you know, always walk by that and say, oh, there's a shuttle stop and look into it. And maybe there should be a URL there of how you learn about the shuttle. And because where our mission is to increase ridership or else you lose it.

So it is. So we do need to strategically look at and come together with. Right now, the CertX program does not provide funding for municipalities to be able to promote the program. That's a responsibility of the cities. So we will try and kind of regroup and re-strategize on ways in which we could get the word out.

Okay. I have two commissioners who would like to speak on this, so hang tight. Commissioners Quintana and then Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Andrea. I just wanted to say thank you so much for listening to the input that we received from residents by making it possible for people that potentially ride the Green Line to be able to get to workplaces east of the tri-rail station, people who are in my district are often going to be using this for purposes that have to do with work. And so if you only have riding during the part of the day where people are already at work, you're going to have low ridership. So to extend the hours I think is really important and to make it possible to get East of the tri-rail is really important. I think that will help a lot with ridership. I also have gotten feedback from residents that many of them are not really sure about how to use it. So to the mayor's point about making the signage more visible, when this first came to the city, I took a few of the residents from my district on a ride on the shuttle. Antonique, you were with us. And just on my phone, we did video and pictures. And just on my social media, We post it just so that residents see other residents writing, and they could maybe be ambassadors. I would really love to see that happen more, and again, and not just on my social media, but that the city be able to. I don't know that that costs any money. I don't know whether resources have to be allocated. But I do think that we need to do more, because a lot of people are not sure about how the community shuttle fits in with their other modes of transportation. And so another thing to consider is if there's a way to help people plan a trip that incorporates the standard route and the community shuttle and all of their options that they could see where they connect. And I really think that that'll help a lot if we make it easy. I've had people tell me that they would like to try it, but they don't really know exactly how it works. So those are my comments.

Commissioner Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. I think if we have the ability to have a small sign where it says with a QR code, it says this is where the shuttle goes, people that has a cell phone will be able to get and punch in with a QR code and to see where it goes. And they'll have the choice of the different colors route that they have. But can you back up, since the mayor asked for this, can you back up as to where the blue one used to go, where it's supposed to go? Is there a reason why the blue route actually double backs on the southern part of the city? Why couldn't it go through that straight all the way onto Hollywood Boulevard, on the bottom part of it?

On the current route?

On the current route, yeah.

I think it's a headway time and making sure that we could stay within our time frames. But Clarissa, I don't know if there's something you want to add to that. But that's my understanding.

The left is existing and the right is proposed.

So the left is going to be eliminated altogether, correct? Correct.

Yes.

Is that because poor ridership? Yes. And the reason why, maybe one of the reasons is because it double backs. It doesn't go anywhere. It just goes up to a certain point, Atlantic Shore, and then it comes back. So I guess it's not going to go to Walmart anymore, correct?

Yes, so this is Clarissa from Development Services. Hi, Clarissa. When you mean double back, you mean it just circles. It comes east on Pembroke Road, and then it goes down that long rectangular shape, and it comes down south. Is that what you mean by that? Yeah, so that's how it loops back right now, currently, the way the route is. So we're eliminating that whole loop now.

OK, so we're eliminating going to Atlantic shores. Is that correct? Okay, that's fine. I'm okay with the new route because it actually brings it to a local market, Hollywood market, number one. And number two, it goes past 95 and it goes through the tri-rail station, which it didn't before, and it has the ability to come to the City Hall Circle. And hopefully on the weekend that will probably be more... Utilize a little more than what it's currently being done with people being able to park at City Hall for free So, thank you.

Thank you Peter. So motion to approve now that I can yeah, I think we have a motion in a second But if we could let's look at the the beach route real quick if you can forward the slide so while speaking with Some folks who were bringing a convention and they're bringing it in 2028 to the diplomat. I spoke with the event organizer to you know have an opportunity for the convention goers to have a downtown visit, basically either a night out downtown. And every weekend, there's thousands of people at the Diplomat. And so I don't know if the community shuttle system, Andrea, is the right system to think about a express from the Diplomat Convention Activity Center to downtown. And maybe it's, I don't know if we're able to do a limited and special nights of the week or weekend type service that's like for an express route that could, again, connect the convention goers with downtown. If we already have a shuttle system, maybe then we don't have to reinvent the wheel. And if we can dedicate certain routes and coordinate how the buy-in of the hotel management and just help people get there instead of them using multiple Ubers or trying to figure out how to get downtown. There is an economic development benefit to it. And so if this is the right mode, then let's just keep that in mind.

And if it's this mode, if not, maybe circuit. But the counties here, they hear you, we hear you, and we'll connect with Diplomat to see what kind of mode of transportation we can help.

Mayor, I brought that up, and they said, well, someone who's staying at the Diplomat may not. We took taking this in particular and I said you'd be surprised people who they'd love to public come transportation and the Cirque as well So yeah, I support that idea if you want to yeah, we could at some point Yeah, so Andrea if it's if it's community shuttle or different service.

I think that's in speaking I've spoken with Joanne about it I think we can do a lot of good for downtown and for the visitors And get cars off the road at the same time all right Commissioner Biederman before we go on to item 13 go ahead

While we're exploring that, I think that maybe we can have some kind of an on-demand contract to do when there's conventions or something like that so that we can provide that service, but not where it's, you know, maybe we could... That would be coordinated. Standby, yeah, where it could be something just when we need it and we fund it as a needed basis.

Yeah, there's definitely different ways to do it. All right, we have a motion and a second to approve the instant item. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, item carries unanimously. Our final item on today's agenda, regular agenda. besides comments, is we finally have the first reading of the planned development for the Emerald Hills Golf Club. Let me go ahead and read it into the record. This is an ordinance of the City of Hollywood, Florida, changing the zoning district designation of 166.134 acres from Country Club CC to planned development PD, generally located at 4100 North Hills Drive, known as the club at emerald hills approving the club at emerald hills plan development master plan and the club at emerald hills master plan master development plan guidelines approving variances from the peripheral setback requirements of section 4.15 of the zoning land development regulations providing for conditions of approval conflict severability and effective date this is an ordinance on first reading advertising conformance of state statutes and city codes And from the Department of Development Services, Andrea, years on coming. Here we are. Good to see everybody.

It's exciting to be here. It's been a long time coming. This is Andrea Winget, Director of Development Services, and we wave quasi.

OK, does the applicant waive? Yeah, Mayor, it's Keith Polykov here on behalf of the applicant. We waive quasi as well. I have to make one quick statement. This project's been eight years in the making, eight years. And I was looking at our notes the other day, 66 meetings with the community, 16 HOA meetings. 14 presentations, 2,000 letters, and over 300 emails that we've responded to. I don't think there's a single person here today in opposition of this project which has been fully vetted. We have a lot of people here in support that are happy to speak but don't have to speak. We're even fine waving a presentation. I've told staff that it's OK waving a presentation unless the commission wants it because there is no one here in opposition.

Thank you. Commissioner Hernandez, go ahead.

Thank you, Mayor. I have some property nearby. I've checked with the city attorney to make sure that this is not a conflict. She says since my property is not within the designated district that's going to be taking place, that I have no conflict. So I just wanted to publicly disclose that.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Do we need to disclose any ex parte communications on this?

Yes, you would, because it's quiet.

Man, it's been years. So I'll go ahead and just say that I've received emails over the years about this proposal. I've attended some public meetings over the years in Emerald Hills, community meetings, open meetings, and definitely had some phone calls over the years with some folks. I have the records at my office if it's ever needed. But it's been many years. All right, anyone else I'll start with Commissioner shoe him What you said?

All right, Commissioner Hernandez Lido Gruber same vice mayor Commissioner Biederman, I guess the same and Commissioner guitar I haven't been here long enough to be have expert take communication So I don't think I've had any all right much of the drama was over by time. I got here the Maris.

Is that good enough? I me all right thank you all right uh so let's go ahead andrea um motion to approve we have a motion to approve second from commissioner gruber uh did you all want to see is there any speaker cards yeah since we have let me go ahead and confirm that and then if need be if the public request will have a presentation

I think staff has a short presentation.

Yeah. Steven Baker or Kenny Zook, would you like us to present the full presentation, or are you OK if not? No, we're OK. You're OK. And how about Mr. Zook? OK. All right. Andrea, did you want to provide a brief summary, or are you good too?

Staff is good and staff finds that the criteria That this satisfies all the applicable criteria for the rezoning and the variance criteria for the establishment of the master plan All right.

So if there's a maker of the motion finds those As well and so does the seconder. All right, then let's go ahead and read the ordinance and call the roll call vote

An ordinance of the city of Hollywood, Florida, changing the zoning district designation of 166.134 acres from Country Club CC to planned development PD, generally located at 4100 North Hills Drive and known as the Club at Emerald Hills, approving the Club at Emerald Hills planned development master plan and the Club at Emerald Hills master development plan guidelines approving variances from the peripheral setback requirements of section 4.15, subsection E, subsection 3, sub D of the zoning and land development regulations, providing for conditions of approval, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date.

Commissioner Shuham. Yes. Commissioner Hernandez. Yes. Vice Mayor Kaleri. Commissioner Gruber? Yes. Commissioner Biederman?

Yes.

I'm sorry? Yes.

Commissioner Quintana? Yes. Mayor Levy?

Yes. All right, let's show the ordinance passing on first reading unanimously. We do have the pleasure of seeing you, I think, for a second reading. But I think today's brief item is a reflection of what Keith had presented earlier, which was this was years in the making, you know, hundreds of conversations, work with the community, all to – come up with a plan that everyone obviously embraces and looks forward to for the improvement it will bring to the area and to the golf club. So congratulations and really happy to see that you all succeeded in engaging everyone the way you did to result in today's item. Thank you all. Looking forward to it. All right. Well, it's almost 5 o'clock, everybody. Not yet. But it looks like we will have a break between now and 5 o'clock. So let's go ahead with comments by the city commission, city attorney, city manager, if any. Let's go ahead with Commissionada Quintana.

I go first this time.

Yes, ma'am.

I want to... just express gratitude to Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts because of their, as you know, their efforts to try and activate the two community centers in my district that really, when I first got elected, did not have a lot going on in them. And I'm especially appreciative of Rick Engel's efforts and the staff, Nakenya Knowles at Kay Gaither and Janisha and Valerie at Washington Park Community Center for embracing the idea that all of a sudden they're going to have all these new programs coming in. And so with that, I want to just announce the asset-based community development grant that Sue Gallagher talked about when she did her presentation at the Children's Services Council. They're making it possible for us to identify some people in District 6 who are connectors in the community. Those are people who know other people. And the whole idea is, how do you define the word asset? So an asset, according to the dictionary, is any item or resource owned by a person, a business, or a government that has economic value. So when we think about assets, we often think about what property you own or how much money you can earn. But the truth is that assets can take different forms. So there are many types of assets. Some of them are tangible and some of them are intangible. And what the asset-based community development project seeks to do is identify assets in our community that are our people. What the people in the community bring that sometimes is the answer to some of our more vexing challenges Sometimes the answer to those challenges is hidden in plain sight. The answer is right there among our neighbors. So the idea is, what are the gifts that people in the neighborhood can bring and share with their others? And we have one person in the Beverly Park neighborhood who is leading a gratitude dance. She's going to be doing it on Saturday, September 26 at Kay Gaither. And it's an opportunity to spend some time in movement and dancing and focusing on what we're grateful for. And then we have also a series of classes starting on September 19. It's a community art project. led by the Harris Art Studio Commissioner Biederman. Kyle Harris is bringing this to both Washington Park and to the Kay Gaither Community Center. Members of the community are invited to each create a piece of art. It's a small piece of art that's then going to contribute to a larger community art piece that will be displayed and celebrated throughout. That starts on Saturday, September 19 at 3 o'clock at Kay Gaither Community Center and then alternating with Washington Park. So I just wanted to announce that, invite anybody who wants to participate, and, again, to just remind them of the purpose and the reason for this. And thank you, again, to Parks Recreation for all the extra work that it's going to take to do all of this. Thank you much.

Thank you, Commissioner Quintana. Let's get to Commissioner Shuham.

Thank You mayor just wanted to thank Department of Public Utilities I mentioned some of the block drains this morning along a1a and it's already being worked on so amazing Also, I wanted to share we had Passed a motion some time ago supporting naming North Beach the county's North Beach Park to Suzanne guns burger Hollywood North Beach Park and I'm happy to share that the state has approved the county's request to do that so I'm sure in the near future there'll be a celebration of sorts at Hollywood North Beach Park and it will be named after a former City Commissioner and County Commissioner Suzanne guns burger so happy to share that and And this is our last meeting before the Jewish holidays. So I just want to wish everybody a Lashana Tova or a good and happy and healthy year ahead. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Commissioner Shuham. Let's get to Commissioner Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. I have a question for our commission, and it has to do with the city attorney. And no disrespect, it's not anything personal. There has been some instances that we've looked at it that we have not been, at least I haven't been completely satisfied with everything that I've seen from our city attorney. And I'm one of the persons who supported the city attorney to vote on this. And I have a question for you. One of the requests that I had was, did you ever went after get certified when it comes to municipal city attorney?

Yes, I have. I am in the process of taking the CLEs that are required for me before I can even sign up to take the tests that would allow me to get that certification. Those credit requirements are extensive, and I am currently enrolled in various CLEs in order to seek that certification.

Okay, so how much farther along are we?

I will check my CLEs, but I believe that I will be able to sign up next year to take the test as soon as possible following that. It's only offered once a year.

Okay. Thank you. So having said that, that was one of the prerequisites that I wanted. So I don't know if the commission feels that we should be looking somewhere else, only because budget season is coming up and the city manager is looking to do their budget. Is there any appetite for something like that?

You can ask Commissioner or Vice Mayor.

What is it that you're asking for?

I'm asking if the commission feels comfortable with our city attorney, or should we be looking for a city attorney somewhere else?

So, you know, I've expressed some concerns. I know that Damaris has really tried definitely hard. to jump in, but I do feel, even at our last, I'm surprised that we're talking about this, but this is in comments, so I guess it's okay. But even at the last meeting where we had about extending outside counsel, that's always been a big issue with me.

Well, I got some pushback from some of our residents, and that's the reason I said, because they felt that our city attorney's office should be handling something like that rather than to looking for $275,000 as an expense. And this is the reason I'm saying it's, look, I supported the mayor's, and that's the reason that I'm bringing it up, because some of the residents are pushing back as my support as to what I did, and I wanted to know how the commission feels regarding that. If there's anybody that has any thoughts or process that you want to follow. And some even resident says you should go for an outside firm. I don't believe that that's what the process that we should go to. But if the residents that I represent feel that I made a mistake, I'm big enough to admit it. And that's why I'm opening up the conversation to see how the commission feels. Commissioner Wood, I understand. I would like to address that.

I would say that in the past year and a half, the work of the city has increased drastically, exponentially. Our office has been asked to do more, as has every office in the city, which is completely wonderful. We are happy to serve the interests of the city of Hollywood at all times. That having been said, in order to serve the interests of the city of Hollywood, where I think it best to get expertise or to otherwise direct our resources toward various interests and directions of this commission, I've sought outside counsel. So this is just in response to that.

And I'm OK with that. And I'm glad you're answering that, because the answer is not only for this commission, but for the residents that we represent as well.

Yeah, I mean, I would just say, There have been items of complexity that have come up over the past couple of years. And I think Damaris has sought outside counsel where she admits that she didn't have experience in that area. If you're saying, Commissioner Hernandez, that you would expect the city attorney to have more foundational experience in general so that there doesn't need to be more look back or more to seek out outside counsel, then I can understand that that's why you're asking about the certifications. You want to- If she can catch up to, you know, where you'd want maybe more conclusive advice, you know, sooner and, you know, when necessary as opposed to looking, you know, maybe delaying or extending and studying more than you thought you anticipated that you would need. Is that what you're saying?

That is one of the things that I'm saying, and the other is more communication with us. In other words, if you had to have certain prerequisite credit regarding the certification that I was asking for, it would have been nice to know rather than to find out here when I'm questioning why is that not being done. And I think that might be a relationship the attorney client needs to have more often than not. Anyone else?

I hear your suggestion, Commissioner, and I accept that. Thank you.

Anyone else on this topic? Commissioner Biederman.

So I don't think anybody's perfect. Far from it. I don't think anybody filled all of our requests when we were doing the interviewing. I supported Damaris because she was in-house. I thought that she can grow within the position. And I kind of admire the fact that she acknowledges where she might fall short and has to seek outside counsel. And she relies on staff, whereas our previous attorney tried to bring everything in-house at the detriment sometimes of not acknowledging strengths and weaknesses. And... Have I been disappointed in some kind of way at times with our city attorney? Maybe. Have I been disappointed in a number of positions at times with any number of employees Yeah. Have I been disappointed in some of us at times or myself at times? Yeah. So I don't think that any of us are perfect or have all the answers. And I agree with our city attorney that we have thrown a lot of stuff out there. And some of it isn't our fault. Some of it is ours. Outside sources. Outside sources. The persistent opposition to some of the things that the majority of us want and the majority of Hollywood residents support. So I think that she's bobbed and weaved with some of the challenges. I'm not ready to.

No, no. Look, the reason that I bring it up is checks and balances. It's the only way we know. Some of the residents have brought it to my attention, and I figure I owe the duty to them and to all of us to bring it to the body's attention in order, if anything needs to be done.

And to be completely transparent, number one, Damaris has who she has to work with, and she's tried to fill positions in a department and rebuild the department that We had a lot of new attorneys in. And the other thing is that, remember, it's up to $275,000. And it's an investment in getting done what we need to get done. And it was something that was dropped in our city attorney's lap.

And not only that, there are specialties that only outside attorneys can do. Understand and respect that my point was it since it was brought to my attention by my residents I figured that I needed to bring it up in case of Commission did not hear from Commissioner and just I'm gonna end with this sometimes criticism makes somebody better So make it Commissioner Quintana then vice mayor Clary So I want to thank you for bringing it up Commissioner Hernandez I've

I think that it can't be easy to be a city attorney in any city. And I do think that our city has been experiencing a lot of change recently. And I think what Commissioner Biederman is saying is true, that if someone understands what's at stake, and they understand that they need to make sure that the highest level of expertise is on a particular challenging legal issue, they should do that rather than try and flub their way through or pretend like they know more than they actually do. I appreciate the honesty. I also have found that when I have concerns and I talk to Damaris regularly if I have a concern, and I'm very honest with her when I'm not happy, and I tell her, And so she knows where I stand at every moment of the day And I think it's important that we have the conversation here But I hope this is not the first time that Damaris is hearing of your concerns because I Talk to her often whenever I want to know something about what the status is of her position here at the city

It is the first time that she's hearing about this and she's hearing it about publicly because my residents are asking for this right I hear you so this is not a personal and I've Right started saying just that by the way the the questions regarding her being able to be certified for Municipalities it goes back to even before she was hired So if that would remember from the interview process there would have been an update that needed to take place I don't think it would have been my call

to ask regarding that it should have just come from city attorney we asked what's taking place agreed and i'm not holding anything against it i just wanted to give the body the opportunity um so i know we have discussed it before publicly because i never missed my words i'm honest as honest can be and i've stated my concerns the biggest concern that i um have is it was exactly what was stated

We are a growing city.

We are a big city. We have a lot of challenging issues and outside sources that create even more confusion, havoc, and new state law, and us as commissioners create havoc for our city attorney as well. And that has something to do with season. But the most important thing for me and why I didn't vote in favor of DiMera is not because I don't think she's a great attorney, she's a wonderful individual, all of that at that time, We needed someone extremely seasoned in municipality government because of the forefront. And we are a billion-dollar city. It is a big undertaking. I don't even know how any city attorney does it, much less the mayor is sitting here. The stress is a lot, but you're doing it. I think that there is some concern. And I worry not only about the city, but I also worry about the well-being, staffing and everything, the concerns, because there is a constant pull. And just, you know, everyone knows I'm an observer and I sit back and watch. And so thank you for bringing it up because this is always the worst discussion to ever have when we talk about our staff and their... Well, we had some time, but... Well, I don't want to make this like forever, right? But I think you hear the concerns, Damaris. Again, I was not shy in voicing my opinion at the time of the city appointment, nor was I shy of voicing my opinion during the verbiage that took over an hour and a half, and I was dismayed at the behavior of your staff. and how it got to that point that we sat here over an hour to put the ballot information. To me, that was just unprepared. And I expressed my opinion at the time. But what I don't want to continue to see is those issues repeating themselves and the uncomfortableness of the unknown. And there's always going to be that, I think, because we don't have a crystal ball. I think it really, municipality government is so challenging. Look, it's taken me 14 years, and I still don't know everything, right? I'm always calling you as well, but there is a concern because we are such a big city that I think if it all depends on your staff that you bring in that can do it, and I will say that I do have concerns for that as well. planning and development board meeting, the verbiage. So those things, but I brought it forward. So I don't really know what direction to go in, except for I think you hear us loud and clear. There is a huge concern. And again, with this being so big, it's just going to continue. And with the growth that the city is foreseeing, It's just going to continue, and either you staff yourself appropriately with proper individuals that are gurus, or we get a guru that sits in the seat that everyone is comfortable with. And I think those are decisions also that you should partake in and that you should be involved in the discussion. So to me, I feel that we just need stronger support or a stronger city attorney. Thank you.

So I will say, annually, the city commission reviews the performance of the city manager and the city attorney, I believe. I want to say in October-ish, late September-ish, end of fiscal year. So maybe it is healthy, although uncomfortable, to have a discussion. And it's put it on Damaris that when you have one-on-one discussions with ourselves, Ahead of your performance review at the end of I guess this month right end of this month that maybe you put together You know an outline of what you've been working on to demonstrate to the city commissioners the status of the big items And to basically demonstrate you know how we've how we've succeeded and the city attorney's office And I think that would be healthy for us to you know evaluate and And I'd also want to hear from, honestly, the city manager's office, because we only get to, I think, communicate and, you know, work with the city attorney, mostly here on the dais for me, but the city manager's office and all the different departments that rely on the legal department to keep their engine moving, I'd want to know, to the extent it's possible, I know it's uncomfortable, or very comfortable, how is the experience of all these departments that rely on the different attorneys at the city attorney's office? Because if it's not being responsive or if there isn't the proficiency that is needed, We wouldn't know about that unless you all share that with us. And typically, in the way in which the workflow happens here, we don't hear any of that. But if there is an issue, we would want to know. And I think Damaris would want to know. And hopefully, there's an open communication there to Peter's point. You know, we ought to, you know, know where there's strengths and weaknesses and not, you know, let the, you know, continuing work of the city suffer or suffer delay or expertise or good outcomes because no one said anything. So I think it's a healthy conversation to have. I do have Commissioner Shuham in the queue, and then we'll close out with Commissioner Hernandez, who brought up the issue, if anyone else wants. But Commissioner Shuham?

Well, first I would just say that I find it unsettling that this subject would be brought up without first talking to the employee. And I can't imagine a time that this has ever happened to anybody else. If I have a problem with VIN before I would ever talk about it from this dais, I would talk to VIN about it. And so that, to me, is very concerning. We all have one-on-ones before this meeting. We all have the opportunity to speak to staff about concerns. And this, to me, is very upsetting. Putting that aside, on the merits, I don't always agree with what Damaris tells me. But what I very much appreciate is we no longer have someone sitting here who always has an answer. And that's why we hired Damaris, because she was honest about saying, I don't always have the answer, but I will always do the research and get back to you with it. And that's what we hired. We did not hire somebody with 40 years of experience. We hired somebody who committed to tell us when she didn't know and then would go do the research to find out what the answer was. And like I said, I'm not 100% happy with what those answers are, but she does what she told us she was going to do. And I also think it's very contradictory to say, I don't want to spend money on outside attorney's fees, but I also don't want to have, I don't have somebody here with all the expertise. You don't get it both ways. You either hire someone with expertise on the outside, or you have someone who pretends to know everything on the inside, and that is very dangerous for a city. I would much rather pay those outside legal fees. Thank you very much, Commissioner Biederman. I completely agree to know that when we have a sensitive issue, outside expert legal counsel has been consulted. It is terribly risky for someone to keep cutting their outside legal fees again and again and again. That's a real problem for cities. Cities are facing very complicated issues every single day, whether it's environmental, policing, new statutory laws all the time. These things are complicated. And I don't think a city should ever have an... that these things could be handled on the inside. And I'll say it again. I'm not always 100% happy, but I am very happy that she knows when to seek outside counsel. And I hope that you continue to do that. I also think the attorneys that she has brought on are somewhat inexperienced. And so in that case, we have to go sometimes out to outside counsel. But we want them to grow and get that experience while they are here. when you go out and hire outside counsel, it serves a dual purpose. Not only are you getting the expert answer to the question the city is confronting, but you're also training your in-house attorneys for the next time something like that comes up. So it's a valuable thing. And I would also just say, that I do recall when we talked about getting the certification. I know the mayor is familiar with CLEs. I certainly am familiar with CLEs. You cannot get certified until you have enough CLEs. So I pretty much specifically remember that being described, that you first have to complete the coursework. Before you can get certified, so I agree with the mayor that we do have these annual reviews And that's the perfect time to have these conversations, but I'm very Really not it just seems very wrong the way this came up today, so thank you Thank you mayor.

I have two more Vice-Mayor Kaleri if any and Commissioner Biederman go ahead vice mayor so

Thank you for your comments, Commissioner Shoham. But this has been brought up many times in the past 14 years, situations that arise that are a concern. Damaris, I can see on your face, you're like, holy cow, what is happening? This is our only time to talk freely amongst ourselves. And I will say this is a great opportunity for you to hear the concerns. It's not a one-on-one. Maybe there wasn't an opportunity. But I totally disagree with what you stated, Commissioner Shuham. And the reason being is I brought it up on this day is how disappointed I was in our city attorney with the ballot question that was brought up that took us an hour and a half that I happened to be late to go to work for. And I sat here thinking, what is going on? And I was dismayed by that. So I brought it up. It's not like this is out of left field. And I will remind everyone that our last city attorney, there were commissioners that are sitting up here who whisper on the side and would say, I don't have any confidence in you. I don't believe in him. And you all looked at him and said, oh, you're doing a great job. So it sometimes takes somebody to take the bull by the horns and just be honest. And that's what this is. And honesty isn't a bad thing. It is bringing self-awareness. And it's nothing that we're not making, I don't believe, any decision here today. It was a simple question that was asked. And now it's a discussion that has amounted from that. And the discussion is there is a lot of work to be done. And there is a lot of concern. There's a lot of concern because we are a big city. And I can't repeat it over and over again. But I will tell you. I have heard from staff they're concerned. I have heard from outside counsel they're concerned. And I have heard from people that we work with that they're concerned. But I didn't make the initial vote. I voted, and honestly, I voted against you. Not because I don't think you're a great person. I just didn't think you could handle the big multitude city that we are at. So it's a good thing that we have this discussion because we're bringing it to your awareness. I feel that you are confident enough to shake, rattle, and roll. Do what you have to do to either prove your point. The review is going to come. And we will go from there. But these discussions are never easy. And we talk about it all the time. Even with the review process, it's a challenge. Every time we have to do it publicly. It's terrible. But guess what? Honesty is the best policy. There is some work that needs to be done. And if it can't be done, we need to get somebody who can do it. And I am concerned about the staff that has been brought in that represents you. That's my concern. Because you're not going to know everything. You're not going to be able to do everything. But you bring people in that are supposed to raise you up, not bring you down. And currently, that is what's happening.

Commissioner Biederman. Commissioner Schramm, I appreciate that you agree with me, but that's not what I said. While I agree that sometimes we need outside counsel, I don't think it should be unlimited purse strings to just outsource everything. But since we're talking about, and I know that you lost Alan? Are we still using Alan? Because, I mean, he was like a wealth of historical knowledge. And maybe that's why we are having some issues. I don't know. We haven't discussed this.

He's kind of retired.

100%?

No, he is semi-retired. He continues to work with our office on a consulting basis.

So he is available to help staff and stuff like that.

And we do seek him out.

OK.

But he's not available as a 20-hour-a-week solution.

And so Alan is still... We're weaning off of Alan's historical consultations? Yes. So as opposed to outsourcing as much as we are and lacking in... experience maybe. Is there another consultant similar to Alan that you could reach out to so that it would reassure the body that we're doing everything we can without outsourcing too much and without sacrificing a wealth of knowledge?

So I am absolutely happy to look into any other solutions and will endeavor to do so after this meeting. I do want to say that so far as outsourcing goes, there has not been this massive increase in outsourcing all of the work of the city. You'll note that so far as I have to come back to you guys if my contract with any outside council exceeds $100,000. That has not happened on some sort of regular basis that should concern you, that all of the work of the city is suddenly being outsourced as opposed to being handled in-house. Additionally, though I do recognize the youth of some of my staff in some of these areas, I would ask you if you wanted to talk to other compatriots or other commissioners that you know, this is not an area in which you can simply go out and say, I need a land use attorney, or I need an attorney who specializes in utilities regulation and things, and simply say, I'm going to put out a bid for that. and have those people come into a governmental position. Amongst other things, the reason why that is is because in private practice, these people earn literally two to three times what we are able to offer. So even when I do seek, and so far as at least our planning attorney and our land use attorney, we sought a special recruiter to fill that position. And the resumes that we get are the resumes that we get. This certainly was not a situation that I undertook cavalierly or simply found the first person who was available. It was a thing that we specifically sought out and asked for a recruiter. And city management stepped in and helped us with that, and HR assisted with that. So we asked for these resumes to come to us. It's difficult to find someone who is in this area, specifically these niche areas, to come into a governmental setting when they literally make three times as much.

completely understandable. And you and I had a discussion. I'm not going to call out any particular person in your department. You and I had a conversation about an individual or a particular issue that was flubbed, in my opinion. And I appreciate maybe Looking into making sure that that doesn't happen again, and we've that kind of thing but I think that this is everything's a learning experience kind of and You have an opportunity before evaluation. I think to correct some of the concerns up here and to maybe you know compare where we were in previous years for Outsourcing in and where you stand you know kind of? Be prepared to answer those tough questions and how you can create that comparison to previous years.

I hear all of the feedback that's been offered today. Thank you all very much. I will take it under advisement and endeavor to address it.

And it might not hurt to have a one-on-one conversation with everybody.

I do have, Commissioner Schumann, if you want to add anything. Oops, go ahead.

To Commissioner Biederman, certainly I did not indicate that there should be an unlimited budget. There's budgets, and you use them, and I think that's what we are tasking Damaris with is the best use of the resources that she has. But also to Commissioner Kaleri's point, my point simply is when we have an issue with a – with a staff member that before this public meeting, they should not be caught off. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have a public discussion about it. But I think in the case of any staff member, we should at least have the courtesy to speak to them before a public discussion like this. That's my only point. Obviously, these types of things have to happen amongst us publicly. But I'm just dismayed that someone would be caught off guard like this. That's all.

All right, final word from Commissioner Hernandez. Yeah, thank you, Mayor, and I do have one else. It's a good thing that I don't need a consultation from any of my colleagues to bring things up. I appreciate your comments. I can tell you that it's been a compilation of things, and if you want to, I can name it, but I don't think I want to go through something like that, and some of them have already been mentioned. But nonetheless, I just wanted to make the body aware that there's some pushback and there's some perception that this is not working the way that they expect it to work. And regarding your staffing, I don't think that we have the ability by Constitution to tell you what you need to be doing with your staff. But the message is clear from the Commission here that they look at the staff, and if it's inexperienced and you're going through some experience issues yourself, you may want to guard yourself with somebody who has more experience in order to get a different perception from the public. That's all. And by the way, nothing personal. I love you. You're a great individual. It's just on the performance issue that the residents are looking at needed to be attention. And now I've just been aware to that. And my other issue that I wanted to bring up was the 4 a.m. Licenses in the downtown there has been some pushback from some of the business owners that says that there's been a great deal of promoting and I don't mean from the actual business promoters are being hired or thought after to bring in a particular clientele that some of the residents and some of the other business owners are concerned. We currently have, if I remember correctly, I spoke with Chris O'Brien regarding how many 4AM licenses we have in the downtown. Can any of you dare to guess how many we have in the downtown area?

Eight.

13.

13.

13 4 a.m. licenses. So at some point, you may want to have a conversation or he may have a conversation with you on a one-to-one. What do we want to do? Do we want to restrict them to those 13? Do we want to ask for police officer details when it comes to some promoting event that are taking place? Those conversations, I believe they need to take place because we didn't bring as many thousand units to the downtown to have the downtown turn into a problem. And the potential for the problem is there if we don't address it now.

So I'll just speak to that. So I spoke with some business owners, too, who expressed concern about what happens between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. And as we get older and we kind of realize that maybe not much good happens between 2 and 4, and do we want our downtown to be that type of nightclub, late-night nightclub destination? And I think now, as you mentioned, with COVID, the thousands of new residents that are there. We've all received emails over the years about drunken people walking back to their car through the neighborhoods yelling and disturbing the peace. So yeah, I think as downtown matures, we ought to reconsider the let's just call it the post 2 a.m. you know life and I'd like I'd like to hear back from public safety on on on what they've observed as well and I think if director O'Brien and the city manager you know you've brought it Peter I've spoken with some property owners as well and some residents I'm open to reconsidering you know the 4 a.m. license and I'd like and I also spoke with staff about it and and Not to impact the existing 4AM licenses, but issuance of new ones. That's really where the discussion was. So the question is, do we want downtown to grow? Because if we're the only 4AM destination remaining in the peripheral area of the city of Hollywood, then we get all the 4AM activity, which, let's admit, involves a lot of alcohol and sometimes worse. And there have been situations. And do we want that for our downtown? I think it would behoove the staff and public safety to bring to us an analysis about what solutions could be, not to take away anyone's right, but do we want to grow in that fashion? We have retail strategies that's looking at the tenant mix, and maybe it's also part of that economic mix that we talk about is what is the right mix? We want downtown to be vibrant during the day, during the week, during the weekend, maybe 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. Growing that is not necessary for our downtown. And so I also, you know, this would require a legal to look at the ordinances, see how that's provided for. And, you know, if we were to say no more 4 a.m. licenses downtown, then, you know, does that need an ordinance change or is a directive from the city commission enough? So Damaris, that will include you.

There's already a meeting scheduled for next week between legal and police to determine the best moves forward.

Okay. I've been talking to staff about this, and we're not looking to eliminate the 4 a.m. license. We're looking to address it because it's become an issue, and there's nothing wrong with somebody going out to 4 o'clock in the morning. There's a lot of people that that's the only time that actually they can unwind, whether they worked at a late shift and they're able to do this at 2 to 4 o'clock in the morning. Oh, yeah? Well... I'm actually waking up at 4 o'clock in the morning, so I'm not out at that time. But at the end of the day, this is a concern that I wanted to bring up. And I apologize to my colleagues for bringing up topics today that may be unsavory. But at the end of the day, we have a city that we're responsible for. And the conversation was, do we put a moratorium for a year Will we look at this for any more new applications for 4 o'clock licenses? Do you guys want to do something like that in order to be able to discuss this at some length and then decide a future for the downtown when it comes to 4 a.m. licenses?

They are a privilege. Let's hear from others about this. I have Biederman and Kaleri for some feedback. Commissioner Biederman.

So I'll start by saying I don't go out to 4 a.m. anymore. But I think when people move to downtown, they know what they're moving to. So for them to move to downtown, knowing that we have a bustling nightlife, and then complain that we got a bustling nightlife, I think is kind of a challenge. That being said, if we're going to just restrict the 4AM licenses, that's crazy. and not issue any more if we can, kind of like liquor licenses. You could only get so many liquor licenses, right? So if we're going to do where we only allow so many 4 a.m. licenses in the downtown or on the beach, it's worth discussing. But I think that some of our businesses, that's when they make the most money. between that two and four period. It's sad to say, but I mean, people are getting off, you know, midnight shift, they're going out for a couple of drinks, whatever the case may be, I don't know. I mean, there are some bars that open up at 6 a.m. because people are getting off the night shift, going to have a couple of drinks and breakfast and going home, you know, before the next day. There's one in my neighborhood. But... It's worth discussing limiting the number, I guess, if that's legal. But if we're going to do downtown, we should do the beach also, maybe. But, you know, I remember Commissioner Blattner brought this up a number of times, you know, because he just wanted to, you know, have Cape Carl here in downtown Hollywood, I guess. But we don't.

We're not that tired.

Yeah. I mean, we are a bus and we're getting a young crowd in downtown. Now we're going to we're attracting them. And now we're going to say, yeah, no, thanks. I mean, that's my concern.

So I would suggest also, if I could, as city manager, maybe whether it's through police or maybe there ought to be some observation of the 2 to 4 a.m. experience downtown. I admit I haven't been out until 4 a.m. in many, many years. Field trip. Or even past 2 a.m. So maybe you ought to report to us what the conditions are to inform us a little bit more about the circumstances. Let's continue to move along. Vice Mayor Kaleri on this.

So from someone who keeps crazy hours, I would say I don't know if... I'd like to know the facts behind it, right? There's current licenses. Do we extend more because of bad players or whatever the situation is? And I think that the beach is a great idea also to find out how many is going on. I think that is important as far as traffic stops. Do we have DUI stops? All of these things. Is there Uber? What is the Uber intake? Because people nowadays, not all, but a lot of people Uber. because they have their jobs at risk if they were to be intoxicated and drive and drink. But I think what we're missing also is we are a tourist destination, and people get delayed flights. And when they get off, they need somewhere to eat, and they want to have somewhere to drink if they're coming to good old Hollywood. And once we eliminate those opportunities, that also creates a problem. And You know, we have the Hard Rock that has concerts and people hang out and then afterwards they just want to kind of unwind and hang out. I'm just speaking from maybe experience, but they just want to unwind and have a cocktail just before their friend goes back to the hotel or leaves town or whatever. They have an early flight, whatever the case may be. But most importantly, I think if this was brought up by the Downtown Business Association, I'd like to hear their reasoning behind it. Because to me, just hearing this for the first time, and I apologize for not going to the meeting and hearing what they had to say, but we're limiting an opportunity for generating funds and foot traffic that we've heard for years and years and years that we Continued to block that and now here's an opportunity that they can make money whether it's five people twenty people or two people Their doors open maybe they'll come back and have dinner the next night or whatever and now all of a sudden we're gonna Kind of put we're gonna poopoo on their parade and so I just want to get a little bit more information a little bit of data a little bit better understanding Like I said, Uber, all of that information before we make a decision. So yes, it's great something to talk about, but bring it forward at another meeting with more information.

All right, let's hear from Commissioner Gruber.

Go ahead. Yeah, I would need a lot more data to analyze it. I mean, the thing is that people in the food and beverage industry that work, at restaurants and whatnot. They typically go out late. They get off work at 11, 12 o'clock. In fact, shenanigans closing in my neck of the woods created such a hole for those people. I've spoken to so many people that now drive further to wherever they can go. I'd really need to know more about it. I would need to know what our competitive set is doing, what does Fort Lauderdale have, what's their liquor license, what's Miami's liquor license, because All of a sudden you go to a 2 a.m. liquor license and they're 5 a.m. or whatever it is, then your good operators aren't even going to consider coming here. And then you'll have something that are open until 2 a.m. that aren't good operators. And I'd venture to say that the crowd going to the bar that opens at 6 a.m. is probably – lack of, I don't know the term for it, just as whatever as you're getting at 2 to 4 a.m. So I wouldn't want to look at that either. I would need a lot more data from PD, like what is going on? Why would we want to be going in that direction? and then maybe set some standards for places where, you know, I know we've revoked the 4 a.m. from several bars and nightclubs in Hollywood before. I'd more want to look to that, that if there's issues and safety issues at certain places, you know, what's a criteria to X, Y, and Z happen, and that's it. We're pulling it. But, again, it's like the first we're talking about it. So first and foremost, I'd want to hear from – Chris O'Brien and Chief, you know, like where the thought process is, if that's what you guys are thinking is a good idea, because you guys are the experts in safety, and I'd want to know that. So I'm hearing it for the first time. But as someone who has, you know, worked in that industry and promoted stuff and produced stuff that is late night, you know, when you roll back a liquor license from 4 a.m. to 2 a.m. in a town, it changes everything.

So I just realized the discussion wasn't to impact those that are 4 a.m. now. I think the approach that was shared with us was do we want to grow this? Do we want to continue to have more and more? And I guess that's the question for us is do we want to have more or is downtown saturated enough with 4 a.m. nightclubs, businesses, bars to where it's or it's enough. Not to close them down to two, the existing ones, but do we want to keep letting more and more open? Because we have storefronts that could be a different mix of tenancy, and if we're the only 4 a.m. place, next thing you know, we're going to be shut down at 5 p.m. because all we have is a bunch of nightclubs, which, again, it's about that mix.

So that's part of the feedback. I think it's a data-driven... discussion for another time I do you know I would hate to have you know that some of the well-known operators that now want to come to Hollywood no Hollywood just changed it so no new operators could have their 4 a.m. we finally get to the point where they want to come here and they don't want to come here because right so so but I would just need to learn more all right it's kind of part of this whole downtown look city manager do you have anything to add

I mean, really not more than what has been discussed. I think it is helpful to understand that this is a conversation that's being generated by some of our existing downtown property owners and businesses asking us to look at this, and not unlike where we have potentially seen a saturation of whether it's a certain type, whether it was massage parlors, or whether it was smoke shops, or where we have created distance separations, this is kind of more a question of are we getting to the point where we have too many and we need to kind of hold the line on what we currently have. I do think we want to absolutely do the data-driven approach. We want to look at our competitive set. We want to look at the situations that's out there. It's important to note that right now, this is really a completely discretionary process. They get this license. So anyone who applies for it and is a good actor in our community eventually gets it if they want it. And that just keeps creating more and more of them. So we are just looking at that and thinking about, as downtown evolves, what is the right thing. And so I appreciate that it seems like all of you are interested in understanding that. And it could be that we come back with a recommendation that nothing's broke. Don't try to fix it. Or it could be that we say, hey, look, this is not creating the right opportunities for the right mix of businesses, restaurants, you know, retail, service-oriented, you know, establishments, et cetera.

All right. Well, is that good enough for everyone? I have Hernandez, Shuham, and Biederman. Do you still want to speak? All right. So let me get to... Let me get to Commissioner Biederman, and then Commissioner Sherman, if you want to buzz back in, then let me know. But Commissioner Biederman? I'm just trying to get us to 5 o'clock. Please don't.

No, no, no. My whole thing is, if somebody's looking to go out at 10 o'clock at night... And they know that we're open until 2 or someplace else is open until 4. They might just go to the 4. So some of our businesses are going to lose out on that four hours worth of business because it's short-sightedness. So I would hate to throw out the baby with the bathwater kind of thing. I would just prefer maybe if we're worried about some bad actors, enforce the law. beef-up DUI checkpoint, maybe, whatever it is, but to just totally end it. And listen, in all reality, the businesses that already have 4AM licenses, sure, they don't want anybody else getting a 4AM license. I mean, listen, we support them. I'm not saying we don't support them, but of course they don't want anybody else. But in the same sense, we need to make sure that we're not... kind of taking the wrong turn.

I got you. Definitely all those business aspects are relevant and part of the conversation. All right. I have Hernandez and Gruber. Commissioner Hernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. I love the fact that I bring something up because either the business owners, which some of them are 4 o'clock license holders, that they bring it up to me, that I get all kinds of insults from my colleagues. I'm not trying to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I'm just trying to bring a conversation to the commission because, number one, we had some times. I didn't realize it was going to be this lengthy. And number two, they're the ones bringing it to my attention in order for me to bring it to your attention. No one is trying to get anybody to have a bad time or for them not to be able to have a good time when they come to the downtown. Some of the issues that are taking place, and I'll bring it to your attention, and I'm sure PD will bring it as well. There are promoters that are bringing large quantities of individuals to a particular place, yet the door holds the door as to the capacity inside. So those are the patrons. Look for other places to go to because there are other operators to 4 a.m. And the owners of those operations feel unsafe because of the people that are coming into that town to the town in order to do that. So they're concerned for their own employees. They're the one who brought it to my attention. I spoke to a PD about it. And one of the things that we talked about, just so you don't think that we're not trying to close anybody. We're trying to address it before it becomes a problem. The last thing you want is for Hollywood to become a problem. And this is if we don't address it before it happens, then we've got to deal with the repercussions. And that's not what we want to do. So at the end of the day, this is why. And some of those individuals, they have four o'clock license, choose to close their business. in order not to serve that crowd because there's potential for problems. Others have already had problems where they've come back and broken windows and gotten into fights, and there's been arrests happening. So before we get to that point, and not everybody that's moving into the downtown area with the units that we have have actually looking to go to four o'clock in the morning some of them are working family low to moderate income people so not every looks to everyone looks to party one of the things that we discussed with pd was do we require should we be requiring a detailed officer to be outside when there's a promoter that's coming into the to the event so those are the conversations that i would like to pd to be able to have with the commission whether it's one-on-one or with the body please don't Don't kill the messenger here. Don't hurt the messenger. I'm trying to bring something up before it becomes an issue on both ends. And I don't have anything else, Father Mayor. Thank you. Thank you.

All right, Commissioner Gruber.

If I could get a list of those 13 places so I can plan some field trips over the next couple of weeks.

Thank you.

I thought you were on a new lifestyle, Adam. Chief, make sure he has a police escort. Commissioner Quintana, a word on this?

Yeah, just briefly. At the Downtown Business Association meeting, one question I heard was about strengthening the identity of our downtown and just exactly what do we want to be known for. And so this is kind of, I think, a part of that larger question. What do we want our downtown to be? What kind of people do we want to attract? What do we want to be known for? And I above and beyond this question. Thank you All right.

Thank you all so much. That was a another somewhat uncomfortable, but a discussion All right, but listen all in trying to improve Improve the city and and be watchful and make sure we we grow accordingly. All right, so vice mayor Clary any comments today? She's taken the energy out of her. Commissioner Gruber, have we depleted your energy as well?

Pretty much. Just want to wish everybody a happy and a healthy new year and a peaceful year to everybody. Commissioner Biederman.

Let's start by rolling the tape, please. Or you want me to start and you can bring it up? All right. Just a few announcements. A lot of people don't know, but at the Driftwood Pool, they have Aqua Zumba. Donna and some other people are going. They got like 30 or 40 ladies doing Aqua Zumba on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. I went once. Then they started referring to it as Aqua Zumba Divas, and I was like, not again. The Elks Lodge on Davie Road Extension and Pershing Street has a flea market benefiting their veteran programs. They go to Sandy Nininger once a month to do birthday for everybody that's having a birthday that month. So this is a fundraiser for that. And DJ Dan is playing music that day. And finally... Oh, 8 to 2 is the veterans, the flea market. And I got to tell you, I went to Washington Park yesterday for the CEC Senior Breakfast. An amazing opportunity. Thank you, Chief Devlin, for joining us and filling people's shopping bags with some much-needed groceries. Service of the City of Hollywood. It's an opportunity. I would encourage everybody to show up. on a Tuesday morning at 9 AM and check it out and say hello to our senior population that are benefiting from that program. And we can roll the tape. This goes along with state rep's check. That's it.

I thought it was my chair.

You know, for seniors who live on their own, isolation and loneliness can cause serious health concerns.

There is a group, though, providing care and connection for this population. It's in the 7th Spotlight, and here's the night team's Heather Walker.

Construction in CityClear's office.

changed her life. And like it, she did. After spending so many days alone, Susan says this program gives her not only a reason to get out of the house, but more importantly, a sense of community. I come here, I get more hugs here than I get in 10 years anywhere else.

You might think of senior center activities like bingo and shuffleboard, but here you'll find crafts, classes, and lots of dancing.

This is not your mother's senior center.

Tim Curtin with Memorial Healthcare System says the focus of Ally's program is to offer seniors activities and challenges that keep them sharp while providing a sense of community.

That's really the idea here is to help our seniors maintain their independence, stay in their house, stay in their condo, and just create socialization, prevent isolation,

The schedule is jam-packed Monday through Thursday. Transportation is provided and everything is completely free.

There's all kinds of arts and crafts. They also feed everybody a nutritious lunch.

Participants like Susan Ammon and Zoraida Castaneda say the lessons and friendships stick with them outside of the program as well.

I'm always doing something that a life program showed me, like how to breathe deeply, how to move my body always, do not keep sitting for a long time. So it really changed my life.

We have such a good time, and just like the girls that I hang out with here, when we leave here, we go have breakfast. Well, where are we going for breakfast today? And we all go together.

These seniors are young at heart, constantly suggesting new activities and outings.

They run the program. You know, they tell us what they'd like to do, and if it's within reason, we're going to try it.

Because these seniors certainly aren't afraid to try new things. Heather Walker, 7 News.

Make a big difference. The program is free, thanks to donors like Memorial Foundation. So far, allies have provided services for more than 2,000 seniors.

Impacting so many people.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT BOULEVARD HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER.

THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. I WANT TO THANK THE CHIEF AND JUST CONGRATULATE THE ENTIRE CITY FOR THE OPENING OF THE POLICE HEADQUARTERS. THAT WAS A GREAT CELEBRATION. And thanks to the men and women of Hollywood Police Department for the past 100 years and for what they'll do in the next 100 and through that facility and through their own good work. I want to wish everyone a happy Labor Day coming up this weekend, Shana Tova, which means Happy New Year, to the Jewish community of our city. I also want to congratulate LES, Liberia Economic and Social. Yesterday, many of us We're at an event that they hosted here at the city where they honored the retirement of Henry Graham as it relates to his executive director position with LES and brought on a fellow named Frank Ferguson, who seems to be off to a good, respectful start. And I wanted to mention this, Ryan, specifically while we're here. LES owns some property in and around Liberia. And though the company was equipped through Henry's work in years past, maybe more so to construct new homes and to help in that respect, if you could please engage with Mr. Ferguson, we'd love to see nothing more than LES get back to work, so to speak. I think their board is eager to see that. to the extent we have funding programs or property or can work with them to help finance and upstart some of the construction that they ought to be doing with lots that they apparently own, then let's go ahead and try to kickstart that to the extent that we're able to. I think the commission would be very proud to see the years past the 42 years of Mr. Graham's leadership continue. We should do everything we can to have the organization continue. um and so that's it uh happy new year everyone and also uh just wishing everyone good success uh in the weeks ahead we have a lot of items coming up we have budget and so we keep moving and pushing along uh and i think we have some great things up ahead for the city and so let's let's continue working on that um on that note city attorney any items today

I just wanted to highlight there have been a few trials that our office has gone to recently. You guys don't always hear about those. We sometimes come to you for executive sessions to ask you if you would prefer to settle the cases or have us continue to trial. In these cases, within the past two months, we've gone to trial twice. One of them was a complete and total victory where the city was determined not liable at all in a police vehicle accident. So special thanks to Julian Garacci, who is our lead litigation counsel who spearheaded that trial. Also, sometimes these successes are measured in the amount that the city does not have to pay. And there was another case that we went to, which was a bike accident on a sidewalk and some issues and defects that had been seen there. We were co-defendants with FDOT and also FPL. And so in that case, they were seeking above the cap, and we were able to keep the city's liability to about 30%, which was a huge source of happiness for all of us. And so again, Julian led that trial and was able to get that wonderful verdict.

Thank you. All right, city manager.

Just a few things.

I have an hour and 32 minutes. Sorry. I don't think I can fill that. Just kidding.

So just a couple of reminders. Our behind-the-budget tour is underway. Deputy City Manager Reichbach had the first session last night. Is it last night? Yes, last night. And he will be next Wednesday here at City Hall at 6 PM, and then Thursday at the Boulevard Heights Community Center. Then, of course, we actually have our public budget hearings September 14th, 6 PM here at City Hall, and then the second budget hearing at September 23rd at 6 p.m. And the CRA budget meeting will immediately follow that one. I want to just point out that our parking division is transitioning to a new online parking permit and citation management system. And so next Thursday, September 10th, customers will receive an email with instructions on how to create an account in the new system, apply for a parking permit, and manage their existing permits. This will require some documentation, including your driver's license, vehicle registration. There's no cost for customers to use this new system. All existing permits will automatically transfer to the new system, so customers will not lose their current permit if they don't immediately create a new account. However, customers will need to create an account on the new T2 platform in order to manage or renew their permits going forward. So the parking office, of course, is available to assist customers with this. We think that this will be an improvement for folks, and so we will be messaging this out. Actually, CMED's already been messaging it out, but we'll continue to do so, and of course, we'll let you know how that's going.

Waylon, could I on that topic? Sure. Offer a suggestion. I don't know how many of our residents are aware of the resident rate, but since we all have to use ParkMobile or some app to just pay our parking, could you work with ParkMobile, Jovan, and see if there could be like a requirement where someone has to get through a little button that says, are you a Hollywood resident? If yes, there is a 50% off parking, click here to register so that every time they pay a meter, they have to go beyond a little button that says, hey, do you want to get a resident rate? It might not be an instant thing that they can do. Maybe they need to submit what they need to submit, but let's try to get more people on the resident rate so they can take advantage of what we're offering.

Will do, sir.

We're happy to look into it.

Hold on, Commissioner Biederman.

In order to use ParkMobile, you have to use a credit card, which will have their zip code. So we can isolate who is in the city of Hollywood and direct target them.

Even those from out of town, they should know that, oh, residents of Hollywood have a special offer. That's a perk of living in Hollywood. Maybe they'll want to move here because of that. Understood.

Also tomorrow at Fire Station 31. I'm sorry, not tomorrow. It is Friday, September 11, of course, at Fire Station 31 at 8.30 AM. We will have our 9-11 memorial ceremony. The fire department always does a really nice job of commemorating that day in our nation's history. Parking is available at the David Park Community Center. And hopefully, we'll see you all there. Also, I want to just, I'm trying to highlight some of the really positive feedback we get from some of our folks on our customer service. And so I want to highlight a couple of emails that I received. One of them was from our parking services office. A gentleman wrote in, Kevin wrote in to let us know that he watched one of our customer service folks deal with a difficult customer. He says, I was amazed at how calm and professional the employee was in handling and de-escalating the situation. After the customer left, the employee helped me with my unique situation and He was so incredibly helpful, patient, and polite. I told him that if City Hall could get 20 more employees like him, the place would run like a Swiss watch. It's rare to see any employee that deals with the public as this gentleman did. His name is Brian. He didn't know his last name, but his name is Brian Cornelius. And so we want to thank Brian for his good customer service. And then a nice woman named Margarita Swider wrote in. She's been a Hollywood resident since 1993. And she became the owner of a Belgian Malinois named Mazza. And so she's going to the Stan Goldman dog park each day. And while she's there, she runs into one of our employees, Wesley. who is always at the park at sunrise to open the gates and say a friendly good morning. It's wonderful to see a young man who takes his job seriously, takes pride in his work. Wesley is polite, friendly, well-spoken, and hardworking. Just wanted to let you know this type of employee gets the job done well, and the city needs to keep him and reward him with promotions. So thank you. And that is all.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, the only item remaining on our agenda is 5 p.m. citizen comments. So for those members of the audience who the city manager will call back at 5 p.m., we'll see you then. Otherwise, thank you all. We're in recess until 5. much all right this meeting is now back in session following a recess remaining on our agenda is 5 p.m. citizen comments 503 and we've got three cards I don't even plan that and Ralston come on up followed by Siobhan McLaughlin and the last speaker will be Aaron Marvasti if you are here for citizens comments and you didn't fill out a card that's the city clerk you can fill out a card and I'll call you up Ann, come on up. Yes.

Thank you. I'm here. Thank you. I'm here. Thank you, Tracy. You're making me famous. Between Feldman and you, between going to happy hour, but I got to give you my schedule so you know. Wednesdays, it's trivia night. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Sundays is golf. That leaves Monday and Saturday. Most bars do not have happy hour on Saturdays, which leaves Monday. I only drink in two spots, that is Echo and Hollywood Beach, so I carry my near beer. Other than that, I don't go downtown. So the police chief doesn't have to worry about me driving anywhere because it's a near beer. Now on to Kevin, who wrote in response to, I guess, either Brenda or Steven calling it a kangaroo court. Apparently, you guys can dish out anything you want about calling us misfits or misinformed or what do you call us? We're the... Loud minority or whatever. You can say it seems to me anything you want about the public because we disagree with whatever policy or whatever development you seem to be doing. But no, we can't say it back to you apparently because Kevin write a nice response, but I am going to read one word of it. He should know what he wrote. But the last word of this is reciprocated or should be. Because you do not get respect because of a position, money, or power. You earn respect. And you have to keep it because you can lose it. Kevin wrote... Residents deserve facts from both their government and the people who present themselves as watchdogs of it. To my knowledge, I have never come up here. I do my homework. I have never come up here, repeated somebody on Nextdoor, social media, or wherever. It's mine. I research it. I do it. A lot of other people do the same thing, because it's critical of you all. The last time I checked, I still live in a country that I can criticize my government and fight against it. Real quick, before I run out of time, big kudos to Adam for his budget workshop last night. Please, public, if you're listening, he is doing another one. Please, Adam, announce it and put it on YouTube. Put it anywhere. It is a fabulous meeting. Please do that. It's fabulous. Adam is one of the few people in this city I trust implicitly. So you earn your trust. Right now, I'm sorry, but the way things are going, you don't have it. This, I want you to say publicly, is not true about anything. public registration forms. It's been going around. I did my homework. It took me 20 minutes to find it on the Internet, but these things are saying that I have to register and that the staff is going to do it. Just please get this off the Internet, okay? I want to make sure that that happens.

And if you can give a copy of that to the city clerk so she sees what you're referring to. Siobhan McLaughlin.

Siobhan, 1409 Rodman Street. Annie has actually stolen all my thunder. And our remarks were not coordinated. But I, too, want to thank Adam and the city for doing the budget workshop. I appreciate that the attendance last night was not robust unless it picked up dramatically. But Adam was just his usual great self. And I do appreciate the fact that the city is doing it, reaching out. and commend you and hope that it continues. Again, I'm here to ask that you reschedule the P&D meeting. Per the city website, which I checked about two hours ago, virtual comments need to be made by 6 p.m. the day before, which is Labor Day. And City Hall is now closed on Friday. So are people supposed to do it by 6 o'clock tomorrow? 6 o'clock, it is unclear. So when the city... uh... let's just say caution sake or what have you that perhaps the city should reschedule this p and d meeting so people who have different opinions can get them into you in a manner that they will be heard and there will not be any confusion so i would appreciate it again i am asking you to change that meeting I would also note that there are two civic associations that are meeting the same night. And our city manager is the guest at one of them. So she cannot be here at this meeting. And I think this subject of the beach overlay and 1301 is so important that I am again asking you to perhaps direct ask whatever the correct words you would like to use for rescheduling that meeting. And I'd also like to talk about the pejorative outside forces referenced by Commissioner Kalari and Biederman. The outside forces that you are referencing are the residents. And so I think the comment was really uncalled for. We are not some malign entity. We are the residents. Frankly, we don't know if the residents across the city support 1301 because we again have never put it to a vote and it's sort of a Schroeder's cat We don't know and so I don't think it should be stated as a fact one way or the other Finally, I'd like to give kudos to Angie and code enforcement last weekend I called about 1402 Mayo Street within hours code was there I went through Granicus code was there I guess checking to see if it was a vacation rental. The house looks abandoned. There's some issues. Angie called me about 20 minutes ago to tell me that code has been out there again. That's filed three violations. So I want to say kudos to code enforcement. They do a really good job, and it is not easy. And then finally, a safe and sweet New Year to everyone who is celebrating Rosh Hashanah. Thank you.

Thank you, Siobhan. Aaron Marvasti.

I wanted to thank Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commission, staff, and residents for having me here today. I was intended to be here earlier, but I got stuck in the flood with all that rain, so we'll talk about that another day.

We were here all day and had no idea, honestly.

Yes. So I saw the presentation with State Representative. That was very exciting to see. She worked so hard to get the funding for our Community Center and District 5. It's very important. I've actually been to quite a few of the activities with our seniors. I've danced with them. I've spoken with them. And it's nice because they're always, you know, maybe they've lost a loved one or, you know, they're just alone. So this is a great partnership that we have with Memorial, and I wanted to say thank you to the city for being able to continue this and expanding on the program. On another note, in District 5, we have a problem with one of our schools' possibility being on the list for closures. It's been brought to my attention by many of our residents and teachers throughout our community. They've reached out to me. I've already spoken to one of our school board members. And she told me that, Erin, this is so premature. But I want to express my, you know, it's serious for me. Because I'm a mom. I've been part of the PTA for 15 years. And I take this extremely serious. Also, that school, I'm sorry, Hollywood Park Elementary, that school is located right next door to our Boys and Girls Club and our teen center. So a lot of our students have siblings. They walk right next door. What are we going to do if that school gets closed down? A lot of our parents, they work two, three jobs just to keep the light bulb on. So it's very imperative that we try to I know you don't have much you can do, but at least let's try to get engaged. I encourage you to have engagement within our community to see what possibilities are there. Let's speak to the residents. They have a lot of ideas. So I'm here today to ask you to please let's encourage engagement within our community. I've seen it happen throughout the city with other districts. So I would love to see that same opportunity with District 5. Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Erin. Thank you.

All right. Well, that concludes citizen comments today. Thank you, everybody. This meeting is adjourned.