Town Council - public_hearing

PEOPLE. Hi, Marisol. Can you hear me?

Hi, I do.

Good. Perfect. Let me see if you could see us. There I am. And Ethan is here. He's in the crowd over there. Let me see if I can show you him in the crowd. You can kind of see him. Oh, what was that? There he is. He's coming. There he is. You see him?

Okay. Say hi to Alex and everybody there.

I will. I will. So it's good.

Okay. I'm here.

Yeah.

Recording in progress.

It's in that, it's right by the box there.

Well, I mean, it's not, if you can't take the pipe off, but you still made a big deal.

That's fine. Yeah, same here. That works. Oh, I'm sure. Get that resolved.

Good evening. I wanna welcome everybody to the September 16th, 2026, regular town council meeting and first budget hearing. First, we're gonna do the first budget hearing, meeting called for 6 p.m. Time is approximately 6.07 p.m. Today's date is September 15th, 2026. meeting officially called to order Roll call please town clerk mayor singer here vice mayor Mandel here councilmember Luskin here councilmember Einstein here councilmember Bernstein God, it's been so long, I almost forgot how to do this. But anyways, I want to welcome everybody. We've got a lot to go over this evening. First, again, before we have the regular council meeting is the first budget hearing. If everyone could please rise. And Chief Rudy Herbelo, can you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please?

Let's face the American flag and repeat after me.

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. Mr. Mayor, before we continue tonight's meeting, I would like to take a moment to recognize and honor the Florida law enforcement officers who have lost their lives to suicide recently in neighboring communities. These officers dedicated themselves to protecting their communities and serving others, often carrying the burden that were not visible to those around them. Tonight, we remember Officer Edwin Fernandez from the Doral Police Department, Officer Bigyati Willis from the Sunrise Police Department, Officer Jason Watson from the Jupiter Police Department, Officer Drew Fernandez from the Coral Springs Police Department, and Deputy David Lyons of the Broward County Sheriff's Office, along with many other former law enforcement officers who have lost their lives this way. On behalf of the town council, the residents of the town of Golden Beach, we extend our deepest condolences to their family, friends, and fellow officers and agencies. Let us also remember that those who wear the badge are people first. May we continue to support one another, recognize when someone is struggling, and remind those who serve that they never have to face these struggles alone. I ask for everyone to please take a moment of silence to honor their lives, their service, and their families that they left behind.

Thank you. A moment of silence.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Town Manager. Okay, we've got a few items on the budget hearing meeting. I'm going to read first D1, 2, and 3, and then we'll cover those. First item is item D, adoption of proposed combined millage rate and tentative operating budget for the fiscal year 2026-2027. A resolution of Town Council adopting the proposed millage rate for the fiscal year commencing October 1st 2026 through September 30th, 2027. I'm gonna read them all and then I'll have the town clerk read them and then we'll go for approvals. Item number two, a resolution of town council adopting the tentative budget for the fiscal year commenced October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2027. Item number three, a resolution of town council ratifying the town schedule of the building permit fees and other fees. Town clerk, if you could read those, please. First item number D1.

Yeah, a resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida, adopting the proposed millage rate of the Town of Golden Beach for the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2026 through September 30th, 2027, pursuant to Florida Statute 200.065 trim bill, setting a date for a final public hearing to adopt the millage rate, providing for an effective date.

Okay. Motion to approve.

Motion to approve.

I need a second. Okay. Town Clerk, can you read item number two?

Yes, sir. A resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida, adopting the tentative budgets for the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, pursuant to Florida Statute 200.065 Trim Bill, providing for an effective date.

Any motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Any second? Okay. Item number three.

a resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida, ratifying and adopting the Town's schedule of building permit fees and other fees, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date.

Do you need a motion to approve? Motion to approve. I need a second. Second. Okay, we're going to go to D1, which says that the proposed millage rate for the Town of Golden Beach for the fiscal year commencing October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2020, 7B and hereby be a fixed rate of 7.8000 mills, which is $7.8000 per thousand of assessed property value for the town of Golden Beach. That the rollback rate is 7.3017 and the proposed millage rate is 7.5110 mills, which is 2.87% over the rollback rate. that the voted debt service millage for the fiscal year be 0.4790 mills. That the final budget hearing adopt the final millage rate and budget for the fiscal year be held at 1000 Ocean Boulevard, Golden Beach, Florida on Tuesday, September 29th, 2026 at 6 p.m. That is the proposed millage rate for the proposed budget for October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2027. Town Manager, do you want?

Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the Town Council, Madam Clerk, Mr. Attorney, residents, and members of the Golden Beach team, good evening. Tonight's budget represents far more than a single fiscal year. It reflects nearly 20 years of vision, discipline, leadership, teamwork, and a shared love for Golden Beach. When I became town manager, I believed that a community of only 380 homes with no commercial tax base could set a standard far beyond its size. Together, we proved that. We have delivered more than 76 million in community improvements. We transformed our facilities, infrastructures, parks, public safety, and resident services. We built an organization recognized for excellence personal attention, and getting things done. This proposed budget protects that progress. It funds the services that our residents depend on, supports the employees who provide those services, completes our capital commitments to our community, and prepares Golden Beach for the future that lies ahead. It also reduces the combined millage rate from 8.40 mils to 7.99 mils, our first reduction in approximately over a decade, while preserving the exceptional level of service our residents expect of all of us. As I enter my 20th year as your city manager, I am proud of the leadership that I provided and deeply grateful for the trust placed in me. But this legacy belongs to all of us, this council, those who have served before, most importantly, our employees and our residents. Tonight, I am proud to present my 20th budget that honors that legacy, protects our progress, and positions Golden Beach for an even stronger future. Mr. Mayor, if I may, would I like to inform the public and share with the residents and our council Our budget is a very voluminous budget of 397 pages. Residents may not know this, but we are the only, and I'll say this again, we are the only city in the entire state, if not the nation, that sends an abridged version of the budget to every single home. The abridged budget provides each of our residents the opportunity to see where their dollars are most impactful, how they are spent, and more importantly, how we keep our fiscal health sound and safe. So, Mayor, for tonight's presentation, on the dais is your budget book. Residents, I hope you opened your mailbox. And what I'm going to do is I will present the budget from the budget in brief, starting with the cover. As I mentioned in my opening statement, this budget represents 20 years of progress, 20 years of leadership while also lowering our military. I will never forget the day that Mayor Singer brought me into his office. Actually, he didn't have an office. He brought me into the old town council chambers and said, he handed me a picture. He goes, this is what I want to achieve. Can we get there? And Mr. Mayor, 20 years later, I think that we've delivered that picture plus more. On page three, for those residents who think that we are wasteful, that we don't manage their resources in a responsible manner, this is the 16th year in a row where our budget is nationally recognized for budget excellence because our budget is based on excellence. delivering measured goals, measured objectives. It provides for a sound fiscal policy. And this is the 20th budget season that we have received a clean audit. And each year, during the last 20 years that I have served as your manager, We have been able to grow your fund balance and leverage the dollars that we have to deliver the work that we deliver. I would like to just take a quick moment to recognize Maria Camacho or Maria Guerra. Mrs. Guerra has been our CFO, our finance director for many years. And I could tell you, we have grown a long way from when I got here. And so Maria, thanks to your leadership and your dedication, I want to congratulate the members of your team, Tramia and Ingrid and Marie, who was there part-time this year, for an exceptional job. And thank you for your commitment during this budget process. So thank you to you. And I'd also like to recognize our town clerk, Lissette Perez, who has been instrumental in getting this year's budget. This year's budget is a work of art. It also does things that we've never done in the past. Let me tell you what we did. So instead of giving you five-year history, this year in column number one of your budget, you saw what we actually spent in the prior year. It shows you what we plan to spend this year. And by the way, it's looking really good. And then it tells you what we are proposing for you to consider for funding next year. And then, in the old days, you had to go back and forth between pages to find out where those dollars were tied to. Not this year. On that same page where you see the three columns that I just enumerated to you, it tells you what exactly those expenditures are for in an abridged version. So any resident can go to our website, www.goldenbeach.us, find the budget, and actually see where those dollars are exactly going to. So this is the first year that we do this, and I just want to say, kudos, they took a lot of work this summer. Even though I was away, we still got it done. So going to page 21. Page 21 is actually one of the most exciting pages, especially for our residents. With the leadership of our council, with the direction of our mayor, I am proposing that this year we lower our millage rate from 8.40 mills, combined mills, to 7.99 mills. This is an approximately 4.9% reduction in our millage rate. And more importantly, it's a $900,000 savings to our residents. And on average, each homeowner, if their assessed values didn't go up, they would have seen about $2,500 savings. And more importantly, even though assessed values did go up, in Golden Beach, so when you look at the two Golden Beach tax millages, every single house, even though the value went up, still saw a slight reduction for our taxes. That doesn't mean that the tax bill went down because there are 13 other taxing district, but no one can say that in Golden Beach, we did not provide them a savings. So Mr. Mayor, as you can see, we are proposing from 8.99 to 7.99 on page 22. We're proposing that we go from a 7.80 operating millage to a 7.55 operating millage. which gives us $16.3 million in general fund to operate the city. The growth to our tax base allows us to lower the millage rate while supporting expanded responsibilities of the town. And on page 23, you'll learn, that our taxable values have grown to $2.246 billion, approximately 7.6% above last year, and we're proposing to lower the debt millage rate from 0.60 to 0.479 mills. Both millage combined represent the 7.99, which we wish to come down. And Mr. Mayor, before the question is asked, We also looked at what the impact of Save Our Homes Prop 3 will affect us. And is this the responsible course of action? And thanks to the diligence of our staff and working with the property appraiser's office and the tax collector, both the mayor and I were able to evaluate that we feel comfortable with making this recommendation because we see what's coming on board in the next two years. And this is in an era of inflation, gas prices, cost of living, employee costs going up, we still think that this will not impact next year's budget. And in fact, in your five-year projection, we show you that. But this to our homeowners is an actual tax cut to them even after they saw their valuations go up. And as you will find on page 26, we continue to grow our fund balance We report an $8.4 million general fund fund balance. Those funds include restricted amounts committed to sustainable receivables from the stormwater fund. Our priority is to make sure that we are prepared and have flexibility in our finances to meet emergencies and future obligations. And on page 27, you'll find that approximately $2.77 million is identified as unassigned cash on hand. ready to be spent for projects that this council decides that it wish to allocate. Other amounts support the building operations, pensions, insurance, contingencies, equipment, and capital improvements. For a small coastal community of only 380 homes, our reserves are essential to responding to things that we don't expect. And Mr. Mayor, at 8.48 million, 277 cash on hand, I think that we're ready for whatever may come, especially since we are a fully insured city when it comes to those events. And even though we're seeing the federal government and the state financial position as a response, as it relates to responding to emergencies, we're not going to be dependent on our state or federal partners. Our residents can go to bed at night knowing that we have the cash that we need should we need to respond to a manmade or natural event. Let me go now go through. And if I'm going too fast or you need me to stop, just raise your hand or wink at me. But let's go down to page 29 and let's talk about the overall budget. So this all this year's overall budget represents a 3% cost of living increase for staff 37% for pension. We budgeted 12% for insurance and we'll talk about insurance later and we have our new insurance company represent the audience will talk about insurance later landscaping our landscape on 15% are utilities about to the 5% Mister mayor as we know what's going on in the national arena. We did factor in a 20% cost increase for gasoline to meet our operational needs to present for operating supplies. And of course, we fully funded both the insurance and the operating costs of that jewel that's being built next door. Now, LaSette Rivera, which is better, this building or the Wellness Center? I mean, I think this is our jewel, but now that Wellness Center is giving us a run for our money. So the proposed budget totals approximately $25.96 million across five funds. The general fund is $19.36 million, approximately three quarters of the total. LATF is 425,685. The debt service fund at $1.2 million. The capital projects fund at 3.9 million. Mr. Mayor and members of the council, I'm also super excited to announce tonight, and residents at home, not only did we cut your taxes, But even though in our stormwater fund that we called for increases this year, we will not be increasing the stormwater fund, another savings to our residents. And so the stormwater fund has $1,023,000 in that fund. And so we will not be recommending or bringing to you a increase to the stormwater fund. If we can go to page 30. Where does our operating budget come from? So $16 million, as you know, is from our new revenues. We still saw an increase to our funding, and we are taking a one-time allotment of $500,000 from the fund balance to fund our capital projects. And so that's where the operating comes from. Our capital fund on page 31, we go, our capital, sorry, our capital funding decreased from approximately 7.51 million to 3.9. Of course, that's because we've already spent most of the money for the wellness center and the reimagined total park project. which is consistent with us moving our projects to their completion. This year, capital funding includes $3 million from the 2022 bond and $850,000 from the state grant funding and $1 million from the stormwater fund. So that's how the capital projects are being funded. On page 32, you'll see changes in administrative and Sorry. On page 32, we're going to start going through expenses. Any questions about revenue or reserves before I go into expenses? No. Great. So as it relates to our expenses, general government decreased from 4.23 million to 3.27 million, largely because capital outlays are lower. Our clerk and finance budgets increased to support the administrative responsibilities of a more complex organization, and the legal department, thank you, Steve, has remained unchanged. Law enforcement is approximately 5.12 million. Now, this is important. This year, we separated law enforcement and public safety. And we'll get to that in a minute because I want you to understand that even though it seems like law enforcement went down, it actually didn't. And we'll get to that in a minute. Let's go to page 33. Public safety and emergency management grew by 1.36 million. We honored our contract and gave all of our police officers this year. No police officer, with the exception of those that are top out, will receive less than an $8,000 raise this year, making us as competitive. One thing that we are doing, one thing that we are recommending this year, it's important that we separate law enforcement from public safety. So this year, we are creating a public safety division. Public safety will see all the non-sworn responsibilities. Things like ocean rescue, guardhouse, CCTV, emergency management. And so we've delineated those two responsibilities under a new umbrella. We're growing our program. We're adding park rangers, more beach patrols, a second marine patrol, a third canine dog. Well, once canine, you don't have emotional support, but we'll have three dogs instead of two dogs. And Officer Rehobo, who just finished the canine training, is here. We're going to meet his dog next week at the next council meeting. So this new structure will help us be a more refined role to be able to handle those emergencies. Still on page 33, this year, We are also creating a new program called resident life. So it's now instead of resident services, the resident life director, which I've promoted with the consent of the mayor, Michael Glidden will be our resident life director. And let me talk a little bit about what resident life means. So we created the resident services department back in 2011, I think it was. We started with like Mr. Fix it and we would go in and help you with your toilets and your lights and then your water bills. And so resident services will now oversee the following. We don't have a traditional park and recreation department because we really don't have like the little leagues and the like. So parks and recs, which is wellness center and beach attendance will now fall under Mr. Glidden and he'll have a parks and recs or, and we're talking about something completely different. So instead of you coming to us, we wanna go to you, right? So if we know that you're a widowed who's sitting at home and have nothing to do and you're bored, we're gonna drive to your house in a golf cart and say, hey, come to our silver program at the wellness center or come play cards. If we know that you're a new mother or hell, you have a new baby in your household, we wanna say, hey, get on our golf cart. We're gonna bring you to the wellness center let the kids play in the toddler room, sit there, drink a cup of coffee. So we want to make sure that we engage our public instead of our public engaging us. So Resident Life will be doing those type of creative programming to make sure that people take advantage of the amenities that we have to offer. So resident services is extremely essential. And so we've added $742,000 towards our resident services department. And Mr. Glidden has been promoted to the director of Resident Life. The building and zoning and public works department also saw slight increases, but Together, those departments equate to $19.355 million in operating costs. Let's go to page 34. So across all of our funds, our total expected budget is $25.96 million, matching the proposed revenues that we talked about earlier. The capital program is smaller, while the operating budget supports the facilities and services the residents will use. Our budget is shifting towards operating and maintaining the investments that we have made. On page, let me stop right there real quick. So that's your operating budget and all of the funds and how we propose to spend it and what the increases were. We're next gonna transition to the capital budget and let's go to page five. And here's what I'd like to highlight about our capital budget. So over the 20 years that we have worked together, we have invested more than $76 million in our capital program. And we have reached almost every corner of our community, whether it's the parks at Messini or Terracina, the Strand Boat Dock, whether it's the Beach Pavilion re-roof, the new bathroom, the adding showers, whether it's the new bridges, the boat dock, reimagined Turtle Park three times over, North Park, South Park. New roads, storm water system, underground utilities, new lighting, lighting on A1A, emergency call boxes, and the list goes on and on and on. In this year's budget, what's important, let's go to page six, what's important for us to recognize is even though we've put in $76 million in the ground, we have only asked our residents to pay for 25.5 million through the two bonds that we issued and through the city national bank loan. The rest of it, we either ask our state, local, and federal partners to help, or we leverage our non-ad valorem dollars. So non-tax dollars were leveraged in order for us to make sure that we can help these projects become a reality. And these are important because for a city of 380 homes to practically have a brand-new infrastructure by only asking our residents to carry the burden of $25.5 million while this council has brought $50 million in free money is an accolade that we should not shy from, and we should be very proud of that, and that we're able to do so in a year where we're also lowering our military. And on page 6...

And it's important to note that even though the residents have paid $28 million toward it, it's been covered by our operating budget. So there's been no special assessments. There's been no increase in taxes. It's been all paid by the operating budget, which is very important to note.

Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor, for reminding me of that. Excuse me. Let's go to page 52. So here's one thing that I'm doing different this year. So often the mayor and I prioritize our capital projects and our capital spending. This year, what we did is we highlighted for you the over $6.58 million in proposed projects that we can look into, but we haven't funded them. What I'd like to do is as we finish the wellness center, Sometime after the new year, we sit down and we talk about what capital projects should take priority. Because the council has their own unique views on capital projects, the mayor and I may have a priority. And by the way, we'll never have anything that's critically needed to be addressed. Wait, we are moving forward. The mayor just authorized some work at the guardhouse as it relates to the trusses. So we'll never delay required maintenance or jeopardize the health of a building or life safety. But what we'd like to do is take a pause and then after the new year, sit down with you and you're saying, well, Alex, where's the money? Well, don't forget, we have the 2.77 million that's not allocated. And we also have over a million and a half that we're collecting this year from zone one. And so we have about $3 million that we could talk about on how to fund some of these projects. And so this is what I call the unfunded wishlist. If there's a project that's not on there that you'd like for us to add, we definitely will take a look at it. But these are future projects awaiting funding. This page identifies the $6.5 million, things like resurfacing A1A, raising the crown of the road on Golden Beach Drive, improving the pavilion, the guardhouse, and future priorities to evaluate together. They're not funded, but they identify those needs. Let's go to page 58. Mr. Mayor? Yes, sir. Just can we go back one page?

I know these are just projections. On the roof on the pavilion, is that taking the roof off?

So let me give you a shocking number. And the mayor was able to see it with me this past week. And we both were like, wow. So the trusses at the beach pavilion, because of the way the trusses are required to be put back, because it is a historically designated building, the trusses alone Guess how much they would cost? $200,000. $400,000 just for truss work. Oh, just for the trusses? Just trusses. That's not plywood on top of trusses. That's not barrel tiles on top of it. That's going to three different lumber yards, having two different GCs look at those numbers. So these are pretty relatively fair numbers as it relates to the work that needs to be done.

I'm just curious, steel trusses? I know, but if you went with steel, would it be less money?

I would have to go to historic preservation and find out if we can do those stuff.

When we get to that, we'll get there. But right now, he's just doing estimates.

But this is a perfect example as to why we put capital projects to be discussed at a later time so that we can go through them. But yeah, there's a lot of... Okay. Okay. Where was I? Page 50. No, you're welcome. We are now on page 58. So Mr. Mayor and members of the council, what often happens when communities like ours make these large investments, you know, I've always been surprised that we aren't required to follow the rules that a condominium association is required to follow. The state requires that condominiums identify capital projects, infrastructure need, critical items that need to be placed, and put together a reserve study that identifies how you're going to fund those things. So this summer, I took the liberty of working with our staff and an outside consultant and put together a true reserve study list that identifies all of the projects that we put in. Here's what we sometimes tend to forget. Our stormwater system is 20 years old. Our water system is now 20 years old. When I started this, I had a lot more hair. I was younger. I can see. I now have a flashlight here helping me. So as things start to age and we need a little bit more help and a little bit more maintenance, well, that needs to be funded. And so in this year's budget, what I won't allow is for our residents to say that we were negligent in not talking about what comes next, that we were negligent in not talking about the funding that we would need to fund these projects on a moving forward basis. So in the back of the book, we talk about what are the projects that we've put in, what is the life expectancy of those items, what the cost to replace them or repair them are estimated to be, and then what we should start setting aside starting next year on a moving forward basis to start building the reserves so that the next generation of Golden Beach residents won't have to do what we did, which is go out for bonds and the like. And so we approximate that we need to set aside about $900,000 to start building a capital reserve so that we don't have to hit our residents with either an assessment or new bonds. And so we talk about what the approach could be. We're not voting on any of that tonight. That's not before you tonight. What's before you tonight is a conversation starter so that when people decide to come to Golden Beach, they know that they have a government and a manager who's thinking about not just what's in it for us today, but what comes next. So we'll continue to work on those numbers. We'll do some reassessment. We'll get some estimatings. We'll start setting aside money that gradually helps reduce the likelihood of emergency borrowing or large, sudden funding demands. On page 59, we'll look at different assets, the different asset requirements, the five-year, Investment policies are for our technology, seven years for security technology and our fleet replacement. This schedule gives you an idea of where we have to go. And on page 60, we talk about potential ways that we could fund that. And again, none of this is before you today. This is just a conversation starter. And I've met with you privately. And even though we're not talking about this today, I will tell you. that in this year's budget, because I know that there's some conversation on the WhatsApp group, in this year's budget, we actually fund the first year in our stormwater system. So when you look at our stormwater fund, you'll see that we set aside close to $800,000 towards that $900,000 goal. So we're being, not only are we starting the conversation today, but there actually is money set aside for that. So mayor, members of the town council, as you have seen from tonight, this budget is more about revenues and expenditure. It reflects our priorities, our progress, and the community that we have built together. Our employees are the heart of Golden Beach. They answer the calls, solve the problems, protect our residents, maintain our community, and uphold the highest standards we have established. Much of their work happens quietly, without recognition. So tonight, I want them to know that I see your hard work I see your devotion and your dedication to our community. I value your service, and I am incredibly proud to have you on our team. I also want to thank the mayor and council for trusting my leadership and supporting the vision that has changed this town forever. At my interview, I was asked by Mr. Smully, why do you want to come work here? And I said, quite honestly, and forgive my words, I said, I'm not sure I want to come work at this shithole. because I parked in front of a park, the defense was down, kids could be impaled. I had to walk through floodwaters to my interview on grass, on broken sidewalk. And that's why the mayor said, here's the picture, can we deliver this? So we have changed this town. And it's funny, because I don't think our residents realize what Golden Beach looked like in 2007. But if you flip through our book, if you take the time to go through our book, you will see not what this administration and this staff have built, but what this council has charged us to deliver on their behalf. So we inherited a special community, but we refused to simply preserve the status quo. We strengthened it. We modernized it. We made it safer, more resilient. We invested in our infrastructure, expedited our services, and created facilities worthy of our residents. That is the legacy that's represented in this budget. Our responsibility now is to protect it. What we have built and continue to make sound fiscal decisions so the future generations inherit an even stronger town. After nearly 20 years, I remain deeply grateful for the privilege of serving this remarkable community and proud of what we have accomplished together. I respectfully recommend that the town council approve the proposed millage rate and tentative budget. To you, Mr. Mayor, thank you for your trust in me as your administrator. To the members of our town council, thank you for your leadership. To our employees, thank you for your dedication and support and tolerating the chihuahua sometimes when he gets a little hot-headed. Mr. Attorney, for your mentorship and your friendship. And to our Golden Beach residents, yes, I can be frustrating sometimes to deal with. But we do so because we're passionate about what we deliver for our residents. And so with that, Mr. Mayor, I believe I've met your requirements of 10 minutes. Thank you.

Excellent job. But stay up there for now. I'm going to open up to the council first. Any questions on the operating budget for currently 2026, 2027? I'll start with Vice Mayor. No. Councilwoman Lesko. Beautiful job. Councilman Einstein.

Yeah, just because it is a public presentation and on tape and in the past where there were a lot of questions by council, you know, item by item basis. I think the general public should know that we have all met with the town manager Laboriously and gone through each one of these items Before this council meeting so we're well aware of all those items. Some of them have gotten tweaked changed amended the town manager has taken input from each of us individually and separately and then brought that into this budget this year and I think you've done a phenomenal job. I believe we've tasked you with the going forward and bringing the town budget down or bringing the millage rate down rather and you've accomplished that and kudos to you and your team who have done so so diligently and we applaud you for that. Thank you very much.

Good point. Councilman Einstein, thank you. And I also want to point out that the manager, myself, and finance department started working on this probably last March when we first started talking about the budget. It's not like they just put this together last month. I mean, this is a six-month project. And to Maria, who runs the finance department, hats off to you. You did a phenomenal job. Lissette, I know you worked hard. many, many hours on this project also. You've done a great job, you and your team, and town manager, phenomenal job. Presentation's exceptional. The budget is, I think this year really simplifies everything when it comes down to the numbers. You could literally pick this up and be in Golden Beach for 15 minutes and figure out what the budget is and what the town and where we're spending our money. And this was a brilliant idea. We started a few years ago, and you've done a great job. So with that, I'm going to close it to the council.

Real quick. Also, I believe your foresight in looking forward, although none of us like to sort of prepare for the future and worry about that in light of Champlain Towers, the amendments to state constitution and statutes in which condominiums now have to have adequate reserves. I think that is a brilliant idea. And also this book and your work that you do here, you know, the public should know that we do receive multiple awards and that this is not like any other town or neighboring towns in terms of their budgets. This is a superlative job. And I'm sorry about that.

No. With that, I'm going to open it to the public. Any questions or comments on the operating budget for the fiscal year? Okay, no. I'm going to close it to the council, close it to public. We're going to first approve the millage rate. Once we approve the millage rate, then we will go and approve the budget. And again, the proposed millage rate for the town of Golden Beach for the fiscal year commencing October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2027 will be 7.8 mills. which is 7.8 mils per 1,000 of assessed value. The rollback rate is 7.3017, and the proposed millage rate is 7.5110 mils, which is 2.87 over the rollback rate. The voted debt service millage rate for the fiscal year will be 4790. And the next hearing will be on September 29th, 2026. With that, please roll call on the proposed millage rate and the approval.

Mayor Singer.

Approved.

Vice Mayor Mandel. Approved. Council Member Leskin. Approved. Council Member Einstein.

Approved.

Council Member Bernstein.

Approved. Okay. Thank you with that. We're going to move to the budgets, which the town manager just went through. Again, there were no questions. There were none online, correct?

No. Okay.

So with that, we'll do a roll call adopting the tentative budget for the fiscal year October 1st, 2026 through September 30th, 2027. Roll call, please.

Mayor Singer?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mandel? Yes. Council Member Luskin? Yes. Council Member Bernstein?

Yes.

Council Member Einstein?

Yes.

Motion passes.

Budget approved with that, along with the budget, a resolution of the town ratifying the town schedule of building permit fees and other fees. I didn't open that. Any questions or comments on that?

None. I have a comment.

Go on.

I think we just need the manager to re-evaluate the smaller projects that are being requested and the value of the permitting fees versus the value of the project.

Mr. Mayor, if I may. And that's an excellent observation. And in fact, we talked about it just today. State law has changed as it relates to thresholds. And so we'll be looking at that. And if you missed the last building advisory board meeting, one of the things that we're going to do starting this year to try to make the manager a little bit friendlier and help our current residents. And I announced it at the BREB. We're going to start helping our older, long-term residents incentivize them to do smaller projects to beautify their homes and cut the red tape at the BRAB and the building department process. So if you want to make your house just a little bit more curb appealing, we're going to create a program that expedites that permit, cuts those permit fees to our long-term existing residents. If you're buying an $88 million home, no. But if you've been a long-term resident and you want to put up a new fence or change your windows, we're going to work with you to help those long-term residents out. That's our commitment tonight, and I appreciate you bringing that to our attention.

Is older in age or older that you live?

Don't get me in trouble, Mr. Mayor. There was a Miami Herald article years ago.

Thank you. So he will do.

Any other questions? I'm sorry. I'm sorry for running late. And I'm not sure exactly what you cover in the budget, but just what we discussed was go over basically the list of potential projects. Okay, so that's related to... What guess woman Mandela's mentioning so counseling bursting two separate issues. So you're I Your point was let's go through the capital projects and let's have a workshop on those capital projects and prioritize them and how we fund them and the like what I think what my conversation with the manager was Simply that we seem to always have a lot of projects coming up and we're always kind of funding them and I just thought At our last council meeting, we discussed listing all the potential projects, and as a council, prioritizing what we thought as a council was the most important project.

We're going to do that at a later date?

Yeah, I just wanted to make sure.

You put it on the thing, yeah, we're going to do that at a later date. We want to finish, we want to complete the wellness center first.

Okay, and just one other thing on the budget. I know this might be out of line, but I just wanted to comment that one of the things that was remarkable to me when reviewing it is When Alex first started, we had no reserves. And looking at the reserves that have been built up over the last 20 years, it's just pretty remarkable.

Well, you need to clarify that. We've always had reserves. The town, I don't want you to say we don't have reserves. We've always had reserves. We're required to have reserves. So we've had a fund balance with reserves. But we didn't have the reserves to the level we're at today.

Yeah, I think that's the point you were saying. Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you, guys.

So with that, any comments on the schedule of building permit fees to the public? Close that roll call, please. Item number three.

Mayor Singer.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mandel. Yes. Council Member Luskin. Yes. Council Member Bernstein.

Yes.

Council Member Einstein. Yes. Motion passes. Okay.

Once again, congratulations. With that, I'm going to make a motion to close the budget hearing. I need a motion to close.

Motion to close. Second. All in favor say aye.

Aye. And Alex, over 20 years, you've really improved. I'm very proud of you. I remember our first budget hearing that we went through, it was probably two and a half hours.

Easily.

Yeah. So this book is so helpful, not only for the residents, but for the council and everyone. And if anyone ever has a question, all they have to do is go back to this abbreviated version. So it was not only well done, it's a brilliant idea. And I think, you know, when we went to Tallahassee Council in Bern, Steve, We showed it to other communities. Everyone goes, that's a great idea. Probably many cities will emulate this in the years to come. They should. So with that, I'm going to open it up for the official meeting of the September 15th, 2026 regular town council meeting. Meeting called for 6 p.m. Time is 6.51. Meeting officially called to order. Roll call, please.

Mayor Singer?

Here.

Vice Mayor Mandel? Here. Council Member Luskin? Here. Council Member Bernstein?

Here.

Council Member Einstein? Here.

Okay, with that, we'll make, there are no presentations or proclamations, no one's birthday today or anything, no cake, no ice cream cake or anything?

Yeah, Eric, the desserts are left, lots to be desired on the desserts tonight.

We should always have someone's birthday or something to celebrate with a cake, every meeting, especially the budget meeting. So with that, we'll move to motion to set agenda, additions, deletions, removal of items from the consent agenda, additions to changes to the agenda. I have none. Fellow counsel?

None. Staff? Yeah, Mr. Mayor, can we pull item number 10 and move it up to before ordinances?

Item number 10. The insurance, you want to move it to where?

Before ordinances. Before what? Before the ordinances, because we have somebody from the insurance company here and we have people online.

For the consent agenda, everything?

Yeah, if we can.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Anyone oppose? Aye. Okay, so we're moving Town Resolution 010 to before K, JB, okay? That's good. Good and welfare, anyone here for good and welfare? Anyone online for good and welfare?

No, sir.

Okay. Mayor's report. Keep mine brief. I'm excited about the budget. We just approved 7.99 mils. This is the fifth time since the town manager and I have been working and this council pretty much been together that we have lowered the millage rate. First time ever below 8.0 mils. And it's very exciting, and people will actually see that, the results on the tax bill. So it was a great job. Again, finance department, town manager, Lissette, beautiful job, and congratulations. Very, very exciting. You guys have done a great job. I can't commend you enough. There was going back a few months or during the summer. I know we haven't had a meeting in several months, but it was apparently it was a great Fourth of July party and great celebration. And town manager really spiced it up after several residents wanted to celebrate the 250 residents. anniversary of the United States. And I know a lot of people had a lot of fun and it was a great party. And I can't believe our next party is going to be Halloween, which seems like it was just yesterday. So very excited about it. I know Councilman Bernstein is planning his costume, but the mayor will do him once again. Superhero. So looking forward to our Halloween party. During the summer, the town really was working hard over the infrastructure. If you haven't noticed, I know Councilman Bernstein and I noticed because we always cross the beach to ride our bikes, but the two signs and the warning signs that are there for people either walking north or south across the street are there and it's a big help because now I look to the right and I'm as guilty as everyone else. I always look to the left and make a right turn and almost hit people. But now with those signs there, it forewarns us. So that's really exciting that we added that. redid the lifeguard stand. If you haven't been to the beach, the lifeguard stand really, really is nice now. He has a platform to walk on. He's got it air-conditioned. He's got Windows 360, and he's got all the bells and whistles for our lifeguard stand. Now he can actually look all the way to the north and all the way to the south before he had to get out of the stand and really bend over to look at it. So, again, I think that's a great addition, and we saved a tremendous amount of money by redoing it versus buying a new lifeguard stand. So, very, very excited about that. So, my thoughts and prayers go out to Linda Epperson. As her husband, Jack, recently passed away, I know the town, a lot of the council and The town staff went to the funeral along with myself, and our thoughts and prayers go out to Linda, because she's a valued employee and a family member of ours, and it's always hard to lose a member of your family. So again, our thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family. And the town did a great job supporting her and her family. And thank you, town administrative staff. And it was a beautiful ceremony. And this is crazy, but Kurt McCoy is retiring at the end of October after 26 years of service. Kurt has been a valued employee of the town since I moved here, and he was always a fixture whenever there was a storm, no matter what time of day. Kurt would come to town to make sure that it was taken care of. And he's going on. He's moving up north of Florida. He's going to be a pastor. And we're very excited for Kurt. And we're going to miss him. I mean, he was a great, great asset to the town and a very, very loyal employee. Just shows you. how good of a community we have as employees. When an employee sticks around for 26 years, you know the administrative staff is doing something right. And, you know, we wish him a happy retirement. He deserves it. And we value everything that he's done. And, Curt, if you're listening, thank you. And to better things, we're happy for you. The town manager and I this week met with the Dade County tax collector and we had a great meeting with him. He's very energetic. He's a great guy. If you haven't seen him on TV or met with him, but we had renew our license here again. He's always looking for more and easier ways to make our residents happier. We talked about possibly doing a passport renewal here. We'll do next year, I'm sure, renewal of the license several times. But he's trying to make the tax collector's office easier, easier for the residents of Dade County to utilize. And if you want to pay your taxes in cash, you can actually go to him and give him the money, and he'll take it. Just kidding. and cash but he's a really good guy and it was great that he came to town to see the town that's i've been mayor now for 21 years the second time he's come to town or maybe third it's the first tax collector i've ever met true have you i mean he's none have ever come taken the time to come to town to golden beach to meet the town manager to meet the mayor i mean he's gone out of his way and he comes and visits us spends time with us and really enlightened us with what they're doing. And my hat's off to him because he's done a great job. So one more quick note, hurricane season, we're in the peak of hurricane season. We've been very fortunate. We, knock wood, I don't want to jinx it, haven't had any storms, but we can't let our guard down. I know king tides are coming. So, you know, that's always exciting. But keep the house always prepped. And if you leave Before hurricane season ends, please let the town administration know. So in case there is a storm, your house can be prepared. So with that, again, hats off to town administration for the beautiful presentation on the budget. So with that, I'm going to go to council comments. I'm going to first start with our vice mayor. Vice mayor comments.

And I hope that Jack's beautiful memory is always a wonderful blessing for her and her family. A big thank you to Maria and the entire staff for an incredible job on the budget. I have seen you work all summer. You guys are incredible. Really, thank you. All of you, thank you very much. A special thank you to the city manager for his incredible vision. because personally, I'm always amazed at your knowledge and at the things that occur to you that you wanna do that are such a wonderful addition to our city and to our mayor and our fellow council members that really working with you is incredible and your vision as well, Glenn, for all of these years has been incredible, thank you.

Working with you has been just as great. We appreciate it. Now, the council, that's one thing that's been, you know, if you look at other cities, I meet with other mayors. In fact, this Friday we have a mayor's meeting, whatever. And Steve can test this because he's the town attorney, represents many cities over the years. I mean, it's very rare that you get a mayor and council and administration that are on the same page. And people ask me all the time, How in the heck did you guys get all that approved? And it's simple word, teamwork. Without a doubt, it's teamwork. It's not me. It's not him. It's not you. It's teamwork. We would not have accomplished over 20 years of success if it wasn't for you guys, Einstein, Bernstein, Judy. But still, it's amazing. We all have the same vision. We may not agree 100% of the time, which is great. But the good thing is we have the same vision and we work it out together. And that's been our success. I don't know, town manager and I always laugh, if you ever watch Surfside's council meeting or any other city, they're at each other's throat. It's unbelievable. And that's why nothing gets done. And our key to success, and I tell everyone, it's simple. It's teamwork. Everyone's on the same page and we all have the same goal. We want a great, safe, friendly, enjoyable community. And we do whatever we can with the dollars that we have to make it happen. And we're fortunate we have such a great team, from the town manager, finance director, to the town clerk, to Michael, to Eric, to our town attorney who's been with us since I've been mayor, 21 years, our police chief. It's amazing that we've worked together and have accomplished so much. But again, it's teamwork. And I can't thank everyone enough for what we've accomplished. And I know we've got exciting things in the future. And we're not going to stop. We're not going to rest. We're not going to stop. And we've always said, our motto has been, we're going to be the envy of every city. And we really are. I mean, I go to these other mayors and these other meetings, and we are the envy of every other city. And it's, again, thanks again, teamwork. So with that, I'll turn it over to the mayor.

Wasn't that Jesse Slovak? I thought you just said we have a great team here.

No, no, no. She's done.

So to Glenn's point, or to Mayor's point, it really was a little bit of luck that this particular council came together. Because if you remember prior to this council, there was a council where there was a tremendous amount of fighting and arguing. The staff was very much involved in things they shouldn't have been involved in. And then Alex came and gave it a new kind of thrust and a new turn that made all the difference. And I remember years ago, it must be 2007 now, you sitting over here with a tape measure because we all couldn't get a decision on whether we had Five foot sidewalks.

I remember that. Oh, my God.

Yes. And you were, I mean, dead to rights going after it. And we all absolutely agreed and walked out shoulder to shoulder. It's really a wonderful family, all of Golden Beach. So it's something to really be proud of. And even today, I mentioned at dinner, we marvel at what went on. The first time you, in the old days, building, came off the dais, went over to where Council Commons would be, and you presented $10,000 to kick off where we are today. And we got a lot of naysayers where we are. We drove through it, and it's really something to be proud of. I marvel at it. Anyway, continuing on. My condolences to Linda Epperson. I know she had a very difficult, I think, four or five months with that, and it hurts my heart for her. So again, I agree with you, Mayor, the traffic stanchions in the front make a big difference, a very big difference. I don't think it stops me from looking any less. but I feel a little bit more confident cause she can really hear some things coming out of there that the, uh, people that are walking up and down ocean Boulevard, the budget was beyond belief. Uh, out of all the budgets you've done, this one really, is incredible. Golden Beach Youth Leadership Group is going to meet September 22nd. We're back on programming for the year. I think maybe things have settled down a little bit with internet, AT&T and Hotwire. For a while it was a little bit crazy, people losing Their internet. I don't know if you can address that if there's something we can do to improve upon that. I think it's absolutely slowing down and Thank you for the sidewalks.

You milled them all And that's it thank you to everybody and staff that's it for me, thank you councillor Bernstein I Like to start off I guess with the budget Talking to Mike My first comment is just simply what the mayor earlier said, that when we went around Tallahassee and we showed this small little workbook of our budget, every single state legislature there was like, wow, this is unbelievable. I'm going to tell other people to do this. And it's such a great ability to look at things concisely. And one of my favorite things was in looking at the budget, not necessarily the book, but with the budget, was where we obtained sources from. to put in all the projects over the years. And I thought that was just such an amazing addition to show how much we've gotten help and how little, like, how much we've gotten help from the state after not really ever looking to the state for over 90 years. So I just thought that was pretty incredible. I also wanted to talk about the AT&T, which I've been seeing is a lot of people have been having issues with on the chat when I talk to them personally. I'm not sure I saw the letters that we sent internally saying that we stopped AT&T from working. Is that something that we sent out to the public? And is there any is there any can we share that with everybody letting them know? OK, because I just thought so much has been going on in the chat. And just to let everybody know, this is basically we I think everyone's educated enough to realize that they have an easement and can do that. But I don't think they realize the measures we've taken to say you guys are not. living up to your normal reputation at AT&T. My heart goes out to Linda Epperson. She's been caring for Jack for so long, and I'm sure she's just devastated, and I think she appreciated everybody from what I saw coming around and so much love from this community and giving to her, and I hope she gets back quickly and is doing well. I think the safety, I notice not only when I'm driving, but especially when I'm on a bike, the cones force everybody to stop, even if it's first, second, and look. Even if they're not reading it, they're just kind of, wait, there's a lot more safety issues here. I should be looking around. So I thought that was great. We actually listen when you guys suggest stuff. That was great. I can't believe Kirk is leaving. I feel like when I first started, he was just so new in town with me at the same time. I can't believe it's already been all those years. And he's just been, like you said, every time we've had an emergency, every time we've had a tragedy here, every time we've had some sort of event, he is there to help pick up the pieces and help put this place together. He will definitely be missed. And it has been an honor to be part of this team and watching a city change and working with everybody here. And I've got to say, it's one of the highlights of my life is being part of this team and just the enjoyment I get out of it. And it really is amazing after I've been to so many Senate council meetings before this and even the few that I went to here in Golden Beach. And I really, on the rarest of occasion, have just seen the friendship and teamwork that has gone through these meetings. So thank you. Thank you. Councilman Einstein.

Yeah, everybody said so much already. But again, to Linda Epperson, our heart goes out to you. I think a constant that has been gone through the council and everybody else is that I've been here for over 30 years. This is family. People come to Golden Beach, a lot of us, and you want to look at your neighbors. You want to walk across the street. You want to say hello. You want to see your kids come home from college. Their internet goes down. Come over to my house. Whatever you need, your refrigerator goes out. It's a very special place. And for us who have been here, you know, for those 30 years when we came here with the infrastructure and when we saw the river going down Golden Beach Drive when it would flood, when we saw the spaghetti light poles, for power and light in the electricity and the light and the power going out every few minutes, when we saw town meetings that went to 1.30 at night and you want to talk about fights. 25 years ago, we had some real doozies, accomplished nothing. We couldn't even approve $10,000 for an architect for a plan for a new town hall 24 years ago. You know, you really, I have to pinch myself when I see where I'm sitting right now. I mean, when you remember our old town hall and what we looked, I mean, this was a frigging dream. And when people get to the new wellness center, I mean, it is outstanding. This is a town like no other. And I'll tell you, the backbone, and I think it goes unnoticed, starting out with Riley Cruz when he was here and he passed the baton to Curt McCoy. And as Alex says, a lot of times, you know, people don't realize, you know, we have a white glove service here. And I don't even like to use the word maintenance because they're more than that. They're our friends. They're our allies. They are there for us all the time. I mean, they are really, they got your back. And they do a lot more than any other city and see people like that during the storm preparation thing when Alex brings them together and tells them, hey, guys, you got to be here. Here's food for your homes. Send it home. But for the next 24 or 48 hours, you're here. And they're here. This is their first priority. So, you know, I just want to... Give them some praise and recognition. They don't go unnoticed. They are appreciated. They're there when you're in a jam and you call Alex up and say, Alex, I got an emergency. I can't get a contract. These guys help you out, and I appreciate that. It's been a pleasure working with everybody here. We've come a long way, baby, as they used to say on that Virginia Slims commercial. You know, I think we really made a dream happen. And I thank Alex for his leadership, Glenn for all you've done for the town, and everybody else in administration. You put together a fabulous team, and this is family. And thank you.

Thank you, thank you fellow council members. Moving on, town manager report.

Mr. Mayor, members of the council, Linda, I know that you're listening at home and Denise, I know you're sitting there next to her, but Linda, you're in our thoughts and prayers and we'll all miss Jack dearly. I just wanna thank all the staff members who attended. the service and the council members who have sent their love to Linda. And so Linda, we're looking forward to seeing you back at the end of the month. And no, this is not an excuse for you to retire even sooner. So we love you. We miss you. Mr. Mayor, at the last council meeting, we heard from our residents that they wanted us to do something a little bit more special for 4th of July. We mobilized. We had an amazing America 250 celebration, something that we should be very proud of. The fact that our staff was able to mobilize quickly, Michael, Eric, Maria, Lisette, Branty. I think we had probably one of the coolest, like, 4th of July kits, if you haven't received, or you all received it, but if you need extras, we have them. The food trucks were amazing this summer. Great job with that. The budget book, I mean, phenomenal. Our budget book just looks... better than ever, the fact that we lowered our taxes. We've made some improvements to the guardhouse. We're going to be making some improvements to the guardhouse, the lifeguard stand. Kirk's leaving, but Kirk is still on board. He's going to stay with us till the end of October. But as you know, we have a Mr. Fix-It program with Roberto Garcia, and we're going to be working with Ray and others in the back. Brian, Ray, and others will be supervisors. Use the Mr. Fix-It button online if you send us a service request. It won't get lost on us. So if you go to Mr. Fix It, you go to the button, you put in your service request, we'll be able to monitor those and track that. Lissette Rivera is overseeing that whole operation now to make sure that we remain on top of the things that need to get done. Mr. Mayor, members of the town council, it's so frustrating when you have a city like ours that are just so progressive and we're doing things to keep our residents safe and there are laws on the books And then you have an aggressive governor who just says, you know what, we're going to take away the rights that you have as a city. I'd hate to inform the council, but we have to remove our LPR cameras from the state's highway. But guess what, Mr. Governor? We're going to outsmart you. So starting next week, we're installing two poles on our property. on Ocean Boulevard, one on the north side and one on the south side. And we're still going to have our cameras. And guess what, residents? We're going to make sure that whenever someone gets in our way, we're going to go find a way around it, and we're going to make sure that we keep you safe. We added park rangers. We're going to be adding 16 cameras between the north and south side, looking at all the cars that come in and out of our community. But I find it that sometimes we as cities, we should push back. If a law is on the book, which it is, we should be given the authority to use that law to keep our residents safe and not sway with the political winds. And so here in Golden Beach, we'll be taking the cameras from the median and we'll be putting them into our right of way. And our residents need to know that we're going to become creative when we need to do that. And we're going to be adding them at our bus stops and all of our pedestrian gates. And we'll have as many cameras that we have on Ocean today, if not more. I'm sorry, I missed that.

Did you say he is prohibiting the flock cameras?

The governor, it's not flock cameras. So the governor has ordered that any license plate reader cameras, flock is a company. On state roads. Yeah, so on state roads have to be removed by the end of the month. If not, the state will come out. and remove them like they did with the gay pride crosswalks throughout the state roads. And so we as a local government are frustrated by this decision. And so we're going to be doing what we can to make sure that we continue to provide that services. Mr. Mayor, members of town council, without your objection, throughout the summer, we were able to provide donated materials to both Cuba and Venezuela and Colombia that suffered devastating losses with earthquakes. And so through our humanitarian efforts, we were able to provide some relief to those families of our workers that work here. And so thank you for that. support that you did without objecting today. Our pedestrian crosswalks, at one of the council meetings, you said, hey, we have an issue at the crosswalks. And so we immediately put in pedestrian crosswalk notices and lights and buzzards and know that we're going to continue to make those improvements throughout the year. And then just real quick, to Rudy, Gio, and Leila, I know that you're here. our police department just continues to just impress us. I mean, the stats this month went up. We have two PPOs currently in training. Tomorrow I get to learn how to shoot an AR-15. So I'm excited about that. I promise not to hurt myself. Make sure I don't hurt myself.

I thought a new dog was coming today. Next, Councilman.

So we have new canine dogs. And so thank you for our police and to all of our staff. I don't stand up there and take credit. I think you guys all read the email that I sent. As the mayor and council knows, I've been selected among all of the Hispanic leaders in this country to be recognized at the International City Managers Conference. I was selected among many, second national award that we win this year as your manager. Thank you. I may be, I may be- You're Hispanic? And gay. I may be the named recipient of that award. But it's important for the staff and their families to know that I only receive it on your behalf. Because each of you, whether you're a Public Works employee, a lifeguard, a beach attendant, or the person who cleans our bathrooms, it's what you do that makes me shine and allows us to win all these accolades. And so although I'm the named recipient, that award goes to all of our staff, all 90 staff members that serve our community. And so trust me, I don't take it for granted. I know that sometimes that can be frustrating. But thank you to each of you. So if you weren't named individually today, it's not because we don't know who you are. It's just because I need to stop talking and we need to get to the next agenda item. So thank you to our staff.

Thank you. Hey, real quick question. Town manager is for Lissette, too. I got an email. Was the website hacked? Yes. Okay. I mean, Lissette, you're working on. It's been back up. It's back up. Okay. But we're working on improving the website, right? Yes. Yes. Okay. All right, with that, town attorney report, Steve?

Nothing.

Nothing? Okay, item number J, ordinance is first reading, ordinance of town council, amending the town of a Golden Beach coat ordinance.

No, Mr. Mayor, you're going to go to item number 10.

Oh, before a J? Yes. Item number 10, sorry about that. I was going to do it after. Item 010, a resolution of town council awarding the agreement for comprehensive health, vision, dental, insurance for employees of the town and eligible dependents.

A resolution of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida, awarding an agreement for the provision of a comprehensive health insurance plan, including a vision provision and a dental plan for the benefit of the Town of Golden Beach employees and eligible dependents, providing for a condition of award, providing for severability, providing for conflict, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date.

Any motion to approve? Motion to approve. Any second? Second? Second.

Second. Mayor, members of the Town Council, let me just talk a little bit about where we are today. in the insurance world. So as you know, each year we go out and we meet with different brokers and try to get proposals to find out what we're going to do for our employees. And I will tell you, I was in shock when we got the renewal rates from UnitedHealthcare. I mean, we're talking about high double digits, close to 40%. And unfortunately, during the summer, an issue occurred with one of our brokers, and we lost the person who will be managing our account. And as you know, for us, the most important thing isn't the salespeople, it isn't the vice presidents, it's who manages that phone call when we call and we say we need help. And so in losing Christine, we met with Reamer, Brown and Brown, we met with Sidecar, we met with a bunch of insurance brokers, new and old, and we started working on the issue. And the issue for Golden Beach is that we have a very aging population in our employees and our members. And so our renewal came in at about 45% plus or minus. And so we started working throughout the summer to figure out how we could work on this number. And one of the first things that came to mind is how do we try to reduce the burden on our pool? And so we'll be working over the next three months with a new company called Foundation out of Orlando. We are recommending them to be our agent of record They have a local office. Marisol Butcher will be the person. Our new Christine will be Marisol. Robin Riley is the vice president out of Orlando. She's on Zoom. And we have Ethan Sale here in the audience who came down from Orlando, right? You're up in that area. Ormond Beach. So he came down to be here in person. Foundation and another company have an exclusive broker relationship with the Florida Media Support Insurance Trust. And so our goal, and by the way, when we talk about regrets as manager, I regret the year we left the trust. Remember, we left the trust because it was like an 18% increase. And we left them, but we're trying to get back to the trust. And so the trust said, look, Lindsay and others at the trust said, if you want to start working with us, you should really look at working with foundation. And what's the other company?

It's Gallagher, but I can't remember.

Gallagher, an associate of Gallagher. And so we met with both principals and we started to figure out, okay, if the league is recommending that we work with these insurance brokers because of their stellar reputation, they've gone through a vigorous selection process with the league. And then we started looking around who here in Dade County uses them. And so... The decision was a little bit easy. We basically went to our existing broker and we said, look, we know what we're paying you in commission. Can you work with us on that? And without even asking for a reduction, Foundation said, we'll give you 2%. So they gave up 2% of the commission to work with us. And it's guaranteed. And they have a more robust organization. They're statewide. They have brokers throughout. North Bay Village and other cities in our backyard have gone out through competitive bid processes. We're looking to just piggyback, use one of those offers, the legalities of it, we've gone through that discussion. So what we're doing today is we're gonna be assigning a new agent of record. Our renewal rates did come in higher than what we budgeted, but don't be afraid because we're going to be taking from the current year budget because we have a lot of surpluses to buy down that rate and we'll meet the 12% for next year. And here's something that we're going to make very clear to our employees. So sometimes we're not as competitive with our rate, our salaries. and we don't get merit increases and we are generous with our bonuses, but when we see that something like a 45% increase to the insurance, which was negotiated down to 18%, by the way, rather than pass that 18% on to you, through private conversations with our mayor and council, we will absorb that increase. And so you will not see a single penny change in your check next year. Well, you'll see an increase of 3%. But we're not going to give you a 3% increase and then slap you in the face and take it away with insurance rates. So we will be absorbing that rate 100%. It is the exact same co-pays, the exact same deductible, the exact same HSA card. And by the way, four out of the, actually all five, all five, not four, five, all five said, hey, can we work on making the HSA card maybe a little bit more? So I'm working on that with them. But we're not gonna pass that increase on to you. And so believe it or not, that is an increase to your bottom line. to help with the fact that fuel costs are has gone through the roof. The price of ground beef is higher than ever. Eggs have come down a little bit, but everything else is up. And so we will not pass that on to you. So, Mr. Mayor, what I'm recommending to the council tonight is that we keep the exact same United Health Care policy plan. No changes to our to our members. We work with Foundation, who so far has been very responsive. And by the way, our new Christine is amazing, and so is the entire team. But Marisol, and Marisol, I know that you have a family member at home that you're working, having to deal with. So thank you for being here tonight. And Robin, thank you also for being here. And Ethan, I told you not to come down, but you're here in person, so we appreciate that. But we're looking forward to working with this new team. They have been so responsive. We need to clean up a couple of things, but they've been very responsive. And their commitment to us is this. They will personally work with each of our 11 Medicare eligible members to create a program that they feel comfortable with in taking the leap to go to the Medicare side. I cannot force any of our employees off of our plan. Federal law says that if we have a group plan, it is, we cannot. But we're gonna be doing some creative things to incentivize our employees to make that leap. And so I'll be working with you privately throughout the next three months. And the goal is that by January's open enrollment for Medicare, we'll have enough of our Medicare age and their dependents go over to Medicare so that we could help buy down our costs because our Medicare age population is what drives our numbers. And if we make that change, then we'll see a very healthy and more attractive pool to either get back to the league or maybe even get somebody else who may be interested like a Cigna or another national. But as you know, The insurance market in Dade County is down to five firms. There aren't that many underwriters that are looking at South Florida. And before we go explore some of those non-traditional insurance, because I know my population and I know our staff, we decided we're not going to go that route. Because you know what? Sometimes it's too good to be true. And we don't know what that looks like. And it hasn't been tested in the market long enough. So that's my recommendation tonight. Ethan, I appreciate you being here. 30 seconds to introduce your company to the council. And then Robin, you too. But 30 seconds. Come on up. And if the council has any questions, of course, feel free to ask Ethan or Robin or Marisol.

Awesome. Very nice to meet everyone. Happy to be down here. You have a beautiful town, a beautiful facility here. We are very excited to advocate for the members and their dependents at the town of Golden Beach. As stated, we are Foundation Risk Partners, headquartered out of Ormond Beach, Florida. National brokerage with a very significant presence in Florida. Employee benefits, property and casualty, Obviously, we're lucky enough to serve the employee benefits. And again, we look forward to advocating and serving the members of the town of Golden Beach. Thanks. And Robin, welcome.

Any questions from the council?

Mayor, if we could just let Robin real quick, just say a quick hello.

Good evening. We're excited to be working with your team. We've got a lot of ideas and suggestions that we're going to bring forward and to help improve your benefit program. The Florida Legacies, we are a preferred broker and work very closely with them. So we look forward to bringing something to the table for you that's more attractive next year.

And Marisol, just to say hello to you and thank you. And I know that you'll be working closely with our staff and the entire team has been very responsive. And so thank you. By the way, Mayor, this team brings joy. They have Spanish speakers. They have Creole speakers. So it's a better mix for also the handle, the one-on-one private questions that we couldn't deal with with the smaller brokers. And so we would look forward to working with foundation and Marisol and Robin and Ethan, thank you for being here. Mr. Mayor, that's what I'm recommending tonight. And we hope that you'll follow that. That's what I'm recommending tonight. And I hope that you'll follow that recommendation.

Okay. No comments from the council. Any public comments? No public comments. Thank you. Item number 010, roll call, please.

Mayor Singer.

Approve.

Vice Mayor Mendel. Approve. Council Member Leskin. Approve. Council Member Bernstein.

Approve.

Council Member Einstein.

Approve.

Motion passes. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. Okay. Moving along to item J1, Ordinance First Read. Ordinance of Town Council amending the Town of Golden Beaches Code of Ordinances amending Chapter 52 landscaping to amend artificial turf regulations.

In ordinance of the Town Council of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida, amending the Town's Code of Ordinances by revising Article 1 in General, Section 52-6, Minimum Landscape Requirements within Chapter 52, Landscaping, to amend artificial turf regulations, providing for severability, providing for codification, providing for conflicts, and providing an effective date.

Okay, motion to approve?

Motion to approve.

Second?

Second.

Any comments? Town manager? Town attorney?

Yeah. Thank you. This is a very simple item. We had regulations in place which deal with the use of artificial turf. The state has preempted the use of artificial turf with statewide regulations found in the In the state regulations, we're updating our code to conform with the state requirements That's it. Yeah, and it's primarily dealing with single-family residential properties Perfect any comments or questions?

No roll call, please.

Mary singer. Yes, vice mayor Bendell. Yes councilmember Leskin Yes, councilmember Bernstein. Yes councilmember Einstein motion passes motion passes.

Thank you very much. I Item number K, Ordinance to Second Reading, there are none. Quadrature Issue Resolutions, there are none. Item M, Major Projects Update and Presentation. Town Manager, can you give us an overview of the current active town projects?

So as you know, we work to...

I'm sorry, go on.

I agree. Wellness Center is going great. We're looking forward to delivering Wellness Center and reimagining Turtle Park after the first of the year. We'll take delivery beforehand. make sure we go through the punch list and then open after the first of the year. I do plan to open the playground part. So like the tennis courts and stuff before the holidays, but not the facility. Thank you. That's it for now. We have another meeting next week, so. Okay, perfect.

Item number N, consent agenda. The following seven items are on the consent agenda. Item number two, official minutes of the June 9th, 2026 special town council meeting. Item number N3, a resolution for a town council approving payment of $5,000 to the YMCA of South Florida. Okay. Item number N4, resolution of town council approving the payment of $5,000 to the Jewish adoption and family care options, Jafco Hanukkah Miracle Luncheon. Item number N5, a resolution of town council adopting the Miami-Dade County Local Mitigation Strategy 2025. Item number six, a resolution of town council approving the maintenance agreement for the State of Florida Department of Transportation. Item number seven, a resolution of town council authorizing the sale of six vehicles from the town vehicle fleet. Item number eight, a resolution of town council approving contract with Southeastern Engineering for the curb and gutter repair on Golden Beach Drive. Item number nine, a resolution of town council approving a contract with Southeastern Engineering Contractors Inc. for the installation of a 36 inch waist top valve for South Island outfall. Those seven items on the consent agenda. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone disapprove? Consent agenda approves. Thank you very much. Moving right along to item number O, resolutions. Item O10 we handled already. We'll move on to item O11, resolution of town council approving a purchase agreement with Most Dependable Fountains Inc. for the installation of equipment at the town reimagined Tweedle Park site.

A resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida, approving the purchase of drinking fountains and a bike repair station from Most Dependable Fountains, Inc. for the reimagined Tweedle Park in an amount not to exceed $31,595, providing for implementation, providing for authorization, and providing for an effective date.

Okay. I need a motion to approve. I need a second.

Mr. Mayor, this is a social purchase for water fountains and dog drinking fountains for Tweedle Park.

Any questions? Any counsel?

A lot.

Like 16. For $31,000. There's like 16 of them, right?

There's 12. 12.

Are they?

Galvanized and powder coated so they don't rust in this environment.

Are any of them refrigerated?

No. None of them? All the refrigerator ones are inside the wellness center. And underneath Total Park Pavilion.

Are we getting anywhere, you know, if you use this, you know, you put your water jug there, they said UFC.

In the gym, they're going to be there.

Those kind? Yes. Okay. Is that it?

Any other comments? Comments? Comments? Comments? Okay. Any public comments? I could sing the YMCA song again. Roll call, please.

Mary Singer.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mandel. Yes. Council Member Leskin. Yes. Council Member Bernstein.

Yes.

Council Member Einstein. Perfect a number 12 resolution Town Council approving amendment number two to the fiscal year operating budget for the award employee bonuses a Resolution of the Town Council the town of Golden Beach, Florida approving amendment number two to the 2025 2026 fiscal year operating budget for the purpose of awarding employee employee bonuses and amending the originally adopted budget providing for implementation and providing for an effective date I

Motion to approve. I need a second. Second. Okay. You guys.

Mr. Mayor, members of town council, so as you know- Sing the YMCA song one more time.

Okay.

So town manager? So Mr. Mayor, members of town council, as you know, when I got hired in 2007- and although we have made some adjustments to personal salaries because of a reclassification or a promotion, the town doesn't do merit increases. Our philosophy is that, you know, we'll give you cost of living increases, but we try to stay away from merit increases because we hire you to do your job, and you do your job great, great, you're employed, which is a philosophy that most cities don't take. And the way our employees have been able to buy into this concept is because our merit increases would probably be less than a bonus. And so the bonuses typically are a little bit more than what you would get on a merit increase, and it doesn't stack. So I'm recommending that we approve these bonuses. My bonus is contractually, so it's a set figure in my contract. By the way, I do need at least one more of my evaluations to come back so I can receive my bonus. But to our staff, know that when we look at what your compensation is, we try to be fair in terms of what the market is playing. We want to make sure that we... offset things like insurance and the like. And so even though you don't get a merit increase, the bonus is a merit increase. In other cities, they just get a merit increase, not a bonus. And when you do, let's say, a 2.5% merit increase, your bonuses are typically more than what you would get in most cases. And so it's just a small way for us, for me and the council to say thank you for your hard work and for your efforts. And to our residents, bonuses typically come only if we have operating savings. And so the operating savings this year are phenomenal. And so because of that, we're recommending that this bonus structure be approved tonight.

All I have to say is well-deserved to all the employees everyone the bonuses and we're happy that we can give them so great job any comments Any public comments? Item number 12 a roll call, please.

Mayor singer. Yes, vice mayor Mandel. Yes council member Luskin. Yes council member Bernstein Yes, council member Einstein.

Yes motion passes well-deserved item 13 resolution account Council authorizing surplus transfer of gifts of a one-time 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe to a long-term town employee in recognition of years of dedicated service to the town.

A resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Golden Beach, Florida declaring one 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe vehicle number 228, VIN number 1GNSCMKD2PR107331 surplus property. Authorizing the transfer and gift of said vehicle to a longtime town employee in recognition of years of dedicated service to the town Authorizing the mayor and town manager to execute all documents necessary to effectuate the transfer providing from the mentation and providing for an effective date Okay, I need a motion to approve Second

Mr. Mayor, so the town's practice has been since long before I got here. Employees like the police chief or the public works director who have an assigned take-home vehicle, typically they won't have a personal vehicle. So when they retire or after they're invested, they won't have a car. So we traditionally just surplus the vehicle that's assigned to them. In this case, we're not going to do that. We're surplusing another vehicle to the employee because we actually want to keep the one that he drives. So that's our policy.

Well deserved. Any comments, questions?

I agree. Well deserved.

Public comments, question? Roll call, please.

Mayor Singer?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mandel? Yes. Council Member Luskin? Yes. Council Member Bernstein? Yes. Council Member Einstein? Yes. Motion passes.

Mr. Mayor, just real quick, a couple of just comments for the record, and we'll be brief because I know that we want to get, those who want to follow me over to the Wellness Center, I'm going to give a tour to the attorneys, so join me. A couple of quick things. Go ahead. Those who want to go to the Wellness Center and see it at night, I'm going to give a tour to the attorney, so follow us if you want to join us.

Oh, I didn't hear what you said.

That's number one. Number two, real quick, so a couple of things. This Friday, we're hosting the Mayor's Barrier Island Summit just for the public notice. In the event that two or more council members are here for the breakfast, it doesn't violate sunshine. We're just going to allow the council to come for the breakfast portion only and not be at the time of the meeting. That's number one. Number two, the second council budget is scheduled for the following Tuesday, the 29th at 6 p.m. here in the town council chambers. And so I encourage all members of the public to attend that meeting. And Mr. Mayor, it's important that through your action tonight in approving the budget, there have been some waivers of competitive bid and purchasing agreements that have been agreed to that we did discuss during the presentation. And so therefore, just make sure that you read your budget item before the next council meeting. With that, Mr. Mayor, motion to adjourn is always appropriate.

I didn't understand what you said. Don't worry about it.

You passed the budget. Let's go.

It's stuff that I need to put in the record for the clerk.

Last 10 seconds.

Speak talking class?

Talk with marbles in your mouth. That's exactly, it's for the clerk. Okay. With that, any other discussion items? I'll make a motion to adjourn. All in favor say aye. Aye. Great job. Motion adjourned.