Financial Advisory Board - Regular Meeting

All right.

Recording in progress.

Are we starting early?

I'm texting again, Mr. Siddharth. I'm not sure if it's him or she. See if he responds.

And Michael's supposed to join us because I spoke to him, but let me text him and make sure he does join us. Okay. Hi, Marco. I need one more person in that quorum. Thank you. He's about to join us. No. Sid has joined us. Good evening. Good evening, Sid.

Good evening, Sid.

Can we call you Sid or you need to be called Sid Hart?

That's fine.

Okay, just making sure. Yeah, I appreciate it. We're just waiting now for Marcos to join us and then we'll We'll have the, in essence, the board that's going to be showing up tonight. Sandra has excused herself from the meeting. She has a commission meeting tonight at Surfside. Okay, Marco is getting online. Good evening, everybody. Good evening, Marco. Thank you for joining us.

Please, happy to.

Basically, we have everybody online that's going to be at the meeting. So I'm going to call the meeting. I'm going to call the meeting to order at 6.33 p.m. since we have no chair. And I'm going to ask our clerk, Alba Chang, to please swear in our new member, Sid.

Sid, if you can please unmute yourself and repeat after me. I state your name.

I, Sidharth Mehta.

A legal resident of the state of Florida.

A legal resident of the state of Florida.

And being a financial advisory board member.

And being a financial advisory board member.

Do hereby solemnly swear.

Do hereby solemnly swear.

That I will support and obey.

That I will support and obey.

the Constitutions of the United States, and the State of Florida, and that I will in all respects observe the provisions of the Charter and ordinances of the Village. Thank you, Sid. Congratulations.

Congratulations. You're officially a board member.

Officially.

Welcome aboard.

Thank you.

I'm going to quickly call a roll call. Marcos Oniga.

Here. Present.

Sandra Sifkin is excused. She has a commission meeting at Surfside. Liz Avalo.

Here.

Lars Schott.

Present.

And Sid Mehta. I am here. Our CFO, who is usually part of this meeting, is under the weather. She has a very, very bad cold. So she will not be joining us tonight. But we have our village manager instead, Frank Wallison, with us. And we have our... CI Director Roger Hogg as well for his presentation towards the end of the program that we requested. The first item is going to be, since basically this is a new board, except for Marco and Sandra. Sandra has just changed jobs and she's now the CFO of Surfside. So she does not want to have an office. She does not want to be an office holder on the board. We have all positions open of chair, vice chair, and secretary. So I will take nominations and I will take elections to name a chair, vice chair, secretary for the remainder of the term. which is till roughly November of next year. And then we can continue with our meeting. Any nominations for chair? Hey guys, I cannot be chair of the meeting. I cannot be chair.

If you need a volunteer, I can self-nominate myself.

Thank you, Lars. Anybody else wants to attempt to be chair? If not, all those in favor of Lars being chair of the FAB, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. Congratulations, Lars. You're now the new chair of the FAB.

Thank you. That was quick.

We try to do things quickly and painlessly.

Quick promotion.

How about for vice chair? Anybody interested in being vice chair? And Sid, don't be embarrassed.

I guess I can nominate myself, Liz.

Liz? Anybody else? Hearing no oppositional, those in favor of Liz being vice chair, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye. Aye. Congratulations, Liz. And last is secretary. By the way, secretary is not a very, it is an important position, but it is not a very time-consuming position. We have AI, which basically types the minutes for you. They will send them to you. There's a template as well, very easy to follow. And it's basically filling in the blanks of the agenda.

Who is there?

Notes, not questions. not true recordings of what took place. That's why there is a record and there is a video record as well of the meetings that's kept for posterity.

But it's just that we need to keep minutes of the meeting.

So we have two people that are left, which would be Marco or Sid. Any one of you interested in being the secretary?

Sid, I give you all the honor.

That was Marco, right? Yeah. Thank you, Marco.

No, no, no. But I was saying, like, asking Citi if he wanted to take it, because I know I have a lot of commitments that I don't want to commit to it. But I was asking Citi if he wanted to have the honor.

No, I appreciate it. But this is my first day on the job. I'll wait a little bit.

Do we have to make a decision on the secretary today, Richard?

No. I mean, it's been open for a while, so I'll leave it open. We can leave it open.

Yeah, until the next meeting and then we'll decide again if there's interest.

No problem. I will handle the minutes for tonight's meeting then.

Thank you.

The first item on the agenda basically is the minutes of the July 8th meeting, which the only person that may have been there was you, Mark. So you would have to make that motion.

I MAKE THE MOTION TO APPROVE THE MEETINGS OF THE MINUTES FROM THAT MEETING.

THE REST OF YOU CAN VOTE EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE NOT AT THE MEETING, BUT YOU'RE NOW MEMBERS OF THE BOARD, SO YOU CAN VOTE ON THE MOTION THAT WAS MADE. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE.

AYE.

AYE. THANK YOU. SO THE MEETING WAS APPROVED. Now, the minutes of the meeting of October 14th, Marco was not present, but Lars and Liz were present. So either one of you can make that motion.

I'll make a motion to approve the minutes for October 14th.

Thank you. All those in favor, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you. Aye.

Lars, I can pass the meeting now over to you since you're the new chair. I'm here to help you with moving along. We try to get stuff done in a quick sense. The only information I want to relay before we start the meeting is, first, I want to apologize for what happened at the last meeting. There was two meetings scheduled at the same time. our meeting and an agenda review with the public by Commissioner Doris Acosta. One of us had to pull out. I thought it'd be a little bit more prudent if the advisory board pulled out, then the commissioner pulling out of her agenda review with the constituency. So that's why that meeting was canceled at the last moment. I've been told by our IT director, it will never happen again. I tend to believe him. He's quite good, but I don't promise. It can happen again, but I doubt it will happen to us. So our meetings are scheduled for the second Tuesday of every month at 6.30 p.m., basically. So everybody can just calendar that in. And there's notices usually sent by Isabel, who's Alba's assistant, requesting attendance to make sure that we have a quorum. They'll be canceled if we do not have a quorum. And because it's an advisory board, seldom will it be rescheduled to another day because most days are already taken by other advisory boards. And last but not least, hopefully you all also received, there was something that's not included in the minutes. There was a final budget amendment that was approved by the commission at the last commission meeting, which usually takes place The Tuesday following FAB, next Tuesday we have a commission meeting, which was the final budget amendment for last year. What this does, we have 60 days, I believe it is, to do a final budget amendment transferring and ensuring that anything, any account that was overspent gets funding from either another account in that department or from the general funds to pay it off evenly. And it balanced, it's numerous pages. If you need it sent out to you, let me know and I'll be glad to send it out to you. It ended up being $4,910,000 for all departments in the village, not just one department. I mean, we can break it down, but that was the last action in finance officially the commission took. I know we owe you the budget for the year. Uh, My day is working on it. And if you'd like this last piece of evidence, you can have it as well. So let me know and I'll be glad to send it out to whoever needs it.

Okay. I think it might be the budget. I guess we can get from the website. Is it the amendment that might not be there?

I'm not sure if the amendment is. The amendment is visible as backup material of the last commission meeting, the meeting in November.

Yeah. All right. So I think we can.

I mean, you can get it from there if you want to look at it.

Yeah.

But what I will attempt to do is make sure that on a monthly basis, when you get your package, you will get your financial information.

Okay. Yeah.

So you have it at hand.

Okay. Perfect. That'd be great. Thank you.

Otherwise, Lars, the floor is yours.

All right. Thank you, Commissioner. So let's move ahead with the agenda then. We have old business agenda item 3A, update on the Treasury Island Elementary School project and the community center. I guess this might be the commissioner or city manager.

I'd like to let our city manager speak a little bit. He likes to talk.

Good evening, all. Evening. I'll bring you up to date on the financial side, and I'll bring you up to date on the actual construction side. So on the financial side, I'm holding right now a little over a million dollars in invoices that we owe the contractor. And the reason for that is, is we've got an issue still that we have to resolve over the GMP, guaranteed maximum price of the project, that has not been resolved to the satisfaction of our attorneys. And they've advised me not to make any payments until that is cleared up. Doesn't look like it's a issue of any sorts. They're just some technical things that... are being debated between our attorney and their attorney, and hopefully they'll be resolved shortly and I can release the money to them because the work that we're paying for has been completed, that they are billing for at this time. Now to bring you up on the building itself, a couple of weekends ago, they poured the second floor slab And since then, they've got the columns and the shear walls poured to go up with the third floor slab. And in the next 10 days, they intend to pour the third floor slab, floor slab. And then on, by January 20th, they plan to pour the roof slab At that point, in between, blocks will be going up between floors. And they're hopeful then, within a short period of time, they'll be able to remove some of the supports, start working the interior. They still have the objective to have this building, actually having a project available for FIFA, the soccer plan. So they're looking to have it by May. to have this building operational. It's a very ambitious schedule, but they feel confident they're going to be able to make it happen. On the ties field itself, they got 60% of the drainage. The field is a big drainage project at this point. 60% of the catch basins have been installed. And they are now marking the trenches for around the large soccer field, which is the big open field there. On the property that is the village's property, because you've got to remember there's two sets of properties we're working on. We're working on school property, we're working on village property for the building, the paddleball courts, Fidel courts, And the paddle bowl and the fiddle porch. We've had a lot of contaminated earth that we've had to deal with there because of, one, the public works site that was there and the sewer pump station that was there. The big pit, you probably must have not realized how that system was, but it was a huge pit that went down about 30, 40 feet into the ground. Concrete pit, all the sewage from the village would dump into this pit. There were big three pumps in there that would pump that sewage out to a force main that's along the causeway that would send it back towards Miami. That pit had all kinds of issues with DERM, the environmental people that we had to overcome. That's been taken care of. The pit has been filled. It was all pumped out. What our residue was left was pumped out with a system and a whole process that's been monitored by an engineering firm, Kimley Horn. They have their inspectors on site all the time. There's work being done. We have dust monitoring going on. We have all kinds of controls on that soil. We've had to go down two feet all the way around the building and the rest of the site, remove all that soil. It has to be moved to an EPA-approved dump site, which is in clear water. So we've had to pay to truck that soil to clear water, many, many truckloads of fill. And then bring in clean fill to replace that because we have to raise the elevation to a certain point to turn the fields over to AFA to do the work or PFL to do the work. And that's going on right now. We've got the largest part of that has been done. at the East end where the pump station was. And now we're working around the building itself and replacing the soil in there. Has to be some coordination going on because there's a lot of building material that is in the way right now of the contractor trying to do the soil work. So they're in the process of moving the steel, the block, and some of the form materials out of the way. So the contractor can get in there and finish up on that, uh, on that soil work. So that pretty much all the permits have been issued at this point. The only permit that I saw today that they were working on was for the alarm system, electrical system for the, you know, the burglar alarm and fire alarm system for the building. But all the structural permits have been issued. The mechanical, electrical, and plumbing has the initial ones for the rough end have been issued. So work can continue there. And the other permits, the finishing permits that have to be done will catch up before they get to where they're at that point. So that project's moving along pretty well. You get a chance to drive by there and see it, you'll see a big change in the look of the property. So that's pretty much an update on that. If you've got any questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Before you start asking questions, at the last commission meeting, we approved that the 11 by 11 field, which is the large field that they use for practice, will be ready in time for the, for argument's sake, I'm going to say the June deadline that they've imposed on themselves. And we have allowed them an extension until the end of the year, of 2026 to finish the four smaller courts, the five by fives.

Yeah.

Those, those are going to be working on at, as they open and as they work finishing one quarter at a time. So there'll be put into play as they can, but that the whole project will be completed by the end of 26, but the 11 by 11 field on the ties property will be available as of June.

That is true. Or that's the plan anyway.

And you will all be invited to the grand opening. Great. Any questions?

Yeah, I did have a question on the budget. Are we on, under, or over budget thus far? At least for the portion that the city may fund for this.

So the way the project is bifurcated is there are elements that the city has to pay as part of the building construction itself. There was a $1.2 million contribution that we had to make, and that was contingent upon... As they paid, we paid. So if they showed me $500,000 worth of bills that they had done with the construction, they had to pay first, then I would pay my $500,000. That $1.2 million has been paid and it's backed up with $1.2 million worth of receipts for work that they did. So that's been paid. The other element is the Third floor. We added a floor as part of the project. And we're having, that is on our dime. And that's like part of what I'm holding back right now of the little over a million for work that they've done. You can't consider that all this money that we're spending for the third floor, which is around 3 million, is just on that floor.

Mm-hmm.

all of the pilings in the structural portions of the building, electrical portion, the plumbing portion, all had to be adjusted to carry the weight of that third floor. And that additional cost is on us as part of the cost of the third floor. So as far as budget goes, we are within what we've agreed to pay. And any of the overage, you know, I've got to... you know, an estimate, the best guess estimate they can give us on the cost. And we're monitoring that. But right now we are, you know, we are not anticipating overspending what we had planned.

Okay. For transparency's sake, I will also state, since most of the board or four-fifths of the board is new, when this project was approved, with the former village manager, it was never taken into consideration contamination and resolution of the contaminated fields. At first, they thought there was only one area for contamination. It ended up being three separate areas of contamination that we've had to work with. And that has been an extra expense to the project that was not calculated at the beginning.

That's true.

Thankfully, We have gotten enough contributions from the developers towards this project that we have the funding in place, I believe, and I hope, to be able to finish the project within our budget.

Great. Thank you for the context. And I mean, end of 2026 is just around the corner. So what can happen? What unforeseen expenses can happen in that short period of time?

Well, the thing that I remind people of is we're going to go through another hurricane season.

Yeah.

So you take a hit and that, you know what that does, it stops everything.

Yeah. Also, depending what we want to do with our space within the building, if we want to do a computer lab for the kids, we have to buy computers. All that kind of stuff is not included in the actual budget that we did for the building yet because we don't know what's going to take place.

Okay. Yeah, no other questions from me. Thank you.

Anybody else? By the way, if at any time you have a question about anything, please know I am available to you all. You should all have my phone number, my email. Frank, I hate to put him on the spot, but he is available not only to you guys, but to me 24-7. Yeah, any time. We both have very weird hours to sleep. We go to sleep early, but wake up very early at work and communicate very early. So you'll get answers quite quickly of anything.

The older, the less we sleep. You will see.

Yeah, I know. Getting there slowly. All right. Yeah. All right. So if no other questions on that item, uh, thank you for the update, uh, Frank and, uh, and Richard we'll move on to agenda item three B, uh, update on the new village hall fire station project. And, uh, that might be with you as well, Frank.

Yes, probably is.

Yes, it is.

Let me, uh, so, We're moving along very well on that. In fact, today, all right, so we went out with a request for qualifications for the contractor, the GC, to build the building. That was several months ago. We had about 10 or 11 respondents. There was a committee put together to evaluate the qualifications of the contractors, their experience, what type of buildings they've done, that type of thing. And five, they selected five of the 11 respondents to participate in actually bidding on the project. So today there was a meeting with our public works directors, Steve, conducted a virtual meeting with the five finalists and gave them a briefing on how we're going to go going forward. He also provided to them the last set of plans, although this is electronically, so that they could start working on their takeoffs the bid because it is you know with having a fire station and a police station it's just not offices there's some complexities within the facility that have to be addressed so they've all been supplied a set of plans today that they can start doing their takeoffs on and they can start calculating and then within we think within a month we should have the bid package out to them for them to actually, so we're giving them a little jump by getting them to plan so they can start working up their numbers and hopefully get the bids in a little quicker. The plan is to be able to break ground, you know, I would say optimistically, May or June of 26. And the estimate from the architects is that the building will be finished by the end of 27. So if we can stay on that project, you know, in a couple of years, we'll be in a new city hall. Let's see. Another issue that we have on the financial side that you should be aware of is that there is a donation from the county for their portion for the fire station. That's about seven and a half million dollars. There is a total price of the building that was negotiated and approved of by the county of $45 million for the project. That includes their seven and a half million. That has gone up because we've added another floor to the building. Because when I evaluated, when I got in here and we evaluated what we had, The building was built out with all the offices that we have right now with no room for expansion in the future. And that is just not smart because the city is going to grow. These buildings are coming online. Public works is going to have to have more people. Police especially is going to have to have more people because policing vertical buildings is not the same as being on the level on the ground. So we added another floor. The commission agreed. and we've added a floor and of course those expenses are added to the project, but they're not part of the contract project of the total price of the 45 million. What we have to show the county is that we have the funding in place to take care of the 45 million minus their seven and a half million. So the commissioner has been working with me, to look at the money that we have from the developers that have come in. We feel comfortable that we're good on the $45 million side. We're not having an issue there. But we are working on, right, Commissioner? I mean, you can jump in on coming up with the balance that we're going to need to finish the project. But we think we're in pretty good shape to make that happen. So, I don't know, Commissioner Schiavone, if you want to add anything on the financial side.

The only thing to add on the financial side, Frank and I were meeting actually all day yesterday regarding the numbers. We feel comfortable in the $45 million or actually the $37.5 million that we have to come up with that we have in the bank right now. It just has to be transferred from the general fund account into the village hall account for calling it such and show them what we have. Luckily for us, I guess it's public record since it came out in an email already to the commission. We just received $2 million from Related for their height bonus at the meeting tomorrow night, I mean, next Tuesday. Hopefully we will approve the sale of 16 TDRs for $2.4 million. There's another item on the agenda that I will take credit for, which is a height bonus for the T6 district. that they can build an extra up to three floors at $100,000 a foot. We know one building that's interested in buying the three floors. That's three more million dollars coming into the city. So right there alone, we have approximately $8 million, $9 million worth of funds that will go towards the sixth floor. We figured the sixth floor is going to cost us about $10 million. There is rumors going around town about other properties that are for sale in the process that are looking to purchase TDRs and we're looking at how to get the TDRs available that they need. And we'll gladly sell TDRs at the right price. And we will, I am very optimistic Thank God we don't need to show $55 million today in the bank because we don't have it. But by the time the building starts going up, we will have it. And it will be a reality. We're the only community that does not have a city hall. That has been one of our dreams for Frank and I way back when we were in the commission last time around.

We're going to make it happen.

Good.

I have just a few questions on the numbers just so I follow up. We're saying then that the total project is the original 45 plus approximately 10 for the additional floor, which brings it to about 55 for the total project?

Yeah, 55, 56, we're in that. And, you know, keep in mind now, we don't know what these bids are going to come in at with what's happening now with tariffs, equipment, you know, the costs are going up. We already know on the community center that they've taken a hit on some of the, especially concrete and steel, have gone up in price from when they originally planned. On that project, that's on their dime. We had fixed costs at least, except for the third floor.

Also included in this price of the city hall is the price of the design of a city hall. We've been working on designs for a good year and having to pay these people and the changes from five floors to six floors. So there's been an increase in payments to them as well. And when Frank and I were talking today, talking about, and we're waiting for an answer from the county, will they also consider what we have invested and paid for, for the land for the city hall property? Because we had to buy that property. Yes, we still have a mortgage on the property. Don't get me wrong. It's not paid for 100%. But we have paid a good portion of the mortgage of that property. If you consider all these amounts of funds that are going into the property, the project will be more than $60 million. I believe Socorro was about $3.8 million when we bought it way back when.

Yeah.

Just under $4 million. That's what I'm thinking, about $6 million, plus design and everything else. The project is a beautiful project, but it's not a cheap project. And we have been able to raise the funds for it, which I'm very pleased to have been part of and been involved in raising the funds.

I want to add that the commissioner is being a little modest here. He's He's been leading the charge on raising the money over the years. It's not a last minute thing. He's been working on it for a long time. And we're very fortunate to have him and his expertise on this commission to be able to do what we've been able, what we all have been able to accomplish to make this come to fruition. So, you know, I, for one, recognize exactly because I was here, what, 10 years ago when we started fooling with this? Yep. And now it's going to happen. And so it's a very complex facility. The fire department has to be separated. The police department has to be separated internally with a separate elevator to bring in a suspect or whoever that has to be interviewed and keep them separate from the rest of the building. We've worked out the gym that's in there for the fire department will be shared by the police officers in the building, but they can't have access into the fire department and the fire department can't have access into the police department. So there's all these extras that have been done to accommodate something that's just not parking garage and a bunch of offices. So it's a complex thing. In fact, police will have a huge drone program that will operate off the roof of the building that they'll be able to fly. You can imagine as small as the village is, if they've got an incident going on, they'll be able to get a drone out over that area pretty quickly. So a lot of issues that we're dealing with that for most places that do a city hall don't have to contend with. So it'll be pretty neat.

Okay. Thank you. So we're talking then 47 and a half, give or take, that the city would need to contribute after the seven and a half is deducted, somewhere around that. And the bid or the RFP and the bid, maybe you mentioned that before, did that include this sixth floor? Yes. So whatever proposal that's on the table is for the total project?

The total package. That's correct.

Okay, great. And then with this being, I guess, groundbreaking is in May next year and tentatively is going to be done by end of 2027, you said, so it's more or less a year and a half, right? 18 months. 18 months. So the revenues or the funding for this and the expenses, we're facing those over that period. So when it comes to budget, there is funding for this in next year's budget. And also we would consider the remaining funds for 2027 budget. Is that kind of how you're thinking about it?

Right. Well, what we'll do is for all the money that has been appropriated from the different developers, that money will be siloed in for that project, just like for the community center. So it will carry over into the next year's budget. It's not like I'm depending on the ad valorem revenues coming in to be able to fund at this point.

No.

And then we'll adjust how we have to adjust. If I have to use some... some of the general fund money as we get towards the end, or, you know, we'll work it out, but we're pretty confident that we're going to make it happen.

The actual budget for the city hall or any shortages that we currently have in completing the $60 million, let's put it that way. Fortunately or unfortunately, we have a commission, and it's not just myself, it's me and my four cohorts, who have gone after all developers and we asked for new community contribution fee. Some have given us 500,000, some have given us a million dollars besides the fees that they have to pay to go into the funding of a new village hall. This new village hall will be at the west entrance of the village. It's gonna be a beautiful attraction And since most buildings are either on the causeway or in Harbor Island, they're all gung-ho on seeing this project come to fruition because it will enhance their project as well.

Yeah, okay.

And by the way, something that's very important, when we talk about maintaining Village Hall, which is future funding of Village Hall. We won't be paying rent at 1666. We have four floors. Or we are in four different floors. We don't have the four floors. Only the third floor is ours. So what we're saving in rent is going to go towards...

Maintenance.

Maintenance and running. Keeping of the building.

Yeah.

So we're not blind to that cost as well. We have that... we're focused on that as well.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. Okay. Thank you. No more questions for me. Anyone else in the board that have questions for either the commissioner?

No, no question.

No. Okay, anyone else have any questions? Okay, thank you so much commissioner and city manager for this update, very thorough. I think we're all excited about both of these two projects.

You're also gonna be very excited with the next section of the agenda.

Great, so that takes us, yeah.

Because the city doesn't run only on a city hall And a park. We have capital improvements. All right. And we had a very impressive report given to the commission. I've requested both Roger Hogg, who is director of that department, and Christina Biala, who is the CRO, our community resource officer, to be present at the meeting. And they're with us tonight. And I'm going to suggest that we turn over the meeting for them to explain to us the capital improvement public works project status report. So you can get an idea of what's pending out there, where we are, where we have the funding, what we need in funding, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Absolutely. All right. Christina and Roger, the floor is yours for 5A.

Good evening, committee members. Pleasure to join you tonight for this meeting. So I'm just going to go over the project status report. It was included as part of the agenda package, so I'm just going to go through it as it stands. Just so you know, this report is actually a couple months old. and I am due to provide one for December. So this one's dated October. The most recent one that was issued was last month, and we have a new one that's going to be issued this week, by the end of this week. Christina, feel free to jump in when you see an opportunity, but I'll just run down the list as presented. So starting with the stormwater inlet filters. Or do you need me to share my screen?

I'm trying to share here, just let me know if it's up.

Okay, all right, yeah, we can see. I'm starting with the stormwater inlet filters. That project is fully funded via grants from Florida Department of Environmental Protection in the amount of $300,000. And we're currently finalizing the building or the construction, I should say, manufacturing of the inlet filters for phase two. All the inlet filters, no more the inlet filters for phase one have been installed. And we're looking to, we're a little bit behind on that. Actually, the contractor was having some issues. Just so you know, these inlet filters are being custom built. So, yeah. We are a little bit behind, but we expect to receive, start receiving the inlet filters for phase two this month. My most recent meeting with them was the end, or excuse me, the middle of November. So we are looking to start getting, receiving those inlet, the new inlet filters this month. The stormwater outfall rehabilitation, we received We're working with Ardura Engineering. This is mostly funded. Let me see. Yeah, the outfall rehabilitation will be funded mostly by, or primarily by state appropriation. We did receive $125,000 in funding in the middle of the last fiscal year, and we are on deck to receive additional funding through state appropriation to complete this project. The rehabilitation of the outfalls includes basically the status report that was compiled by our engineering consultant, Ardura Engineering. We received the report in October, and we are currently awaiting some minor revisions with some updated recommendations for the outfalls. And we are looking to get the valves upgraded for all the outfalls throughout the village beginning early next year, 26. That is the second year, 26. So we're looking to get that started sometime in February and March to get the contractor going. All right. We have a couple of transportation projects related to pedestrian safety. Those are the ADA improvements phase two and ADA improvements phase three that are covering Treasure Island and Harbor Island. For the phase two project that's focused on Treasure Island. That is, we are receiving partial funding from FDOT to complete that project. We are in the final stages of the field work for that. The work was substantially completed and the inspection completed last month. And we have the contractor working with our engineering inspector, I should say, to finalize the outstanding issues and complete the construction of that project. We also have the Treasure Island and Harbor Island sidewalk and ADA improvements phase three that the design has been completed. We are working with a couple of property owners to acquire some easements that's required to complete a portion of the sidewalk on Harbor Island that connects the sidewalk in our right of way to the island walk portion going around Harbor Island on the east side of Harbor Island. So that's ongoing. And we are looking to move towards the invitation to bid early next year, hopefully January, the latest February. Like I said, both of these projects are partially funded by DOT.

By the way, just jumping in myself on these projects, this is of high priority on Commissioner Andy Darrow's agenda. And he's the one that's pushing hard to get these completed.

Yes. So on these, sorry if I can jump in with a question. So on these, knowing, I understand here's a lot of work that is being done, a lot of it underground for the stormwater. Are you guys impacted by the building constructions going on all over the place? Or is that not a factor for you?

Well, for the phase two, it's not a factor. We're basically wrapping that one up. For the phase three, which will include a lot of sidewalk work on Harbor Island, there may be some impacts, but we'll work around that once we get to construction.

Okay. And the stormwater improvements, the first ones? Yeah.

The stormwater improvements, not so much. When I get to Treasure Island and Harbor Island, those are mostly in design right now. Actually, they are in design right now. But for North Bay Island, there should be no impact from private property owners as far as any construction on private property.

Okay.

Thank you. All right. So working our way down to east. Right. So these two need to be removed. The east entranceway east sign and entranceway west sign, those were formally canceled through commission action in October, I want to say. So they're indefinitely on hold.

Basically, I'm going to jump in on this one as well. We recently had a meeting at FDOT. The mayor, myself, Frank, and Steve, which is Public Works, we all attended that meeting. And we are now discussing with FDOT what will be allowed as entrance signs, especially since we're going to be going in... 28, 29 into the rebuilding of the flat bridges by FDOT. We're talking about new medians. What can we put in the medians? How high? We need to leave the proper amount of space on the sides. So what we had in mind did not fit in whatsoever. We were going to spend all this money for something that was going to be actually destroyed because they're knocking down the bridges and they're knocking down the medians. I mean, they're rebuilding the whole village with a, I believe, I want to talk off the top of my head, we have not received a full PD&E yet, a six-foot increase in height in the bridges. So you need some space before and after each bridge for that increase that they're going to be doing on the top of the bridge. We were talking about railings. We're talking about safety for bicycle riders, separations, wider sidewalks. I mean, there's a whole complex of things that are going to be happening there, not related to the villages, strictly FDOT. So we decided to put the signs on hold till the design is made by FDOT and together and with their approval, we'll do the proper signage.

How big of signs are we talking about here that have this big of impact on stuff?

The last signs that were approved by the commission was when Mayor Latham was in office. It looked like a tall ice cream cone. I'm going to say over six feet tall. So when you came over the East Bridge, you could see it that said, welcome to North Bay Village. Then we wanted to do it bilingual or trilingual. They would not allow us to do it. Then it got interference with another piece of mechanics that's going to be coming into the village for speed control in the school zone. So one thing led to another. You can't put it in the middle of the median because we did not have enough space, especially on the east side of North Bay Village. We had to move it farther back in, closer to where Kennedy House is. You can't put it in the median because you can't obstruct traffic of oncoming traffic coming the other way. I mean, it became such a headache.

Yeah.

And we have these funds set aside and discussing, no, let's move it here. No, let's move it there. So basically, me and my big mouth said, hey, let's cancel this project. Let's talk with FDOT as soon as we can. We'll get it back on.

Personally, I would be a strong supporter of getting such signs up. I think as a relatively new resident in North Bay Village, I think that the mural that's on one of the buildings is awesome, really nice. That's one of the best branding, at least that I identified as a new resident.

Are you talking about the one in Grove on the Bay?

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Unfortunately, that one's coming down next year.

Okay, too bad. And then the second branding is the remote police signage we have, which I do like, right? Welcome to North Bay Village, heavy police presence.

But there's also a sign on that same wall where that sign is that says, Welcome to North Bay Village.

Must have missed it. Must have missed it. But those are the two things that I noticed as being new to the city, like the mural and the police warnings, which I do like. So these signs that you talk about here, when they come back on, that will be great.

You know, basically they have to go through Community Enhancement Board. They have to go through Design Redo Board. They have to go. through Sustainability and Resiliency Board and of course, Financial Advisory Board for approval besides the commission. Back to you, Roger.

All right. So moving ahead to the Civic Park. This is another project that's definitely on hold. I was pretty disappointed about this one. But the short version is that unfortunately we did not move fast enough to make use of some outside funding from the Florida Inland Navigation District. So that was basically a major source of funding for this project. Um, so I think that project, um, I'm sorry, that, that, that grant expired in October of this year, if I'm not mistaken. Um, at the end of October, so when we were really not in a position to to make use of that funding, and we were unable to also extend that grant. So unfortunately, this project is on hold. We will look for opportunities, any opportunity that there is to get the necessary funding to get this one going again. Okay. Um, we spent some time on the new village hall complex. So I'll skip ahead. You got the most recent, um, the newest news on that one from Frank, as well as the new community center. So, and these will be updated, like I said, and sent out and made available to the public. Um, as far as the status report, as far as stormwater, um, we for north bay island we recently in the last commission meeting actually um issued um actually awarded the contract to dmsi for the construction of phase one of north bay island stormwater improvements um and we are currently in also in negotiation with an engineering consultant to provide inspection services for this project. We also are somewhat, not on hold, but we're also looking into acquiring easement for our equipment that will basically power and control the pump station that is proposed to be installed as part of this improvement. Um, so that's, that's ongoing. Um, but we're making, we're making headways where this one is concerned. Um, For Treasure Island, we have two phases for the stormwater improvements that are currently in design. Phase one, which basically covers a small northwest portion of North Treasure Drive, then going south along West Treasure Drive, and then the southwest corner where West Treasure joins up with South Treasure Drive. Um, that project is ongoing. The design of that project is ongoing. Um, Christina is currently, you know, leading that effort. We're currently in, when we're, we're in active communication with a designer to get this one going. Um, one of the things that we recently, um, one of the efforts we've recently moved forward with EXP was to, um, prepare, um, prepare the roadway elevation profiles for that portion of the improvement. So EXP is currently working on that. They actually provide us with some mock-ups, which we are currently evaluating and will provide to the commission very soon for consideration. As for phase two.

Allow me to jump in on phase one for a second, Roger. There is a single family home that has recently been acquired, which is the first home on the southwest corner by the water, which is in the process of being deeded to the village by Sunbeam, where the pump station is going to be going in. That corner, for whatever reason, is the lowest corner of the whole village. And it's always flooding. So that we are paying a lot of attention to the neighboring area around there. We're going to have a passive park in that needed property and the equipment needed for the pump stations. We have to start by demolishing what's on the property as well now. But I mean, this is all in the planning stages that are happening as we're talking. I mean, they were deeded a couple of months ago or it was planned to be deeded, it was approved by the commission a couple of months ago. And they're in the legal process of deeding the properties. So that's what it looks like.

So just so I understand, just so I'm clear, Commissioner, We're talking about, you mentioned the southwest corner? Yes. Okay.

The corner of North Treasure Drive and West Treasure Drive.

Okay, right, right. That's what I thought. When you said southwest corner, I was like, I wasn't sure.

Northwest corner.

Northwest corner. Okay, all right.

Yeah, that's by Island Place, I think, right?

Right next door to Island Place.

That first house in that's on the water from Island Place.

Right. Okay. So we're making headway on that one. On both phases. Mostly with phase one. So... We also have applied for some additional grants to help fund phase one construction. So we're hoping that that comes through, fingers crossed. and that will help us move forward with construction on some, or spread out funding to other phases of the project.

I mean, we have a young lady who has now been with the village a while, or she's back with the village now, but has been with the village for a while, that knows the village very well, works very hard, and gets us a lot of money. Thank you to Lakeisha and Bell Tower Grants.

And I just want to, you know, take this opportunity as well, Commissioner, to shout out Christina, because she's also, you know, has an understanding of funding sources and has worked with folks in DEP to help identify funding sources for some of these projects. So big shout out to Christina.

Thank you, Christina. Yeah, thank you. These are some big numbers. Yes. Big numbers.

All right. Moving down to Harbor Island. Harbor Island is basically broken up into phase one and two. Phase one is actively in design, I should say. But full disclosure, of the three islands, Harbor Island is the one that probably is the lowest priority in terms of the stormwater improvements that are needed. But it's also, phase one is also the one that's probably the second closest to having the design 100% completed.

But Harbor Island is also our highest island as far as street level and lack of flooding.

Correct. For those reasons, yes. So we're currently working with Ribbit to finalize the phase one. We're very close on finalizing that. We do have the issue of the outfall for phase one and then also designing the seawall which basically is the same seawall that serves Civic Park. That seawall would have to be improved and the outfall relocated in order to serve the pump station that's proposed for Harbor Island. So that's currently ongoing. I don't know if, Christina, if you had anything you wanted to add to any of those three items, just... Since I have you on the call.

No, you've explained it perfectly. But I just want to say hi because I've never been on this meeting. So it's great to meet all of you. I serve as the Chief Resilience Officer for the city.

And she's a very welcome addition that we had recently. And one thing that has not been mentioned, but you're all aware of, hopefully, we have a $60 million GEO bond for stormwater that was approved a couple of years ago.

Okay.

So we have some funding for stormwater, but we're looking for grants always.

All right. All right. Thank you, Christina.

Thank you, Commissioner.

All right. So moving down. We have the Complete Streets Short-Term Improvement for Kennedy Causeway. This one is actually on the agenda for the commission agenda for award next week. We got two bids. The lowest bid was also the only responsive bid. So we're prepared to award that one to I think it's a Rango billboard and construction for this work. So we're looking forward to get this one underway.

So you know, the work is bus shelters. Five bus shelters on the causeway.

Right, five bus shelters and improved pavement markings. So they're doing some pavement markings as well.

And Commissioner Darrell will love you for that one as well.

All right. I'm really looking forward to getting this one going. This, I think, will be the first project that we're initiating that I'm overseeing from the beginning. So I'm very excited for this one.

Making a quick parenthesis here, the FAB board is relatively new, but I want you to know that Public Works Director Steve Buckland, CIP Director Roger Hogg, And CRO Christina Viella are relatively all three brand new with the village as well. I don't think they've been here a year yet. Any of them?

No, no, no, no. Steven and I started a month apart between March and April and Christina joined us in July.

So this is a great achievement that we have been able to accomplish thanks to these three individuals.

new blood great yep and looking forward to you know to a productive uh productive uh time here with the village Oh, I should mention that this project is also partially funded by DOT as well. So a lot of these transportation projects are, have, DOT has skin in the game and we report to DOT once a month as far as the, you know, report our progress with the projects as well as, you know, reviewing invoicings and funding and the use of those grants.

And this bus shelter program also, I know for a fact that Shoma, in their development agreement, has paid for a portion of the bus shelter that's going in front of their property. Continuum has also been generous in helping us pay for the bus shelters going near their property. So as buildings are popping up on the causeway, we're making sure that our partners in these buildings are helping us with all these improvements as well.

Right.

So, and... Sorry, Roger, there are some really nice bus shelters in Battle Harbor. I haven't seen it. I haven't been over there. Just say some really nice bus shelters. Next time you drive through there, have a look.

Okay. We'll do. We'll do. I also want to point out that I'm sure you've already noticed that, you know, with this report, you know, we try and include all the relevant information and the financial information is one of those things in the upper right quadrant. So we're constantly making sure that those items are correct and it's pulled directly from our capital budget.

Okay. Yeah, I was trying to do the math here. I couldn't really get it to balance, but maybe it is. Right.

Some of it isn't balanced because I really only put the outside funding sources. So it's really the stats report really, the important bit is the cost, right? Or what I really wanted to highlight is the cost. And if we have any outside funding, I also include that. So the balance of... um of those two totals would be what the village contribution is that will be coming from the village funding okay got you right um treasure island roadway resurfacing uh we're still This one is interesting. We returned to our design firm. This was actually had a completed design. And then we asked our design consultant to expand their scope of work. So originally the design only accounted for a portion for paving a portion of the roads on Treasure Island. But we reached out to Craven Thompson and asked them to to expand that scope to include paving, you know, a design for the repaving of all of Treasure Island, inclusive of the ones that were not in the initial scope of work. So we're waiting to, we're actually going back and forth with them on that work order amendment.

So is that across the island, all roads, or how?

Yes. It's just Treasure Island.

Okay, yeah, because I saw they were actually just around the corner from where I live on Buccaneer. They've already started to dig up some of the old pavement there, but maybe that is a separate project or just something else.

Yeah, I think that's, I'm not sure what that is.

That's TECO gas.

That's TECO, okay.

Yeah, TECO gas is in there with some line repair And then our code requires after they do their trenching, they have to repave the road 50 feet on each side of the trench. That's what's happening there.

Yeah, it's a limited area. So it was separate. Okay. That's what that is. Thank you. Yeah, that would be great for Treasure Island.

Yeah, it needs it. Yeah. Yeah. All right, so scrolling down to Baywalk Plaza North, that project is, we're actually preparing the drawings for bid. That one was on hold for a while. There was some conflict that needed to be resolved. Just so you know, the Baywalk North site is on the north side side of the causeway.

On the East Bridge.

On the East Bridge, right. Going over to Miami Beach.

By Bridgewater.

Yes. So it's a small site and there were a couple conflicts related to This project, the Baywalk Plaza North, as well as the Eastway entry sign that was recently shelved, and the DOT's upcoming school speed zone project for ties. So all of this was on hold for... several months while our consultant and DOT tried to figure out how best to make it all work. In the end, we ended up, the conflict was resolved by shelving the e-sign altogether. because the east side originally was supposed to be sited on the Baywalk Plaza North site. So we eventually, you know, this decided just didn't make any sense. This, you know, the monument site was really the source of a lot of the headache. So with that action, we were able to move forward with Baywalk Plaza North. Because some of the... The surveys that were done for this project had gone stale. They were over a year old. We have to redo some of the surveys. And then also DOT was moving forward with their school speed zone project ahead of us. So they're ahead of our schedule. And they're projected to begin construction for that project in January. after which we will, we're scheduling to move forward with the construction of this project as soon as DOT is out of that area. We're also reviewing their drawings to make sure that there's no conflict with the current design of the Baywalk Plaza North site. So we're working with all these stakeholders and partners to make sure that we stay out of each other's way. And We're in a good position with this one now. So Kimley Horne is finalizing, like I said, the bid documents. And while DOT is doing their work in the field, we will be preparing or we'll be out for bid for our project.

I mean, this project is part two of the Jetsons project. 2011 project, 2012 project. Basically, there is an East Plaza by Grandview Palace. I don't know how many of you have walked it, where we did a mural on the wall. This one is taking place on the west side of the bridge. And the idea is to connect both of these plazas under the bridge in the future. I have always opposed all three projects, but I am in the minority, so the majority of the commission in each one of the junctures has approved it.

Okay. Just a quick note about funding. This project is partially funded, again, by DOT. There was other funding for this project, I think, from FIND as well. I think from Florida Inland Navigation District to go towards this project. But like just as with the earlier project, I think it was Civic Park. You know, we were behind the ball on using the FIND, the funding, or excuse me, the grant funding from FIND. And so we ended up losing a small bit of outside funding, but we are still projected to be fully funded to complete this project.

I believe, I mean, jumping in on that one, I believe if we submit again to FIND, we have to do a whole new submittal. If we submit again to FIND, they may jump back in the project, especially since we're completing it. FIND has been very good with us. in many, many projects, same as FDOT. I can't complain. I mean, I do complain about them because that's my job to complain, but they have both been very generous in working with the village.

Yeah, we'll coordinate. I do intend to convene with Lakeisha to engage with fine and see if there are any opportunities to revive or if not revive, we wouldn't be revived, but... new funding opportunities. I should also mention for Baywalk North, one of the tasks that Kimley Horne has been given is to update the construction estimate. So along with the survey, the construction estimate that they had for this project is two years old. And as mentioned earlier, the cost of construction for everything is... has increased, so we definitely need to revise the construction estimate for this project. And I mean, honestly, that may change the calculus going in, but we'll see what Kimley Horne comes up with. Going down, scrolling down, This project, Steve is taking point on, and I think that, correct me if I'm wrong, Frank, but I do believe, I think this one has been not scuttled, but there was, I remember, I recall Steve saying that there is, we're not proceeding with this because there were some restrictions on the funding opportunities. You're muted, by the way. Frank, you're muted.

You're on mute, Frank.

Okay. Hey, what's the project? I can't read it.

Kennedy Crossway Median Beautification.

Yeah, there were some limitations on the funding that DOT was provided, right? Something to that effect.

So what's happened is that there were really two parcels in that. There is the beautification that we wanted to do originally was from the Pelican Harbor Drive eastward to the village, which is in the city of Miami. And we have a joint agreement with the city where we can do that. Problem is, FDOT came in and said, we don't want you doing any work in there because we're going to do the bridges. And we're going to have to do some elevation issues with the roadways as we approach those bridges. And we're not sure what we're going to do with the medians, how they're going to be treated. And we don't want to start putting trees and beautifying it just to have to rip them out. So they're still in the design phase of the bridge work. And then the previous administration thought it would be a good idea to also beautify just west of Pelican Harbor up to the Bastille Bridge that opens And so they said, yeah, you can do work in there. So that was modified to where we could work in that area. But now that we're not doing the other work, we're seeing if we can back out of this altogether. So at the meeting we had with FDOT, we brought up the situation of this and they were, you know, we didn't want to jeopardize turning down a grant and then jeopardizing a grant in the future because we turned one down, but they thought this was an exceptional situation and that FDOT was not letting us go forward on our side. So I think that's still in discussion, but our idea is that even though we've done a little bit of design work, if we can nip this one in the bud and not be detrimental to us for future grants, that we're going to do that. So we're waiting to hear back from them.

All right. Thanks, Frank.

And that basically concludes our CIP projects.

Right. Yeah, this one, yeah, the last one, we're seeking funding. So this one is, you know, this one is we're still on the funding side, seeking funding.

Getting the generator for the main water pump station.

Correct. Yes. Okay. Now there is one more major project, which we didn't really touch on because it sort of falls in the no man's zone. If things go well, we will close on this coming Monday on procuring a public works building. that, as you recall, we had to tear down the existing one to build the community center. And Public Works has been working out of a couple of trailers that are on the Grove-by-the-Bay lot, thanks to the gracious donation of lot space to us from Mr. Anson. So today, we're at the final point where I'm waiting to get the closeout statement from our attorneys so I can cut a wire transfer of money to the escrow account. And we'd be able to close on Monday. This Thursday, we're going to have a walkthrough with myself and the public works director and the chief of police. But this particular piece of property is located in the city of Miami, very close to us. And that was one of the requisites we had is trying to find a place that our people can work out of and get in and out of the village fairly quickly. There are places out in Hialeah, West Hialeah and Opelika. But when you look at the travel time, if you got to go back to the shop and get a piece of equipment and all that, you're going to lose hours just traveling in traffic. So this is a pretty nice building. It's an old building, but it's got good bones. It needs some TLC. But structurally, it's good. It's passed its four-year recertification just recently. So that's good. Structurally and electrically, it passed. And this is a just under $3 million purchase. It'll be purchased with stormwater money. It has been gone through our bond council. And it'll be the stormwater maintenance shop. in public works because a great deal of what the maintenance is that we do is for the stormwater systems. The sewer and the water are pretty well self-contained, but stormwater is an ongoing maintenance issue with equipment and so forth. So that's another positive note, being able to get a facility this close to the village. It's just barely west of Biscayne Boulevard and 71st Street. So it's really close to us to be able to get here. And so that's happening. And, you know, knock on wood, we'll get it done on this coming Monday if it all falls into place.

And that will also help us clear out the area where Village Hall is going to go under construction.

Yeah. You're right. Okay.

Do we also have any, I guess it's not mature enough to be a project per se, but I also know that on top of the property that we discussed in the northwest corner just by island place, Sunbeam also transferred the deed for this open project

space has not been transferred yet. Okay. We're in the process.

Okay.

But it's going to, at first it's all we're going to do is sod, uh, have water, uh, have it graded to be able to maintain our soccer program that we used to have at, uh, ties. So all the fields are completed at ties. They're going to be using that part. It's just going to be a plain open park with as little as expense as possible. Okay. We need to finish those two major projects. Yeah.

So why don't we, yeah, sorry, go ahead.

You know, basically we have to finish two projects.

Okay. Before we even start thinking about the alternative use.

Well, we can think, but I mean, a lot of people are getting on my case that we should finish the work on civic park. Civic Park is the front end of the dog park. As buildings start creeping up, we're going to see that we need to work also on the entrance of Harbor Island to maintain a proper flow of traffic. Not that I expected to increase that tremendously myself. We can have all these conversations forever and ever because this one is concerned about this area, the other one is concerned about the other area. we're looking at lighting for that field lighting for that area we realize that we are in dire need of lighting we're working with FPNL to see what they're willing to supply us with we're trying to do as much as we can without really going into our pockets okay sure I mean, Mr. Anson, besides leading us both sets of properties, the one on Violent Place and this one has given us a generous grant as well to re-sod and get it all that field leveled.

Okay. I should mention there are two other projects that are not on this report that will be on the new report. that will be published this month or this week, I should say. One of them is the soccer field right here on Pirates Alley.

That's the one we're talking about.

Okay, so that one, we're actually actively working on that one right now. Okay. And then there's also... the water and sewer assessment slash master plan that we are currently in negotiation with Ardura to perform. And that project will go hand in hand with our stormwater master plan in that it will inform the greater infrastructure needs of the village. with regards to, you know, water and sewer upgrades that have been needed. And then, you know, because the original stormwater master plan was conceived without concern for the rest of the village's infrastructure. And if we're going to, you know, to put it bluntly, and as Frank has several times, I'm going to borrow some of your words, Frank, it doesn't make any sense to, you know, to tear up the road doing stormwater improvements and not address the aging infrastructure beneath that. So we're looking into, not looking into, but we are actively working to address that as well.

Okay.

Great. Thank you.

All right. Liz, Sid, Marco, do you have any questions for Christina or Roger?

No, it was thorough. Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. All right. Christina, Roger, thank you so much for taking time out of your Tuesday evening to do this update. Really appreciate it. Very detailed. And thank you.

My pleasure. Thank you.

I will ensure that once we get the copy of the capital improvement projects, we get them quarterly, that they're also forwarded to the fab so you'll be able to follow all these projects along. And whenever you guys decide that you want to bring in, again, they're not consultants, they're actually employees or directors in to discuss the projects, I'll gladly schedule them.

Yeah. Okay. Great.

The other thing I'd like to bring up and I want you to think about, I'm not going to do it for the January 13th meeting, but I'd like to do it for the February meeting. I'd like to do a live meeting. The reason for a live meeting is all of you, except for Marco, are new. We don't know each other. It'd be nice to meet face-to-face. We can have a meeting at City Hall. We can bring some pizzas. We can bring some sodas. Have a meeting. I'm in for it.

I would love that.

You know, it needs to be recorded. That's why most of us are neighbors. And this is where we get to meet each other live and be able to interact with each other. If you all agree to it, I'll do it for the February meeting.

Absolutely.

That'll be virtual too. I know there's people. It'll be going out.

It has to be virtual, but Johnny can do it from the conference room on the third floor since it's only five members of them, myself, and somebody from staff. We all fit in there fine. And we can transmit it from there. It may not be the best transmission because it's done from an iPad, but we can do it.

No, we've done others from there. It works. Yeah.

Sounds good. Yeah.

So let's plan a live February meeting.

Yes. Sounds great. All right. Let's see what we have here. Next one is public comments. I don't think we have anyone else on. Anyone for public comments? No. Close that item. And then next one is discuss agenda items for next meeting January 13. Do we have any suggestions already now that we can take note of?

Basically, we have always had updates on ties and City Hall, which are the two main projects that everybody's was interested in the former board. So I will suggest leaving those two to continue. I don't know what other information. I mean, I know some of you have some ideas of twisting the board into being more active in the financial end of the village. I don't know exactly what you want me to provide. Not me, actually the village. but I'll be your conduit to getting it provided. Please let me know what it is that you want to do.

Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I think I kind of brought it up in the first meeting I attended. Maybe we can add a discussion item for next meeting where we can kind of maybe brainstorm a bit on things that we as a group could contribute with to the city, whatever that might be, and just have an open discussion.

And brainstorm.

And maybe even bring something into that meeting already. I have a few ideas in my head.

If you want to make them for the agenda, just make sure that they get transmitted to my software to Alba. Isabel is out right now. That's right. Don't say Isabel. But, you know, either one of us can get any items that you want added to the agenda. And, you know, we can add them.

Yeah. Okay. Sounds good.

And if you need something specific, if you want to see transfer of funds, if you want to know what money's come in, there will be, hopefully, now that Mike Day has a better control of the finance department, that's also a new change that took place there. There will be commission reports as to commission expenses. You have access to seeing the, for calling it such, the checkbook, all the checks that are written on a monthly basis in the finance. I mean, I'd like you to look into the finance index of the web. Look at it.

Mm-hmm.

And see if there's anything in there that you're interested in receiving updates on. Hopefully, Mike Day will be able to join us at that meeting. We'll also be able to talk more about the finance department.

Yeah.

And give you an idea of what finance really does. I mean, basically, this has been our first real meeting that we've had, all of us together.

Yeah.

What I consider the new board. And it was very constructive, thanks to Roger and Christina being here and explaining... So you all see that we're more than just ties and city hall. We're working on numerous items, and each one of the commissioners has their pet peeves and their pet projects. So just let me know what you want.

yeah and maybe we can collaborate over email the group uh just like i guess we tried to do previously on on suggestions for an agenda item just making sure we have them in in time then before the deadline yeah yeah let me add let me add one other thing um in our effort from the administration side to keep the commission more

up to date and in tune with the budgeting process as we move along during the year. So there's no surprises. We will be providing to them a quarterly report that shows by department where, not by line item, because that's just too much, but by department budget, what percentage of the budget has been spent at that period of time. and where we're at with what the balances are and what the expenditures have been. So you can start to see a trend on how we're spending the money out by department. So you'll see the department budget for the year, what the expenditures are for that current month, and where we are in relationship to what the overall budget is. And I think as a manager, I spend, a lot more time looking at that money than perhaps has been done in the past. And so we're, you know, we're holding people's feet to the fire with how we spend this money and that we don't, we don't go beyond these line items that have been set up and then just figure at the end of the year, people will fill in the blank. And the commissioner just spoke to that with the end of the year budget amendment. where they shuffle the money we had to to make us zero out. And then whatever's left, you know, goes back in the pot. Well, I'm looking to prevent having to have all these transfers. You got your budget. You're going to have to live within it. And, you know, there's going to be exceptions that are going to come up. There's going to be instances that we have to do something that we hadn't planned on. But then that will come through me. from the department director so that we have the reason for this happening. And then when that report goes to the commission and they see that, it'll be stuck right under their nose that we moved this money to do XYZ because we had no choice. So it's tight. I'm telling you, money is tight. And we're bird-dogging it. We've consolidated a lot of the stuff now. The office supplies, for instance, are all being now instead of every department going out and buying whatever kind of pen they want or this out of the other. It's centralized. Kitchen supplies have been centralized. So, you know, it's just the economy of scale, buying it in larger quantities and small. You know, it's just a little smarter way to how to spend our money, just like you probably do in your own home. We need to start doing that, too, because it's not a. bottomless pit of cash by a long shot.

Also, if you want, it's up to you individually, if you look at the agenda items, and I'm not asking you to look at the minutiae of the agenda, I'm talking about the consent agenda and the discussion items or the ordinances or The tail end of the agenda is I know the commission meetings are the most boring place. You're more than welcome to join us at any commission meeting. We like to have public. We never have public there. Most people go if they watch it via Zoom. But at the bottom of each item, you have what is budgeted for that project, what is being spent on that specific work on that project, and what is left. So we're keeping tabs as well and making sure that if a project does not have the funds to cover that, we have to find where we're going to get the funds. And we will have to discuss that openly at commission meetings now, not in June, July, August for September budget meeting.

Yeah.

A little tighter ship for right now.

Okay. Okay, good. So I think what I hear here is that for next meeting, then we have the update on the city hall again, and also update on the community center. And also look at having an update on the quarterly reporting that's being implemented. And also maybe an update on the finance department if MIT is able to join next time.

Right. And I got here to add a discussion item for the board on how the financial advisory board can contribute to the village's financial process.

Yes. Yes. Excellent point. Liz, Sid, and Marco, anything else you want to add or does it sound good?

No.

I look forward to the meeting in person just to meet everyone as well. And I think that in that one, you know, we probably have a different level of conversation. And if you want to meet Marco, go to any Heat Game, Panther Game, or the Open Game, he doesn't miss one. I'll be honored with everyone's presence.

All right. So next one is adjournment. So can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting, please?

Motion to adjourn.

Thank you, Marco. Do we need to second that?

No. Just take a quick voice vote. That's it.

Okay. Call the vote then, everyone. In favor, say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

And we're ending at 816. Motion passed.

Thank you so much, guys. Have a good rest of the evening. You as well. You as well. Have a great evening.