Village Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. I'd like to welcome everyone to the July 13th regular council meeting, Bell Harbor Village. Mr. Clerk, with the roll, please.

Mr. Roll call. Mayor Salver. Here. Vice Mayor Wolf. Here. Councilman Fremark.

Here.

Councilman Levy. Here. Councilman Sklar. Here. You have quorum. Thank you.

It's good to have everyone back here under one roof. We'd like to begin, well first, are there any requests for additions, withdrawals? Oh, sorry, the pledge.

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

Thank you. And happy belated July 4th. I know everyone who was in town really enjoyed the party. I certainly did. Before we begin, the day after July 4th is actually July 5th, which is the Venezuelan Independence Day. Fun fact, for those who didn't know.

I'd like to call upon... Do you want additions?

Oh, sorry. Let's do that after the moment of silence. I'd like to call upon the wife of Councilman Levy, who is a chaplain, Ariel Levy, to lead us in a moment of silent reflection for Venezuela.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having me. As we gather in service to our community, we pause to remember the people of Venezuela in the wake of the recent earthquakes. Let's take a moment of silence to pause before I move forward. For all those who are no longer with us and for all those who are suffering. We lift up all those who have suffered loss, uncertainty, and hardship, asking for your presence to bring comfort to the grieving, strength to the weary, and hope to those whose lives have been disrupted. We also hold in our prayers the many members of the Venezuelan South Florida community, including neighbors, friends, families, and colleagues who carry a deep love for their homeland and who may be watching these events with heavy hearts. Surround them with your peace, strengthen their spirits, and remind them that they are embraced by the care and support of this community. Grant wisdom and courage to first responders. medical personnel, volunteers, and leaders as they work to protect lives, provide relief, and guide their communities through recovery. Bless every hand that offers help and every heart that responds with compassion. May homes be restored, families reunited, and neighborhoods rebuilt with renewed strength. In times of fear and uncertainty, may the people of Venezuela find peace, resilience, and the assurance that they are not alone. as the Bal Harbor Village Council begins its work this evening, grant us wisdom, integrity, humility, and a spirit of service. May our deliberations promote the well-being of all those we are entrusted to serve. May our decisions reflect justice, compassion, and the common good. We ask these blessings in your name, God, and let us say amen. Thank you.

Thank you for that beautiful reflection. Request for additions, withdrawals, and deferrals?

Yeah, I'd like to pull C7A and put that on for discussion.

Okay, so that would be heard.

Mr. Mayor, we can probably take, normally we put that at the end of the agenda, but I'm pretty certain that when we hear from Gabe on our lobbying efforts, that may be a good time to just take it up since I'm sure that's a topic of his report anyway. Okay. So in this instance, I would suggest that normally it's at the end. Okay, fine.

And then all we would need to do, Mr. Mayor, is take comment before voting because it is before public comment. Right. Thank you.

Okay. So let's actually move into PA5 then, Government Affairs Update, Grace Manelisi.

Good evening, everybody. Gabe Greisman, 191 Bell Bay Drive. First, on the Venezuelan thing, I just want to say one word. There's so many people in this room that spend so much of their lives giving to the community. So it's very, very empowering when you think about the community we live in. I was thinking about Alejandro and the amount that he volunteers for the community, for people in Hatzala. And so many of those people in our community were very lucky to live here in tough moments. I'm thinking a little bit about Surfside, which makes me a little bit emotional, but thinking of that. So thank you for those words. Beautiful. And it happened on the same day. Crazy. Also related to the fireworks, sorry to take this. It was much better than Aventuras. Oh, yes. Okay. I've been told one, two doesn't count, right? Godfather two doesn't count. It's all about Godfather one. So the wheels on this are broken. Budget, the budget for those of you who followed the governor's vetoes, just quickly, most people, many people were not sure, nobody was really sure how the governor was going to approach vetoes. It's his last year, whether it would be vindictive, not vindictive. Well, who would he be going after? And it looked like really it was just more of the same, going through it with a fine-tooth comb. and pushing back on policies that aren't always that obvious. And he explained some, he didn't explain others. Just so you get an idea of the scope, it was a $117 billion budget at the end. There were $810 million line item vetoes, including many in the cities. But just some quick highlights, just so everyone understands. Some of the big things in the budget, there was a full repeal of the commercial rent tax. which is savings of over $2.7 billion annually. There's now a permanent back-to-school sales tax holiday, July 1st to August 20th. That's a big deal. Permanent status of the disaster preparedness tax holiday, which is September 1st. I'm sorry, which is July 1st, August 20th, September 1st to December 31st. Those of you who are Second Amendment folks, there's a firearm ammunition tax holiday, so there's lots of that. A lot of budget increase in education, K-12 funding, we've got $30 billion. I had to add that one in, come on. It went up to $9,338 per student. It was $1.56 billion for teachers, salary increases. Economic growth and infrastructure, 4.9 billion in highway construction and maintenance. Just so you can understand what that means, it's 181 new miles of lanes. $1.4 billion to resurface, 2,622 lane miles. That's a lot around the state of Florida, a big increase there. $80 million for marketing to visit Florida, which I know impacts a little bit of what we do here, directly or indirectly. Pay increase for law enforcement. sworn state law enforcement officers got pay increases, so did the firefighters, and they continued the program six years now in a row of recruiting bonuses to try to bring people in without having to affect the rest of the calculus. A big year for environment, also $1.2 billion for Everglades restoration and water quality, $396 million for water quality improvements around the state, We were talking about algae blooms, Buzzy, the 23 million, which isn't, it's a lot, but it's not a lot for the algae blooms, the blue and green algae and the red tide that we see on the West Coast, and a bunch more. On health and human services, lots of money for research this year, 127.5 for Casey DeSantis Cancer Research Program, just has her name on it, she came up with the program, 70 million for Cancer Innovation, 30 million for Cancer Connect, $5 million for neurofibromatosis research, which I was involved in an effort that's very important to me personally and to 1 in 2,000 people in the country. What was cut? Just a quick view of what was cut, which is relevant to us. Again, $810 million in line item veto. South Florida, we had more than $95 million cut. were vetoed of locally requested appropriations. Miami-Dade County was the biggest entity. The entity that had the most cuts, Miami-Dade County, $55.3 million of money in the budget for the county was cut. Broward had $20 million, Palm Beach $19.4 million. The biggest veto was $5 million for the Catholic Security School funding, which the governor spoke about. It was surprising to see him veto that. He came out and showed the numbers on security because there was also a huge increase on security for Jewish schools. And we know the governor is not Jewish, but he went through the numbers and explained how he wanted to put money in front to protect the Jewish students given the number of anti-Semitic attacks that they have. versus the issues in the Catholic community. I'm not saying if it's right or wrong. We can have a conversation over drinks on it whenever you'd like. But it's interesting to look at. Also, things that are similar to ours that got cut. Golden Beach had a storm drainage pump conversion that was vetoed. So it was $750,000 tree planting for a stormwater project that they had there as well. Flood mitigation vetoed in the city of Miami. On and on and on. Ours was approved. We had only one item in the budget. We had two items this year in the legislature. One of them made it to the budget. The other one was the jetty, some more money for the jetty project. This is the Camden Drive Sanitary Sewer Replacement Program. We got $748,188. Spoke to the governor's team about it the week before. Spoke to them two weeks before. They said we're getting to municipalities next week. Spoke to them the following week, both to the chief of staff and to the budget chief. And it's really a reflection of the hard work of the Ball Harbor team. I mean the staff, the Ball Harbor staff, because the project was exactly the kind of project they wanted to fund, right? It was partially funded by the municipality. It was a replacement for a sewer. Exactly what they want to see, which I think we'll get more of. I spoke a little bit about the anti-Semitism in education, $2.3 million for the Florida Hillel Jewish Student Safety Initiative. pairing campus security with anti-Semitism education, $15 million more for security guards and transportation safety for Jewish day schools in a grant program. I'm sure you'll all be getting calls on that. And then funding for Holocaust museums and also the Hate Crime Research Center at the University of Florida that's focusing primarily on anti-Semitism. So that's a quick report on the budget. There's a memo that was sent around, sent to Dwight. Sorry, somehow I didn't get to you guys. But it just sort of summarizes what you have here because it's a big budget to try to understand what was there and what wasn't there. If it's okay with you, I'll shift quickly to tomorrow's Miami-Dade County meeting. Mayor, is that okay? Okay, so we've been working with Buzzy. with the county and with Beach Raker to try to figure out the sargassum issue and see what can be done. I can report that we had a very lively meeting with our telephone meeting, but with all the parties involved, the county with our city represented by buzzy and ramiro and myself and with the beach raker folks really to understand first and foremost what is actually being done well it's committed to have been done are they meeting those commitments what else is happening in the county and what else can we be doing And I'm not going to speak on behalf of Councilman Sklar. He can speak for himself on it. But we reached several conclusions on it. One, I don't know if there was clarity or not because I wasn't at that meeting on what the extra funds were for with Beach Raker. It's a little outside my scope, but just so you understand the conversation on the remainder of our beach. But the remainder of our beach outside of the hotspot is being ground and buried. It's not being removed. That's something to discuss. I think it's your next agenda item, right, to discuss. And the question really is how can we remove more and more often. It's not as easy as it seems because the water is full of it and we're not allowed to touch the sargassum in the water. By the way, our bay was full of sargassum this entire week. If you walk over this bridge, you would see it. You almost couldn't traverse it in certain parts. I've been working with our Miami-Dade County Commissioner I'm pushing her to, you know, this has to be a group effort with ultimately the state, the Department of Environmental Protection, but also the county. You know, it's not just a one entity thing. That doesn't mean we can't do it. We have to put continuous pressure, which was the plan two months ago when I stood before you. And to give Commissioner Steinberg credit, she came up with an idea, which is going to be heard tomorrow in committee. I'll be there with the mayor at 1030. The mayor will be speaking on behalf of the city in support, unless something changes. And what she's bringing is it's a resolution directing the county mayor to coordinate with DEP to seek modification of the field permits relating to mechanical beach cleaning. that's the permits that allow the cleaning to happen, to grant the county discretion to select additional Sargassum hotspots to include within the scope of said permit as needed, whenever feasible, and most importantly, without further approval from FDEP. So it'll allow the county to say, because what we want to do today If you're asking like what can be done today, the first thing that can be done today, in my opinion, is an expansion of the hotspot. The hotspot is the area where you're allowed to actually pick up the seaweed and remove it. And it's paid for by the state or the county and then reimbursed by the state. So instead of going, one idea would be to go to the state. together, all of us, the cities and the county, and say, let us do this. This is the process that our county commissioner wants to take, and I think it's a great process. So step one, get the county commission to approve. the county mayor which is the administration to go to dep then we along with miami beach which is the other most affected city i've spoken also with eric carpenter the city manager there on behalf of ball harbor and the mayor formally on this and everybody's in support of these efforts to do it together they have the exact same issues they want to expand the hot spots it's the only way that they can see to resolve the problem the other item and then i'll be quiet i promise is uh tomorrow morning we were asked by commissioner Steinberg, for our support, the Ball Harbor support on this item. There's a new law that passed this year that permits cities and municipalities and the counties to regulate whether boats can stay overnight in the water. It's for boats that are, you see the sailboats that are moored or anchored. Councilman Clark was educating me on mooring versus anchoring, but that are out in the water for a long time. And the problem with the way it's set up, it's great. That's a good thing. Because right now, we couldn't regulate it before today, before this year. But the problem, of course, is there's 34 municipalities in Miami-Dade County, and there's unincorporated Dade County. So if every municipality has a different rule on it, then the boats that are in North Bay Village, they're the first ones that are probably going to outlaw it. They'll just move south or north, right? They'll just move. So it makes more sense to have a countywide. Their proposal, if I'm not mistaken, I thought I had it in front of me. I don't. I apologize. It's no more than 60 days outlawed. for every six-month period. So you can be there. You can spend some time there. They have to balance. There's lots of regulations around it. So she's seeking our support tomorrow. And from my perspective, my recommendation is whatever the county does, we should support that the county is making a countywide regulation. Could it be a little different here or there? Sure. But for us as a municipality, as a small municipality, it's great for the county to have a countywide regulation on it. And that's all I have for you. If you have any questions, I'll stay around maybe for this next item.

Yeah.

Does that make sense?

Great. Yeah, we'll hear from you. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Okay, so Mr. Clerk, can you read C7A? C7A.

The resolution of the Bell Harbor Village urging Miami-Dade County to take all actions necessary and inclusive of working with the state of Florida to designate the entire shoreline of Bell Harbor Beach as a designated sargassum and seaweed removal hotspot and to advocate for additional regional removal sites and coordinated response efforts to address the growing and ongoing impacts of sargassum accumulation on local beaches, which are impacting the environment and quality of life along the coast in Miami-Dade County, providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Mr. Manager?

Mr. Mayor, thank you. This item is kind of in line with what you just heard from Gabe Graceman and similar to a resolution that the City of Miami Beach passed last month when we both are urging Miami-Dade County to expand the areas that they're addressing. In this instance, we're focusing on our shoreline, the entirety of it, and saying that it all is an emergency condition and all should be considered a hotspot. As you heard from Gabe, this item or an item is on the county's agenda tomorrow relative to trying to secure the ability to do that and expand the hotspot. The dollars will then have to be discussed, but at least first thing is enabling legislation that that the county can secure that from the state so that they can address it at a local level and not be stuck with a regulatory body in Tallahassee trying to determine those things. As you know, this year, or maybe you don't, but this year is by far the biggest year so far as they've been recording it. There is no doubt that it is a serious condition out there, and whatever it is that's being done clearly is not enough And so what we need to do is continue the advocacy to make sure that we can expand the space that gets collected and expand the resources that get allocated to this so that we can, you know, get a better outcome. The reality is, and I've talked to Councilman Sklar on many occasions, the reality is the solution out there probably hasn't been developed yet and we need to really explore those solutions and encourage i know that the state is looking at innovations i know the county tried that a couple years ago if anybody can come up with a silver bullet this is a really good opportunity to go to shark tank with it and you know try to get some seed funding but um what this item does is really target it at what's happening tomorrow right so okay

Okay, I guess, yeah, Buzzy.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So first of all, Gabe, thank you so much for all of your help on this. It's really appreciated. Just to give a little education, when we say hotspot, that's the first 800 feet from the jetty, 800 feet. So that basically only covers the area of the Ritz. That's the only area right now where we're actually removing the sargassum. The rest of the beach, which, again, I think, I can speak for myself and I think a few other members of the dais. When we hired Beach Raker to take care of the rest of the beach, we had to give them a year contract. We budgeted the $250,000. I think all of us, at least myself, were under the impression we were going to get the same level of service. that we were receiving in the county paid hotspot, which was removal. Literally until the call that I was on last week did I find out that it was not even close to the same level of service. It was basically churning and burying. So churning and burying does us no good because the sargassum still sits there. It still deteriorates. It still smells. And the worst part about it, it gives off noxious fumes that are a health hazard. So I know in the building I live in, you cannot walk through the halls, walk into the garage without having that smell of noxious sarcasm. So a couple of things. The county actually cut back its budget by 25% on sarcasm removal. So that's step one. So hopefully they'll be able to repurpose those funds back in for that. Secondly, hopefully this resolution does help move the needle where we can extend that hotspot more than 800 feet to cover much more of our beach. Thirdly, we have to figure out a way with Beach Waker because at this juncture, the sargassum is so high, they're not even burying it. It's impossible to do it right now. They cannot go over it and bury it and churn it, which again... I didn't even know we were paying for that. And lastly, I would suggest going to the state and potentially the federal government for some sort of state of emergency. I mean, this is now not just something where our beach is not being pretty because that really doesn't matter at this juncture. It's now truly a health hazard. And when something becomes a health hazard, we really have to elevate it and escalate it as high as we can possibly go. So that is what I would suggest even beyond this. You know, we've seen state of emergencies for things that weren't even – quite as big of an emergency as this. But when things become a health and safety hazard, we really need to try and escalate this as much as we possibly can. So, thank you.

Did you want to add something, Gabe?

Just quickly, I wanted to mention, right now we're basically without a congressperson in our district because of the redistricting. But in a few months, we're going to have a perfect person, no matter who wins, to be able to advocate for us on the federal level, also to see if we can go into the waters. Because the new District 25 is basically a beachfront district. It goes from Miami Beach to Delray. So this is an issue that's like squarely in could be put squarely in front of whoever the new member of Congress is. Luckily, we have good relationships with both leading candidates on the Democrat side and on the Republican side. So whoever it is, I think will be well situated as a municipality. But I would say when that person gets sworn in at the end of this year, that that's the first thing that we speak about as a group about going up to Washington. maybe along with Miami Beach, maybe along with the county, or on our own if we have to, it's fine, to advocate for federal solutions.

I agree, Gabe.

I wouldn't do it before then because it'll feel great.

We'll get a great photo op, but nothing will happen. We don't care about photo ops. We care about action. And we literally have this conversation, I think, this time every year. when we're overwhelmed, and we always say, you know, and again, I always say I'd rather be proactive than reactive, and unfortunately, here's another year where we're trying to be reactive, and we really have to figure out a way to get out in front of this as much as humanly possible, because it gets to this point where it becomes unmanageable.

Okay, we're going to open up for public comment in a second. Any questions from council?

I have a follow-up tip for Gabe, too, that I thought about. Gabe, I'm When we took this action back in January, another thing that was happening at the same time had to do with the county's procurement process, the contracting with Beach Raker, and a significant reduction in the budget for that. And we also tried to see if there was a way for us to get that restored. I know that Commissioner Steinberg was engaged. I know you were going to get engaged. Has that happened yet? Is that still in the books? We'll find out tomorrow.

So I'll just say my understanding of it, just with that caveat. But my understanding is when they put the contract out to bid again on the county, there was another company who came in and under bid. Beach Raker and I think they initially might have won even the first vote or maybe the recommendation but upon further examination according to people at the county that I spoke to they realized the level of service was a lot less and that's why that's why they were able to give a lower price even still once the commissioners heard a lower price They pressed Beach Raker to meet that price to be able to resolve the dispute. Caveat, it's a public meeting. This is what I understand to be the case. I'm not sure it's alleged.

As per our meeting last week, we were told it's going to be restored. We were told that it's going to come back. But as per our meeting last week when we had with them, it was still 25% less that has not been restored as of yet.

Okay, but to be clear, in our meeting with Beach Raker, Beach Raker told everyone that was on the phone that they did not reduce their service. Their level of service. Their level of service. Whether it's the case or not, I'm just telling you that's, to be fair, what they said. Right.

Okay.

But we'll find out tomorrow in the county what the status is of it. And point of privilege, if we can do a resolution for Argentina's victory this week against England, I think that would make a lot of people in our municipality happy.

Okay. A public comment? Patricia Cohen? I got you.

7-5 Collins this is a subject matter that's very close to my nose because I live beachfront and I'm really even in my apartment it smells but what I wanted to say is I spend a fair amount of time looking at it and analyzing it and now because it's really it is dark it's very very dark and dark brown this year but It's not just removing it. More comes. Like at the end of the day now when I went home after work, it's even in the ocean. So like maybe 100 feet out. It's all on the surface right by the jetty. But then afterwards, underneath, you can see darkness all the way out. So no matter how much we remove, this is a... This is a climate-related issue or a current. And other years, we've had the current that helps us because it comes in and it takes it away. For whatever reason, this year, it's just not moving. It's stagnant. And no matter how many beach rakers you have on the beach, it's in the water. Are we going to hire a boat to pull it out of the water? No, seriously.

It's in the water. Federal protection.

So therefore, it's just a band-aid. It's just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic, the deck chairs. I mean, it's really – what I'm trying to say is I'm not trying to come up here and be a Debbie Downer, but it's a much bigger problem than a few hundred thousand dollars or having two more hours a day or three more hours a day. It's going to come back. We just have to wait until the season is over. It's devastating for our tourism, but at least for the meantime, the Ritz Carlton is closed. So we can look on, we can, not so much damage in here. Thank you.

Rahab.

Rahab, going to a bad for drive. When Beachwick was here, I think one of the reasons that we gave him a contract was because the county had reduced the stuff and And that's one of my things that I always, my pet peeve is when somebody comes and gives a report, allow people to ask questions. Because after it, I ask, do you churn and bury? No, no, no, we pick it up. That churning thing doesn't do anything. You're paying for basically diddly squat. And it has to be forward thinking because as the world climate's getting warmer, there's going to be more. And as they die, it just gives out. And he said it's not healthy. Yes, because it's giving out methane gas. Once something disposes, that's what it gives. Somebody comes up with gathering them and use them as a fuel or gas things or whatever, maybe it works. But anything that can be done because it's not slightly, it's not healthy, it's... I think we should figure out a couple hundred thousand here and there. We've got to be trying to figure out a new way. Maybe we'll put nets, maybe whatever, like a fishing boat. I don't know what has got to be done, but it has to be more comprehensive than we already have.

Okay.

So to that point, George can attest to this, a few years ago we met with a company and actually we had the ritz involved about providing what's called a boom technology. The boom technology basically is, it's about a foot high, it floats on top of the surface, and it keeps it off the beach. These guys were very gung-ho. We actually got the ritz to pay for a very big chunk of this. And all of a sudden, the company that we were dealing with, we had it probably at the five-yard line. disappeared, dropped the ball once we told them, hey, go to DEP, go get permits, go make it happen. We're fully behind it. George and I actually just spoke the other day about trying to revive some of these talks with like companies for next year. Again, I want to try and be as proactive on this as possible as opposed to reactive because every time we're reactive, we get bit by it. So I agree wholeheartedly.

So any further public comment? Seeing none, I'm going to close public comment. Any further questions or comments from council? Seeing none, is there a motion? I'll make a motion. Okay. Is there a second? A second. It's been moved and seconded. Voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. All those. Okay. Passes unanimously. Sorry, we jumped around a bit here. So PA2 is going to be deferred. Mr. Franco, unfortunately, couldn't make it today. I'm going to now pass over to Councilman Levy for PA3. Thank you, Mayor.

So it's a few times in... in life that you have an opportunity to present something that really means a lot. New Zealand's a city, in a personal way as well, and I see that as a village, we should be very proud of this foundation. It's led by Sheila. I met her six months ago something like that and she will tell the story better than me but i will read from the proclamation that is for your foundation then you can say a few words okay of course thank you so about harvard village proclamation do i read the whole thing whatever you want All right. Bahá'u'lláh Village Proclamation, where July is recognized worldwide as Disability Pride Month, commemorating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and honoring the dignity, rights, and contribution of people with disabilities. And whereas Yen Foundation, funded by Balhar Bolesi and Sheila Grashinsky, promotes inclusion, education, communication, access, participation, and the quality of life of people with neurological and motor conditions and their families. And whereas She transformed her son Ian's experience of exclusion into a public mission to help children, families, schools, and communities better understand disability through empathy, education, and action, and whereas the foundation work focuses on disability inclusion, anti-bullying, education, communication access, family support, assistive technology, and the creation of education tools, and Whereas the foundation animated short film, Ian, inspired by the true story of a young person with a cerebral palsy, has reached more than 22 million viewers, received 78 international awards, appeared in more than 100 festivals, and was officially shortlisted for the 2018 Academy Awards. And whereas the work of EN Foundation reflect the values of Pearl Harbor Village by advancing compassion, education, accessibility, community, engagement, and respect for the dignity of every person. Now before we proclamate that the Mayor and Village Council of Pearl Harbor Village hereby recognize and commend Sheila Graczynski and the EN Foundation for the meaningful work and advancing disability inclusion, education, communication access, and support for children and families living with neurological and motor disabilities. And just before we present this to you, Sheila, I just want to say that one of the things that Sheila is doing is she's doing a documentary with Amazon Prime. And part of the documentary is going to be filmed here in the village of Fall Harbor. And thank you, Chief Riley, for helping with that and to Sylvia and all the staff for that. So, Sheila.

Let's go take a picture. On the count of three, one, two, three. One, two, three.

Okay.

Well, first of all, good evening, mayor, council members, and everyone here tonight. Thank you so much for this incredible honor. Receiving this proclamation during Disability Pride Month makes it even more meaningful. It reminds and shows us how important it is to bring visibility to disability and to create a society where every person is respected, included, and given real opportunities. A little over a year ago, my family and I left Argentina and moved to the United States after I received a green card in recognition of my work with the Ian Foundation. It was an extraordinary honor, but it also brought a great challenge starting over in a new country with a big family and with my son Ian, who has cerebral palsy. We decided not to let fear define our future. Instead, we chose hope. We chose to continue the mission we began 14 years ago in Argentina when Jan showed us that path. Through the Ian Foundation, we created an animated short film about disability, bullying, empathy, and inclusion. It became one of the most widely viewed educational short films about disability around the world, reaching millions of families and being used in schools across the United States and many other countries. The short film became the beginning of something much bigger. It inspired us to develop a complete educational program with books, printed and digital material, classroom activities and teacher guides, helping thousands of children learn about inclusion in a meaningful way. Our work also includes supporting families, promoting innovative therapies and technologies, creating new opportunities for children and young people with disabilities. Since arriving in South Florida, we were able to bring one of the world's most advanced pediatric exoskeletons, allowing more than 20 children and their families to experience this life-changing technology. For the very first time, seeing those children standing, smiling, and taking steps remind us that innovation only matters when it reaches the people who need it most. One of that families and children was my own son. We really thought that that technology could help us and we went and tried to get it. Now we have it here in the country and we are trying to share it with our families and creating programs to teach therapists. Moving here has also allowed me to experience this challenge from a different perspective, not only as the founder of the IAN Foundation, but as IAN's mother. Every day I discover incredible opportunities, but I also see needs that are still unmet, especially for children and young adults with motor disability. IAN has always been my greatest inspiration. and the driving force behind everything we have built. He continues to inspire me to build here, just as we did in Argentina, creating more opportunities, more inclusive spaces, and a better future for every family. I believe that Hashem, the universe, or whatever greater force each of us believes in, sometimes guide us toward opportunities we could never have imagined. And here in Valhalla, that became a reality. Just a few months after arriving, we were already making on new educational materials and on a beautiful project to transform our animated short film into a future film, allowing this message of inclusion to reach even more people around the world. For many years, I have dreamed of continuing Young Story because I truly believe stories have the power to change hearts, and when hearts change, community changes. Starting over in a new country is never easy. The first opportunities, the first recognitions, and the first open doors give us the strength to keep moving forward. This proclamation is much more than an award. For me, it is a reminder that we are on the right path. and an encouragement to keep building, creating, and serving this community. I embarrass this new chapter with hope, gratitude, and the conviction that together we can build a world where every child is seen, included, valued, and given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Thank you, Valhalla. Thank you, Alejandro, for this meaningful recognition. Thank you very much. I'm sorry for my English.

Okay, our next presentation is not on the agenda for obvious reasons. For those that do not know, tonight is a little bittersweet because it is our village clerk for the last 11 years, Dwight Daney's last meeting. So let's give him a round of applause. So Dwight, we couldn't ask him to do his own proclamation. I think that would have been a little strange.

So here's the top secret proclamation. And you're like, can I get the seal? I'm going, what is that for?

So I'm going to read this. Certificate of appreciation. Be it known to all who bear witness that this highest honor which may be bestowed is awarded to Dwight S. Dainey, the village council, and your coworkers wish to express our sincere thanks and gratitude for your over 11 years of dedicated service to the village and to the community of Bell Harbor. Your knowledge and commitment to excellence have long inspired all of us and will be remembered for years to come. We all wish you good health, happiness, and continued success in your retirement. And it's signed... has all of the employees' names and it's signed by the entire council. So I hope that you have a nice place in your home to put this up so you can remember us all. And then as mayor, I'm also taking the privilege and presenting Dwight with a key to our city. So a key, the meaning behind it is that we're giving you the key so you can always come back and visit. You don't need a knock or call. So we hope that we'll be seeing you one way or the other. We really appreciate the dedication you've showed to this community, to this role. And we've been very fortunate to have you here with us for these past 11 years. You leave big shoes to fill. We wish you well. Thank you. We wish you well in your retirement. Enjoy the time you have now. And think of us all in Bell Harbor.

I'm not going anywhere.

Yes. So let's take some pictures with Dwight.

All right.

Come.

Wait. Tell me about these things. All right, one, two, three. One, two, three.

So, back to regular scheduled programming. PA4, Parks and Recreation Month Department Update.

Mr. Mayor, Sylvia comes up. This is our update for activities that took place in our Parks and Recreation and Arts and Culture Department. We'll always remember it. And Sylvia's here. She'll walk you through and give you all the highlights and then kind of a preview of what's to come. Been very active.

Thank you, Mr. Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council for having me here tonight. I appreciate the opportunity. I'd just like to provide an update on the Recreation Arts and Culture Department. I'll briefly cover some improvements for resident access, recreation programming, facility rentals, events, communications, and some other departmental accomplishments. Everything we do is centered around improving quality of life for residents and at the same time working to position Bell Harbor as a cultural destination through high quality programming and partnerships. Every new initiative this year supports one or both of those goals. An overview on all access cards. We continue to have strong participation in the program. The biggest numbers are adults and seniors, as you see from here. These numbers are from as of June 10th. We did have a big influx of requests for renewals and cards leading right up to 4th of July, so those numbers aren't in here. We're still working to process a lot of those, but I'm sure at my next update in December, you'll see some increase in those numbers. One of the things I wanted to highlight is that this year we were able to implement the addition of the 102 beach access to the all access card. So to really provide a seamless way for residents to have one card that they can take with them that can get them into the park, get them into the 102 beach access point, and also get them into the museums. So they can use that card for everything. This slide shares with you an overview of adult participation, I'm sorry, participation via all the demographics for last year compared to this year. And you can see very clearly we've seen an increase in participation across all of the age groups. This reflects our strategy. We're intentionally expanding programming for every generation and targeting those programs that interest residents that they want to see. This gives you an overview of participation compared to activities offered. And that blue line is the number of activities offered each season. Those gray columns are participation numbers. And you'll see that although the number of activities is coming down, participation is increasing. This is because we're fine-tuning and honing in on what are the actual programs that the residents want to see and want to participate in and are signing up for. So this year we introduced several new programs. Toddlers, we had Art and Sensory, Tiny Tumblers, Todd's Musics. A lot of these were sold out throughout the year. Youth programs, Art for Youth, Hip Hop Dance, STEM, adult programs. We introduced technology classes, which the residents have really enjoyed. We're doing those one a quarter. And we recently were able to procure a Mahjong instructor, which we started right at the end of spring and really gained a lot of popularity. So people are really asking for it. We're getting ready to start again in the fall. So a little bit about facility rentals. This kind of gives you an overview of last October through June compared to this October through June. So you'll see the number of rental days increased, the amount of revenue collected increased, the average revenue per rental day also increased. So we're seeing a steady demand for usage while also still preserving the facility primarily for resident use. I included in the presentation our events calendar. I'm not going to go through all of them because there's a lot. But, you know, as you see, you know, we continue our Full Moon Yoga, our Sounds by the Sea concert series, our movies, our Bespoke series, which we started in the fall, which is a crafting series that we host at the park. We have Beyond Bell Harbor, which is the cultural excursions where we take them out to either a venue or destination. We recently did the Jungle Queen dinner cruise. So lots of different activities for our residents and hotel guests to participate in. We continue expanding our partnerships with museums, the cultural organizations. Miami Film Festival, we recently partnered with them for the Devil Wears Prada right before 4th of July. So all of these partnerships really allow us to provide unique experiences and distinguish Bow Harbor from our surrounding communities. So there's a lot. I'm not going to like name each one. I'm going to go right into Independence Day. So Independence Day by numbers. Hopefully you all know we had a whole week of activities leading up to this. We hosted our silver screen with Miami Film Festival for Devil Wears Prada. We did our sunlit palette workshop on the Wednesday with Mocha. We did an unscripted art tour to the Museum of Miami to see the Freedom Plane exhibit, which was really incredible. We just got a lot of great feedback the entire week, all of the activities. Everything was sold out. Everybody really enjoyed. And then we worked up to our Independence Day celebration. So it was a great evening. I hope everybody was here, those of you who were here. I hope you enjoyed it. A great turnout. The weather worked in our favor. We had over 1,400 attendees, and 19% were hotel guests. And, you know, that's because we check them in. So when they come to the tents and check in, we either know that they're a resident or they show us their hotel confirmation. And last year we were around, I want to say 8% or 9% was last year. So the hotel numbers are definitely increasing. Right. So moving on to communications. So our department also handles all communications, printed, collateral, email, website, social media, Instagram, Facebook, and X. We recently hit 2,000 followers on Instagram. So we're excited about that. We're continuing to push that engagement. We had just, I don't know if all of you remember, but we had just opened the Village Instagram in May of 2023. So it was like shortly after I started. So it's been a few years. So we're working up the numbers on that. Text notification through the wireless emergency notification system, hurricane season, all of those notifications, meetings with the property managers goes through our department, obviously in partnership with the police department working through all of that, special projects and community outreach. So social media, we saw a 15.9% increase from the same period last year. I mentioned that we recently passed 2,000 followers. Email distribution. Total email campaigns was 217. Our open rate here is incredible, which is great. It's obviously our users are engaged. They're wanting to see. So we have a 52% open rate. That's 1% higher from last year, and it's 20% higher than the industry average. So really great. And then our clicks are 2%, which is 1% higher than the industry average. And so then, highlights. Just want to share some department highlights. I mentioned the bespoke series. So we hosted four different events this year, the painted plate, the sewing workshop for youth, the signature set in February, the crafted candle in May. Almost all of those were sold out. Beyond Bal Harbor, we launched that quarterly excursion. We did the Wiz. We did Fairchild Botanical Garden, the Jungle Queen Dinner Cruise. All of those also sold out. So Double Doge Sword, it's great, obviously, because people are enjoying, but they want more. So we're trying to see how we can either accommodate more, get a second bus, different things like that. We brought services to Bal Harbor, so the mobile licensing services, the mammogram bus, the blood drive, installed the coffee station at the park as a community amenity where visitors can enjoy and connect with their friends and neighbors. The first floor restrooms, all three units, well, not all three, three units on the first floor have been converted to fully manual to meet the needs of the community. I talked about the 102 beach access gates already. During this past year, we also added additional shade and seating throughout the park, around the playground, as well as the basketball court and the yoga deck. And then we've spoken about, everybody knows, we launched the opening of the fitness center in January, installed equipment in there, has been seeing a lot of usage. It continues to grow in popularity, seeing a lot of people coming. had some requests for some additions for equipment, so we're collecting that information and we'll compile that and work on making some additions. And that is what I have to present to you. I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Okay, thank you for that, Sylvia. Consent agenda? Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

I'll make it. I'll second.

It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed, none. Passes unanimously. There are no ordinances this week, this month. Resolution R7A. Mr. Clerk.

Resolution of the Village Council of Gallard Village, Florida, determining the proposed millage rate and date, time, and place for the first budget hearing for fiscal year 2026-27 as required by law, directing the Village... Village Clerk to file said resolution with property appraiser of Miami-Dade County and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Mr. Manager? Mr. Mayor, thank you. Is there... Let me have a clicker, Brian, or... You've got it? You want me to do it? Okay. So, Mr. Mayor, as you know, every year in July, as part of our budget process, we're obligated by state statute to approve a tentative millage. And so this item is that. Are we firing it up?

Okay.

So... Closing that out, and go to page one. A lot of this you've seen before, so I'm not gonna bore you with it, but again, we try to give you a, you know, this is not the beginning of our budget process. This is a process that begins much earlier, including in February when we meet together as retreat. We get a lot of priority policy direction that works its way into the budget. We go through and deal with a lot of the different committees that we work through getting information from whether it's our budget advisory, our resort tax, and the residents from the security and landscape. And then in June and July, we have some pretty important milestones in this process. June 1 is when we receive the property appraiser's initial preliminary tax roll. That gives us a sense of what the property values incremented from prior year to this year. And then in July 1, we get the final figure, and that's what we then base our budget on. And so no later than the end of July, every municipality in the state of Florida is required to set its tentative millage. At the same time in July, we set the tentative assessments for our security and landscape and our solid waste. You did that at your last month's meeting. Again, once today is done, assuming you approve what's suggested or whatever you decide today, it sets the cap that will be printed in our trim notice, our truth and millage notices that every resident receives. The final millage then gets adopted in September after two public hearings. And then that is the actual millage that gets set. You can always bring it down from what you set today very simply by setting a different millage in September. Going above the millage you set today becomes a much more complicated proposition. And so I always urge you to be conservative and cautious in how you set your millage in July because that really does establish the rest of the budget process for you. um next slide uh remind you that you you do adopt two budgets you adopt the operating budget in the capital budget through the various funds uh that go forward uh whether they be the utility funds or the resort tax fund or the special revenue fund for the gated community but what this millage does is only deal with the operating fund so the other stuff will continue to work through the budget process what we decide today is really what we're doing with respect to the um to the operating budget, which is your general services of the village. Of course, we always set it based on our Bow Harbor experience and our pillars. I'm not going to read them for you, so you can skip through that. They're in your agenda every month. We spend a lot of time with this during our retreats. We try to keep all our focuses, all our expenditures, all our priorities, all of our arguments for advocacy based on that Bow Harbor experience and trying to make sure that we're keeping a focus on that. So here's what happened. In July, we received our final assessment roll, and the blue line indicates where Bell Harbor is. This is just, it's not alphabetical, it's pretty much more in the order of incorporation and some other things that the county has, so it's not really numerical. But where we land is that our property tax roll, June 1, I'm sorry, July 1, compared to last year's final, And I make that clear. Last year's final is different than last year's July 1 because after July 1, then there's a period of the Value Adjustment Board reviewing appeals. And so we get the final in June as well, frankly. And basically what you're seeing is a 4.6% increase in the total property value according to the property appraiser, clearly not according to the market. But this is the number that then establishes what we base our millage against. Next slide kind of cards us up. Well, OK. I'll go to this. This is our current millage. Go forward, and then we'll come back to this. Next one. That. OK, so this is what's happening with the tax roll by type of property. And what becomes very clear there is that the condominiums are what's really driving the property appreciation from year to year. If you look at the gaps over the course of the last four years, it's a pretty substantial number as compared to the other single-family, multi-family or commercial properties which single-family is incrementing not at the same rate and clearly the others are generally flat or actually slightly down from prior year. The multifamily is explained primarily because the Fairfield parcel, which was transferred to full public ownership last June, came off the roll. And so whatever value that had is no longer a taxable value. On the commercial side, that's more done through – it's not based on market value. It's income-based, and so I can't tell you the specifics of that, but clearly they're showing an increment downward. It's no secret where the commercial properties are in Bal Harbor. It's either hotels or the Bal Harbor shops. But you can see that those have slightly nudged down. But again, what's pacing our growth is the condos, which is not a surprise to anybody here. Next slide kind of highlights the, no, go forward, forward, forward one more. That one. So this now, remember, the property appraiser gives us two numbers. It gives us what they call the just number, and the just number, the just value, excuse me, is the dark bar in each of those. for 2025 in blue and for 2026 in teal. And that is what the property appraiser suggests is the market value, what they're claiming to be the just. So it's essentially the value before any assessments, exemptions are allocated. whether it's Save Our Homes or the Homestead values. What is important to note in this chart is both single family and condominium, the difference between just and taxable is not that significant. In fact, I've told you before when we talk about the impact of the property tax elimination and so forth, if it's solely for Homestead, it's about a 17% of the total value. And so it's not the impact that a lot of other communities, especially residential communities, will have. But that kind of highlights it for you in bar chart by type of property. So go back. One more. There. So here's, as you know, our operating village has been pretty much 1.9654 for the last decade. It's been kept stable and flat, and we've been able to meet all of our demands and needs through that operating millage and then other resources that we've identified and secured along the way. You'll note in the last two years, and then for next year, you have that yellow increment, and that yellow increment is really what I think you all should really spend some time having a conversation today on, and that is, that's the, what do we officially call it, the Bal Harbor shops, litigation and defense fund or whatever the official title of that, where we identified an increment to the millage that was implemented two years ago based on reaction and feedback from our community that said, we need to do whatever we need to do to make sure that we are not harmed by the live local application that was received. For the last two years, that has remained flat. at that rate and that generates in the last two years either a million or 1.1, 1.2 million dollars of revenue which we've been using to fund the efforts associated with both the litigation and the Tallahassee efforts to try to advocate on behalf of the village. For this year, the third year, I present to you the flat rate, and I'll go through it in a minute, what it would yield if we keep it as is, or if you so desire to increment it slightly. And I will tell you that you should really consider that because Up until now, our legal efforts have been primarily in the form of mediation and efforts associated with a lot of the summary judgments and efforts before you're into real hardcore litigation. Let me go. So this next chart puts us in relation to the rest of the community of Miami-Dade County, and you see that we are currently third lowest. If you agree to the suggested rate, it moves you to number four, slightly above Miami Lakes. I can't see it from here, but... Yeah, okay, Miami Lakes. Let's go to that Beagle Defense Fund for a minute so you can see the processing and defense fund. Let me go here. This is, if we do nothing and leave the rate the way it is, this is what will be the levy for 2027. You'll see that our operating millage will be 14.3. The processing and defense fund will be 1.3 for a total millage levy of $15.3 million. The operating budget, we will be perfectly satisfied with the number that we have. That will cover any incremental cost of inflation and the like that we anticipate for this coming year. What we should be having the conversation around is the, I think, the legal defense fund because that's where we see and anticipate the significant increase in the activity and therefore the cost of that effort. Next slide. So this is the impact of doing nothing to the average and the median homeowner in Bell Harbor. The median homeowner, remember median is the point in which half of the homes are above and half of the homes are below. It would be a tax bill of $2,185, which is a $77 increase. versus the average homeowner. That's different. That's the mean, the average, and that's $260 because there's a lot of much larger properties that are included or much higher value properties that are included in that. So doing nothing and keeping it flat has this impact on your average homeowner. The next slide now goes into here's what I believe is what we can anticipate going forward. We have four pieces of litigation that will now become much more active, much more involved, and therefore much more expensive. At different times, I've heard from each of you or most of you that perhaps we need more firepower on our team as well, which will come with a cost. And I anticipate still a few more pieces of litigation that might come our way. They've been telegraphed by the other side as threats, and as this becomes more real, I suspect that those will become more real as well, including a pretty major federal case that they suggest would really be harmful to the community on a fair housing matter. And so with that in mind, whatever it is that we do, we can see that that's where your expense for next year is likely to be most present. Priority one is what we've made this out to be. And so next slide kind of gives you the incremental value of keeping it at the current rate of 0.1785, the little yellow box, that this year would yield $1.3 million or an increase of $57,000 over the current year. what I've suggested is to just add a little more to that fund and increase instead of .1785 to .2196, and that will yield $1.6 million.

George, can I just interrupt you there for one minute? That is not just a number you pulled out of a hat. That was based on your conversations with our attorneys, right?

Yes, yes, I'll conclude with that in a second. And then the maximum rate is the maximum rate that you can pass with a four vote majority. Beyond that, you would need a unanimous vote. In fact, you know, The suggested rate would require the four votes majority as well. As I mentioned, the four cases that we have plus what we anticipate, we've also looked at what we've spent to date, and we also look at what the projection is from our attorneys. They can give us what they believe their expense to us will be, and it's about a $1.2 to $1.5 million is what they're saying for next year. In addition to that, of course, is the expense we have with the investment we make with Susan and her involvement in the case as well. That's not included in the bills we get from Mark McDowell and Hayden or whatever their new name is. as well as all of the lobbying efforts that we do when we deal with legislative session. That is something that's not included in their bill. That's an estimate that we do on top, as well as where we anticipate to have especially through the deposition process, and if we even get into the case, which they believe might be as early as July of next year, professional expert testimony and witnesses and the like that we will have to engage with. And so for that reason, I'm suggesting that you buffer your you know, reserve on this because, and it's not a one-year proposition, I believe, no matter what happens in any one of those cases and how they advance, I fully suspect, especially in the large live local case, to be heard on appeal. And so it's not over at the first hearing. And so whatever, again this has been set up as a separate fund, so whatever is collected remains there and transfers from year over year. So, next slide. This is what then the impact would be of adding that additional increment to the average and to the median homeowner. It's a $48 to the median, $99 to the average home value. So another $100. And then next slide, is that it? Yeah, that's it. And so... Really, you're at a point where you've heard from the community on more than one occasion what their expectations are with regard to the active engagement with this existential threat that exists. I'm not here to recommend. I can recommend to you. The suggested rate is what I think. Every stone may be short, but at least it provides some cushion. $100, I don't believe, is going to really make the difference on a person's daily income. life here, but it certainly might make the difference in how you make decisions in your litigation strategy. What you don't want to do is find yourself making decisions like those based on dollars. Can I afford the additional hours of litigation or whatever?

Okay, thank you. We don't have to read any sort of statement. No, that's in September. Yeah, that's in September. Okay. So I guess any questions from counsel before we open up public comment? Oh, okay.

George, we budgeted 1.2 last year for 26. What did we spend out of that 1.2? I've got that. And the same thing for the previous year, for 25?

Yes, yes. Okay, so in 2025, the levy yielded 1.17, $1,170,000, and we spent $1,118,000. So there was about a $50,000 difference. left over in the fund, right? For fiscal year 26, we haven't completed the fiscal year yet. The amount that the levy unchanged yielded was $1,246,000. And to date, we have spent through May through May, 328, so there's a $900,000 balance in the current fiscal year. We know that the June and July bills are coming and that's where they've been spending a lot more. We project that we will end the year spending about a million dollars. So about a $217,000 revenue over expense for fiscal year 26, once all the bills clear through September. And so if I think where you're going, in the fund balance, there's about $268,000. Estimated. Exactly. Everything is estimated. $217,000. $217,000. No, no, $217,000 plus the $51,000.

Oh, right.

So about $260,000, you know, again, depending on... Minus a couple hundred thousand. Well, I don't know, about a couple hundred thousand, but... Any direction. Any direction, but I don't think it would be a couple hundred. I think we kind of, we haven't been billed, but we kind of know the activity through now. We had all of the mediation and then the big meeting that we had. And so there's a lot of work that has led up to that, including once a big meeting a couple months ago where we told them, no, no, let's go fight. So they had to then turn on the summary judgment and the defenses that we need to spend out. So there's been a lot of activity that hasn't hit the books yet. Will it be a million dollars by the end of the year? I'm not sure, but it could be. And so that leaves you with about 268 plus about 1.3 million if you don't do anything. So that puts you at about 1.5 at that point. If you do the additional increment, that could get you closer to 1.8.

Okay. Is that all your questions? Thank you. Any other questions from council before I open a public comment?

Yeah, two things. George, let's just say, for argument's sake, if we could wave a magic wand and this would be done tomorrow, the funds that would be there, what happens to them since it's allocated to this specifically?

Well, they're segregated funds, but technically they were collected through the millage, so you could use them as any general fund purpose. You could use them in a future year to offset and reduce a millage. Clearly, once this is all done, whatever that increment, you decide, you go back to 1.9, but if that money is available, you can use it to fund capital projects or something else. It's not... It's not stuck. It's not stuck in that bucket as you bought it for that purpose only. We have internally restricted ourselves. I committed to you when we created this that this was not a way to just fund more general fund purposes. This is clearly tied for this effort. And you'll all decide, whatever's left over, how to do and deal with that at that time.

So my perspective is that, kind of going back to what you said, number one, we heard from the community and every single person I spoke to, and I don't know if anybody else has, but said we have to do whatever we need to do to fight the battle as best as possible. And I'm wondering why we went so conservative. From my perspective, we should be going to the maximum. We should be putting whatever money we can. If it's instead of $99, it's $199. I don't know if you don't have that calculus. Yeah, on the maximum. But we're not losing the money. And I think the most important thing you said was we can't make decisions based on dollars. We are a community that needs to be able to have whatever dollars we need to fight this battle. And from my perspective, we should be going to the maximum. And if we don't use it, hopefully, and it solves itself, then we'll put it back into the fund and reduce the millage further. But we know this is getting more escalated, and as we go to court, the costs just become more astronomical. And even, again, if we wanted to hire additional or different counsel that costs more money, which we know is possible, we're handcuffing ourselves, I think, at this rate.

Let me clarify two things. Answer your question and clarify. So whether it was a question or not, I have the math. And so when we determine the max, I just want to be clear, it's the maximum that you can approve with a supermajority or four-fifths of you. I suppose we can do even more than that, but I was trying to make sure that we hedge, given our history. This has always been approved 4 to 1, so I wanted to hedge that. Secondly, conservative, I tried to find the middle ground that I don't want to put you guys in a difficult spot either. I want to make sure that I'm the one that protects all of you. I certainly agree with you, actually, that the maximum And the maximum, by the way, would affect the median taxpayer by $135. So it's about, if they do my math, it's about $36 more. And the average homeowner by $261. So instead of $100, it's $261. My same comments apply. I don't believe that that's going to really materially affect that. Sometimes that's what people live on a tip in some restaurants. And it would yield, just before I had it up there, what was it, 2.2 million. So from my perspective, if you wanted to go that route, I certainly think that that is a very prudent and legitimate thing to do. If you are a little hesitant and want to stay a little bit below it, then at a minimum I suggest the suggested rate is something that we can look at.

But again, my perspective is I just want to make sure this is a very important topic and we're not being short-sighted by increments to taxes, which I know everyone's very sensitive to and we should all be sensitive to, but this situation from my perspective is very different. I agree. It's very different. You know, even having some conversations with the people over in the board at the St. Regis, I mean, their litigation was significantly smaller than what we're dealing with. I mean, they hired the best lawyers, but they spent $10 million on their legal defense. Put that in perspective, yeah. So, again, when we talk about 1.3, for me, I still think it's nothing. And, again, if we wanted to go out, we're using ATOM, which is great, but if we wanted to go out and hire, like, a top firm to really take this on, which is a decision we have to make, We don't have enough money for that. So, again, we're not losing it. And, again, an extra $37 for me for sure is nothing. So, I mean, we should probably double it from $99 to $199. So that's my perspective, and I think we should be rethinking that number.

Councilman Freemark.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am in dramatic agreement with Vice Mayor Wolf. I have long been advocating for us to take the fiduciarily responsible means, which in my mind are twofold. One, we have heard from the community at at least three public meetings at the Seaview, including one just a few months ago, that we are not to back off. It is to be full peddled down in terms of this. Secondly, we need to be fiscally responsible as well, and that is not to find ourselves in a shortfall position. We know several things. Once you get into litigation, the costs only go up. And when you're dealing with appeals and potentially federal-level types of matters, which has been threatened at us, as well as potential state action up in Tallahassee, those get to be dramatically more expensive. because of the unique skill sets of some of the council as well as the expert witnesses and everybody else that's required. So not to repeat everything, but I am in support of going to the maximum level. Thank you. Councilman Levy? Thank you, Mayor.

Just one quick question. What would be the difference, like when you have a condo or you have... residents that have like a special assessment for a specific cause. Can this be done instead of increasing the mileage? Can you create like a specialist assessment for this litigation instead of having a mileage rate increase? Or is that not feasible?

I'll take that. I don't think that we would find a basis for that in the Florida case law that governs special assessments. Generally, they require a special benefit to property. We could certainly look into it. Right off the top of my head, I'm not aware of any case law that addresses that.

Yeah. What we've structured is something like that, though, operationally internal. But the only mechanism we have available to us is the millage.

Is there a thought? Alejandro, is there a thought process around your question?

I just think that increasing the military rate has a tax implication moving forward to people. I'm not a tax expert, but I do believe, remember reading something about it. That was the reason for my question. But again, I'm happy to support, you know, increasing to the maximum as well.

Okay.

And I, for one, was willing to see how the council would feel, but I hear it every day. This morning I had a meeting with one of the associations in Bell Harbor that the community is serious, the community is unified, and they want us to do all we can to preserve our quality of life. So I'm certainly in favor of proceeding with the maximum rate. I don't know. You just put that maximum rate.

For me, really, I don't really see this. We're talking 1.6 versus 2.2. We're not really talking about significant dollars.

Again, it's the maximum available to you with four votes.

What does that represent? A 10%, a 15% increase over the rollback? Or what's the...

Is there a maximum for unanimous vote?

There is. There is. And what would that be? Good question. We can come back to you on that one. Well, I think it has to be figured out tonight, George. No, I'm telling you, if that is, we should know.

We should know that.

Claudia, why don't you go and calculate what is the maximum for a unanimous vote in the DAR? Just go get that real quick. I do know that each $100,000 more. I did have that question. Is each $100,000 more of increment is .0137? But we need to get the statutorily maximum unanimous vote. It's usually like a percentage above the rollback number. So she'll have to recalculate that. Do you want to go to another item and then come back to that?

I think it's important enough to do. Okay.

Yeah, I just wanted to clarify. My max is not the statutory max. It's the maximum with four.

I think we should know the statutory maximum for unanimous. Got it.

Okay, so then should we go? I'm going to 7B and she'll come back. Procedurally, do we table this? Or Susan, what do I? We don't have a motion yet. Okay.

Yeah, you can hold it and complete it later.

Okay, fine. So our 7B, conceptual design. Dwight. Just a second.

It's R7B, resolution of the Village Council of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, approving the conceptual design for fitness stations along the beach path, authorizing the village manager to proceed with the administrative coastal construction control line permit application, providing for an effective date. Thank you, Mr. Manager.

Mr. Mayor, thank you. And I don't know if, Claudia, Sylvia, if you have any slides, or do you? The map? All right. It's in the book. As you know, in February, we had – Is there no way to pull this up, though? I think it would be – Can we pull it up? Ryan can put it on. As we're working that up – Attachment, right? Yeah.

Greenfield's proposal.

Yeah. Yeah. And so, Mr. Mayor, back in February of this year, you had a discussion item led by Councilman – or Vice Mayor Wolf at the time regarding the consideration of putting beach exercise equipment along our beach path. Since that time we've been doing a lot of the research necessary to really, you know, it's more complicated than it would sound and I think in the memo I tried to explain to you why that is. Most notably is that we really don't own any property back there. And so we need to make sure that we get the proper permits and the proper approvals. We've settled on the idea that everything that we do will be east of the coastal construction line, which is also east of all of the property lines to the various buildings. So that was something that we had to kind of iron out and see if, in fact, there's appropriate locations to do that because that makes it easier. Instead of asking for permission from each of the property owners, we just need to go to the state. and get their amendment to permit to allow for that, which we believe will be approved, but still needs to go through that process. But in order to do that, we needed to then kind of tell them what's the equipment and where is it going to go. So what we kind of did was said, okay, let's do the bid. Let's identify the four vendors. Let's kind of identify the equipment and the locations. Not a word it is, so we're not suggesting or warning the contract because if it doesn't get approved, and there's no contract to award, but have that in place. And so we believe that the green fields are the best for our purposes. We've identified the locations and the equipment. We've provided that as part of our application process for the state. And so we're asking today to authorize the issuance of the application so we can get the state rolling and then tell you as well, or at least telegraph that, if approved, we intend to bring back the green field proposal as the selected company to do that. If you want to show that the four red dots are the locations where we anticipate being located. One is here between the Majestic, as far south as between the Majestic and the St. Regis. Then one somewhere, again, these are distance related. It's not, you know, we're just choosing locations. This is working with the bidders to kind of tell us, you know, you work out, you do a distance, you work out again. So this is just behind the Seaview. The next one is over just kind of towards the middle of the community about, I think that's a Tiffany, if I'm not mistaken. And then the last one is just outside Jeff's window at the Belize. We can do it on this side, but we've got both sides, right? But again, you'll see that they're evenly spaced. They're not at the ends because you want to work up before you kind of get to the first station. That's why we were advised to lay them out in this manner. Again, the more where the dot appears on the map, they're all going to be east of the ECL. And then in your package, you see the various types of workouts that each of the machines do so that it's intended to give you a good cross-section. It's not just core or legs or arms or whatever. It's supposed to get you to do it all in some way.

Do you want to put on the second tab? Yeah. Can you try hitting F11, see if that improves the… Do anything? There you go. Okay.

George or Sylvia are going to make it.

Are you here? Sylvia, do you have anything to add? You're here? Come on up in case you have questions. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for your diligence and hard work at this because as Vice Mayor Wolf knows, we've had subsequent conversations and you've been diligent at trying to make sure, hey, let's move on this fast. We're moving. We're moving.

Do you want to give a quick overview?

Sure. So the proposal from Greenfields is four separate pods, four stations, and each station has two units.

Is it attached?

Okay. So just scroll down to where it starts showing the – so this would be the first station. This one has a leg press and then a leg extension and curl. You can keep going, Brian. The second station – oh, keep going. This is another image of that one. So station two has the tricep press and the shoulder press. Okay. Station three has the chest press and the vertical press. And then station four has the arm curl and the seated rower. And this price that they included also includes the hot dip galvanized, which is important for coastal environments. So that was like a big conversation that we had, that I had with all of the vendors, because obviously it's going to be right off the ocean. And as much as everybody says, it's going to do okay. You can go to some neighbors and you can see that they don't hold up so well, you know, depending on what the equipment is. So I wanted to make sure that it's something that's going to withstand. Greenfields has a few projects nearby that we also went personally to go check out and see how hot it gets and see kind of how it's holding up.

One of them is the North Shore Open Space Park. North Shore Open Space Park. Or whatever it's called now, Open Space Park. And so you'll get a feel for what you're looking at if you go there.

And there's units like in full sun, and you touch the metal, and it's not hot. The areas that we tried to pick here, though, we tried where we could to see if it gets some shade from some of the seed grapes, the trees. But also in the afternoon, it'll have some shade from the building. So hopefully either way, it won't.

And all of that will require concrete pads and some floors for that as well.

All of those require concrete pads, which is why it has to be this permit through the state.

I just want to thank you. I know you spent a lot of time and effort on it, and I know there was a lot of different companies, and I bugged you a lot, so thank you for your efforts. I mean, I think... These are great options. I did see the equipment in the North Shore, and the equipment does look great and durable and so forth. So I guess time will tell, but it looks great, and I think it's great options, and I think it's a great addition to, again, our healthy environment, our walking environment for people to be able to do these exercises and so forth. So thank you for your presentation and your efforts.

My pleasure.

And just to clarify, George, like you said, this is just approving this proposal that will then get sent to DEP because they have to see what the finished product is supposed to look like?

Yeah, yeah. Once we get the approval, which we anticipate we will, it's just you've got to go through the process, we will come back to you and authorize the actual award of contract and purchase. So that is not yet happening here. I think we'll find that allows us to work through the budget process as well and incorporate this expense into the 2027 budget allocations and stuff. So it all aligns pretty well.

Okay.

And, you know, the installation, I didn't ask you this. Timeline for installation once approved?

So the order on the equipment can take up to 12 weeks. But once they have it, the installation process can be about four weeks, everything from start to finish.

Do they also maintain it?

They do not mean that. No, that's on us. That's on us.

That's on us. But we've tried to get all of the equipment that's not, there's not a lot of mechanical stuff inside. There's a lot of weight. Exactly. The compound one has a lot of gears and other things, and we say let's stay away from that. With the beach sand environment, it's just going to grind pretty quickly. Right.

Okay. Public comment? Nope.

Do you guys actually let you work out? Even when people go work out, they're going to be sitting there and waiting. So you just put one there. What if somebody's sitting there? You're going to be sitting there half an hour waiting for it until they finished. So if you're going to do it, you should create maybe four or five. So if one is busy, the other one can use it. Because if it's just two people sits there, well, you're going to go to the next one and then come back to this one. So the idea is good. But I think the placement and how you put these machines together is important. Because you sit there. If two people are sitting, well, you're going to wait in the sun waiting for it to be finished. you're promoting, you want to promote, I get the idea, you know, for healthy things and so forth and so on, but I think he could find a way that put the entire thing in a circular way so when somebody's coming, if one machine is taken, then he could go to the other one, wait for the other one to be finished. That makes it more thing because if it's just these two... No, whenever you do a set in the gym, you're just doing there one time and get out, you're going to do three sets, four sets, and the guy has to be away. So if you're going to do it, please think about the workout routine because when I go to gym, I think then you have to wait and the other person wants to come in. There's got to be some kind of etiquette even with the gym that we have today. So if you're going to do it, do it in a circular way, do it all in a row so you're a machine for somebody to do something while he's waiting for the other one.

Patricia Curran, 102.75 Collins. Listen, I'm all for working out. However, I have to think of what the beach is, what the path represents, the landscaping. I don't think that it's attractive, what I just saw. And I don't even believe that it's... that it's well placed. We have a difficult enough situation with bicycles, babies, dogs, everybody fitting. So you're not going to be taking, what, four feet wide or what I could judge from the picture. I really, I also agree with Rahim that it's not, it won't flow well. It's in the way. You're going to be in the sun working out. I just, I don't see it. I really don't see the need for, I think, I don't think it's going to bring the value that perhaps, David, that you're thinking because you want to encourage people to work out and to enjoy the beach and to enjoy fitness at the beach. But what you're going to give up, I don't think it's worth it. I really don't. I don't see the value in this idea. in this design, what I just saw. Maybe presented in a different way or designed in a different manner, perhaps. But what I saw, I really don't like.

Okay.

Any further public? Penny?

Penny Sepler, 102.75 Collins. When I first spoke to you about it, David, I initially really liked the idea of this. Many years ago, I was in a boot camp that was right next to the Rowling Center, if you know that one, 63rd Street in Indian Creek. That addresses this situation. There they had like a path, and it's still there. And there were different stations. The fact that there's only four stations, they're spaced apart. I initially said, this doesn't make sense. I mean, it just, I like the idea of it. And it probably would be better at the Waterfront Park, in a sense. You know, it's just, there's too much space in between. And, you know, you're going to jog in between. And I love the idea of it. I just don't think this configuration is the best for what this is.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Seeing none, we're going to close public comment. Council discussion?

No, the only thing I would say is, I mean, I hear comments. I think that, you know, on a beach path, this is normally how you see it happen. I mean, if you go through Surfside, you go down further south through Miami Beach, you know, you don't have the only place where they have one beach. Big one altogether is all the way down in South Beach where it's actually an entire workout, and they probably have 10 or 15 machines or something. So, you know, this is not supposed to be a full workout like you're going to the gym for an hour. It's supposed to be a time for people to be able to walk on a path, which tons of people are doing, make stops, and do some exercise. Again, not sit there for 20 or 30 minutes and move through a process of, you know, walking and exercise and walking and exercising, you know. Again, that was the thought process as I saw it in many other places. I'm sure, again, I don't think we have room for put everything in one spot. And again, as people go through, I think it's a place for them to do these activities as they, you know, walk through our entire area. So anyway, that's just my comment from there.

Any other comments? Is there a motion?

I'll make the motion.

Is there a second? I'll second. Moved and seconded. This is a voice vote. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? None. Passes unanimously. George, are we ready to resume that conversation or are we still crunching numbers?

I'm opposed.

From what Susan has advised me, because this changed this past year as it relates to what the minimum number is for anything above the rollback rate, but the maximum appears to not have been changed, in which case 10 mils is your maximum. You're not going to do that. So perhaps the better approach is to come back into it. So if you want a number, I can tell you what that needs to be. And remember, it's .0137 per $100,000. Say that again? .0137 for each $100,000 of additional... I'm getting nervous. Income you want. So let me kind of help you with this. So the max, well, the maximum for four-fifths.

Well, George, let's see what the other, if I could make a suggestion. What is the number you think we need? And then let's try and back the millage into that number.

Right, right. But I'm going to get you started. Getting you started is that, small, but. That maximum number is .3050. That would yield $2.2 million. next year just a point of clarification again for this we're setting a number now but it doesn't have to be the number but we're setting a maximum number yes so remember that that's what appears on the tax bill that's what people will see correct that's what will generate the reaction yes uh and so you know you're you're right to want to do this but you know let's be mindful and thoughtful about the number not just say hey we're going to do eight mills because that's not realistic right And so 0.30 yields $2.2 million. 0.3137 will yield $2.3 million. So what number?

Well. I mean, you're the one that's dealing with the bills. You're the one that. Yeah.

We looked at it. We spent the first year. We spent $1.1 million the first year. We think we'll be about $1 million for nothing, just filings and stuff.

Not much happened this year besides mediations. Again, the truth of the matter is that easily doubles if we go to court, easily doubles.

So if I got $2.5 million from my perspective, it might not be that far off.

Mr. Mayor, may I? And I think the big thing is, which we've discussed many times, Eitan's great up to a point, and then there comes a point where we need the bulldog. And your hourly there doubles or more. And we don't have that bulldog right now. So that being said, the hourly from Eitan to the bulldog doubles and triples. And how many hours are they going to spend? So that, I mean... You really have to take that into consideration.

Two and a half or even three million is not out of the range of possibility. 2.27 was the max that you put in your thing. 2.27, right. The max at four votes.

If you want to go above that and say two and a half, three, three and a half, it's just a math calculation. Where do you think is... I can tell you. If you're thinking with more legal firepower, then double it. I told you we were at about 1.6, so that's 3.2 if you're going to double it.

I was just saying, I know we're going to put on the nose, but I think communication around this is key to this process. And if we make the decision, don't wait for a bill to come out and everybody starts screaming. I think we definitely need to have communication out to the community because if the community understands this and understands what we're doing, everyone's going to support it. For sure. The education piece is key.

More important than anything we're going to do on this. People have to understand why their taxes are being raised, especially since this is what they asked for.

And as well, if the dollars aren't used, it's not like they're going somewhere else. They can go back into the budget. They can reduce the millage rate by that amount of dollars. I wish we could say the dollars aren't going to be used, but that's not the case. I'm sorry. Go ahead, Jeff.

I think that the community is going to get it. This is not a sell to the community. From a messaging standpoint, it's to the Bal Harbor shops. They knew that we were taking it seriously when we started this. They need to know that we're taking it certainly more seriously, and we're anticipating that if they're going to ramp it up, we're going to ramp it up and be ready. That's the messaging.

George, can we somehow do a quick calculation? I don't know if we can. I need to get someone to bring Claudia back in because I want to make sure that I'm right.

My initial thought would be, say, to put it to $4 million. I think Jeff just brings a great point as well, which I didn't say, which I think is messaging out to them as well. Hey, we're ramping this up. We're not sitting back. We're not going to shy away from this guy.

They're taxpayers, too, so they're going to shoulder a bunch of this. Yeah, they bear that cost, too. Is it going to be open to public so we can say something? Yeah, but you're out of order, okay? We're discussing here. I haven't opened public comment. We haven't voted on anything, okay? That's it. Please don't speak out of order. Please do not speak out of order. Okay. So we're waiting for Claudia, George. You're doing the math? Yeah. Okay.

I just have a question there.

Yes.

If we're talking about increasing mileage and we're talking about having enough funds for litigation, there are two things that I don't understand. Number one is the hyper shops are listening to this, so they know what we're doing. That's number one. And number two... That's a good point. It is a good point in terms of, you know, go and screw yourself. We're going to get you, number one. But number two isn't... Vice Mayor Wolf has mentioned that the Ritz just fought a litigation case for $10 million. I foresee this going to those numbers. Is $4 million going to be enough?

Well, remember, let me, hang on, hold on. You both are right, but here's what I will tell you, is you're not going to spend $10 million next year.

Right, that was over the course of a few years.

Exactly. And so we could get there, but if you did four, well, that's $8 million over two years, 12 after three. So you can kind of work your way there. You don't need to fund it all today. And you can course correct as you go. And you'll be here next year in July. This isn't going to be over. We'll know more. We'll see how many more cases. We'll see how much has been spent. We'll see if we've hired more lawyers. And then I might come and tell you, hey, four was great, but now we need eight. whatever, but we want to make sure that it's measured.

One quick question. Yes, sir. If we see the 3.6 isn't enough, there's still money in fund balance to fund extra.

For the first year. Yeah, you're safe with that, and that's a good point, Buzzy. You have your emergency, you have your fund balance, which is your rainy day fund, and you could, if four didn't cover it this year, if that's the number you settle on, and it was five or six or seven, what I would do is we'd come out of general fund by that amount, and then next year you go refund it. Okay. And you go and get what you needed.

Just wanted to make sure. I'm going to open up for public comment.

Rahab went to a Balfour Drive. The purpose of these things, if you guys make up your mind and you don't matter what we say, then don't put a public meeting, okay? Because if you're all going to say, let's go to maximum, maximum, and you don't give a crap what we say, then what's the point of being here for the public comment? If it's just for a show? Just cancel the thing and make up whatever you want. But you should get a feedback from us, tell you, and then you make up your mind. But you already all made up your mind. Now, nobody's saying not to fight the Val Harbor Village. But the problem is you're going with rates going from 19 to 30. That's 60%. Did you tell the Val Harbor people, the residents here, we're going to increase your millage by 60, 70, or 80% for next year? I guarantee you, you won't win it. I would suggest to go with the medium things that you want to do because people – And what guarantee you're going to put here that the money that you're going to get back, you're going to put it back to the millage, right? If you're going to put it into resolution for the duration of the fight with Bal Harbor, this is the millage we're going to use. But after the fight is over, we're going to put it back to the millage once. We want to guarantee that you don't have – maybe you guys, this takes a long time, none of you are here. What guarantee do I have the next council is going to bring the millage back down once the fight is over? So when the things go up, it's the rocket and feather effect. When it goes up, it goes up fast. But when it comes down, people won't have money. They don't want to really sit back to the public again. Nobody in the Bell Harbor Village, I think the residents, and I was the one in the meeting, that we will say not fight. But it has to be fiduciary responsibility and take the people into account that how are we going to spend it? You want to fund it already, everything in the village this year? We don't need it. Even based on the estimate they have, we're going to spend so much money this year. So fund it up to that. But to go unlimited, limited, whatever, and let the public know that we're going raise it 40%, 50%. It's decimal to you. It might be $100 or whatever, but percentage-wise, it's a lot of money when you collect it universally against the rest of the village. So taking that into account, and I'm opposed to unlimited things because I don't trust anybody with money that they're going to give back to the taxpayers.

Thank you. Any other public comment?

Patricia Cohen, 10275 Collins. Well, I am also a resident, and I disagree with Mr. Rahib. I believe that you should need to be prepared. You need to beef up the budget. You cannot be gun-shy. There's not one single person in this community that has expressed any kind of trepidation or any kind of doubt. And I've spoken to so many neighbors and said, it's costing us a lot of money. Okay, it's costing us a lot of money. Attorneys cost money. I'm not as good in math as you are. I don't think it's 40%. It is a sizable increase. But truthfully, and I want to try to remain humble, but $200 or $300 for most people in this community, not everywhere, really it's not going to stop them from doing a nice Costco haul next week. So I really believe that we need to be – with enthusiasm, communicated to the residents, let them know what we're doing. Yes, keep in mind that we can have, you know, show that one day it'll abate and maybe the tax rate can come down. But for now, everyone should be solidary. We should be ready to spend because $4 million, if we really put a foot on the gas, it's easy. It's spent in no time flat. So go for it. Be confident and go for it.

Thank you. Any other public comment? In a closed public comment, I'd just like to clarify that we are not voting on the millage tonight. We're voting on the maximum millage that can be set at our budget hearings, which are going to be noticed to the entire community, going to be voted on twice. So with that, George, do we have a millage?

Mr. Mayor, could I just say one thing? I just want to know if we have a number.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Claudia is checking my math. Okay. But...

I just want to say I think we are being very responsible in a fiduciary way to our community. And the reason we're doing that is because we're making sure that we have enough money to fight on behalf of this community the way the community wanted us to fight. So I will take offense to saying that we're not being fiduciary responsible. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you for clarifying.

George, do we have a number? Yes, give me one second. Do I need to get my 10 key out, George? No, no, no. Listen, I got it. We verified it. We verified it. No, no, no. I did it in my head, but I got the right number, and I'm two-tenths of 100 off. But what the – well, I've got to add these two together now. I'm sorry. It's a 25 percent increase from your current millage, just to put that out there. It would be an increment of .578 on the yellow bar. So the total would be .5478. plus the 1.9654 would put you, oh, shit.

9654. Well, I just want to know what the full millage is. .19654 plus 578? Yes. So 2.5132. Can we bring up the county slide with all the millage rates? Sorry, so what was the number again one more time, George? 2.5132.

So I think where you're going is that still keeps you as the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7th lowest. You'd fall between Pinecrest and Color Bay.

Okay, and still lower than Surfside and Bay Harbor. That's not your concern.

By a mile. I've told you all this before. When you look at the bottom pack, those are all your newer incorporated communities, 20 years or thereabouts. They don't have the legacy costs that the 80-, 90-year-old cities or more have. have, and so we're way, way low on our millage. Our valleys are high, of course, but, you know, this conversation is the right conversation to have. I mean, you know, Sylvia does a good job, and Raleigh does a good job, and the village delivers its services, but what is facing this community as the impact of what has been submitted, it makes all of that stuff mean a whole lot less. And so if you're going to do it, do it right. That number will get you the $4 million for the legal defense fund. porn change, whatever the rounding comes out to be, but it's in the spirit of what you want. It sends the message, clearly. Not only to the community, but to the other side. And, you know, you have all of the discretion afterwards. All of that discretion belongs to you, what you do with that funding. If for some reason, magically, this whole debate goes away. It's not tied in a hole that will never be looked at.

Okay. Thank you to staff for getting us all that information here on the fly. Public comment has been closed. Is there a motion? I'll make a motion. Okay.

What exactly is the motion?

Yes. Can you set a maximum millage rate at the north?

I'll read it to you. Let me try to put some words in your mouth in case I have to go back and do some more math.

Okay.

It is the intent of this council to keep the operating village flat and to generate $4 million of additional increment in this defense fund village. Right. Currently estimated to be 2.15132. I'll make a motion on what he said. 2.5... You said 2.1. 2.5132. Right. If I have to, but if you would give me the authority, if I go back and it's 2.534 or 2.531 to get to the $4 million number. If you're okay with that. That's okay. We can do that in a resolution. We can give...

Can we make a motion on that?

I've never seen it without the actual rate.

The rate is that, but I have authority to modify it.

Why don't you make it a little higher just in case we, because this is going to be the maximum.

Don't put it on the trim higher if you don't have to.

That's what I'm trying to get is, what I'm trying to ask for is the authority if it needs to.

I'm not sure we can do that, George. I think on this we should use 2.5132.

And do that. Okay, that's fine. I'd like to make a motion on 2.5132. Okay? Second.

What would be the impact on people's pockets? Oh, boy. It's almost double from the two. It's twice what I showed you and then a little bit more. It was $99 to $300 max, give or take. Hang on.

I'll tell you right now. I had a – We'll go there.

It's about $300.

Yeah. It's about 270 to the median. Right. And about 520 to the average.

Okay.

Assuming a doubling. It's a little less because this was 2.2, but in that ballpark.

Okay. Okay, so it's been moved and seconded. This is just a voice vote, right? Yes. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? None. This council is unanimous on that. Okay. R7C. Mr. Clerk.

Resolution of the Village Council of Bell Harbor Village, Florida, ratifying the appointment of Juan D. Garcia as village clerk for Bell Harbor Village, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Mr. Manager.

Mr. Mayor, thank you. As you indicated earlier in the proclamations, our clerk, long-serving clerk of more than a decade, announced his retirement five years ago when he entered the drop, and he is now five years later, realizing how fast five years goes by. His End of the drop is essentially July 31st. When we met in retreat, I mentioned to you that we needed to start the bar rolling. You authorized me to go ahead and start a recruitment process. We did that. We advertised. We left it out there for a long time. We got, I believe it was about 15 or 20 applicants from which we culled that down to five individuals that we brought in for panel interviews with a committee that included a seated village clerk from another community to kind of give us a full perspective. Of those five, three were currently village clerks to who were working as deputy clerks. The committee evaluated those five and recommended to me the top two, but with one who was clearly above the other. So I then met with the candidate that was the number one ranked candidate and found him to be really a very good candidate for us and we began the background and the references and all of the things that are appropriate through an HR process settling on him to come meet with you which many of you had an opportunity to meet him personally before today and since A few years ago, you changed the reporting structure of the village clerk to report to the manager, but the charter still remains and the charter suggests that the council is the body that appoints. I've got this selection to you as a ratification. The reporting structure will remain the same as we had with Dwight most recently and then, but it does require then I think appropriately the ratification of the council. I think you found him, I certainly found him to be very, very well qualified You know, he's different than Dwight, but that's okay. Different is always, you never find a replication. The biggest conversation in my conversation with him was around a commitment and longevity in most cases. the clerk kind of sticks around. You get a good 10 or 20 years of service from a clerk, and that is what he has said his intention is, that this is really a place he'd like to see himself, you know, get his first opportunity as clerk. as did Dwight 10 years ago, but to really stay longer. I think you all had an opportunity to meet with him, so you can draw your own conclusions of whether he would be a good fit. I think the team will really gel well with him, and I'm prepared to suggest that you go ahead and ratify him.

Yeah, I'll jump in. I had the pleasure of meeting Warren Garcia last week and I really feel good about this choice. I appreciate the effort that went into it, the search committee and going through all those resumes. While Dwight is irreplaceable, Juan will be an excellent addition to our team, and I look forward to working with him and having him be here and allow for a smooth transition. As you can see, Dwight is still here to train him and to show him where all the... all the things that the clerks need to know. There's like a passing of the baton, so to speak. So I'm glad that we'll be able to have that time with you guys overlapping. And while one chapter is closing, there's a new chapter beginning. And I'm hopeful for a long tenure here in Bell Harbor. Any other comment?

I would echo your comments.

Okay. Should we make the motion? Yeah. I'd be honored to make the motion to ratify the selection of Juan D. Garcia as the next village clerk for the village of El Harbor. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Oh, public comment. Of course.

Roja 128 Balfour Drive. As a resident, and I've known Dwight for a long time, first I think he figured out a way to get out of here by retiring. He's been like a captain. He's keeping the ship and all you guys with him. emotion, how to say what and what to do, and always calm, always cool. I appreciate him as a public servant, but as a good friend, he always keep a poker face. He's always calm, no matter how chaotic this place gets. And I'm happy for his retirement. I congratulate him on his adventure and whatever the world's going to bring for him. But as a resident, I would really thank him. He has done a good job. I've been coming here probably more than any of you. And he's been, in these past 11 years, he's been a constant reassurance and calming influence of the process. And to the new gentleman, he got big shoes to fill. And if you do anything wrong, I'm going to call him and tell him what you did wrong. So.

Dwight's changing his number.

Congratulations, doing my best for you. Thank you for everything.

Very nice. Okay. Any other public comment? I mean, is it about the selection of the new? Because I think it would be more appropriate if we're going to, you know, I'd love to hear nice things about Dwight, but I think maybe we should do that in public comment. But I didn't know that you were going to speak about threat. I would have said the same thing. I apologize. So anyone that wants to comment on the selection of our new clerk? Seeing none, I'm closing public comment. And all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, none. Passes unanimously. Welcome to the team. Would we invite him up? Yes. Yes, and I'm going to have to swear him in as well. Now he can say what he wants. Please come up and feel free to invite your family up as well. Yeah, everyone, come on. Come on down.

He's got the Balherber colors already. Listen, come on. You got three minutes. No, no, no.

I'm a timer. Thank you very much for the appointment, for the confidence. Thank you, Mayor and Council. I'm looking forward to working with you all. Congratulations, Dwight. I'm very well aware that I have big shoes to fill. I'm looking forward to this next chapter and working with the residents and meeting you all and delivering the same level of service that Dwight has been for the last 11 years. Thank you.

Stay where you are on one, yep. I'm gonna grab that so you can follow along. Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

I solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution and will obey the laws of the United States and the State of Florida that I will in all respects observe the provisions of the Charter Observe the provisions of the charter. And ordinance of Bow Harbor Village. And ordinance of Bow Harbor Village. And will faithfully discharge the duties of village clerk. And will faithfully discharge the duties of village clerk.

Can I ask him a question? Who are these fine folks with you?

This is my wife, Caitlin. This is my son, Ryan, and my son, Patrick.

Hi, guys. Welcome to Val Harbor. Thank you. I think we should all take a picture.

Come on.

Congratulations.

Welcome, welcome.

Hi, how are you? Welcome.

All right. Hi, there. Hey, everyone. One, two, three. One more. One, two, three.

We'll get you up here.

No, no, no. Thank you for coming. No, no, no. Please. You're going to say good things. It goes downhill from here.

I'd like to acknowledge Councilman from Miami Springs. George Santini, Councilman of Miami Springs. So this is a little bittersweet for me. Three years ago, my first term, it didn't take long before I knew we had a talented guy. And I tried my best to figure out how we could keep him because I knew it was just a matter of time. We just lost our chief of police to Dural. So we do have some talent on our side that continues to keep, we've got to keep an eye on all the rest of the staff, where they go. But you guys got yourself a great guy. Thank you. Honestly, from the get-go, three years ago when I became my first term in council, I knew it. And it was just like, man, what do you do? Obviously, you've got to try to see if you can promote them and so forth. It's kind of hard when you've got somebody in front of her. That's pretty good, too, but you really do have a good one, and he's going to do an amazing job for you guys. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Let's continue. I think that's it for the old business or current business. So new business and council discussion. R9A. Mr. Mayor, just one thing. One, we have a lot of things to discuss.

You could take your kids home. You don't have to stay.

Or take them to dinner at the mall. Right. Go celebrate.

Nice to see you.

That was good.

Yeah. Okay. I agree with what we got. Yes, so R9A, Councilman Levy.

Thank you, Mayor. So this item that I'm bringing for discussion is based on a conversation that I have with Commissioner Melissa Castro and also discussion that we have here with our council members particularly. when we were discussing ways for us to promote business for Bell Harbor. One of the things that we did a couple of weeks ago was to bring on board that soccer ball that is shown in the Bell Harbor shops, that is also shown in our beach path, and that cost us $300,000 or something like that. I understand where it came from, and I understand the payments.

A hundred and something.

Yeah, it was a hundred and thirteen, but it was supposed to be multiplied by two. Anyhow, so that was the original offering. So what I thought is, you know, why don't create some sort of, I wouldn't say partnership, but like a friendship with similar or like partners. where we share some of the same exclusivity that Bell Harbor shares. So, of course, going to Coral Gables, looking at one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Miami, and what they offer to the public, I thought this could be an initiative that we can create with them, and then if it works, continue with other cities. This is not by no means a sister city sort of relationship. This is just a way of How do they operate? How do they work? When the concierge at the Bill Moore Hotel recommend their guests places to go to, why don't they just come to our restaurants, come to our beaches? When our concierge at the St. Regis and the Core Hotel and the CV, of course, and recommend places to go, you know, like if people want to explore outside their beautiful village, you know, to go and look at what they have to offer. So this is just like a friendship sort of agreement. Maybe a way forward would be for our mayor to meet their mayor and then eventually for us to meet the commissioners and to see if we can learn from them and then learn from us. That's all this is aiming to do, give our city manager and our mayor, obviously no permission, the directions to perhaps start some sort of relationship with them. That's all I'm looking for. That's my suggestion. That's what I wanted to say. Thank you.

George? Did the number change? Before we leave. 5.7. The bonus pool fund, right?

No, sorry. You know, Councilman Levy, brought this to my attention as well. I believe, if it hasn't already happened, something similar is being placed on the City of Coral Gables agenda. I don't know if it did or what the conversation was over there. But the concept, you know, League of Cities tries to do a lot of that at the county-wide level. This sounds like it's kind of... a microcosm of that in a certain way. I know the manager there. We can always have conversations. I'm sure you know the mayor. If not, we can certainly arrange for a meeting for you with the mayor. You know, it's hard to think right now about what could come of this, but maybe there's something to it. I can't tell you that there's a specificity that, oh, yes, this is exactly what. But I will say this, that the Managers Association and the League of Cities, so we share a lot of information always. So from a perspective of, what's happening, what's doing, whether it's e-bike ordinances or anything that is cross-cutting, we try to make sure that we're all not reinventing the wheel and trying to make sure that we do things that make sense. If that kind of slice of a community that's usually higher end and has a high-end mall and has an art focus as well, if that allows us to have a more intimate conversation, I'm happy to have it if that's what you want us to do. and we can arrange for any meetings you wish us to make. I'm also curious what their commission will respond to.

Thank you. You're sorry, Mayor. In terms of what the City of Leek does and what the city managers do, I fully get that. But what about promoting each other? What about promoting, for example... one of the events that we're doing here or one of the restaurants or one of the events that we do

So you're looking at it more from a marketing perspective. That's precisely what I'm looking for. Policy perspective, I guess.

It's more for marketing. I was looking at it as like a collaboration with another city that's similarly situated, you know, best practices, you know, that sort of coordination where we don't have, you know.

That kind of stuff I think we already do. I think where you're maybe hitting on something we don't is that we're You know, look, I'm thinking out loud here, but, you know, if the two, you know, the restaurants at both locations were able to cross-promote an event for the, you know, Spice Month or things like that.

Or collaborations.

Right. If we say, hey, we've got, you know, an event here happening in our museum and your residents are welcome and vice versa. if there are things they're doing that we could open up to our residents as well. You know, that's worth exploring, I guess. It really goes to the, I mean, you know, the collaboration conversation is worthy of more at a retreat or whatever because we also then struggle with the, you know, we do want to, you know, stay somewhat open exclusive. You know, we've had plenty of ample conversations at the park about who can and cannot attend the park. If it's something where we want to open it up to, say, residents of Coral Gables, I'd like that to be a policy deliberation because right now the policy is clear. And so those kinds of stuff we can explore and then bring back. Anything like that will have council direction.

Did you have something to add, Vice Mayor?

I was just going to say, you know, from your thought process of like a marketing and collaboration, I mean, I would like to get maybe Romero's perspective as part of the resort tax and marketing and any thoughts on this from your perspective. Maybe you want to – sorry to put you on the spot. Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, good evening Mayor, Council. Yeah, Councilman Levy and I had a chance to briefly talk about this. You know, certainly there's opportunities to explore. As the manager said, you know, our events tend to be exclusive to our residents and our guests at our hotels. We have had conversations about, do we want to keep it that way? So as the manager said, that would definitely be a policy question, going back to the policy question. So I think there's potential to explore. Let's see what Coral Gable's response to, and I think it's worth coming together and having a conversation and see where it leads. I think there's some definite possibilities. Mary, you're right, the two communities are similar in a lot of ways. from a residential and a tourist perspective. I think there's a lot of value for us of things that we could gain from Corr Gables, certainly from the art perspective and the dining and those kind of experiences. So let's talk and see what we can come up with. You know, it's certainly worth exploring. like the manager said, putting an agenda item on their commission agenda as well. So I think if the parties all come together, then we can probably come up with something that works for both communities. Great.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. So I guess the direction is to see where it goes, like continue.

I can certainly deal with the administration, the manager, and the like. Does anybody wish to kind of join in with regards to conversations with their elected officials, whether it be the mayor or Commissioner Castro, who's been spearheading it on that end? Do you want to let him go?

Okay. Thank you. Of course.

Okay.

R9B, Mosquito Spring. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First and foremost, Celia and the team, 4th of July, did an unbelievable job with that production. But anyone that was out there, Got eaten alive. It was terrible that night. And again, no fault of ours, but I definitely think we need to reach out to the county very quickly and make sure that we are getting sprayed for mosquitoes on a regular basis out on that beach path.

We didn't have any wind, which was great for the drones, but then obviously that comes with other things.

Fair enough. Since you asked us and we talked, I had Julio kind of reach out to the county. So why don't you, Julio, tell what has happened and what we can make sure going forward.

Very good. Julio Magriso, Mayor, Councilman Scar. Once you put this on the agenda, we immediately contacted the county. They did come out today. They set traps, and they're coming out tomorrow to figure out what it is that is out there. Based on that, they will treat accordingly. But I agree with you. We do go out there, and we walk, and it was a little bit different that day. But they'll be out here again tomorrow, and we'll know a lot more.

Great. Thank you so much. Sure.

Appreciate it. Yeah, just if you decide to spray, just spray by the buildings and don't spray anywhere else. Spraying is quite detrimental from a health perspective.

No, they're not allowed to use those types of pesticides.

Okay, but I'm glad to hear they're doing traps and stuff. Yeah. Much better.

Okay. And then R9C. Yes, R9C. And D are basically the same kind of, sort of the same item because I remember a few months back we pushed our jetty project out due to the beach reclamation project because they were going to do a pump and dump with the sand and the was going to go over the jetty. So we said, why stop our construction? We're going to have this giant pipe sitting over the jetty. So I want to know where we are with that re-nourishment project. And then with that being said, when will the jetty project finally commence?

So we'll do these together. So it's one and the same kind of thing. Maddie and Hulu are both on tap. But let me remind you, because we're kind of, I think where you're going, Councilman Sklar, is that back in February, we listed a bunch of different things that were happening, including the renourishment. The renourishment, as Hulu advises me, has been awarded. And there is a pre-construction meeting actually this Wednesday, which is the 15th of July. We told you that back then it would be about a 100-day project once they get their NTP. So they're assuming that NTP is end of the month after this pre-construction meeting at 100 days. They are suggesting that they could complete it sooner, probably within 75 days. But nonetheless, we're going to stick to their 100-day window because that's what they have. They're given that 100 days to do it, so that's their maximum amount. So 100 days from, say, August 1 is about a little over three months, August, September, October. It's probably into October. some time frame, for them to be complete. You're right, it's a barge and pump, so it's not all of the trucks that you saw before. And it's a much smaller renourishment than the last go-round. It's really to infill. But I also had mentioned some other things that are going on, including the Ritz renovation, which their pool deck is slipping. in timeframe. That doesn't necessarily mean we can't proceed with our work, but there's going to be a tight access there. Their interior seems to be on track, but the pool deck itself is slipping on that work. No one anticipated the volume of sargassum, which we told you about. We predict that the season will end in September, but it might not. You know, we don't know that. The milestone that we had set for you on the – I'm shifting over to the jetty now for a minute. The milestone we had set on the jetty was to have the GMP finalized in hopefully a four-year July meeting. which is today, which obviously we do not have. In large part, and Maddie can fill you in on some of the permitting that's going with it, not problematic, it's just the back and forth of permitting, as you know. We fully expect, and the deadline we've given them is that we would like to have a draft GMP for your mini-retreat. with the expectation that we could have it analyzed and ready for a decision in September, latest your October meeting. Now, that is a 60-day difference from what we had originally told you, but with some of these other slippages anyway, the critical path still remains end of this calendar year for what we might think as a groundbreaking commencement. At this point, I would expect after Basel, not before Basel, and then we'll make an infield decision to whether It's better to start after January 1 or not, but right now we're still targeting the end of the calendar year, assuming the GMP comes in at a number that we can all be acceptable. Remember, if we don't, we gave you that notion that there's this off-ramp, where if after we get the GMP, we decide it's not a number that we are comfortable with, we have the ability to reject the GMP and place the Jetty project out to bid we will have 100% drawings, fully permittable set, so we should get really tight and good bids, and the market will tell us then what the price is, and then we'll have a decision to make at that time. Now that could be another 90 days at that point to go and let other vendors go out there and bid. So assuming the number's right, end of the year. Assuming the number's right, end of the year, January, assuming we have to go out and re-bid ourselves, then you're looking at more like March. Because we need the time to do the procurement.

Maybe not so late. You know, we're going to be ready to go with an ITB, right? So we're going to have the 100% drawings. And so a two to three month bid period, you know, would be depending, you know, there's not too many RFIs coming in.

Yeah, we don't expect many because we're getting the benefit of all of the CMA rents.

We use the time wisely.

Right. So your item in September will either be accept the award or authorize the ITB, reject it and authorize the ITB. The ITB is ready to go. Once we go, it'll go onto the street.

Right. But then you have 90 days on the ITB. Yeah, you give it 60 days. So it could still be January, February. There's still a lot of opportunity for January. Great. Because, honestly, that's one of the questions I get asked all the time by residents is, when's the jetty finally going to start?

Yeah, and our permitting issues are not fatal. They're just details. You've got to get through the details. Fish and wildlife or the Coast Guard and what the light on the jetty is going to look like. You know, stuff like that. Because everybody cares. And there's, I don't know, six or eight different authorities having jurisdictions. So it's the most complicated thing I've ever been involved in.

Well, they apologized because they didn't do their thorough review back when. And they apologized and said, but we want to see it, you know, again. And there were some lights that they talked about not being compliant. So we've been working on that.

Thank you, Matt. I appreciate it.

You're welcome. R9E. Update on Sister City.

Sure. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. While in Israel on a family trip a couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Mayor Isaac of our Sister City, Hafa Carmel, in the beautiful town of Qasariya. And he was very excited about a couple of different projects that are being worked on with folks here at Powell Harbor Village, just to update people on. One is a visit by members of their first responders, a good number of their first responders, to give them the opportunity to work with the chief and the police team here, as well as get some R&R coming off of what have been some very trying times there. And secondly, a joint program with students from Jaffa Carmel and kids either in our recreation program or one or more of the academic institutions around there. So I was very pleased. to hear from him that the discussions have been active and ongoing and work is being done in order to further this and just wanted to provide that update.

Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate that. Public comment.

Do you have a public comment? No, she wanted to say something before.

Patricia Cohen, 10275 Collins. I just wanted to say that I was here for Dwight's first meeting. I was sitting on council. And so I was one of the people who did what was done tonight for Mr. Diaz. Juan.

Juan Garcia.

And so I just wanted to say that it's been, I'm also very grateful for everything that you did for so many years. While I sat on council, it was a pleasure to work with you. And I just wanted to hope that you'll stay in touch and express my gratitude to you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Penny.

Well, I think.

Penny Sepler, 102.75 Collins. I think that it bears repeating. I will miss you, too. You could reach Dwight anytime. He would call and remind me about something. Really, really, Dwight, you're too young to retire. And that's the truth. But now that you're here, we'll have lunch one day. The other thing I wanted to say is I don't think at the present time we have a chaplain. Do we have a – we do? Who is it?

We have several chaplains.

I was going to suggest that we add your wife. Because I'll tell you something. That was beautiful. She is a chaplain. She's a chaplain. And her benediction was just so thoughtful and so heartfelt. And really she communicated. And I think we would benefit from hearing from her again. Thank you so much.

It wouldn't be bad to have a female chaplain, honestly. Okay.

There may be a conflict of interest. I don't think it's a paid role. It's not a paid job, but let's rethink that.

Okay. It's already been said, but I think it's worth repeating again. I don't know if they really had a chance, because for the work and everything that Dwight's done for 11 years, I think from my perspective, I've only been here four, but as I told Warren the other night, I said, it's the highest level of service that we've gotten from Dwight. And you have, again, a high bar and big shoes to fill. From the first time I came in here and I didn't know anything, you were there. You were there to help me. You were there to teach me, really. You've been an incredible resource. And I know Penny's right. I mean, we won't tell you his real age, but he looks like he's like 40. So I'm not sure why you're retiring. It must be all the bike riding. But anyway, thank you so much for everything you've done for us. We really appreciate it and wish you all the best.

Thank you. After that word for word. You're going to get the verbatim minutes.

Is there any other public comment? Seeing none. Do you want to say anything? Can I say something? No, no, no. No, no, no.

You're not going to get away with that.

I'll have an opportunity further. Remember, it's July 31st, not July 13th. And he reminds us. As Patricia said, I was here also when the selection was made and Dwight joined us and from day one he was an integral member of the team. He inserted himself where he needed to be and he kept himself out where he felt he didn't belong, which is something that's a talent. Not everybody knows how to do that and Dwight has been able to do that. called upon at whatever hour he's really done yeoman's work and really represented this community and it's been a pleasure to work with from the day he joined us and I didn't know him when he came and we became good friends and you know I'm sorry to see him go we talked about this five years ago So this is not new. It's like someone said, bittersweet. Retirements are difficult, but they open a new chapter. And so I'm sure that Dwight will have a new chapter in his life and really fulfill himself and enjoy the fruits of what he's earned. So congratulations and Godspeed.

Thank you. I still plan to ride my bike here every day.

Oh, okay.

As long as it's legal to ride an e-bike here.

Oh, well, then I don't know about that.

Thank you, Dwight. Right. Wait, so village manager's report? No report. Village clerk's report? It is in your package. And village attorney's report?

Oh, and I do, however, wish to announce I request that executive sessions be set in the following litigation matters to be scheduled at a time to be determined pursuant to 286.01.1.8 Florida Statutes for the purpose of discussing settlement negotiations and strategy related to litigation expenditures. These are Bal Harbershop's cases. These are the cases known as the Live Local Act lawsuit, the noise lawsuit, the supermajority voting requirement lawsuit, and the federal regulatory taking lawsuit. And the clerk has the case numbers for each of these cases. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Motion to adjourn. Are you expecting that? Yes. See you in September.

Okay, but not in the next few weeks. Thank you. We've got one more. The Budget Advisory Committee meeting next week. So it's going to be like...

They go until 9 o'clock at night, too.

A lot of it is just things that you... Let me stop.

Thank you.