City Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. you Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. Thank you for your patience. We'll be starting shortly.

The mayor got tied up with something upstairs.

He's on his way down. I hope you all had a great weekend. And so, again, thank you for your patience. It won't be long. Good evening everybody and thank you again for your patience and good evening council members. The meeting, the City of Hialeah Council meeting of May 26 is now being called to order at 5.50 p.m. Madam Clerk, can you please call the roll? Mr. Zoghbi? Present.

Ms. De La Vega. Present. Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Marrero.

Present.

Ms. G. Perez. Present. Ms. M. Perez. She just stepped back. She's here, but she stepped away. Mr. Rodriguez. Present. Mr. President, you have a full council.

Thank you so much. Would you do us the honors, Madam Clerk, of leading us in an invocation?

Lord, we ask for your continued blessing upon our city. We ask that you grant the members of this council wisdom and understanding in every decision they face. Amen.

Thank you. Madam Vice President, absolutely, you do have the floor. And then followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. Go ahead.

Before we begin, we would like to take a moment to remember Mr. John Ulloa, who sadly passed away last week. He served on our planning and zoning board, and he gave a lot of time to our community, helping us shape a lot of the decisions that we made. So we ask you to please join us in a moment of silence in honor of his life. Thank you. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Face the flag. Right hand. 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, Madam Vice President. John Leor was a good man. Thank you for that moment. Good man. Okay. Madam Clerk, can you please read the meeting guidelines?

The following guidelines have been established by the City Council. All lobbyists must register with the City Clerk. As a courtesy to others, please refrain from using cellular telephones or other similar electronic devices in the Council Chamber. A maximum of three speakers in favor and three speakers in opposition will be allowed to address the Council on any one item. Each speaker's comments will be limited to three minutes. No signs or placards in support of or in opposition to an item or speaker shall be permitted within the council chamber. Any person interested in making comments or posing questions on matters of public concern or on any item on the agenda may do so during the meeting. Members of the public may address the city council on any item pertaining to city business during the comments and questions portion of the meeting. A member of the public is limited to one appearance before the city council and the speaker's comments will be limited to three minutes. Individuals should be respectful of the elected officials and staff and make every effort to speak with a moderate tone using appropriate language and avoiding personal attacks. Members of the public in the audience shall refrain from shouting or making remarks from their seats to the mayor, council members, or staff sitting on the dais. The public can view public meetings on the city's YouTube page.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Madam Clerk, what are our presentations for today?

Sure. Emergency Management and the Fire Department, they lead a presentation by Global Empowerment Mission and FarmShare to highlight their partnership with the city for the second annual disaster preparedness fair.

Thank you. Is that you, Paul? Yes, sir. You have the floor, sir.

I'm on up. I'd like to introduce you all. Our partners for the community disaster preparedness fair this year. These are two juggernaut servants Global Empowerment Mission, their name says it all, and they stand by their name. And FarmShare, which we're familiar with, they've come together and they've supported our fair as one of the biggest supporters this year with an in-kind donation to help our community with hurricane preparedness kits. And we just wanted to... display to our community, who we have in partnership to their needs, whatever their need may be before, during or after a disaster. We're just glad that we have partners and friends like these at Hialeah can call at any moment. And they'll be there for us. They've already done it in the past. But I'll let them tell you more about who they are and why they're so good at what they do. Thank you.

Good evening, everybody. Thank you so much for having us. My name is Mario Lopez. I am from FarmShare, the largest independent food bank in the entire state. I want to say thank you for this opportunity to partner with the fire department and do this event in preparation of hurricane season. I'm always reminded of the question of when did NOAA build the ark? Before the rain. before the rain. Being prepared is the most important thing we can do in helping our community, having the supplies that are needed and the correct education of what is appropriate to having means of an emergency. It's something that we strive for every single time. At FarmShare, our mission is to ensure healthy communities through food. But with our partnership with GEM, Global Empowerment Mission, we are expanding that. They handle crisis across the world. And I'll let Mr. Alistair fill in a little bit more. Alistair?

I'm sorry, Michael. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. It's great to be here. Thank you very much. As was mentioned, we have a...

Can you state your name? And you're our special guest. Forgive me for asking.

I apologize. I should have started with Michael Kesty. I handle government affairs for Global Empowerment Mission. I have that honor. And I'm here with Kim Bentley, who oversees our disaster field operations for East Coast, Central United States and the Caribbean. So a little small community she covers and here with Alistair and Alistair is our corporate relations manager, director. and assist us at GEM. Our global headquarters, by the way, is just down the street in Doral. So Global Empowerment Mission is one of the largest not-for-profit disaster recovery organizations in the world, in the world. Here in the state of Florida, we are fortunate that we team up with FarmShare and other organizations as well. But I want to give you just, I don't know if we have time for a short slide presentation. If not, I'll just read a few facts for you as well. So...

Yeah.

You sure?

Yeah.

I'm sure they want to hear about Farmchair.

No, they know all this, and I said it. I mean, our mission is no food goes to waste. Nobody goes hungry. We pride ourselves that we never sell food, ever. We survive on donations of any type of entity. We are first responders. We have been there when hurricanes Milton and Helene, for example, within 48 hours, we were there, and we had already distributed 5 million pounds of food and supplies within the first two weeks after landfall. And next one. So our business model is that we receive donations of food from pantries, from from I'm sorry, not from pantries, from supermarkets, from farmers. And we distribute it to the communities that needed the more. Yeah, well, Florida does rank in the top 10 of the 50 United States with food insecurity. I don't know if you knew that. I don't know if you know that 47 percent of the food that gets planted never makes it to the table. And that is a scary statistic when you consider that it's not all invasive organisms or freezes during the winter. The majority is because it's not pretty enough to be on display on a shelf in a supermarket that. Let's go. Individuals below the poverty line, it's everybody who we try to service, but those are not the people that we're seeing right now in our lines. Who we are seeing is the people that are under the United Way Alice study. It's the asset limited income constraint employed people. That's the teachers. That's the medical assistants. That's the nurses. That's those people that don't make enough money. to consider themselves wealthy, but make too much to qualify for SNAP or WIC or any other government program. And that limbo is where the majority of us are. And with the rising costs of the last few years that we have seen in this country, we are in a situation where the more and more and more we see is people that have a job, have two jobs and still can't afford, they still have to balance food or medicines. Next one. And I already told you about Hurricane Helene and Milton. And our impact now, yeah, last year we delivered 112 million pounds of food across the entire state by our 80-billion selves. We are an independent food bank. We didn't have the help from anybody but our trucks and our own employees and volunteers. So that's my information in case you need it. And if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Well, thank you. Yes.

I thought it was important for you to hear about FarmShare. They've become partners with us in the state of Florida. As I mentioned, Global Empowerment Mission, we're a name states, a global organization, but our headquarters are here in Miami-Dade County. And I believe we had some slides. I'm not going to go through them too much due to lack of time. Do we have those?

No.

No. again i'll be brief with these we've got a full agenda let's say global empowerment mission

Good.

Next slide. Thank you. Thank you very much for that. So who we are. So as I said, we're global, but we wanted to focus on the United States here. So that gives you an idea of the very active in California for the fires. We were very active in Hawaii, which we still are there after their issues that they've had disasters. Very, very big in Texas, where we had the disaster with the floods at the with the school. And of course, in Florida, whenever there's a disaster here, we're much involved. And also with that, with Milton and that hurricane, we're involved in the Carolinas as well. So next slide. Thank you. So three phases, which the staff here understands, behind me, of course. Immediate disaster, we call that first response, but let me be clear, we are not these guys, the first responders. They do their job better than anybody. We would never take any credit for that, but we do jump in with some assistance. Gap bridge assistance, which I'll talk about in a moment. And then long-term sustainable development. And that's something that makes GEM very different from everybody else. As soon as the media, the cameras walk away, A lot of times organizations leave. No, we're there. We're the long haul. I mentioned Hawaii. We've been there for now going on two and a half years. We've been in California already four years and they've had fires again. We're probably going to be there another 10 years in the rebuild. So next slide, please. So there it is. It lays out the immediate response that we do. crisis development, food, water, supplies. A lot of that is to support the fire departments that are there and the first responders. The gap period, which is where we prepare for the long-term recovery. We provide housing. We provide funding. I'm going to give you an example in a minute about some of that that we do. And then sustainable development, which, again, makes us very different. We have pride at our office that we are – responsible for housing more families that have had gone through disasters than any other organization. And we make sure they get on their feet. The other thing that makes us different, which I don't think is in the slide package, is we put together funding from donors and we help support companies, small businesses that want to get back into business. And we provide them grants, not a loan, a grant. We're doing that right now in California. We're handing out $10,000 grants to small businesses so they can pay their first couple months rent, get their supplies, get back in their community, get back on their feet. So that's something that nobody else has been doing. So next slide, thank you. So there again, we can go forward. I won't go through these. I think everybody understands necessity kits. That's a big piece of what we do. We put together these necessity kits. Kim and her team go out in the field and they hand these out when we get going. We'd like to welcome you all at some point to come to our headquarters in Doral and pack these packs, these kits with us. It's actually a lot of fun. It really is. And you feel like you're doing something after a disaster. Sounds like it, but it is. You'll find it. It's exciting. And then this is a big piece, Be Strong. We teamed up with an organization called Be Strong. That's Bethany Frankel. And we hand out gift cards. And we give those gift cards to anybody that shows an address that was impacted. And that address zone is huge. So if you walk up and say, I live in the area, hand it, we give you a gift card. No questions asked. You can use that card for whatever you want to do. We trust people. We believe in people. We're trying to get them on their feet. Next. We teamed up with Fluta Coop, which is a pet rescue. People don't think about what you're going to do with your pets. We teamed up with them. Next, please. And then this gap period, again, I spoke of that people leave. We helped fill that gap period there. Again, I'm not going to read that through. And again, long-term recovery. And there's talking rebuilding houses. In Hawaii, we're in a third phase of rebuilding houses. The governor of Hawaii likes so much what we did in the first phase. He received his FEMA money. He turned around and said to Jim, his $33 million, I want you to manage it, to rebuild Hawaii for us. So that's what we're doing. So next slide. So you can see right here what we've done. Look at that total number, $726 million in aid. And we just started in 2011. That's our organization. You'll see how many are impacted and whatnot. And that's next slide. And there's our smart partnerships. We would love developing a formal relationship with the city here. We already are working well with the chief and his group, and we look forward to expanding that further. Next slide. And I'm going to stop there and just going to read A couple quick facts, and I'll leave you here. So during Hurricane Milton, which was the big one, and Helene, we provided 189 families. So this was right up the road from us here in Florida with housing. 121 businesses we gave grants to, 65 truckloads of food and supply, a lot of that with our partner's farm chair, and 37,000 meals we prepared and handed out for that one. The other one that I can talk about locally that would impact you is remember Surfside, the towers that fell at Surfside? We stepped in immediately with those towers. We ended up within a very short period of time of raising $397,993 to give to the families in the fund. We ended up converting those to Visa cards, giving them to the families. We helped 34 families get permanently relocated. Permanently, it means six months or more. 34 families, we paid for that to get them into a place to live. 250 family kits we did. And then on top of that, $349,000 worth of relocation funding to help them further on with what they do. The reason I wanted to end with that is just to show that locally, that's what we can do. Hopefully, we don't have disasters like that too often. but we all know it's going to happen. So as our partner here at FarmShare said, we just need to be prepared for this. So if there are any questions, we'll take them. And I apologize for going on so long about it, but I'm proud of what we do at GEM. And I think as we partner with you, you'll be part of the being proud with us.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, all of you. Council?

Anybody? Through the chair?

Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to say I just wanted to thank FarmShare. I wanted to thank Jim, Chief, Paul. Thank you because many times we have made the call to your organizations and it's always been yes. We really appreciate the partnership between your organizations and the City of Hialeah and We hope to expand it, but you guys are doing a great job. Thank you, thank you. Thank you very much.

And could we briefly mention the event we're having coming up with your city?

On June 7th, yes, we are actually working with Chief, who is being invaluable in getting us with this one. FarmShare and GEM partners every year for the first Saturday of June, the first Saturday of hurricane season, to do a statewide event for hurricane preparedness on June 7. We're doing it in Hialeah, which is a Sunday. And we kind of hope to see each and every single one of you there helping us out and meeting with the people and distributing this very necessary information. preparedness items that will be in the boxes. Because like I said, you need to be prepared and hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Yes.

Thank you. Don't go.

If I may, just through the chair, I just wanted to echo what Councilwoman De La Vega said. Thank you so much for the work that you do, Chief Garcia. Thank you for uniting us with these organizations. Mario, we're so grateful for constantly all the community outreach during COVID and Now you haven't stopped. And I'm so excited, not because I'm a Bethany Frankel, you know, Real Housewives of New York City fan, but because I've seen the work that Jen does, and I'm so happy that now Hialeah gets to be a part of that. I think you guys are a phenomenal organization. And I know that I would love to go down there to Doral, maybe right before our event that Saturday and help pack some boxes. So please, if you can share the information with me, I would love to be there with you guys. All right. Thank you and God bless all of you.

We are lucky to have you all. Oh, go ahead, Chief.

Let me close it real quick. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Mayor, City Council. Good evening. I'm Fred Perez, 83 East 5th Street.

Chief, name, please. I'm Fred Perez, 83 East 5th Street.

Thank you. So on behalf of the Fire Department, I just want to say thank you to GEM, Global Empowerment Mission, FarmShare. Chief Garcia, for their partnerships, because government can't do it all alone, right? So partnerships matter, and working together before, during, and after a crisis is what makes a difference. So thank you guys for doing that.

Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Mario. Michael Bentley, was it? And Peter, was it? Yeah. Where'd I get Peter? My old ears. I tried to thank you so much, Bo. I would have thought that FarmShare was based out of Hialeah because you're here all the time. We're so grateful. We're so grateful.

We are statewide, but our headquarters is in Homestead, which you're welcome to go by and pack bags with us.

Thank you, you guys. And during COVID and everything, I mean, your footprint in Hialeah is undeniable. Thank you all. And thank you, Chief Garcia. And of course, Chief Perez. Thank you all. And we're honored to have you on our team. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. No more presentations, Madam Clerk, right? No, sir. Okay. Item seven is comments and questions. Madam Clerk, who's our first registered speaker?

Barbara Canales.

Come on up, Barbara. And you know the drill, my dear. Name and address, and you have up to three minutes.

The pictures.

It's not cooperating, is it?

I think that's... Oh, Barbara Canales, 1681 West 68th Street, Hialeah, Florida, 33014.

Thank you. Good evening.

Can you make a The whole screen, please. Bigger. Yeah. Go back to the first page. Thank you. Well, that one's a little bit smaller. So you can read it. That's good. Okay. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws. Taking place at Hialeah as well. West 68th Street from West 16th Avenue to West 19th Court. Hialeah as well. Now it's new name, official lawlessness land. Please don't trash our treasure. Please next picture. Thank you. Can you make it big? Yeah, that's good. Congress congressman Diaz-Balart gave 4.9 million dollars, keeping in mind taxpayers money, to the city of Hialeah, I'll quote, to combat flooding and improve safety in Hialeah. Number one, please, Mayor Calvo, bring back Hialeah police officers to check car by car at the lawless land. The black sedan belongs to the apartment building. The red sedan pick up and drop off. Neither of them live across the street from Hialeah as well. But then again, they're destroying our free drainage. The grass is deteriorated. Next picture. Even employees from another construction and be an obstacle for that construction going on right now for Miami-Dade County. They leave their car there on Hialeah as well, a lot less land, and they go on their business. Next picture, please. So that garbage was from the Gratney Canal, removed on May 11. Another car was dumped into the Gratney Canal. Next picture, please. more garbage from the Gratney Canal removed because that's the project that is going on right now from Miami-Dade County. Next picture, please. So that's, can you make it bigger? That's my car. A speeder came, hit the tree so hard. As you can see, the branch landed on top of my car. No car insurance, I pay it all. Next picture, please. The speeder ended up on my driveways. next to her neighbor. Luckily, they were not at home. Just my car got damaged. So please, next picture, please. Please, Hialeah Police Department and the new administration, help us keep our free drainage and safety. Thank you.

Thank you, Barbara. Thank you so much. Madam Clerk, next speaker. Jose Ozzie. Come on up, Jose. Jose, did they give you that? Did they give you a printout of something? Never mind. Just go ahead. Go on, Jose. Name and address and then go on. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Jose of the 788 Southeast Park Drive. Before I start, I'm briefly going to go over this because with this, I'm just going to ask the city council to get involved because the mayor, he probably has a lot on his plate and Four of you have been here for a while, and you're aware of this, and I'm going to end just asking, please, for the council to get involved and help the mayor with our difficulties. I first want to thank our chief, George Funders. He's not here because he couldn't have had the job at Doral. He couldn't have had the job at City of Miami because they hired these police officers from small departments, and our police, what they call morale or the organizational culture is like, big part because he did it. I want to thank him for staying. And I briefly want to talk about FarmShare, too. Our only link to FarmShare is the Hialeah Center, which is called the Blanche Morton. And I talked about this a lot before. You've heard me the last couple of years, because they closed the center there. And Steve Bulbaugh, I guess he had a bad, when he left the county, he would say publicly he wanted nothing to do with them. But Renee Garcia appointed me to the County Board of the Department of Human Services. And I'm sure they got tired of hearing me because Hialeah is one of the 12 cities that are low income. Not Hialeah, just Southeast Hialeah and East Hialeah. We're low income and we have the center, but that center is going to open up now. And I did connect Chief George Torres to Kathy Burgess, and she's the new deputy mayor in charge of that. And when they open it up, we need to ask for more. Not just do they do timeshare, but they help a lot of low income. So briefly with this, I've talked about this a lot. All I want to say with this is, so we pay special taxes to the Children's Trust Fund. It was supposed to be an additional tax to help. What Hylia did was they took the money from the Children's Trust Fund and they eliminated the other programs. All programs. All right, next slide. So I've talked about this, all of our pools being closed. I'm going to zero in on Babcock Pool because when we privatize our swim lessons, if you notice, Babcock Pool is only open from 1 to 4 p.m. The PARENTS GET OUT OF SCHOOL AT 4 O'CLOCK. IF YOU KNOW IT'S FROM 4 TO 7, IT'S PRIVATIZED TO THAT COMPANY. AND THE PRICE OF THE SWIMMING WENT FROM $45 TO $150. WHERE CITY OF MIAMI IS STILL $45, EVEN MIAMI SPRINGS IS $50, $60 FOR NON-RESIDENTS. SO HIGHLY GOING THERE. AND YOU SEE EVERYTHING WE HAVE CLOSED. AND MAYOR, I DID MENTION IT TO YOU A LOT OF TIMES, WE DON'T HAVE MONEY IN OUR BUDGET FOR for lifeguards, we can't do nothing about this. Okay, next slide. Just briefly with our neighborhood, like even my land, the park, when I worked there, we had 100 people in the clap, 100 people in the free camp. They have nothing at Walker Park. They don't even offer lunches. Next slide. I'm going to mention Isis Garcia, when she got involved and she got partnerships, you could always go to a partner, to the big companies and developers. As an emergency basis, we need to bring summer, the lunches are offered for free from the county. We're giving out free money, free lunches, and at least get emergency money, open up the parks and open the money, and take advantage of the free lunches. The kids get to school. In school, they get the free lunches, but in the summer, they get the free lunches through the parks. But because we don't even open the parks in the morning, we're going to need to open four parks, and they'll be eligible at least at a minimum. Please get emergency money, open those four parks, and offer those. Thank you for letting me go over. And just let those four communities get free lunches because it's free to us. We just got part-time staff. Thank you for listening.

Jose, Gabby, do we have an extra copy of the response? I want you to read it. Next meeting, come back, mull it over. Parks kindly gave a response because you deserve a response. I didn't see it. Yeah, can you?

Or we can send it to you via email.

Can you? Yeah, we've got your email. Can we do that? Yeah, thanks for letting me. Thank you, thank you. Have a good night, Jose. Next speaker.

Gabriel Rodriguez.

Name and address, Mr. Rodriguez.

Gabriel Rodriguez, 361 East 12th Street.

You have three minutes, my great friend.

Listen, I have to tell you something. The last time you asked me my age and things like that, I've been working and been tracking what's going on in Hialeah for about four or five months. Tracking and everything. So what I'm going to comment tonight here is probably hundreds, hundreds of people, if they follow the internet or something, they're going to see and they're going to hear what I'm going to say. So I promise. If you give me the opportunity, it's going to only three topics. I promise, if you give me the opportunity to get all the information, you're going to see me in the next five months. Go ahead. Mr. Mayor. I have a short thing. I live in the area for 40 years. A lot of people know me. I ask questions sometimes about the police, about the officer, how they behave, things like that. Some lady said, they say the guy, the guy is John, but I appear that he's very smart. That's the message from some neighbors. The people, Anna likes the people. Is that me? No, no, not you.

Go on, go on.

Your time is fast already. Okay. No, no, I'm sorry. I didn't take that. Forgive me. I don't know. You know, when I see you, I get nervous. Nervous. Okay. I want to finish it. Thank you. Thank you. The last one, I was talking about 9th Street from the Occhiori Road to the 10th Avenue. That area was part or is part of the Day County street or something like that. Well, that project is finished. I have to thank again to Ms. Camila and Ms. Yelenis, Ms. Yelena-Webbs, Miami-Dade County, the department, of the transportation and public work. That lady was a very helpful person, helping me a lot with all the information and things. OK, that project is done. It's perfect. They did a beautiful job over there. OK. Give me one second. Let me concentrate, please. You made me nervous. Uh-oh. Okay, I'm finished with 93. Okay, the next one, I don't know. Oh, my God. I've been working very hard in the last three or four months, and I don't want to... Oh, you can see the pictures over there. I've been working very hard. At the daytime, nighttime, sometimes it's raining to be able to take those pictures. Okay, I have to tell the people so that probably they don't know, they don't notice some details. If you connect all those lines in the East and West Hialeah, if you connect them together, it's a hundred of miles of paint. Paint that the city of Hialeah spends the money doing that job. I don't know if they already finished 100%, but the people noticed. I know that. The people noticed and the people comment. Why? Because help the drivers and the people working on the street at the nighttime. The last one, you know how the last topic and what I'm going to say? Quickly, go ahead. That's the last one. I'm glad you helped me with that, Mr. President.

You know how I named the last project?

You're supposed to think, because you're thinking sometimes in the same way that I think. You know that. Okay. I named this project The Beauty. Okay, you know what they're doing? Because I don't know if it's going to be six months or one year. I believe the mayor and the rest of the people, they were working very hard. I know that. Well, this number I'm going to say is from the public record. You see, I'm working hard. Thank you. This is about the light. City of Hialeah changed. Yeah. Okay. Where are the lights? Oh, there is the light. Okay. You can see that light. Take it out. I have to explain what's going on. Okay. Okay. I got it.

I see darkness.

No, that one looks like that yellow light.

Yeah.

So the city of Hialeah, from the budget spending, I'm going to say how much more or less the city of Hialeah is spending that. The city of Hialeah spends $1,598,000 And 955, I mean, they're supposed to say $1,059,000 with $955. That is the way the city of Hialeah taking care of the people and things like that. They spend it. Always people going to say, ah, they're doing it for some reason. No. Thank you. Nothing. It's for the reason it's going to be better. The people cross the street at the nighttime. That's why I say I've been working day, night, and sometimes raining. Why I mention night? Because at the daytime, there's no way that I can take a picture because there's no light.

Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez.

I'm finished. A couple of seconds. The daylight... It's going to be, it's going to consume less power. That means less money going to spend in that. It's going to be the visibility on the street for the police, for the people crossing the street. And it lasts, the LED daylight lasts twice and then the time the yellow one that thank you for noticing thank you sir i do i keep on the promise that i don't be here except except it's something big happening in hialeah you're going to see me next week of course otherwise you want me always a pleasure i appreciate it and you gave me i'll be waiting for that mr president thank you thank you thank you mayor chief

I appreciate you noticing it, okay? Okay. Thank you. Next speaker, Madam Clerk, please.

Christopher Monzon.

Full name and address for the record, and you have up to three minutes, sir.

Good evening. Just a moment. Good evening, Mayor, Council President, Madam Vice President, esteemed members of the Council. It is a pleasure to address a new administration, and I am here today on behalf of the Christian Family Coalition. I was personally approached by them to present before you a resolution to honor a great American patriot, a Christian, a hero, Mr. Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in cold blood on September 10th of last year. The city of Hialeah is a city made up of American loving patriots who fled communism in Cuba and other Latin American countries. So when I was approached with this idea, I thought that it was highly appropriate for our city to enact a resolution commemorating the birth date of Charlie Kirk and having a Charlie Kirk Day of Remembrance in our city. Furthermore, this resolution would include a stand in our public libraries honoring Mr. Kirk's books, his life, and the lessons that he had to teach to our youth. I think that implementing this in our city will be a valuable contribution to our future. For as we know, there is nothing more valuable than our children and their education. Ms. Perez, you are a teacher. You understand the importance of education, and I shared the details with you. I do hope that you are in agreement with me. I hope that you're in agreement with the Christian Family Coalition and their initiative to honor this great man and the contributions he made to our country. And I look forward to seeing further development on this matter. Thank you, and God bless each and every one of you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Next speaker, Madam Clerk. There are no more registered speakers, sir. Anyone in the audience who want to speak or online? We have nobody indicating so. Madam Clerk, item eight, please.

Consent items 10K and 10L have been added to today's agenda and zoning items 15A and 15B have been postponed until the city council meeting of June 9th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We have board appointments. Madam Clerk, item A, one board appointment.

Proposed resolution appointing Jose Anon to the Veterans Affairs Committee of the City of Hialeah as Councilmember Luis Rodriguez's appointment for a two-year term beginning on May 26, 2026 and ending on May 25, 2028.

Jose Anon. I'm blind. Is that you, sir? Jose, just stand up so people can feel you. We're so proud to have you. Councilman Lewis Rodriguez, here's your appointment. Please.

How you doing, sir? First of all, thank you so much for the service you've given us. If you don't mind, can you please come up here, Jose?

Thank you. You're very welcome.

My name is Jose Anon. Yes, my dad was a GC here many years ago, and I was an air conditioning technician, and I have a company here too. First of all, Mr. Mayor, thank you, and distinguished board, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to work with my fellow veterans. If that's the case, I will be a thorn on your side. I will be a pain. I will push for them extremely hard. I just finished doing, as a matter of fact, yesterday, I'm very proud that, again, I'm a very religious person also. And I like what you said. And I was able to feed the hot dogs and hamburgers at the batteries. It was really awesome. It was really good. And hopefully we should be doing the same thing here. I mean, it shouldn't be there. It should be everywhere. I'm here to serve. That's it. What you see is what you get.

Thank you, sir. Go ahead, Lewis. Don't leave. Motion? Let me just brag a little bit about Jose. Were you going to say something? Yes, ma'am. You have the floor.

I just I wanted to say go Spartans because I know that you're an alumni from Pace and so am I. So is Mr. LaVega. So right. And and and you also do some karate, which means that you have you deal with students. Right. And you do that.

I deal with a lot of kids, autistic kids also. Matter of fact, they're calling me on the phone since they were yet. I do that out of love and passion. I also bring in kids from Opelika.

Yeah.

It's free. It's not about the money. It's about the legacy that I want to leave.

You do a lot of good work in our community.

I try to do.

Yeah. We appreciate you. And thank you for also now dedicating your time to our Veterans Board. So I think you made an excellent pick. Thank you, Councilman Rodriguez.

Anyone else motion before that? We have a motion from Councilman Rodriguez. You're too humble. You are a Vietnam combat veteran. You are a bad boy, sir. You are a high-ranking black belt. And you are, and you're great. And thank you. Thank you for wanting to serve with such enthusiasm. It's such an honor to have you. We have a motion from Councilman Rodriguez. Do we have a second? Second. Second from, oh, sorry. Second from the Perez's Toynquist. Second from Council Vice President, I'm sorry. Second from Council, Monica Perez. Please call the roll.

Ms. G. Perez. Yes. Ms. De La Vega. Yes. Ms. M. Perez. Yes. Mr. Rodriguez. Yes. Mr. Zogby. Yes. Mr. Marrero. Yes. Mr. Gonzalez. Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved.

Thank you, sir. God bless. Have a great night. Thank you. And we're moving on to consent agenda. Does anyone on the dais want to pull any item from consent agenda.

OK go ahead, Jose. I I would like to pull items a name and address just one thing of the 7, 8, 8, now the park drive. Thank you. I would like to pull consent. The jade or given the enlarging of the Babcock Park to the Florida Marlins and the condition. Thank you.

Okay. We'll get to you in a second. Thank you, Jose.

If I may, through the chair?

Yes, ma'am.

Do I like to pull item K? K? K. As in hidden.

Ms. Perez, Councilwoman Perez, item K will be pulled. Okay. Anyone else?

And if I may, item G. Okay.

And Councilman Monica Perez will be pulling item G. Anything else?

That's it. Thank you.

Thank you.

Motion.

Otherwise, we have a motion from, was that you, sir? From Councilman Luis Rodriguez. Second. Second from Councilman William Perez. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. I'm in. Sorry, it's been a long weekend. From Councilman Willie Marrero, was our second. I called him Perez. Can I call everybody Perez? It's going to make it so much easier for me. Thank you. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Ms. De La Vega?

Yes.

Ms. M. Perez. Yes. Mr. Rodriguez. Mr. Zogby. Yes. Mr. Marrero. Yes. Mr. Gonzalez. Yes. Ms. G. Perez. Yes. Motion carries. A consent agenda has passed except items G, J, and K. Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Madam Clerk, please read consent item G into the record.

Request permission to accept the response for invitation for bid number 2025 dash 2 6 dash 0 1 8 fire station 1 fuel dispenser upgrades and issue a purchase order to branching out incorporated for the replacement of 2 fuel dispensers to ensure compliance with the latest environmental and safety regulations minimize the risk of fuel leaks. and increase the reliability of emergency services and administrative operations in a total cumulative amount not to exceed $47,434.

Councilwoman Monica Perez, you have the floor.

Thank you, sir.

You're very welcome.

Hi, Lewis. How are you? My question is more in general. It's no secret that we have many fire stations, right, that are under needing a little bit more care. And I know that we've focused on on some of the kitchens. I know that we're, you know, kind of moving some of the logistics and improving some of the quality of the bedrooms and the bathrooms. But there's still a lot of concern. I've had a lot of A lot of different people from the department reach out to me that there's termites, there's broken washing machines, there's an AC unit that went out for about a week or five days. I understand that the washing machine was ordered, we're waiting for parts. My concern is once this is reported from the fire station, once logistics gets that form, that call, And this is a quality of life kind of situation where they're there 24 hours, right? We can't have them go down the hall to another office. What kind of emergency kind of work call can we do? For example, the air conditioner or the washing machine. Once you get... Or once the department, not you specifically, but once the department gets this request for these parts or these upgrades in the infrastructure, what's, do we have a minimum, a timeline that we have to respond, that we have to kind of make it critical? How does it work? Walk me through that if you can.

can walk you through any of that. I'm here for fuel dispensers to put the fuel that's what G is to put gas in cars.

I understand. I understand. That's why I'm saying to order the parts to order the parts are already available. You guys have the same hair color, the same height. You're just he's not wearing the glasses.

Sorry, Lewis.

Maybe I need glasses from over here. I know what I said, but I called you by the wrong name. It's Vincent. Hi. How are you?

Jorge Martinez, 900 East 56th Street. Yeah, we received maintenance requests for all city walls. Right. We have excellent relations with the fire department regarding everything that they need, and we respond immediately. Everything depends on what we need. An example that we have, when you mentioned AC, if the son of the AC department are not available locally, We have one in the, talking to the chef. We have in station A, a unit that we have to be portable for five ton units because we don't have the coil. The coil coming from north. But we have also a plan for renovation of all the kitchens. We already did number one, number five, number seven. We are going to do next month, number three. That means we have a plan with the fire department, improving all the fire station, but the maintenance request that they ask for it is directed with us. And we respond as soon as possible with all the resources that they need.

So, for example, the termite issue. The termite issue has been, let's say, a month already, an issue at this location. The termites?

Yeah.

The termite issue, I think it's in Fire Station 2. You get the form soliciting that we need this improvement. How long does it take from when we get that to bidding that out, considering it's where they're living? It's their home. It's not...

We have company to treat the termites. The only thing that we do when it's a big project, we are supposed to get at least three quotes and we work from there. But we have two or three companies that were directed with us when we have that problem with termites. But we don't have something that said that has passed for months or something like that. If you have that record, let me know.

You were not made aware of the termite issue at Fire Station 2? No?

I need to check, but I don't have that like a priority or something like that or something that has happened that isn't being scaled.

Okay.

You know, you can find some termite someplace and come and do local treatment. Right. But if there is an issue that is at all the station, we treat that completely different because we have to put the tent. Right. We have to do the fumigation on the ground termite.

And for example, the washing machine being broken. They're living there. We don't have extra washing machines that we could just take to the station, plug it in until we wait for a new one to get in, that we can help during that time?

It is possible. It is fixable. We have a team that works without a repair. If not, we place the order, and as soon as it's coming, we change it.

So we don't have a timeline. It's when you get the proposal of what's needed, immediately you address it, right?

Correct. All right. Remember, there is a process. We need to get the call from the watching machine, send to the system. The system is approved. It's a procedure, but we got it immediately.

I mean, there's just some kind of disconnect, you know, when it comes to, I guess, what I'm being told and what's happening, and I'm not saying it's you. And I think that whenever we have our first responders that are living somewhere and they have options to go to other municipalities and we're not treating them right at their own home, And we're not providing quality of life. You know, if they're eating and there's termites falling onto their food or if there's, you know, now in the summertime, they're five days without an air conditioning or they can't wash their clothes, you know, for a week. I think that that's going to... impact their decision whether they want to stay here or not. And we are not at a place where we can lose any of our first responders. So I think making that a priority in whatever department we have to talk to mayor or any other as it pertains to logistics, as it pertains to when we you know, finalize, maybe we give a deadline by when these forms need to be completed, maybe give them a three-day deadline. I think we need to prioritize that because I think there's a lot of unhappy people, and I just want to make sure that we're really just focused on that and communicating.

They have to wait, it's not for the construction department. We know the priority of the first responder, and I've seen that the chief, And the Department of Fire Administration can speak better than myself, because I'm not going to speak about my department, the kind of work that I'm doing. But we don't wait for anything. Whatever needs to be done, we do it as soon as possible.

Yeah, but in the meantime, while they're waiting for it to wash their clothes, we should have an extra washing machine or an extra dryer that we could just pop in and plug it in while we wait for a new one. In the meantime, I think that that's just something that we should kind of consider.

Yeah, we can consider that. The only thing that I need is that they show me the money. I buy it for them.

Thank you, sir.

Eric Johnson, Hialeah Firefighters, Local 1102. I definitely just want to clarify a couple things here. This administration has done a great job of supporting our firefighters, and we are eternally grateful, as we always are. We do have some issues. We do have some problems. I think right now it's unfairly to blame construction. George, I will give you credit. You have done an amazing job with everything that we've needed. It is true. We have an infestation of termites at one of our station. It was reported over a month ago. This is one of those things that has to be dealt with as an emergency. It's just that simple. It is true. I guess who told you, somebody told you that bugs were falling in their food? Yes, it's true. When they sleep at night, yes, they're landing on their bodies, and we still don't stop doing our job no matter what it is, and we're hoping those things can be dealt with. I did discuss with the chief earlier on today. I know that we had three different companies come out and give estimates, but this is one of those things that if we have a contractor that we do business with, these are the things that we cannot wait for. There was also a situation in the station where we do not have AC. This has been a frustration of mine for well over 20 years, as most of you have heard, especially Louis, who's heard it a thousand times, and Zogby who's heard it a thousand times over the years. If we have an AC that breaks at our fire station on Friday, we don't get any service till Monday. It's our reality. The guys still during the summer in 100 degree heat coming back from fires. I'll give you the perfect example. We all know that there was a huge fire in Opelika just the other day. Our units were sent out of Hialeah to backfill and cover Miami-Dade stations is what we do for mutual aid. In the time that that happened, we had two code one fires within Hialeah, multiple trauma alerts, and they have to go back to a station with a minimal AC. The AC is working on a portion of it. They were kind enough to bring us a five ton unit. hey, it's a crappy situation. We are all trying to do what's best for each other. We do need spare things. We do need emergency POs. And those are some things that should have been requested. We'd like them to be requested. It's nice that we hear about kitchens being redone, but I would ask the mayor, and I know he'll say yes, that we would like to meet with a fire chief and administration before we waste money on things that we don't need. If kitchens being redone, there's better stuff that we can send the money to. okay we can repair leaky roofs we can repair air conditions we can fix our rescue trucks a lot of things that we can do to make that money those dollars make more practical sense for those people doing a job day in and day out 24 hours a day 365 days a year that's what we need we need a little better communication within you know our station condition is not the best and you are right when you said that we have younger people that look at the conditions here and say oh man look i've had this station living in a trailer for five years it was only supposed to be for one year It's not easy. We're going to try to working together to do the best that we can. I mean, that's it. But there are functional deficiencies. And I would like from a union standpoint, administrative standpoint, even a fire standpoint, that we got to have better communication to fix it. You know, we have got to come out to go to the stations. We've got to see the errors that were happening because that will drive the younger people away. It will. And you're right when you say we can't afford to lose another person. We're 22 budgeted vacancies right now from already a low number. There's no... Let there be no confusion. 2007, I had over 300 firefighters. It is now 2026. I have 236 firefighters, 40% increase in calls and two more fire stations. We're growing. The city is going to grow. Our fire department has to grow with it. We've been very neglectful of these things. We see in Miami right now they're asking for a $450 million bond to redo their fire stations, their police station, their administrative building. Hey, listen, I rolled the station of Station 4. I think that's from 1964, built by federal grant dollars on the east side of Hialeah that's separated by the railroad tracks. Our second one is Station 3 on West 8th Avenue and 49th Street. Some of you grew up around that station. We actually used to have a brass fire pole come out. We used to have the station facing 49th Street and West 8th Avenue. We do need a lot of repairs, and we need the allocation of money for those repairs. But unfortunately, being a blue-collar city without a new stream of revenue, those things are hard to achieve. They really are. But we have to start working together with better communication to get things done. But to blame you, absolutely not. You've done a phenomenal job and you always do a phenomenal job. Thank you on behalf of our firefighters.

Thank you, sir. Chief, did you want to say anything?

Just a second. We receive orders for every place in the city. When we receive something like the AC or something like that, we try to resolve immediately. The example that we are putting that he was talking about, was the unit that had parts in the north that we cannot fix it. I knew that Thursday at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We put the temporary unit the next day, 8 o'clock in the morning. Running new circuits, putting new things that we have to adapt for the system. We don't wait when there is an emergency. We don't have part in stock. because we don't have the money to do it. We can have a washer, we can have a dryer, that's not a big deal. And when you have 12 ton unit, 20 ton unit for AC, that is not feasible sometime in a day. Some of the unit are not fixable right away. The only thing that we can do is to put portable in that moment until we get the parts. And the problem that we have with the termite in this moment, I don't know who reported it. That means communication needs to be improved. We work as soon as possible when we receive the orders. My department do not wait. And we know that we are in hell. That is 90 degrees. And we try to fix everything as soon as possible. But I want to be clear. Nobody can fix something when we don't have the power. That's the only issue that we have. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

All right. Good evening. So I want to address, first of all, Damon Andrews for the record. I want to address, first of all, we do have the money to fix things and we do have the money to repair things. That's something that's always ongoing. It's in the current budget and it's in our five year capital. We don't have to take from Peter to pay Paul. OK, we have money to accomplish what we need here. As far as the AC at Station 8, when that AC went down in the bunk rooms, we sent them portable units. We realized that that was not enough. At that moment, that Thursday, I spoke to George and I said, we need a little bit more. The very next day, he had a five ton AC unit there. The part that they need is on backwards. You can't get it. I think it was seven days to get 10 days. Tomorrow, supposed to arrive tomorrow. So we are working on things as fast as we can. Fire station two, the termites first came in. We thought it was bugs. We had a company go out. They determined what it was. We're waiting on the three proposals to move on that. That's going to be addressed this week. We're going to have to move those units out of there, tent that station we have in the past. It'll take about three days and then we can get them back in there. As far as the washing machine, I just found out about that. That will be addressed tomorrow morning. We have the money. We don't need to find it. So that will be addressed tomorrow morning. All right.

Anything else? Item G is still up for motion. Are you done, madam? Motion to approve. Thank you. Do I have a second on item G? Second from Councilman Luis Gonzalez. I didn't call you Perez. Please call the roll, madam clerk.

Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero? Yes. Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? Yes. Ms. Telavega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, can you read item J from consent portion into the record?

Propose resolution to approve a license and use agreement between the City of Hialeah and the Miami Marlins Foundation Incorporated for the development operation of a youth academy at city-owned property and authorizing the mayor and the city clerk as a testing witness on behalf of the city to execute the agreement attached year to and made a part year of as exhibit A and providing for an effective date.

Jose, just again, for the record, name and address and then go on. Thank you, sir.

Jose Aldin, 788 Saldin Park Drive. Thank you, sir. I want to address this because this is like ongoing theme. We don't have staff. We don't have personnel. So we're leasing properties. I was for this, given the Marlins the opportunity to use Babcock Park until two weekends ago. There was a tournament there ran by the Marlins. There was 12 teams, there was only one team from Hialeah. So are we gonna, is this in writing how much the Hialeah residents are gonna use this park or is this gonna be their headquarters? They already have the, is this gonna be the headquarters of South Florida and we're gonna use the 5%? I ask that you table this and, cause I still haven't got public records and I know the city council has not read the contract. Is this in writing? I wanna give a history of the Florida Marlins when they built the stadium They lied to the residents. It was only proven that they lied to the financial records. And we paid a lot for the Marlins Stadium out of the public funds, right? And the history we have with leasing our parks and losing control is not good. I'm going to mention, remember when we gave 50% of Slade Park, the attorney Alex kept saying, oh, yeah, you're going to use it. You're going to use it. But it wasn't in writing, right? And then it was 10 hours at the gymnasium. He wouldn't put it in writing. And the representative from the Marlins, he's probably going to give these words, but ISN'T IN WRITING. ANOTHER ONE, WHEN WE GAVE MYLANDER PARK TO THAT LEAD THAT'S CHARGING $2,000 PER SEASON FOR THE RESIDENTS OF DORAL, MIAMI BEACH, AND WESTON, THEY SAID 75% OF THEM WAS GOING TO BE HIGHLY RESIDENT. TO THIS DAY THAT HASN'T HAPPENED. I KNOW COUNCILWOMAN PEREZ ASKED THEM. TO THIS DAY WE HAVEN'T SEEN THAT. MYLANDER PARK IS BASICALLY USED Right now, Mylander Park in the daytime, we had the biggest camp there. 200 kids were involved. We gave Mylander Park to extreme sports, right? So the kids, we don't even have summer lunches at Mylander Park. Why? Because we gave it to extreme sports. So this goes back to our budget. You know, how much are we going to give, give, give stuff away and stuff away? I'm going to give Mylander Pool, our biggest pool, right? If you have a kid and you want to use Mylander, you can't, right? Only for, because we don't, But the people that are giving the swim lessons there, if you pay $150, then you could use the pool. And we only have one pool available, McDonald's. Why? Because we don't have money. So we're giving all this... We're giving away our parks, you know, and we already closed two parks. When you lease a facility, you lose control. So, Mayor, I'm going to ask you table this, that everybody see it in writing, how much Hialeah is going to use it? Or is this going to be for the South Florida League, which it looks like it? Or can you tell us in writing how much Hialeah residents are going to be able to use Babcock Park? If you could please, in writing, what's in writing, not what they say.

Thank you, Pepper. So it is in writing. Barbara has been negotiating with the Marlins for quite some time now. Alfie is also here with the Marlins. I don't know if you guys wanted to come up and maybe discuss just briefly. But it's quite a lengthy document. It's some 67 pages and it goes in all the details, all the minutia. Barbara, you want to give us kind of like a brief overview?

Now, the constituent indicated that this is a lease agreement between the city and the Marlins. This is not... Yeah, this is not a lease agreement between the city and the Marlins. This is actually a license and use agreement. So basically, the Marlins have committed to developing and operating a youth academy in our city, in Babcock Park specifically. The Marlins will actually be building and improving the fields at Babcock Park for use of our residents. They've actually committed that in regards to participation, of the Youth Academy that 75% be of that of Hialeah residents. Also, in regards to the improvements that they're going to be doing to the land, at the end of the day, that improvement to those fields are going to be of the ownership of the City of Hialeah. Aside from that, they've actually committed to, at this time, not charging any fees whatsoever for participation in the youth academy of our residents. If in the future there is going to be any type of participation fees, they've actually indicated that they will come to the table with the city of Hialeah, the director, the mayor, in order to negotiate those you know, participation fees, registration fees, and also the MLB would also be participating in those negotiations. So on behalf of the city, the law department, myself, have done everything in order to protect the city. We have not waived sovereign immunity or anything to that effect, but also just for this program, coming to our city and benefiting the youth that we have in our city.

alpha you wanted to say a few words sure thank you mr mayor council president members of the council alfredo mesa vice president public affairs with the miami marlins 501 marlins way i'm here with several colleagues from the marlins and we're very proud to stand here before you in the spirit of giving back Many of you have seen us, uh, for some time, uh, with the commitment to help grow, uh, youth baseball and softball in the city of Hialeah, uh, and make it accessible, uh, and beyond just the skills training, uh, so many other offerings that the youth Academy has. We've worked very closely, uh, with the administration. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, madam attorney. Everything that was just delineated is what we are committing to. Um, Many of you, again, have been out there, have seen the kids. That 75% number that was shared is in writing. The improvements that you have seen is our way also of giving back and also making the city of Hialeah an example of how the best parks departments run and grow the sport. You have an amazing parks department. Your leadership in the parks department is is second to none and we obviously work with a lot of parks departments um and i have to tell you that you know we're very proud of of the leadership you have and the staff at the parks department uh so today we're here as your partner partnerships are important to us a values driven commitment to corporate social responsibility i see other partners from farm share that we've worked with in the past that is the spirit of the marlins foundation to give back and to do as much as we can to make the support accessible to kids we're here to answer any questions you have mr mayor

Willie.

Willie Sanchez, 900 East 56th Street, Chief of Officer Recreation. So today's a very special day. It's been a long journey, Mayor and Council, over 15 years that Alfie and our team have been working together. I thought when I retired, this dream was not going to happen. But God had different plans, right? He's always in control. And today is a very special day in Hialeah. It's an honor to have not only our professional team involved in Hialeah, but also Major League Baseball. It's all good news from this point on. What you've seen so far, the rebuild that has happened at Babcock Park, just one piece of the big puzzle. We're going to have the premier place to play baseball in Dade County. So we're excited. Alfie, thank you for those kind words. you know all the glory goes to God always my team we're dedicated to continue making our parks better and that's been the goal since I came back you know I grew up in the parks too you know I met my wife here so I'm committed to this to the city and making our parks not the best here in Dade County the best in the nation and that's what we stand every day and that's what we come to work every day to do Thank you. Thank you, sir.

I'll just send it off with, you know, this is one of the largest investments I believe by any baseball team in the entire country. Uh, certainly we've put ourselves on the radar of major league baseball and we're going to have a beautiful event hopefully in the next couple of weeks, uh, honoring this, but it's a win-win for the city. It's millions of dollars of investment. Uh, into our park system and to Babcock park specifically. And the fact that we're able to provide, uh, the classes and the Academy and all that stuff, the gear, everything for free to Hialeah residents is a home run, uh, quite literally no pun intended for other residents of Hialeah. So we're very excited for this partnership and, uh, Like Barbara said, at the end of the day, we retain the property, we retain the improvements done to the property, and we're providing a service to many of our residents that for many years didn't have it. So it's a very special day, and we're going to have a more in-depth rollout in the coming weeks once we were able to coordinate schedules.

Sorry, I don't know what the protocol is. It's just that I heard the discussion happening. Mario Lopez, 2313 West 69th Street, Unit 1. At FarmShare, we have a longstanding partnership with the Florida Marlins. And if I can describe that partnership with one word, it will be selfless. They are completely selfless. They are probably one of the best partners we've ever had. And I think the city of Hialeah will be doing what it's in the best interest of the residents of Hialeah to engage. I don't know what the details of the contract are, and I leave that to you, the smart people. But what I can tell you is that every time that I picked up the phone for the Marlins to help me out with anything, they've been there. So I just thought that that was point and it needed to be mentioned to here. Thank you.

Thank you, Mario. Good to see you again, Alfie. Pleasure of the council or any comments from the council?

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

So Alfredo, I want to thank your office has been very transparent since the first day we started talking to them. And every question I've ever asked, trust me, you guys have been great. I was very skeptical at the beginning. I asked a lot of questions. Everything was clear for me. So thank you for investing. Like the mayor said, this is an honor for us. And Willie, thank you. Thank you for driving that. But most clarity we have is every time that I ask questions, you guys always been there and always out for the kids. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Just want to make that comment. Through the chair.

Yes, ma'am.

Jose, Ozzy, I hope that this kind of gives you a little bit of peace of mind, right? Addressing your concern and just seeing that our parks and our program is going in the right direction. I know you're very passionate about parks. A lot of us are, right? And so just seeing programs like this, I think just assures us that we are in the right direction. I know the concern was what is going to be the participation of Hialeah residents. And having 75%, you know, I think is a huge number, right? I know you mentioned that there was a game last week and only one of the team was Hialeah. Maybe that team was Hialeah, but maybe some of the children of the other teams were Hialeah residents. Maybe it wasn't a Hialeah team. But the involvement in our parks, I think is super important, right? And that for all of us up here, right? Making sure our residents come first and that these programs work for our residents. I know that from the day that I first came on to this council and meeting with Willie and his team, it was like, where's baseball, right? I come from a baseball family. My husband, my brother, And so seeing the Marlins investing in the city, I thank you. I'm excited about it. Again, the concern was what will the Hialeah residents participation be? And we want to make sure Hialeah residents can participate in this. So I'm very thankful for that. And I'm very excited to see that baseball's back because that is such a huge part of our city. So I'm very excited to see you guys here. And Ozzie, I know you're passionate about it, but I think we've answered your concerns.

Just one caution. When we privatized Babcock Park to El Duque, we heard this game. And when we privatized our soccer programs, we heard the 75%. I'm not saying they're not going to hold them, but I hope hold them accountable and look into the soccer parks that they promised to 75%. And that hasn't happened. I hope they keep their look serious. I hope they keep their promise, but Don't turn your back. I mean, make him fulfill the promise. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Denied. Pleasure. Yes, you have the floor, Councilman.

Very nice.

Notice that. Because I like you.

Well, I just want to say that as somebody who grew up loving baseball and playing baseball at the parks here, played at Hialeah High, I actually played against at the same time against Alex Fernandez, who became a baseball player with the Marlins. That this would be a dream come true if I was at that point in time in my life to have the legitimacy of the Miami Marlins as a professional team, which is the ultimate dream that every kid here playing ball wants to make it out to the major leagues. To have it in your own town, there's nothing like it. I mean, if I was a kid right now here, I mean, right now I'm getting goosebumps thinking about it. I'll be like, how do I play there? How do I get there? And I know they're going to have your professional organization behind it. I grew up here at a time when really, you know, it was the old school Cuban Guajiros, you know, just... Eat the ball, you know, there's really no teaching, no techniques like I see nowadays. It's like a freaking science how they play today, you know. But now I know, you know, having this legitimacy and this profession behind it, I mean, I'm all on board. You're smiling at it. I agree 100%. But if I was here, man, if I was a kid here, man, I would be so excited about it like I am as an adult right now. I would love to make a motion to approve. If anybody has something to say, I'll listen as well.

Yes, ma'am. We have a motion on the record from Councilman Gonzalez. You have the floor, ma'am.

I know that Councilwoman De La Vega's father was a huge season ticket holder when they were Florida Marlins, and he would go everywhere with them. But my brother was a ball boy. All right. So he was a ball boy for the Florida Marlins. So sorry, guys. I'm one-upping you. We're very proud. We're obviously fans here of our team, our Marlins. As an educator, you guys used to have the education program and they would come to the schools and I would sign up and they would all come and play with the kids and we would do all the STEM activities with them. So you guys have always been in the community and I could understand, Pepper, your concern. I respect your passion. I respect your intention because I know that you come from a good place. And I understand your love for the parks, so I respect you. And history has been scary here. I agree with you. But I believe that the Miami Marlins are going to rewrite that history. And they're going to be a professional organization here. I have all the trust. And just because you've been bitten once, you can't be afraid to keep on doing it, right? So we have to have faith that this partnership is going to be something good for our community. And Mayor, I think it's an excellent investment into our parks, and I believe that Mayor Calvo will be looking into holding them accountable, making sure that 75% of that enrollment is Hialeah kids. He's a Hialeah kid, and he's going to push for that. So I believe our mayor has his heart in the right place. So therefore, thank you. Thank you, Willie. And thank you to the team for being here tonight for this long, but hopefully entertaining meeting you've had.

If I may I so I think the whole city is it was in a parks thing the whole the whole city participate in but there to 2 cents in in Barbara, I know you spent some late nights. I'm grateful thankful. But this is a complete team effort.

Those be on pages that Barbara did I appreciate it Barbara. I mean you really you you dotted the eyes and you cross the T's and we appreciate that. So I second the motion.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam. We have a motion from Councilman Gonzalez and a second from Councilwoman Monica Perez. Please call the roll.

I just wanted to add to the record that the use agreement was provided to Mr. Ozzie on today's date via our next request along with the resolution.

Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Yes.

Mr. Rodriguez? Yes. Mr. Zoghni?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero? Yes. Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? Yes. Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved.

Thank you. Madam Clerk, please read consent agenda K. Yeah. Thank you again, Alvin. Thank you. Thank you, all of you. Thank you. And you too, Slick. Thank you. Thank you. Madam Clerk, consent item K into the record, please.

Opposed resolution authorizing the mayor, his designee, and the city clerk as a testing witness on behalf of the city to authorize a proposed agreement between the City of Hialeah and Sustainability Partners, LLC, Attach here to and reference herein as Exhibit 8 for the implementation of a citywide pilot program for approximately 180 days to demonstrate the feasibility of an advanced metering infrastructure program featuring 175 to 225 ultrasonic smart water meters to be installed and tested throughout the city. The program will be at no cost on part of the city and providing for an effective date.

Madam Councilwoman Monica Perez, you have the floor.

Thank you, sir.

You're very welcome.

I would just like, do we have any presentation or anyone that could kind of give us a little bit of an update?

I don't believe Sustainability Partners is here, right, Kevin? No. Okay. Basically, it's exactly the same as the other two agreements that were approved by council a few meetings ago. I remember mentioning that there was probably three people that would participate and sustainability partners was undergoing some transition. So They were a little delayed, but it's exactly the same agreement that the other two companies signed. There's absolutely no cost to Hylia Residence. They'll be providing, like it says there, you know, approximately 200 or so meters for free for a period of six months. Just one other company that we can basically gauge to see how the system is working. I think we might be able to actually bring on board even a fourth company, but that's something that we're working on. But basically, again, it's totally free. For Hylia Residence, it's free to the city. They're going to provide the technology for six months. We'll test it out. We'll compare them to the other companies and then we can make a determination and see if this is the path forward. And if so, which of these companies is the best fit. So basically, it's the exact same terms as the other agreements signed by the other companies.

Okay. So then during this 180 day period, it says that some of the responsibilities lie on the city. So therefore, like, let's say if there's a leak detection at one of the properties, is it our responsibility then to notify them and to do like a shut off? Do we have access to that system to be able to do that?

So part of the things that we're testing over the course of these six months is how good this technology integrates with our existing system. So that's one of the metrics, right, that we're testing these companies on. So I presume that some will integrate better than others. We will take no more responsibility than we currently do. The only difference is obviously the old analog meter is being replaced by this new digital meter. And obviously these meters do provide higher information. They let you know, they have something called vibration detection for leaks. So they let you know if down the line there's a leak. They can detect that. They would notify us. And obviously, it's the city's prerogative, as it always is, to repair those leaks if it's on the city side. Obviously, if it's on the homeowner side, same thing. Nothing changes. It's always the homeowner's responsibility if it's on their side. But this is just a tool to allow higher notification. And that's something that you don't get with the analog technology. So it's one of the benefits that they bring, in addition to obviously reading the meter very frequently so you can detect these things with time and not let a bill rack up. And they have other features as well. in terms of some of the technology. So all of these come with different access portals. So you can log in and you can see your current use even on a daily basis. A lot of these companies have apps as well. So these are all things that we're seeing how residents are actually buying into it and using it if they're using it at all. And obviously, basically, that's why we're going through the due diligence of going through these processes.

So in the meantime, I guess then they're monitoring the system, but it's just implemented as a pilot program, but they're watching the system, they're managing the data, they're collecting that while we're just allowing them access to these identified properties.

Right. So we're going to have to work closely with them over the course of the next six weeks. Obviously, long term. Right. If we were to pick one of these companies, then there would be a full integration where we take full ownership. But obviously, this is a sort of a six month pilot. So we'll be working closely with them to the extent that that we need to, obviously, in case any issue arises during this process.

Maybe Kevin can answer the next question that I have. It's a little bit more technical.

When I was reading, it was saying that- Kevin, I invite you to come up to the lectern.

welcome uh it says that there is a way to do um like a single shut off and i know that that's been like a big concern for certain properties that we can't access the meter or for apartments right so would these new systems be able to actually turn off to a single unit within that apartment or it still remains the same that because you're in an apartment building you can't shut off the

The answer is no. That is a feature that exists with these companies, but it's an additional piece of hardware. So you would have to install that in addition to the meter. They're not going to be providing that for the pilot. But if we wanted to pursue that, certainly the technology exists, but it's an additional cost, additional hardware that gets installed and congruent with the digital meter.

Does that apply to apartments or to property?

Well, it could be both. Typically, you know, in a single family home, you're going to have what's called the two inch pipe with the two inch meter. As you get to larger buildings, the meters increase in size. Then you get into the issue of sub metering. So some apartments will have meters for every single unit. Some will have one for the entire building. And again, the technology is the same, but it increases in size depending on the amount of water that actually goes through.

Okay. So then I guess at the end of this study, we can then maybe get some parallel data or information of the cost associated for those additional add-ons per company, right?

Right, absolutely. So that's one of the things that over the next six months we're going to be working on, which is trying to understand, okay, you know, how much would it actually cost us to install these technologies? The cost Not that we favor them one way or another, but some of the other companies that the council already approved, like Corn Main and Badger, they already have contracts with the cities or the county. So there's piggybacks that we can do. They can have some very aggressive pricing. Some of the other companies, like Sustainability, they're sort of at a different scale. So we're going to evaluate all the prices. We're going to evaluate all the features. And then we'll compare. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to run a similar amount of meters for every single company so that we can compare and see which company is really working the best out in the field. They also use different technologies. So some of these companies will basically tie into the cell networks. And some of them work off Verizon, others work off T-Mobile or AT&T. And then some of these companies actually use their own antenna system. So they don't use cell towers. So they use a different frequency. And so there's pros and cons to either or, just depending.

One of my other questions was, can we install... maybe at that same property, maybe three of the different company meters to see if all three get different readings to see which one is more efficient to that one property. Is there a way of doing that?

Wouldn't be able to do that because the water has to flow through the meter at the same time in order to get the reading. So I don't see how you can install three meters at the same property. But all of these routes were basically selected so that they're very similar, one to the other. So that, you know, an aggregate, yeah, maybe one house is slightly different than the other, but an aggregate, when you compare 200 meters to 200 meters of a similar population, You know, roughly, statistically, it should be the same.

And how are we identifying if we already have, we're doing, what is it, how many, 180 homes per?

So it's per route. The city has multiple routes that it runs. The routes range between 175 and 225 homes. And so that's how we selected and we gave a higher preference to routes that are more problematic for reading. So the routes where the meters are inaccessible or hard to reach, because obviously that's where we would want to start anyways, if we were to proceed full term. So that's how we pick the routes based on them being similar in nature, but also the more difficult routes that are harder to read.

Got it. So we don't need the customer to allow us into the property?

We're just going to... Well, it's always written in the agreement and it's codified in our code of ordinances that in order to provide you the water service, you have to allow access. That is the same today for reading your meter, whether or not people allow access is a different story in practice. But it's the same if we have to go replace, fix a leak. All of it is the same. And so obviously it's one of the challenges that you're always going to run into. There's nothing different that we have to do in order to to make this happen. But it's something that we can evaluate. You know, is there an apprehension? Do people not want these things installed or whatever? And that's part of the information that we need to gather to make an informed decision moving forward.

All right, perfect, thank you. I appreciate it. I'm done with my questions. Motion.

Motion from, thank you, Madam Councilwoman. Monica Perez with a first motion. We have Councilman Luis Gonzalez with a second. Please call the roll on item K of consent.

Mr. Rodriguez. Yes. Mr. Zogby. Yes. Mr. Marrero.

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez. Yes. Ms. G. Perez.

Yes.

G. Perez. Yes. Ms. de la Vega? Yes. Ms. Sampras? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Answer for me.

Thank you all. Unfinished business.

Don't worry.

Eventually. Item 11 is unfinished business. Anyone?

Ma'am, you have the floor. If I may, I don't know if this was discussed earlier, but we do have a planning and zoning board member, John Ulloa, who passed away suddenly the day after our last planning and zoning meeting. We also have two firemen that have lost their brothers. Harold Estrada and Paul Garcia. And I think that as a city, I would just like to take a moment to just honor their lives, honor their service, honor their families, and may their souls rest in peace. Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you. Anyone else? Unfinished business? If not, new business. No new business. Madam Clerk, can you administer the oath for the next portion, zoning portion?

Well, all those persons who will be testifying on an item, please stand and raise your right hands. Las personas que quisieran prestar sus opiniones delante de esta junta, por favor, póngase de pie y alza la mano derecha.

I don't see anybody present to... Nobody needs to... Oh, I see a gentleman here.

So we're done with the... We're done with the... Right?

We're good? Is the gentleman speaking on a zoning matter? Yes. Okay. Okay. Do you swear or affirm that the evidence you're about to give is the whole truth? Is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth? So help you God, if so, may I do.

I'm sorry, the meeting is still going on. Please, we need some quiet.

Let the record reflect that I'll have responded in the affirmative.

Thank you. 14A, Madam Clerk, please.

First reading of proposed ordinance, amending the future land use map of the city of Hialeah comprehensive plan pursuant to section 163.3187, Florida statutes, small scale development amendment, to change the land use designation from commercial to medium density residential for the property located at 2295 West 4th Court, Hialeah, Zone C2, legally described herein, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing penalties for violation hereof, providing for a severability clause, and providing for an effective deed.

Thank you. This is first reading on this ordinance, on a land use ordinance. We have the applicant present, I guess. And is there anybody who has, you can come up just in case. Thank you so much. Is there anyone who has any question for the applicant who I guess is, are you Mrs. Martinez?

No, my name is Dulce Conde. I'm the architect on the project.

Okay. Are you, is she registered? Just a moment. Thank you for coming. Is she registered to speak?

So as an architect, if her testimony is limited to her expertise, she's not required to register as a lobbyist. But I did. Oh, you did register? I did register. I'm sorry. Can you repeat your name? I don't have you on the list. Dulce Conde. Thank you.

And I believe the companion zoning item is F. Yes.

That's why I remember her name. I said I saw that somewhere. Okay. Thank you. Stand by. Does anyone have any questions for Claudia or Ms. Gomez? We have a motion on the land use item A from Councilman Luis Gonzalez. Do we have a second? Second. Who was that? Okay, second from Councilwoman Monica Perez. Please call the roll on item A. Mr. Marrero? Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? Yes. Miss de la Vega? Yes. Miss M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

And Mr. Rodriguez has left the meeting. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading of public hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2026 at 5.30 p.m.

Thank you very much.

Don't go away. uh what was the item i'm looking at what f okay is anybody opposed to jump right to f skip to f so miss gomez can be present in case of anything is it okay can we read it into the record thank you so much madam clerk item f into the record zoning

First, reading of proposed ordinance rezoning property from C2 Liberal Retail Commercial District to R33 Multiple Family District, granting a variance to allow a street-side setback of 10 feet or 15 feet is required. Contract to Hialeah Court of Ordinances Section 98-590 of the City's Land Development Code for the property located at 2295 West 4th Court. Highly zone C2 legally described herein. Repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith. Providing penalties for violation hereof. Providing for a survivability clause and providing for an effective deed.

Okay. Item F is also on first reading. I apologize. I was calling you Dulce Gomez. You're Dulce Conde.

Yes, sir.

Archive record. Thank you, ma'am. Okay. So F is also on first reading. Same property. Anyone have any questions for Ms. Conde or Claudia?

Through the chair.

Yes, ma'am.

Right now, there's a vacant lot there.

Yes, it's been vacant. My understanding, it's been vacant since the 20s.

Since the 20s? Also, there's never been anything there.

I remember when that lot became vacant.

If I may, through the chair. Claudia, what is that lot? Yes, ma'am. It was an R1, right?

Claudia has one planning on an official. Yes, C2. It was a C2.

OK. All right.

Motion.

Motion from Councilman Monica Perez.

Second.

Second from Councilman William Marrero. Thank you, sir. Call the roll, Madam Clerk.

Ms. G. Perez. Yes. Ms. De La Vega. Yes. Ms. M. Perez. Yes. Mr. Zogby.

Yes.

Mr. Marrero. Yes. Mr. Gonzalez.

Yes.

Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for June 9th, 2026 at 530 p.m.

Have a great night. Thank you.

I just want to say one thing. I work in a lot of cities. It's been great working here. It's been great working with Claudia and her staff. And so looking forward to moving the project along.

How about this council up here?

Amazing. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. We can go back to item 15, a zoning. I'm sorry. This one's been postponed. Yes, sir. Item B postponed. Item C is not postponed. Can you read item 15 C into the record?

Second reading and public hearing of proposed ordinance granting a conditional use permit pursuant to highly a code of ordinances section 98-181. to allow the operation of a vocational and technical school for the property located at 3412 West 84th Street, Unit 100, Hialeah, Florida, Zone C2, legally described herein, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing penalties for violation hereof, providing for a severability clause, and providing for an effective deed.

Item 15C, zoning item 15C is on second reading. We've met the applicant already. Does anyone in the dais have any questions for Mr. Raul Encio? Yes, I have. Thank you. Pleasure seeing you again. Or Claudia, pleasure of the council.

Motion to approve.

Motion from Councilman Luis Gonzalez.

Second.

Second from Councilman William Marrero. Please call the roll.

Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero? Yes. Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? Motion carries. The item is approved. Thank you very much.

Good night, NCO. Take care.

Item zoning item 15 D madam clerk first reading of proposed orange rezoning property from our one one family residential district to our two one and two family district granting variances to allow one a total area of approximately 6750 square feet where 7500 square feet is required to a front setback of 24.75 feet or 25 feet is required. 3. A west side setback of 7.08 feet for the principal building and 3.08 feet for the existing detached dwelling unit, where 7.5 feet is required. 4. The existing detached dwelling unit to be legalized with a floor area of approximately... 848 square feet where 1,000 square feet is the minimum required. Five, a rear setback of 5.91 feet where 25 feet is required. And six, an east side setback of 4.50 feet where 7.5 feet is required. All contra to Hialeah Code of Ordinances Sections 98-544, 98-545, 98-546, 98-548, and 98-547 of the City's Land Development Code for the property located at 574 East 21st Street, Hialeah, zoned R1, legally described herein, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing penalties for violation hereof, providing for a severability clause, and providing for an effective deed.

Thank you. Zoning item 15D is on first reading, not open for public discussion, but certainly open for our discussion. I guess that's the applicant, Ms. Irma Garcia. And Claudia, stand by. Does anybody have any questions about this petition?

Through the chair? Yes, ma'am.

I just wanted to get a little bit more information. So is this one... One... What is it?

Yes, so this is a property with a zoning classification of a single-family home. They received a violation for a detached structure that was developed in the rear of the property. So based on the conditions of the block, of the neighborhood, the best approach was to re-zone the property to an R2. And then legalized for the property owner to go through all the legalization process to obtain site plan, concurrency, building permits to convert it into an R2 property for those two units.

So that second unit does have people living, is it?

There's an entrance.

We need this for this type of proceeding. We need a translator.

So I asked her in Spanish if she has people living in there and she affirmed that there is people already living in there.

On behalf of the city, you can translate for the applicant. The applicant has to have an independent translator.

In the other unit, her son is living there.

So legalizing it just means we would allow it, right? And so we are basically taxing to, is that how it works?

That is correct. Basically, this property, if you approve this, it will be taxed not as a single family home, as a duplex.

Okay, thank you.

Body of anyone have any question? Is this I get what's happening and it's the easy route. We catch somebody with a detached structure or somebody's living in an additional dwelling unit and then we turn it into a duplex, which increases the value exponentially. Are you comfortable with this?

In this particular case, yes. The location of the property, it is the characteristics for the zone is close to the station. For this particular, yes.

Do they have, I don't have the drawing, the map, within the 500 foot radius, are there other legal duplexes?

They are legal and they're actually even denser zoning classifications close by. They do have... Even, yes, R35, which is the higher and R3s and another R2s within the 500 radius location. And they do have the four parking spaces.

No variance on that. Thank you.

No variance on that.

Thank you. Anybody have any other questions for item D for Mrs. Garcia or Claudia or pleasure of the council? Motion to approve. Motion from Councilman Luis Gonzalez. We have a second from Councilman Jalene Perez. Please call the roll, Madam Clerk.

Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero? Yes. Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? Yes. Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Good night. Good night.

Item E, Madam Clerk.

First reading of proposed ordinance granting variances to allow one, an interior north side setback of 4.91 feet or 7.5 feet is required for the legalization of an existing terrace enclosure. And two, a seven foot high wooden fence along the north and south side lot lines where a maximum height of six feet is permitted. All contra to Hialeah Code of Ordinances Section 98-501 and 98-121 of the City's Land Development Code for the property located at 371 Pashihowa Drive, Zoned R1, legally described herein, repealing all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith, providing penalties for violation hereof, providing for a severability clause, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. Zoning item 15E is on first reading, not open for public discussion, but certainly open for our discussion or questions to whom I assume is the applicant, Euphemia Maria Oliveira. Okay. Bienvenida. You speak English? I'm sorry. I spoke to you. Okay. Okay. Un momentico. Before we approve anything, antes que aprobemos algo, vas a tener que pronunciarle el nombre de tu calle, porque yo no lo sé pronunciar. No, no. Okay. Does anybody have any questions for Claudia or Miss Olivera? Through the translator, we'd have to do it.

Okay.

Motion from Councilman Lewis Gonzalez on 15E. Second. Second from Councilman William Marrero. Please call the roll, Madam Clerk.

Mr. Zogby?

Yes.

Mr. Marrero?

Yes.

Mr. Gonzalez? Yes. Ms. G. Perez? Yes. Ms. De La Vega? Yes. Ms. M. Perez? Yes. Motion carries. The item is approved. Second reading and public hearing is scheduled for June 9, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. Two weeks.

Thank you. Have a good night. And unless anyone has anything to add, I will... Oh!

Go ahead. Frank de la Paz, 11,000 South West 104th Street. About 41 years ago, I stopped volunteering, being the translator on these chambers for these type of meetings and in the zoning board. Mr. Caragol had been hired by Mayor Martinez and he became the official translator. Even then, we were officially a bilingual, bicultural city by ordinance. I understand what happened today. I think that you all can request from administration how you all end up getting a translator into these chambers. Because in as much as 41 years have gone by, a lot of things remain the same. And in the next four years, you're gonna get a lot of people, believe me, asking for translators, dealing with city services, especially with the condominium community. The majority of those buildings built in 78, 79, and to the middle of 85 are becoming issues now with 30 and 40-year recertifications and 10-year recertifications. And I think it's a disservice for citizens not being able to communicate properly because the city doesn't have a translator here. If we could afford it back in 85, even though that translator had all the beautiful duties. Among them, he was a heck of a calligrapher, and he was the one that used to write the proclamations for for you all. So I think that if we could have folded back 41 years ago, we certainly could have a translator, even if it's on a part-time basis.

That's a point well taken, Frank.

I don't think it has to be a certified translator like they do in code enforcement, but I don't want the job. Let me... make sure that that gets up front. You do? No, I do not. Oh, Gabby's doing a fantastic job, but I get what you're saying. Yeah. And, uh, sometimes, especially in the zoning hearing, it gets crazy when she read the, uh, the recommendation and then have to translate it again. And at one point, I feel that we might even have some legal liabilities of the back and forth that a lot of people don't understand at the end of the day what happened because of lack of a proper translation. That's just my opinion. I agree. Good night.

And by the way, Caragol is turning 95 next month. He's having a birthday. Okay, so there's nothing to motion on this. So unless anybody has anything to add, we're going to adjourn the meeting of May 26 at 7.40 p.m.