Village Council - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening, everybody. It's 7 p.m. and we are live. So I'd like to call to order this virtual Committee of the Whole workshop Tuesday, July 14th, 2026. We're still at 7 p.m. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll?

Oh, great. All right, the gang's all here. Council Member Fiore, do you want to lead us in invocation?

Amen. If I could get everybody to please stand. And Madam Clerk, can you lead us in the pledge?

Thank you. All right. At this time, do we have any comments by form for the public comment portion? I saw you sent one that you said was late.

I don't mind. Does anybody else? All right, Madam Clerk, go ahead. I don't see any objection. Go ahead and read it.

Thank you. All right. With that, and I'm taking a look, and Olga, maybe you can tell me. I see names that I don't recognize in the lobby, but it appears as though it's staff or people that are on the screen. We have Katie Cromwell, Laurie Smith, Lala. I'm saying that incorrectly. My apologies. Morellis Gensler. Are these all panelists, Mr. Manager? Hannah, I see Hannah Palmer.

All right, great. With that, we'll move into the presentations, and we are starting with the stormwater program update sponsored by administration.

I can't. Can you close out your screen if you don't mind? Because I can't see anybody to ask. There we go. Thank you.

Yeah, my core question is, as you're building out this model for both scenarios, I'm just wondering what the, I guess, assumptions were for the math behind the numbers that were presented. And if you can go into a little bit more detail as to what the calculations were.

Well, both. And before you said it, I actually pulled out my calculator and calculated the cost per tree, and then he said COT2. So I am guilty of doing that. But And I was surprised by the actual cost. And I guess the key question I'd actually like to get to is, for example, what is the assumption as to how many staffers we need per tree to plant and maintain? What was the assumption as well for acquisition for those trees? And just everything that went into that number that's being presented. And just so I get a little bit more context as to what's behind that, please.

Yeah, and I'm just wondering how that compares. So essentially you took the numbers that we're spending now on our current crew and then essentially made some estimates as to what we would need for future work on our canopy?

Any other questions? I have a quick question. And I know you're in the process right now, is my understanding, or you're about to enter a process.

Great. Thank you. Sorry. Thank you. That, that to me is the most important part of the presentation. So thank you. Uh, are there any other questions, comments as it relates to the presentation or questions for the village manager or DO director Torres? No? Okay, Councilwoman.

I'm interested in what the tree board talks about, which is generally they talk about citizens, private citizens installing the trees that they have mentioned that giving away more trees, Currently, we do it once a year. We could do it several times a year and then having the residents be responsible. That would considerably cut costs, would it not? And I guess that's a question. And then is that feasible for this kind of program to mainly have it a private program in terms of planting trees only?

Okay, thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you, ladies. Appreciate it. With that, we will move into stormwater program update by Reptelis Consultants, sponsored by Vice Mayor Mermitzer.

I'm sorry, I thought that, but I'm just looking at it as it is.

Okay, do you have anything else related to the first presentation, Nick?

Okay, great. Are the consultants, do you want to stick around or are you needed for this portion?

Thank you. All right. Thank you, ma'am. With that, I guess it's a stormwater program update by Vice Mayor Merwitzer.

To start, I want to start by thanking Nick, Mary Ellis, Dio, and the team. We've had several meetings about this in the last, I would say, four or five months, and this is something that I've been eyeing since I took office back in December of last year. So before I get into the actual policy, Two things. One, it would be great to have the PowerPoint brought up. I can't screen share, and I unfortunately don't have it downloaded on my computer properly. I'm trying to get this set up. So I'm wondering if the village clerk could actually be the one to go ahead and share the PowerPoint presentatio

I'm just hoping I can go into presenter mode and I can begin.

So, Before I get into the actual policy, I want to explain why I was bringing this forward in the first place, because I feel like policy can only make sense if you understand the full premise. So Palmetto Bay exists because we reclaimed the land from water and the whole part of Florida was wetland before it was a village. We drained it, we built on it, and we've been managing that decision ever since. And the water has never really stopped trying to come back. Every time we have a king tide, an afternoon storm, Every flooded road on a normal Tuesday is that same process still running that we

I think we all have the presentation. I'm just mentioning this in the interest of time. We all have the presentation in the agenda. If you can scroll through the agenda, does that make sense? Okay. So you all have the agenda, I assume, in front of you, and the PowerPoint's there in paper fashion, but If you're good with that, and maybe just tell us what slide we're on, we can follow along that way until they get things straightened out.

That works for me. So on slide two, I'll go ahead and give you all a roadmap as to the thought process that I had in working with administration and developing this, which includes the philosophy. which is moving from a pipes-only program to a full-on program where we manage rain where it falls and what our own data shows about that. The package is broken up into three separate policies, which I'll get into soon. They're still a work in progress and they're under staff review. So once that's ready, I'll be happy to share with you all what those look like. And I want to go into what each one of

Other questions? Okay, go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Perfect. So the land development code is a major update to our... And a lot of what's actually in this land development code was actually taken directly from policies that are in our comprehensive plan. And also some of the recommendations that we have in our own resiliency action plan. So that includes things like our green infrastructure requirements. It includes things like the tree property. All those things are rolled into this land development code update. So essentially we're taking our existing plans and actually putting them into our land development code. So the philosophy behind it

Okay, questions? Okay, and Pat, if you have questions, you'll just have to chime in because I can't see you. So just speak up. I have a quick question, because this is obviously far more expanded than the presentation that was given to us just a few moments before your item. So what is the cost?

That's going to be worked on by the ambition of whatever we decide to fund the stormwater program with. Palmetto Bay Beautiful would be partly funded by our existing funds from our business improvement program. And then lastly, the land development code side. I'm still waiting to actually get a final answer on that, but my assumption is it would probably require one additional staffer that would be essentially discussed and funded not this... ongoing year, and it would be up to the new council to fund that.

Oh, so this is like a new council thing?

Yes, a lot of it, except for the actual stormwater rate, which the idea, again, for the canopy trees and some of the grant programs behind the green infrastructure, that would be funded hopefully by the stormwater program, and whatever that rate is, I've been working with the administration on getting that rate to fund that. But that's the hope, is that if we're doing an adjustment for our rate, we can also throw in some incentives for private property owners and also funding for our tree canopy.

And thank you for addressing the issue with staffing, because I think that's going to be very problematic based on what I heard at the last Our Budget workshop. Councilwoman Matson, I saw your hand, I think.

Yes, thank you. You're welcome. I'd like to know how the manager and the public services director, their reaction to this.

Okay. Are there any other questions? May I have a follow-up, please?

Of course. So, Mr. Manager, then, do you think this is a good program? This is something that Palmetto Bay could use and make it a better environment for the village residents?

I would also just emphasize as well that the program would really kick in in fiscal year 27-28 and not this following or this coming one. So this would be a discussion for the next, the best way to execute this.

Nick, could you bring back up your slide?

Is this a presentation that we already have? Or is this, because I see other slides attached with it. This is not a budget presentation.

So in some respects, wouldn't it make sense to get a jumpstart? Just saying.

Millage. On millage. Oh, on the millage. Money, yes. Money in general.

Yes, ma'am. Okay. Are there other questions, comments, any kind of discussion? Okay, Councilwoman, I'm sorry, Councilwoman.

I just would like to congratulate the Vice Mayor. This seems to include a number of proposals or laws that we have, the land development plan, the resiliency action plan, the conversation from the tree board, conversation from the resiliency committee. I would say this is a really good plan in terms of incorporating ideas from all of them. And I want to congratulate you on that. That's really good. I do have some question about Where the money comes from, it strikes me that this comes primarily from the stormwater fee. And that right now we're talking about the millage rate, but that's really,

Yeah, so to answer your question and to carry off of what Nick said as well, a large part of it too is in the previous presentation, we mentioned hiring some arborists. The hope is that those arborists would support some of the aspects of this program. And a lot of this as well are some of the existing grant funding that we have for the business improvement grant program. that would go into this. So essentially it's merging the stormwater program and the existing grant program for the business improvement grant into one program as a whole. And on the backend, that's where we would decide the f

And you don't know what that stormwater fee would look like yet?

No, but I mean, To be blunt, I'm open to whatever it needs to be is what it needs to be because to me, and I mentioned this earlier, the cost of doing nothing here is significant.

The framework that you're looking at, because what I heard you say was it would fit within whatever these potential two silos are for increase in stormwater. fees yeah and again i'm willing to have that conversation as well and i go back to this that's why i'm asking i'm having the conversation right now yeah so i mean it's not getting cheaper yeah no i know but i'm just trying to figure out is it going to be in with this 10 to 13 dollars or is this above and beyond the 10 to 13 dollars that you know that's what i'm trying to figure out

My understanding, and Nick, feel free to jump in, but my understanding is this would be within that range of 10 to 13 or 11 to 13?

And Nick, staffing would come from the, from that same, from the stormwater fund fees?

Okay. Are there other questions? Okay, I heard someone say comments. Councilmember Cody, we haven't heard from you yet. Go ahead. Well, thank you.

I want to begin by separating premise from proposal. I agree that trees, permeable surfaces, rain gardens, bioswales and other forms of green infrastructure can provide public benefits. But that general proposition does not establish that the three proposed ordinances are financially responsible, legally appropriate, administratively workable, or effective in addressing our village's actual flooding problems. The presentation relies heavily on attractive photographs, broad environmental statistics, and reassuring phrases such as inside existing means, grandfathered, which I have to tell you as

Thank you. Councilman Mattson, I thought you had your hand up earlier. Go ahead. Yeah.

Yes, I did. Well, okay. My initial request of the manager was to break down what part of this proposed program is paid for by the stormwater fee and what part would be paid for by the property tax. That's what I'd like to see. If you can do that, I'd appreciate it. And I just want to respond to the councilman's comments hey stop that trees have always been part of the stormwater program actually this is nothing new and we just haven't really emphasized them or we haven't really i've been attending the tree board for years and they are always distressed over the fact that the environment is not

Welcome. I will just mention that we can't, and the, Attorney can correct me if I'm wrong. But we just I know you asked the manager to do something for you. We can't just give them a directive. Unless we all decide that my suggestion would just be that if the item is coming, maybe that's something that the Vice Mayor would fold into work with the manager to, you know, bring that information, because of course, we'll be asking so. Vice Mayor,

Yeah, a couple of things. The first is that this has been a several months long process to this point where we are now. Again, as I mentioned, this involved several meetings with staff to get their input. It involved meetings with our stormwater crew, along with the resiliency staff, along with Dio and the rest of the public works team, and also Nick as well. The whole plan from the beginning was to have the conversation about funding these new programs for our residents, which I think will be incredibly beneficial as part of our discussion for what our stormwater fee should look like. And the

Yeah, I would just say from my perspective, because I've heard you mention it several times that not only for this item, but for other items, it's for the next council, it's for the next council, it's for the next council. So I would say in terms of policy, leave it to the next council. What I am most interested in is making sure that we set a rate. You all can work around the next council, can work around that rate with whatever policy you want. But my goal will be to see what the rate is and making sure that we're increasing it so that perhaps some of this can get accomplished with the next

Just to jump in one more time to respond to your comments.

Sure. I don't know that they need a response, given my opinion.

Yeah, I mean, the challenge is part of to update the stormwater fee and the actual rate itself. And this was a conversation I had with our village attorney, and feel free to jump in. Part of the discussion is you can't just set an arbitrary number for the stormwater rate. It has to be backed by a rate study. And some of the things that went into determining that rate and that stormwater include some of these programs that we're mentioning. So essentially some of that work that goes into building that rate and that fee that you're discussing comes from what we actually want that program to look

Right, but I believe whatever the manager is going to bring will have a program behind it. If later staff works with council and wants to change some of the policy, I think that's completely appropriate. You can skip up midstream and make the changes. And for the record, it's not my first rodeo. We brought stormwater fee increases several years back. That's why we're at, what, is it $6, Nick? It was a big jump. We were at $3, I think, or something like that. So anyway, I understand the underpinnings, Vice Mayor. Thank you for the explanation. But I also know that policy is meant to be tweaked,

Of course, same thing as last time, to just go through the presentation on our own, or would the clerk be able to put it up on the screen?

All right, you should be good to go, Missy.

So Palmetto Bay is safe because we pay for it to be safe. And that's a choice that we make and decide to fund as a council every single year. And right now that funding sits in the same pot as it does for parks, for roads, for building and permitting department, for all of our other functions that we do as a village and spend our money on. And that public safety has to compete for that. So this proposal on its own does not change directly how much anyone pays, but it changes how our police funding would work, how it sits. So it can essentially never quietly lose ground or be up for competition

And just to jump in with the current process, I wanted to just address as well that if we wanted to adopt this on first reading, the correct approach would be...

Sorry, Vice Mayor. Lori, you didn't see that. Can you? Thank you. You're not muted. Try again, Lori. There you go. All right.

Yeah, so the approach that I was told would work for us directly is that we could adopt it on first reading in July if the council chooses to. And the appropriate thing would be to change the effective date to essentially allow when this ordinance comes back for us to propose that secondary resolution as well and then work through the county process and allow it to take effect once we complete the Chapter 18 of the county process. The other part of it as well, and this is my own thinking, is that I don't personally, the attorney, in her opinion or whoever that person was, his or her opinion, a

Okay, thank you. Questions? Councilwoman Matson?

Well, I'm going to congratulate Vice Mayor Merwisser. He's coming up with some interesting novel ideas. So thank you very much. This is an interesting one. And I do have five questions. So I hope you'll indulge me in my five questions. If all ad valorem revenues go to the police district, how will the village fund future increases in parks, roads, and administration?

So in a situation where we have these two rates and our entire ad valorem tax would be the police cost, that would be essentially up to the rest of the budget to fulfill, including the stormwater fund, including the transportation fund that we get from the half penny surtax, fuel taxes, and all of our other sources of revenue would essentially fund those other items, which I believe is actually in part what we do today because we have a situation where the entire police contract cost is higher than our millage as it is. So it would also be discretionary up to the next council as to how they wo

Okay, so my philosophy of government is that government was set up to protect people, and so public safety to me is always number one priority, followed by infrastructure, especially in Palmetto Bay flooding, and then the environmental aspect of it. So I'm very interested in this idea. But I also want to make sure that other aspects can be funded as well. So if non ad valorem revenues decline, can the council reestablish a general operating village?

So essentially the rule is whatever our combined millage is between the blue line police district and our operating budget, that combined rate is where the rules are. So if we want to split it up between, like right now for hypothetical, we want to have a situation where revenues fell from our operating properties and we need to essentially recover some of that cost from a higher rate we could as a council set whatever that district is to fund police at that higher rate or we could essentially find a way to have the general fund cover some of that shortfall one way the only thing is the police

But you can give the general operating budget to the police if they need it. Is that what you're arguing? Correct. All right. What is the projected district millage for 2027 through 2031 with the police district?

That would be up to the contract costs and what the council between 2027 and 2031 decide to fund it as. Ideally, in an ideal world, you would fund it . Okay.

All right. That's all. Thank you. You're welcome. Are there other questions? I have a quick question. So essentially after reading it multiple times, it's a funding mechanism, but where's the 100% guarantee for covering police budget? I don't see that anywhere in the item itself.

Well, my understanding is that one of the reasons why we would want to do this is so that we are funding police services at 100%, right? I mean, otherwise, what is the protection? You know, we're talking about protection. I'm just curious. To me, protection is making sure public safety is funded at 100%, period. But I don't see that here. This is just a funding mechanism. And then future councils... we'll have to decide a millage rate based on, I guess, presentations by the manager and the major to be able to determine what that millage rate just for police services is, which doesn't necessari

The way I would respond is historically with how these dependent districts have worked, it that especially with the fire district, you don't see a situation where you're defunding or lowering that fire district because you'd essentially be defunding the fire district. In this case, you'd be lowering the funding of the police. Those have structurally been essentially insulated from the rest of the general budget fights. Like for example, right now, the county is in significant financial situation. they're not having the same overall conversation about the fire district. They had some last year

Right. I would just say this, the fire, the Miami-Dade fire rescue district, is an actual operating department. I mean, it actually says what the millage is. It says, you know, the amount of the operating budget. This is more of a, I guess, I'm guessing, because I can only read what I see and based on your presentation, it's like a contractual obligation. We're just saying, you know, hey, we support our police. We want to protect them. My question is, are we protecting them at 100%?

And... That would be the hope. And I would just jump in, like, the fire district is set separately every budget session by the county. It's not like the agency, like the fire district can wake up tomorrow and set the millage rate. The county commission has to approve it separately. And that's how it works, just like how it would work here in Palmetto Bay.

Correct, but it would be a special fund separate from everything else, and that's the same protection that the firefighters have at the county level. I mean, there's everything. I mean, even with our own general fund. So this at least insulates them from the separate fights that the county has with their own budget, for example. And with the onslaught coming in November, potentially, with removing homesteaded property tax exemptions, in my view, I think we have to send a very clear message that public safety funded no matter what. And whatever that budget has to be should be set by council, ju

Right. Thank you. This question is probably for Lori or for John. Is there another way of setting this right now? Is there a resolution or is there something that we could do for this particular budget cycle as opposed to an ordinance for future In my opinion, I don't see, I can't hope, I can't put something together, vote for something, and then hope that it's going to 100% fund police services.

Are there other questions? Councilwoman Mattson? Steve, you have anything? After Councilwoman Mattson, I just wanted to see if you have comments.

Okay. I would just like to ask the major, our new major, and the manager what they think about this.

Okay. Tony, I don't know if you can hear us, but you're frozen.

You did. We left you out in doing some research.

Thank you. Thanks, Major. Yes, it does. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Cody, you can unmute You put the headsets on and now we don't hear you. We could hear you before when you weren't using the headsets. We still can't hear you, but you are unmuted. Might be a matter of changing the device on your laptop. No. Can you detach? Oh, okay. I guess he'll come back. Okay. I hear you now, Steve.

Can you hear me now? Yes, sir. Okay. Can you make me a presenter? Because I also have a PowerPoint, a short one.

I can't make you any. I don't have the ability to do that, but they did it.

Okay. All right. Let's see, I've got to go to permissions. Well, tell you what, I'm not going to share my screen. I'll just wing it. I think this is a bad idea. The blue line is sort of a catchy phrase, but this isn't a very good program idea. As Mark indicated we raised last fiscal year 11.2 roughly million dollars in ad valorem taxes. We spent on the police 11.8 million dollars. We had a police deficit of 550,000 and I believe $577. If this proposal was we are going to dedicate the amount of money to fund the police solely from ad valorem taxes, I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Ma

Okay. And we can't get there unless we have five votes of the council when it comes time to adopt the budget, correct? Okay. So, Mark, if you want this to happen, not only are you going to have to vote to take us up to that level, you're going to have to lean down the dais and convince Marcia that she's going to have to be able to do that. But I do wanna make some clarifications. Your slide that had the 53% little clock graph was not accurate. Our budget does not go around the council. What happens is we have a big cafeteria menu and the manager sits down with the major and they go through tha

Yeah, I'll just say that not everything is a con and that the PBA was supportive of this last meeting because they were concerned and so am I. Major storm coming after the November election related to how we're going to be funding our government and to provide them that long-term structural insulation for the rest of our budget, I think, is very much wanted by at least a bit David Greenwell. And also it was supported by the sheriff's office as well. Because again, this is not a new idea. This is not anything other than giving our law enforcement the same exact structural protection as the fire

Vice Mayor, just so you know, I did speak with the individual that you mentioned, and he indicated exactly what I just said, which is that they were under the impression it guarantees funding at 100%. I will support if it guarantees funding at 100%. So, you know, to me, that's not just for me, Karen Cunningham, but that's for every future council. Unless someone wants to bring the ordinance back and make changes, then of course that would be in a public meeting. But certainly, you know, I think everybody on the dais, including our charter officers, want... police to be funded at 100%. I think

Go ahead. So two things. One, if it's legally possible, I'm completely on board with guaranteeing that funding. Um, I'll defer to Laurie and John as to the mechanisms there. I'm wondering if it's possibility to add some procedural requirements then to our code of ordinances long term. Um, adopting that funding would look like and how we can actually get there. I don't know what that would look like because my understanding is saying the tax rate and the funding comes from Florida statute. But if there's a way we can procedurally guarantee that or

Well, if I could use another example, perhaps, and Lori, if you don't mind, because there's a little bit of an echo on your, yeah, thank you, a little bit of feedback. One of the, I know this is not related to this, but I'm just using as an example, one of the charter amendments related to the USDA property basically says, you know, we're going to take every means possible to purchase that property. How does, and John, that would be a question for you because you'd be most closely related, that ties the hands of future councils, in my opinion. So, and if we can do that, then why can't we do th

Would language such as you just provided, as it relates to, I'm sorry, it escapes me, but you talked about reasonable, would language like that be acceptable in something like this? And my second question is, since our police department has created a good deal of our surplus, thank you, Major, and the Major before you, Can that surplus, can it be shifted to general fund? We might've asked this previously.

You got muted. Lori, you're muted. Sorry. It's a funky platform.

For me, that creates another set of problems. I don't know if it would create one for Nick, but I think it creates another potential issue if you can't move surpluses back and forth. And I appreciate you mentioning because that's what I had asked previously. And obviously, and maybe I just didn't articulate it properly. Won't be the first time. Definitely won't be the last time. Sometimes those thoughts get stuck somewhere up here. Yeah, the difference is You mentioned doing that. We can say we're fully funding police services without doing the ordinance. That's what I heard you say. And that'

I will tell you the optics of that for a future council will be disastrous as well because people will not understand why you're lowering the millage rate because there was a surplus with the police department. That's just my opinion. It's a political conundrum, honestly. Mark, Vice Mayor, sorry.

Yeah, two things to that. On the obligation front, John, feel free to jump in and also if you're able to answer this as well, but in our actual interlocal agreement with the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, section 7.5 of that agreement says that the village is required to pay for the actual cost of the local patrol services. So regardless of what we put in to the ordinance itself, We still carry that obligation to pay for the actual cost of local patrol services. And that's a separate agreement that we have with the sheriff's office as a requirement for them to provide the public safety that they

Okay, thank you. Anything else? Okay. Well, thank you all. I think that is let me just do a double check. Yep. That's the last item on. Very good. Our next meeting is October 13. For the Committee of the Whole. There's a move to adjourn. Is there a second?

All right, second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Good night.