City Council - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our February council meeting. Today is Wednesday, February 18th. The time is now 10.15 a.m. We apologize for a little bit late start. I hereby call this meeting to order. Just a reminder to please place your phones on silence. If you need to take a call or have a conversation, we kindly ask that you please step outside to maintain a respectful atmosphere. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Mayor Halcuan. Thank you. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. And today, we are going to be led by Bill Watts from our Military Affairs Advisory Board.

Thank you, Mr. Watts. And now we will have our invocation, which will be led by Pastor Athena Floyd from Dios Con Nosotros.

Thank you. Thank you, Pastora. That was beautiful. All right. We're going to move into the agenda order of business. We'll go ahead and start with the manager's office.

We will now open the floor for public comments. Each speaker will have three minutes to address any item on today's agenda or anything germane to this council or the city of Doral. Please begin by stating your name and address for the record to ensure that you are registered with a city clerk. If you have not pre-registered, please go see her after. I'll start with any pre-registered names. We will first hear from you if you've registered. And if not, then we will open it up to anyone who has walked in. I always like to remind our public speakers to have a code of conduct to make sure that our

OKAY. I NEED A MOTION ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. Motion to approve by Councilman Pinedo. Second. Second by Councilwoman Reynoso. On favor say aye. Aye. Madam Clerk, let the record reflect that the consent agenda has been passed unanimously. I now need approval of the minutes.

Motion by Councilman Pinedo. Second. Second by Councilwoman Reynoso. On favor say aye. Aye. Let the record reflect that the minutes have been approved unanimously. We will now move into presentations.

We appreciate your investment and your dedication to the city. Would you like to come up for a picture? Yes. Awesome. Come on up. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, great. We move on. Madam Clerk, we're going into discussion items.

All right. This is my item. Give me one second. Let me get there. members of the City Council I present this item to you as many of you know I participated and have been working with our tax collector as well as other mayor's within Miami-Dade County to continue to protect our communities. There's many Venezuelans, as well as Cubans that live not only in Doral, but Miami-Dade County. And so the mayors have gotten together, our cities, along with our tax collector, to continue to enforce and protect against the, obviously, the criminal organizations that happen in countries like Cuba and Venezu

Motion to approve by Councilwoman Reynoso, seconded by Councilwoman Porras. They both did it at the same time. So if there's no more questions, then we will go ahead and roll call.

Yes. Councilwoman Porras? Yes. Councilman Pinedo? Yes. Yes. Motion passes. Thank you very much for your support on this item. We move on.

OK. Again, this is similar to the same policy that we just passed, except that this will create, oh, I'm sorry, this is Councilman Pinedo's item. Go ahead. I'm confused with my ordinance tonight. I was like, I thought this was on tonight. Go ahead, Councilman Pinedo.

Thank you, Mayor. First of all, thank you for the previous resolution, which I think is great, and it shows our commitment as a city, the longstanding commitment to democratic values, human rights, and so on. And certainly we have been always very supportive of these issues when it comes not only to address issues with Venezuela and Nicaragua, but this time When we speak about Cuba, that, as we already know, has been suffering of a regime for over 60 years. So this resolution also complements what you may have already expressed. Also, recently, the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissione

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, I APOLOGIZE, I THOUGHT IT WAS MY ORDINANCE SHE WAS READING OUT LOUD. IS THERE ANY QUESTIONS FOR COUNCILMAN PINEDO? MOTION. MOTION TO APPROVE BY COUNCILMAN I need a second. Second.

Thank you very much. First, I want to thank you and our city manager and the entire administrative team because obviously it was heard loud and clear that our priority for this year and really for the next couple years is leveraging our assets, the ones that we have, to create revenue. After the discussions that I think all of us have had in Tallahassee and we're watching come down the pipeline, it's extremely important that we become less reliant on property taxes and find ways to create revenue for the city in creative ways, which we're doing actively. And this is a first look at that. So I'

I have some questions. Yes, Councilwoman Forrest. Thank you for the presentation. Can you send it to us as well? Can you clarify, the approximate cost is about $34 million, right?

OK. And again, this is just so that residents understand. Where would that come from?

So just comparing it to, obviously, the Central Parks bond. And I just want residents to understand the difference between that bond and this bond and why it wouldn't go to the residents for a vote, essentially.

And then just my last question. Do we expect any other items to come before us regarding this? The reason I ask is because, you know, obviously this is the first time I'm seeing the presentation. It's a lot of numbers. I want to evaluate it more. Honestly, I'm not willing to support it right now because I want to evaluate it. And, you know, my last conversation with you guys last year was I wanted... More than the week before the agenda came out to really look at it. Have you guys explain the numbers fully to me for me to feel comfortable enough, obviously, during a time that, as the mayor sai

OK, thank you. And I do want to thank you guys for thinking of ways to diversify the revenue that we need, really. And I think, in general, an investment in a garage is a solid investment. A lot of people do that. Again, I'm just very hesitant to invest taxpayer money in something. Again, it looks great. I wish I would have had this presentation a little earlier and had been able to kind of evaluate it more and ask a little bit more questions. But I understand. Again, thank you guys for putting this together. And right now, it does look good. But I would like to take some time. So if there's a

So I think to clarify a little bit, the process that we went through for this is it goes through the CCNA standards, which means today what we are awarding is to move forward to create the actual plans so that then we can go into the construction. So we will see something come back to us as far as contract for pricing up in the future, no?

Right, that doesn't happen right now because first we need to have the design so that then we can get the construction cost and then the design is a percentage of that. So that's how these standards work to be able to move forward. So what you're seeing today is us moving forward with this decision to create... Parking garage to move forward with the plan that we've discussed several times. I want to make it very clear That's not the first time we've discussed it here. We discussed it in strategic plan. We have had multiple conversations up here about it We've had opportunities to discuss it w

Thank you, Mayor. As well, I just want to say thanks to the city manager, the administration, our CFO, Parks, and all applicants as well that were part of the process. This is what I always like to call smart, responsive investment. Because at the end of the day, what we're doing is we're investing, looking into the future of the city. Not really for the next two, three, five, four years. We're looking for the next 30 plus years that hopefully in 30 years, we're not going to be here for sure.

Well, yes. But speaking about the council, but we're looking forward for certainly building the basis for what is needed to happen as a city. And the fact that we're going to keep growing when it comes to our population, and the fact that businesses are going to keep coming to the city. We're going to have more activities coming into Doral Central Park in the near future, starting this year. And not only inside Central Park, but as the city manager mentioned, citywide as well. PGA is coming back to Doral, which is great. And that's what we have to think about. I mean, we have to think about th

Yes. No, absolutely. I think all those comments will be well taken, and we will be able to see a final design concept as we move into the construction. Obviously, we have full access to the manager's office anytime when we want to see the design concepts as they move forward. I hope and I know that we will be a part of those conversations. Our own code says that when a parking garage is built, it shouldn't look like a parking garage. So I have full faith in the team and our capital improvements department to make sure that we're abiding by all those things. Again, I just want to reiterate, the

Yeah. I'm going to tell you, look how much more money the city has to do more senior programs and special needs programs, all with revenue-generating assets that we did 50 years ago. All right. We have a motion to approve by Councilman Pinedo, seconded by Councilman Reynoso. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

All right. Very good. So the next item goes hand in hand. So Madam Clerk, if you could just read it, and we're going to incorporate the same presentation and comments into that, and go ahead and move forward.

All right. We're going to go ahead and incorporate the same presentation for the benefit of the public and comments into this item. However, I do have some comments and some questions for Kauffman. Lin, if that's OK. I don't know if I can go through them directly or if someone wants to approach. So I know Kauffman Lin did build our park. The timeline that has been put forward is an aggressive one that we see here. So there was obviously a lot of delays in Doral Central Park. We won't go into those. Some were for reasons outside of our control. But I just want to know a little bit about the tea

Yes. OK. Do you currently have any other projects that you're working on with the same team? OK. And how do you feel that the handling of this project can meet these timelines?

That's a great segue to my next question.

That's a great segue to my next question, which was, obviously, we're not looking at any pricing structure right here. You need to see the full design and plans to be able to have that number. It's extremely important for me, and I think for all of us, that we are on budget, on time. Particularly, it would be great to be under budget. So I think that those conversations and understanding how our team works is going to be extremely important. So I'm happy that you guys are back, and we'll see the full... full generation of this park with this missing piece, that will be a great asset to us. But

We appreciate it, too. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Any other questions?

Thank you all very much. We look forward to it.

This is the presentation from the... Is this the same presentation the applicant has?

Thank you. Thank you very much. All right, I think we have the presentation and the comments. If there's no questions for the applicant or for staff, we need a motion. Motion. The motion by Councilwoman Reynoso, second by Councilman Bineto. Councilman, did you have a comment?

Yeah, I just want to make a few comments. Go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. Well, first of all, thank you, John Paul, for the presentation and your team that is here. It's the third consecutive year that this is hosted in the city. I have seen the – when you talk about the numbers, I mean, we can tell. I mean, from just a few, now it's over 200. And now it's not only in Doral, now you have to use a facility outside of the city, I guess in Hialeah, one of the parks in Hialeah too. So that means that you guys are doing a great job. And that also means as you touch on your comments, and by the way, ver

Councilman, I think what we can potentially do is, because it's been multiple years now as well, and we've done this with other organizations and events like Eduardo with the Run, potentially this year it's already in front of us, but for the next year we can have it approved for multiple years so that they don't have to come for a special event permit. for every year. We can do three years. I wouldn't want to do it farther than the time of all of us being here, because everybody should have an opportunity to have their decisions. But maybe we do next year for three years, and we can just appr

I have a question about that. Because obviously, if we do that for one organization, There's going to be multiple organizations. I don't mind as long as we're applying the same rules to everyone. Well, it's up to the council. That's a policy decision. I mean, but meaning giving them the option to do it for multiple years. Obviously, if the council for that organization says no, that's a decision. But giving them the option to submit it for an approval for three years. You understand what I'm saying? So not just having one organization come every year and submitting or requesting the logo, allo

So that would be a decision that in the application process they could change to opt for. We can have a discussion offline about that. That's an administrative, whether they want to include that as an option to have the applicant request. But I think what's been proposed here today, which again, very similar to what we've done with the Runderal, is that we've seen the success of it for multiple years. And therefore, the councilman is making a suggestion to allow them to not have to go through this process every year because they've proven themselves. I'm comfortable with that. I would not cons

Correct, right They still have to go through the process, but at least it doesn't have to come to council Which is what we've done with Brenda Rao He has to go through the process with the department. As long as everything stays the same, there's no requirement to come to council because it's become a continuous plug and play event. I have no problem with that. So, Councilman, you want to make your motion?

Yeah, I place a motion for that. But I also just to follow up on your comments, Mayor, and to clarify. And yes, I mean, we did it for Ron Doral because they have been doing it for the last three years as well. And they have proven that it's a great organization. Same thing with Doral Cup. We haven't heard about another Doral Cup in the last three years. So you guys have been doing it for the last three years. So, I mean, it's just common sense. And for me, again, it's all about making sense to a lot of things that we didn't used to do before. So that's why I think it's a great community event

I think really the question is just lying on what's the threshold? How many years of success does an organization that is coming in front of the council need in order to hit the threshold of not having to come to council to ask for the permission of the logo? I think setting a threshold of what that's going to look like for every other organization today is good policy. And it could start with this one. And then from now on moving forward, I think as the council goes and deciding other events and what success means to us, but as long as maybe three years of a successful event is occurring, then after that they can apply for multiple years of using our logo.

OK. So I think we can extend. Councilman, can you amend your motion to include the amount of years? Okay, perfect. So we'll go ahead and extend the three years so that you don't have to come back and you can use the local for that time. But you still have to go through the process with staff. All right, I think I need a second.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I BELIEVE THE APPLICANT IS HERE AS WELL. AND I'VE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO MEET WITH THEM. CAN WE BRING UP THE SITE PLAN AGAIN REAL QUICK? I JUST WANTED TO MAKE, DEREK, DO YOU WANT TO COME UP VERY QUICK? I just want to make sure we did receive the letter from Codina partners. They're supportive of this event because I know we had some issues with the last one. So looking at the site plan and having conversations that you and I had last time, And conversations I've had with some of the businesses in the community in this area is, is there an opportunity to put the tents in the

Well, it's no different than how they do it in Miracle Mile.

Yeah, I just think that if you go to any of the other fairs, they put the tents back-to-back, and people walk around the tents, and it doesn't block the businesses. Yes. So is there a way we can approve it without being re-evaluated?

I know this diagram shows cars, but the street is closed Okay, just yeah Yeah, I just I did talk to some of the vendors and we hadn't had the chance to speak again after we spoke over the last I think it was a great event. It was very successful. We talked about it people really enjoyed it I think anytime that you create this environment and close off the street and people can come and walk and enjoy the businesses and the art and additional food vendors and things like that is successful. Our farmer's market has been super successful thanks to Councilman Moreno. So I invite this opportunity i

Any other questions? Okay. Well, we can, let's, we'll motion with the condition of looking at the tents, how we set them up. And we'll revisit the opportunities to see how we can continue to help and support. We want you guys to be successful. Awesome. Thank you guys. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. Well, this organization is abbreviated as HISPA, Hispanic Inspiring Students Performance and Achievement. Councilman Pinedo and myself last month attended one of their banquets, and it was an absolutely beautiful event. I thought it was very homegrown. And their mission is really to link big businesses, well-known businesses, and a mentoring system between students, ideally within our community. They are in other communities right now, and I think it's just such a great program to start inspiring the youth from very early on. having them have the opportunity to shadow p

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. So through the mayor, I'm hoping I can gain support from my council members to help with some sponsorship, and we'll see where the city of Doral can participate in the future.

All right. So very quickly for the mayor's report, I just wanted to wish everybody a very happy Valentine's Day. I hope you all had a great one. And I just wanted to thank also our incredible Parks Department, Michael, and the entire team for a great campaign under the stars. the Silver Club Valentine's Day, which was beautiful, and the Special Needs Appreciation Ceremony. We really appreciate your hard work. All of you do a great job. So thank you very much for what you do in our city. You make us shine. And I want to also wish some of our team members a very happy birthday. It was Maggie For

Item 11A, youth civic committee. Please, come on up. I apologize.

Good job, Chris. Awesome. You guys did wonderful. First off, I was just going to say that. So the Youth Advisory Board was an initiative I brought when I was a councilwoman in 2013. It was, I think, my first item as a council member. So I'm super proud to see you guys up here presenting. Congratulations. Thank you. We did do a couple of events with the Youth Advisory Board back in the day. I actually hosted a college prep event. And one of the things that I did out of my office many times, and I tried to get the youth advisory board involved. It was just hard because everybody's on a volunteer

Yes, absolutely. Thank you so much. A second, and I have a comment.

Yes, yes. Well, obviously, we're going to make a motion to waive the fee for the room as we're going to host it alongside you. So yes, absolutely. So I've already told my team to get with you, because I have the list of all the colleges that we did it with before. So we'll reach out to them and help you guys put it together. But great job. You guys did a wonderful, wonderful job. Anybody else have any comments?

I want to thank you guys for your time, for this great initiative. And I love that it's geared towards parents, because there's a lot of parents that want to help, but they don't know how. And so I think this is great, because a lot of them are geared towards students. I think this one would be for both, it seems. But it's really great to involve the parents. I was also a first-generation college student. So when I was applying for college, my parents had no idea. What that entailed or what that meant so this is this is going to be a great program and so again? Thank you. We're very proud of y

Anything else? Yes, Council Member Reynoso. Well, I think you guys did such a great job with your presentation, great advocating skills for this program that you guys are trying to put together. Education is absolutely important. It is the gateway to a lot of opportunities. And I know a lot of our community members, their system of education is completely different. than what you all have gone through and are still going through. So I think this is an absolutely great event. And I wanted to highlight something that one of the four of you said, paying it forward to a city that has helped raise

Thank you, Mayor. I just want to... Well, echo what my colleagues just mentioned. You guys are pretty amazing, so congratulations. You guys represent the future of the city, and we're in very good hands based on students, young people like you. Bless you. So congratulations. I'm going to support you as well. Thank you so much. I count 100%. Also, as Councilwoman Reynoso mentioned, education is the key. And you guys represent the future. And I'm happy. And as the mayor mentioned as well, I think it's the first time in a long time that I see a group with this passion. And that really helps. And

Mayor Fraga? Yes. All right. Thank you very much. I think my team is in the back. They're going to talk to you guys so we can help you get the list of the colleges. Okay. Thank you, guys. Great job, guys.

Oh? Yes? I was just telling them to wait we have two little two minutes. Thank you Do you have anything in your report madam clerk madam manager? We're almost done two items

As soon as we take our pictures, we will go ahead and commence that meeting. All right. This has exhausted our morning agenda. We'll be back in the afternoon. Any motion to recess? Motion to recess by Council Member Reynoso. Second by Council Member Bineto. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. This meeting is recessed. We'll be back at 5 for protocol and 6 o'clock for our meeting. We are calling this meeting to order. We're back for our evening session. Today is Wednesday, February 18th. The time is now 6.11 AM. Before I officially have the roll call, I just wanted to welcome Sara Paguda. She

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, Sarah, our mayor, for the day. Members of the council, this is the ordinance that we had just briefly discussed earlier today. This is a regulation that would be added to our code in an effort to continue to promote what the efforts of our mayor's around the county as well as the tax collector have been promoting to make sure businesses are in line with OFAC regulations if they are doing business with countries as such as Cuba and anyone who is not following these regulations and working outside the scope their license may be revoked before we go ahead and and take a vote I would li

All right, being no public comments, the comments have been placed, and we will entertain a motion to approve.

Thank you so much for indulging us. This is an opportunity for our youth to see how local government works and civic opportunity within our city. So congratulations, Sarah, for your job well done. We're going to take a picture now with the entire council when we finish. This concludes our meeting. So now what you need to ask for is a motion to adjourn the meeting. Go ahead.

Motion. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn.

Aye. Aye. This meeting is now adjourned. We'll see you all at our March meeting. Thank you very much, and God bless you.