City Council - workshop

Okay, we're going to get started. TODAY IS AUGUST 24TH. THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF OUR CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP. THE TIME IS NOW 6.01. MADAM CLERK.

OKAY. LET'S STAND AND HAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE.

Next item on the agenda is the FY2027 budget overview and discussion presentation.

Interim city manager. I'm sorry. Fill it in.

NEW SPEAKER No, no. Don't stress that. He's the assistant city manager. Okay.

Yes. I spoke to him today. He's he's well, um, he shall be returning soon.

I don't know. Wait, slow down. I reached out to him. Um,

Just for the record, I spoke to the city manager today and last week as well, and I've been working with him. This is nothing as if he's still here. Thank you.

On 16th is going to be a problem. i know i would be in dc i've already retained my hotel no i understand that you may change that date but that's okay that'll just follow whatever date you see um well we need to probably deal with it tonight sometime at the end so we can solidify a date that everyone would know that that's going to be the substitute date okay all right so again we're finishing up the balance of the departments tonight and first up is mr brody for the library

One second. Yes. Let the record show that Councilwoman Shirley Lanier is present. Okay. Thank you.

Numbers. This is a budget hearing. I want to hear what kind of numbers you have for your budget this year.

I see personnel operating capital two. I'd like to know what kind of numbers we're spending. Briefly, go over your numbers for me.

How many people are employed at the library full-time and part-time?

So I see director Brody that your personnel budget went up. Is that because of contractual obligations?

the the cost right we're pretty close we're pretty close to having a brand new library there i don't know if it meets your space requirements but certainly the the physical building has been upgraded substantially absolutely and we're trying to integrate that and as mentioned earlier integrate that in all of our facets of communication because i think that's important for the community to know right you're doing a great job with the programs thank you thank you so much much appreciated any further questions

I heard Councilwoman Shirley Lanier and then Mayor Lawson.

I'd just like to thank Mr. Brody for his excellent, outstanding work at the Riviera Beach Public Library. I want to make a request that when we are looking at the building of our new library, if so, that Mr. Brody is included in those discussions in regards to how this new library would look and what it entails. And I really appreciate the fact that IT IS NOT ABOUT THE LIBRARY THESE DAYS, BECAUSE YOU CAN GET CHECKOUT BOOKS ONLINE, THAT YOU MAKE IT WHERE THERE ARE OTHER ACTIVITIES, BOOK CLUBS, BOOK READINGS, AUTHORS, ALL TYPES OF ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN AT THAT LIBRARY. AND IT'S ALWAYS, ALWAYS

Thank you, Councilwoman Lanier. Mayor Loffler.

Thank you. And I want to echo the same sentiments, Director. A phenomenal job. the programming, the activities, the events, you do a great job over there. I want to bring some more exposure. So we're working with our communications department, making sure a lot of the programs that you're doing are updated on social media, on our pages, doing a few mailers, and even looking at your budget to determine if you have any funds for marketing or programming or activities, because I want to bring more things and more exposure to the library. I wanted to kind of also couple that question, space-wise,

Chair. I have a couple of more right quick. I wanted to ask Mr. Brody about, I know that you guys had some programming for looking at the digital divide for residents who lack access to internet access. How have you guys been dealing with that?

So have you ever thought about hotspot checkout programs?

Thank you. And I think one more about I really would like to see you increase your staff at that library. There's a lot of your summer reading engagement program. I know that you've met and exceeded your targets for the past fiscal year and fiscal year before. So how do you how do you deal with the additional supplies and stuff for the reading programs that you have?

And I also want you to pursue some partnerships with the school district and the housing authorities for sure. And then one more thing, any deferred maintenance issues that need immediate attention?

FOR MY SAY SO, I'D LIKE TO PROPOSE A NEW POSITION, ADDITIONAL POSITION FOR THE LIBRARY THAT WILL HELP TO EXPAND THE SERVICES, AND I KNOW THAT THERE ARE A LOT THAT IS HAPPENING AT THE LIBRARY, AND I KNOW THAT THEY CAN BE MORE HOT SPOTS WITH THE SUMMER READING PROGRAM, WITH THE AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM THAT YOU GUYS HAVE, THE BOOTCAMPS THAT YOU HAVE. THAT IS A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENING THERE, AND I THINK THAT I KNOW THE STAFF MEMBER WOULD DEFINITELY add to the expansion of where you guys are trying to go.

Ms. Davis-Panier, excuse me, Councilwoman Davis-Panier, but before we leave that point, one second. Councilwoman Lanier, what kind of position are you proposing for the library?

I'M SUPPOSING A FULL-TIME POSITION THAT CAN REALISTICALLY HANDLE THE CURRENT RESOURCES THAT THEY HAVE AND ESPECIALLY THE EXPANSION THAT THEY'RE LOOKING AT FOR THE SUMMER READING METRICS PROGRAM, FOR THE PARTNERSHIP THAT THEY'RE LOOKING TOWARDS. AND ALSO, TOO, WITH THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, THERE ARE A LOT OF PROGRAMS THAT THEY WANT TO IMPLEMENT BUT DON'T HAVE THE BODIES TO DO IT. MR. BRODY IS VERY MODEST AND HE'S NOT GOING TO ASK, BUT I GO TO THAT LIBRARY A LOT. AND THERE'S A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENING THERE AND THERE NEEDS TO BE ANOTHER BODY TO BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE THE EXPANSION OF PROGRAMS IF WE WAN

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. CAN FINANCE RUN SOME NUMBERS ON AN EXTRA BODY THERE AND LET US KNOW BEFORE WE START VOTING ON THE ORDINANCES? NEW SPEAKER YES. NEW SPEAKER MISS DAVIS-PRENIER.

MR. BRODY, I LOVE ALL THE WORK YOU'RE DOING THERE. WHAT IS YOUR AVERAGE ATTENDANCE AT THE LIBRARY ON A WEEKDAY, WEEKEND?

Is this regular usage or is this for special programming? I'll follow it. Is this special programming or is this on an average day? I'm talking about day to day. You all don't.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING, BRINGING PEOPLE IN, LIKE YOUR LITERACY PROGRAMS, AND WE HAVE YOUR AUTHORS THERE. I KNOW THAT YOU SEEM TO, I KNOW MY COLLEAGUE HAS HAD SEVERAL LIKE BLACK HISTORY EVENTS THERE OR THINGS LIKE THAT THAT BRING CROWDS. SO I WAS JUST WONDERING DAY-TO-DAY NUMBERS. AND AGAIN, I EXPECT THE NUMBERS FOR SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS TO BRING MORE. BUT I WAS JUST WONDERING ABOUT THE AVERAGE ATTENDANCE AT THE

So, Director Brody, so if somebody goes in the library, goes to lunch, and comes back, are they counted twice? So, yeah, well, as far as customers go? Yeah, do you have a counter? Do they walk past the counter?

Okay. Good job. Do you do any collaboration with the county library?

And check this out. One thing, this is really good that they have. My grandson has library cards all over the county. You can go to any library and drop your book off to Riviera Beach and they'll get it back to that library in Delray or that library in Boca.

OK, good job. We've got to move on now. Thank you very much for your presentation. Much appreciated. OK, the next department is procurement.

I'm sorry, Mr. Brody, if you're here, be sure to get with Mr. Sherman and Councilwoman Lanier to discuss what type of position that you may want us to consider. We haven't voted to consider. Okay. Sorry about that. Sure. Yes.

Can you hear now, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson?

NEW SPEAKER VICE CHAIR SPIRITUS AND MAYOR LAWSON.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO AND YOUR STAFF. WE APPRECIATE ALL THE HARD WORK AND WE APPRECIATE THE OUTREACH TO THE COMMUNITY, TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY. AND CLEARLY YOU GOT THE MESSAGE. I LOOK AT YOUR BUDGET AND YOUR BUDGET IS LESS THIS YEAR THAN IT WAS LAST YEAR. SO THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SITUATION THAT WE'RE IN RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, SIR.

AND DIRECTOR EMMONS, THIS IS NOTHING PERSONAL. NEW SPEAKER YES. NEW SPEAKER CURRENT SPENDING FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES. Do we have an idea of what we've spent this past year for local businesses?

Okay. So those local businesses that we write a check or the primes, we don't have any of that data. Do we have an idea of what our target is for local business in regards to our spend for this coming fiscal year?

You just celebrated your two-year anniversary. Congratulations. Thank you so much, sir. What has been your struggle with collecting and gathering this data to identify where the money is going for our local businesses?

Why don't we have the data yet? And the reason I ask is you've only been here two years. I've served on this board since 2019. And the day I was elected, the very next meeting, I asked for a disparity study. It's 2026. I don't have the data to reference a disparity study. I don't care what the national conversation looks like in regards to DEI, minorities, women businesses. This is the city of Riviera Beach. So what does our data look like so that we can substantiate where our money is going for our local minority women businesses? Even if we have to call it local, I'm fine with that. I need m

can you identify and see if the board would be interested in putting that back into the collection? Because I understand that they said Tyler could possibly collect the data, but since I've been here, it hasn't been able to do it. And there's been shortfalls in that. So if we can't identify what is the cost of that data, I know that we did reference you cutting your budget, but collecting this data is so important to showcase the numbers because without, as my dear friend would say, my chair, data, documents, and evidence, i don't have any factual information to justify what the city is doing

along with what the mayor was saying. So at first I thought you said that now that you are upgrading Tyler, it has the capability to extract the information that he's requesting.

Right. Understood. Okay. And there's no way for us to require them to provide that information in any reporting that they give to us?

I NEEDED TO ASK A QUESTION ABOUT DO YOU HAVE, DOES THE CITY MAINTAIN A LOCAL VENDOR REGISTRY?

I THINK THAT THE MAYOR He and I both came here at the same time. He has been asking this question for the last eight years in regards to this. And this is like a simple form that you can write down. You can write it down how many local vendors the city has. That should be something easily to be able to track, meaning that if I ask you how many actual local vendors does the city have, you should be able to just give me a number like that because you could just pull them out and write them down. With that being said, you have a position that you're going to eliminate. Who's going to do that job?

Yeah, we need to have a list of local vendors. And whether that comes from Development Services or Procurement should know how many local businesses the city deals with. So when we have WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THE ISSUE WITH TYLER AND DUPLICATIONS, DO YOU HAVE OR HAVE YOU DONE ANY TRAINING WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS SO THAT THEY CAN KNOW HOW TO SUBMIT A SCOPE OF SERVICES, HOW TO SUBMIT COMPLETE REQUISITIONS? BECAUSE IT SEEMS THAT THERE'S A LOT OF BACK AND FORTH WITH DEPARTMENTS THAT YOU SAY, NO, YOU SHOULD DO IT THIS WAY. MAYBE YOU NEED TO LOOK AT

SO MAYBE, COLLEAGUES, WE MAY NEED TO LOOK AT TRANSFERRING THE VTR TO PROCUREMENT BECAUSE THEY NEED TO KNOW EXACTLY WHO OUR SMALL BUSINESSES ARE. I KNOW THAT THE DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES but just for the sake of collecting the money, they are, it's in that department, but you really need to know how many small businesses are in this city. So that's the thought, colleagues, to look at that transfer. It's something that we can discuss. Has there ever been, has the internal auditor ever Issued any findings related to procurement, lack of document bids, sole source justifications, contract extensions

They've done some outside of your purview.

Right. So also, too, when we back up to the BTR, and I'll be my last question, chair, back to the BTR. Now, thinking about it, it doesn't necessarily have to be transferred to your department, but you should have some type of automation where you automatically know that this is a new small business in the city. There should be something shared with the BTR with you, given that you are the ones that pay them. You're the ones that work with them. um the developmental services just actually collect the money and the data for them so there should be some type of shared programming however that cou

Okay. And then also, too, I think you guys should have them. with your own budget now, a vendor outreach and education fund so that you guys, that's specific to vendor outreach.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Lanier. Nice, very pertinent question. Mayor Lawson.

Thank you. And just to close out, while I appreciate you cutting the budget, Your department is responsible for getting the money into our community and for all the dollars that's coming out. So we have to make sure that we have all the data necessary and you have all the tools necessary. So you've done a phenomenal job just in two years. You've done more than I've seen of any procurement director here. I want to keep pushing that because you're the most important piece in the city and in any city when it comes to spending for local vendors. And we have probably the most spending in Palm Beach

Thank you, Mayor. With Amos, you're in a very challenging position Your recommendation impacts people's livelihood, whether they get a contract or not. That's going to create emotions for those who may not be recommended. That's going to generate, I don't want to say enemies, adversaries because you didn't recommend somebody or they thought you should have did something a different way. So I don't envy your position because it's a position where you're going to get a lot of criticism and you have been getting that. Whether it's valid or not, that's still in question. I don't think most of it i

And I don't think that we have enough data collection software in place. And that's to not only the employee's disadvantage, it's to the resident's disadvantage, too.

So we need to move beyond just talking about it. And from here, my colleagues, I think at least we should have a report from UNIT. When is our next meeting? If we're going to move in this year's budget, We got to have it by the time we started voting on these ordinances to approve the budget. You're about to say something. I'm about to end, but go ahead.

I'm asking with the approval of my colleagues to get with IT and bring us back what you and IT think would be the best way to collect the data that we're asking you to collect. You and IT, I'm not asking you about outside sources, people who may have a job that they They do this from a distance. I want people working in the industry like IT and you to get together and bring us some information back with some numbers so we can consider it in this budget that would collect the data that the mayors want and also have our departments communicating better, especially regarding who our local vendors

So, Chair, my follow-up was going to be, and if that company is one that you all deem sufficient and would be able to provide, please provide us with that information.

We need numbers. If that's the company or whatever UNIT come up with, we need numbers, though, to consider to see if we can work it into the budget. But we cannot keep identifying problems and keep kicking the can down the road. And our residents and employees are working in an environment that is not best for efficiency. Enough of that. This is 2026. We have to get our priorities together. If any of my colleagues have any opposition to what we're requesting, so speak or forever hold your peace. We're not voting on it right now, we're requesting information so we can make a rational decision a

ABSOLUTELY. I AGREE. And this is just to retrieve information and it's been emphasized for IT to be involved as well as procurement. Yes.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. Thank you very much. And let me just say that you're never going to be able to satisfy everybody. They're going to criticize you, but I know that you'll be getting calls from industry colleagues for your opinion to come speak. They heard about a program that you had up here, how to do it in their area. I see your colleagues recognizing what you're doing up here and they're trying to implement it in some of their areas. So don't let the haters get you down. Keep doing what you're doing. Good job. Okay. Next slide.

I did not know that you were the IT guy, to be honest. I'm new around here. Good to meet you.

So wait, two-fifths of the council didn't know who you are.

Shirley said she did. I mean, Councilwoman Lanier said she did. You've seen it. So that's three-fifths. But go ahead. It's glad to meet you.

Director Sheehan, can you tell me, cybersecurity, I'm very concerned about, especially with the utility district, our new water plant, our existing water plant. Of course, we know the history of the city being hacked years ago, costing us a ton of money. Well, actually, the insurance company, I guess. but my concern is cybersecurity. So do you have somebody that's working directly with the utility district and the engineers on the water plant and the new police station?

Of course, the police station and the firehouses and City Hall as well But the utility district, of course, we can't live without water.

Mr. Sheehan, I've been with the county not close to 30 years, and every maybe six months or so, or maybe more than that, we are required to take phishing training. They'll go through little scenarios. They tell you what to look for. Then you take some tests at the end and you can't move on until you pass it. That's not an option for us. Correct. We have to do that. do we have anything regular to keep our employees on their toes like that?

I mean, training. Training required. And we'll get with the city manager. Required training. I wasn't here, but everybody know that we have gotten hiked and paid a large amount. And we need to be prepared as well as we can to try to mitigate and diminish that possibility to ever happen again.

Okay. The other thing that we regularly get training on, too, is active shooter training. Do we have that?

at something similar to the fishing training um with the active shooter training it always happened at a place that doesn't expect it and i feel that we should be prepared for the unexpected no matter where it may happen that um on one of these um city-owned properties And if it happens and we have no training, nothing, I think it could be more devastating than it needs to be. So, um, I will hope that you take a look at that. We, um, I'm a planner and they require us to do it too at the county. Yes, everybody is required. We need to know what to do, where to go, who to call. Um, We even get tr

Now you said Ms. Ammons is coming back. You need to be integrally involved in that process. To determine whether what is coming back to us would sufficiently do what we're trying to do. Okay. That's all I have. Anybody else? Councilwoman Lanier.

I wanted to ask, this is probably too for the chief that they were requesting $750,000 for five years for the drone project. And I want to know what was IT's role in supporting this?

So are there any costs that are not reflected in the police budget that you're picking up?

So it wouldn't be any other cost other than what the police is paying for?

Okay. Tell me about the ratio that you guys have. I would like to know the ratio you have because the city is like 550 individuals and you guys have like 10 employees. How does that match up to other cities?

So tell me about the... THERE WAS AN INTERNAL AUDIT THAT WAS DONE THAT SAVED YOU GUYS A LOT OF MONEY. TELL ME ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED TO, AND THE BOARD SHOULD ALSO BE PRIVATE TO, A LIST OF ALL THE CURRENT SOFTWARE CONTRACTS IN THIS DEPARTMENT. so that we have an idea. And I know that the internal auditor did a report and save you guys a lot of money because there was some duplications here and there. But I also know too that your department is sorely underfunded in terms of staff, given the amount of city employees that the city has. So I definitely want that to come to us, a list o

And then the last question is, is the cloud versus premise, meaning that have you guys evaluated moving more to the cloud versus hardware maintenance costs?

Okay. But yeah, that's what I wanted to hear in terms of not looking for other places that it stays with the city itself. And also too, the city's cyber policy that luckily we did have it because a lot of the Ransom, so to speak, was paid by the student policy. But thank you so much for that information, because it gives me much comfort to know that the city is taking care of its own data.

Oh, OK. Let me just say that, you know, as we make our request, all of the colleagues know this. But for the residents, we're required to do a balanced budget. We don't have an option. So as staff bring us an initial budget and we start telling them we want this, this, this and that, they've got to go somewhere and eliminate something to make sure that they can bring us back what we're asking them to. So we need to be prepared to understand that we're going to lose something when we're asking for something. So we have to prioritize But we still want you to do what we're asking when I say you s

And I certainly want that information about the security, I mean, the contracts from the software contracts.

Nobody disagrees. That is in process, ma'am.

And also, too, you're correct, because I was wanting to add another 150 to their budget, but okay, I get you. I get it.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. IT. Next.

Chair. Vice Chair Spiridus, then Councilwoman Lanier. And I heard somebody over here. And then Mayor Lawson.

Director, I've seen in the employment vacancy list, the director of planning and development, that job's been advertised, I don't know, well over a year, correct? Yeah, oh, CRA. I thought you had one in your department as well, no?

I was a little nervous, but no, that is a CRA. I see that you're eliminating a building inspector. I mean, your department is probably one of the most important departments in our ability to increase our tax base. I would not disagree with that. So can we afford to eliminate a building inspector?

So when you talk about the fee study timeline, what does that look like?

Got it. So the digital permitting roadmap, what does that look like? We talked about the whole digital piece for permitting. What is that? How's that going?

Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to ask about the whole electronic permitting process. So what part of your budget is covered through fees?

ALL RIGHT. JUST TWO MORE QUESTIONS. ONE OF THEM IS, THE CURRENT LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY IN RIVERA BEACH, YOU KNOW, PERMIT APPLICATIONS, ARE THEY INCREASING, DECREASING? ARE THEY STABLE? What does that look like going forward with all this development that the city has?

The last question. Have you guys ever did a consumer or customer satisfaction survey? no we have spoken about it um it's nothing that we have gotten to implement yet uh but yet we've talked about it and yeah i really want you guys to do that to have something that gauges how your department is doing for the public because PEOPLE COMPLAIN, BUT NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT. SO TO HAVE SOME IDEA OF SOME OF THE AREAS THAT THE CUSTOMERS FEEL LIKE WE SHOULD, YOU KNOW, I KNOW THAT THE BIGGEST THING WAS THE ELECTRONIC PERMITTING THAT, YOU KNOW, I CAN GO TO WEST PALM AND I CAN GET

And I say that because I want to showcase the positive feedback versus the negative, because I know that there's a lot of positive feedback, but you only hear people up here know. You only hear the negative. and you don't hear that out of your thousand permits that only one had a complaint. So that is something that really you guys should focus on because you hear a lot of good things, but one bad thing happens and it's a bad deal.

Thank you, Ms. Chair. Ms. Summers, I know we've talked about fully automated and being fully digital in the department a few years ago, I believe it was during COVID and then after that. Where are we with going to being automated, especially for some of the permitting and just some of the processes where people are still coming into the office?

So where in the budget can we point to where you're going to be able to accomplish that last 30% hurdle? Because if you do need or staffing constraints, I would assume that we would prepare with putting in a staffer, a consultant, or even an interim individual to be able to fill that need. Because we want to accomplish that. We've been trying to become automated. We're kind of behind the eight ball when it comes to technology. across municipalities. So if we can touch on that and point it in the budget to say I need these dollars to get that done, that would be the first thing. So that would b

But to that point, the staffing constraints are also costing the city money that could be generating, getting more properties on the tax roll at a quicker expedited rate, departments where it comes to development services and the fees and the fines that are coming in. So that one staffer that may cost us 150, 200,000 annually could be generating more money for the city. So I want to make sure that we're operating at full capacity and efficiency in every department. Because if our staffing constraints can reflect a direct dollar amount that's going to increase for the coffers of the city, it ma

NEW SPEAKER ONE LAST QUESTION, CHAIR. HOW MUCH HAS THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT BROUGHT IN THIS YEAR?

Okay. ACM, is someone taking notes of the request that the council is making to bring us back some numbers on?

it's also taking copious notes but i'm i'm jotting down notes okay because um again we have to have a balanced budget something else is going to have to be cut and we just need to know and be realistic about how we're moving and realize that something else is going to have to be cut in order to get what we want and get that balanced budget so Each department is going to have to take another look that we've made a request from to see what other things can be cut in order to do what we want them to do.

Even if you have to go back and look at this. I'm taking some notes too, so if you missed some, I'm probably gonna call you on it. Mr. Sermon, before I let you go, and it's been mentioned, but I just wanna reiterate it. You need to be involved in that conversation with IT and Ms. Ammons to make sure that the software is generating the information that we're requesting. and you don't have to pick the phone up to call Ms. Ammons or Ms. Ammons doesn't have to pick the phone up to call you. It goes right into software that is being shared with you all. Hopefully simultaneously, hopefully no one ha

And to that point, I mean, automated systems. I was just reminded that Amendment 3, even though we're cutting our budgets for the sake of possibly passing Amendment 3 on this ballot, it doesn't impact us our fiscal budget until next fiscal year so right now we need to implement as many processes as possible automated systems services address and plug any leaks that we have in the system and make sure we've brought enough staff to cover all of the roles necessary to generate more money for the city um processing the the the permitting making sure that we have everything automated for permits th

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Any further questions? Thank you, Mr. Sermon. Good job. Next department, please. And who bright idea was to add another at the USD tonight?

I told y'all if it go past the certain time, I'm not.

Okay. Okay. I'm with that. I'm with that.

I'm going to say a big shout out to Bishop Thomas Masters. I'm going to continue with this. While we're talking about the EV process, you said that you were converting all of our vehicles to EV?

Converting our vehicles, all of them to EV?

Okay. I definitely want to, As we look into that upgrade, I want to make sure that we're upgrading facilities, especially charging stations as well and access to actually charging up these vehicles there and throughout the city. I did have some questions about the maintenance plan, but I'll wait to get to the rest of the presentation. But I did want to address the EV since I did hear it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

I GUESS YOU'RE GETTING READY TO GO INTO THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROJECTS RIGHT NOW. THAT'S WHERE I'M HEADED. AS YOU KNOW, THE CITY IS RESPONSIBLE TO DREDGE THE CANALS, TO KEEP THOSE CANALS DREDGED. THEY'RE OWNED BY THE CITY AND IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY Do you have any money in your budget? I know that the police department has been working with your department in determining areas. It doesn't look like we need major dredging, but there are areas where you don't have the depth for most of the boats, some of the boats that are going through there. Do you have that in the budget?

Director, I've been told by our legal counsel that it is our responsibility and that we do own the canals. This is essential for the people that live there. Many of these people pay $200,000, $300,000 a year in taxes to keep their boat there. If they can't take their boat and bring it out, then they're going to sell their homes or their homes are going to go down in value. They can ask for tax certioraries and they'll probably get them. It's very important that we provide this service. to these people. This is the reason they're living here. We have that responsibility. This is not maybe we'll

Well, some of them are mid-block. So, you know, we know where the people are. Certainly we can see where the people cross, you don't have to do a major study. What you have to do is use your eyes and you can see where the people are crossing. I know that the state and the county just are doing a job right now on Broadway, of course, to stop cars from coming across because they were able to see where those cars were coming and where the accidents were. But yes, we have to look, I think, at the entire city because people are going to get killed. And so I think we have to start being proactive an

Sorry about that. I forgot you were even on. Yes, Ms. Attorney.

Yeah, I thought that it was determined that the city owns the cows.

So maybe it was engineer Bailey who told me that the city owns it. Is engineer Bailey here?

WE DON'T KNOW WHETHER THE CITY OWNS THAT PROPERTY OR DOESN'T OWN THAT PROPERTY IN ALL THESE YEARS. WE DON'T KNOW WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CANALS.

That would be good. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

Just a quick question. What department, along with public work, would decide or determine where crosswalks in the city would be? Because that doesn't seem like it's just a public work station.

OK, thank you. You don't have to come back. Thank you.

Mayor Lawson and then he'll finish his presentation.

Do we currently have a comprehensive facilities plan for the city facilities and city buildings? Because we're building all these pretty new buildings, but maintenance has been an issue and a topic of discussion for a number of years. And a lot of the buildings we had to demo were because we didn't properly maintain them. Do we have a full comprehensive plan now?

elevators, generators, technology, security systems, any major equipment. So every year we need that update because it seems like every year we always get an update to our budget to say we need to do new flooring we didn't account for, or we need to upgrade this and we didn't account for. We had leaks. So we want to make sure that we have that incorporated in an annual comprehensive maintenance plan so that we as a board every year can include this into our budget to see what it's going to be to maintain all the buildings. Because if we're building a life expectancy of a new building of 20, 30

YOU CAN GO AHEAD WITH HIM. I HAD IT WRITTEN DOWN.

SENATOR DIRECTOR, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT STORM WATER. HOW ARE OUR STORM WATER FEES IN COMPARISON TO OTHER COMMUNITIES?

NEW SPEAKER I WANT TO ASK A QUESTION, CHAIR.

NEW SPEAKER ABOUT YOUR SERVICE REQUEST BACKLOG. YOU SAID THAT YOU WERE GOING TO WORK ON THAT. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE NOW?

Services, people call and say they need a speed bump in their road. People call and say, hey, this sidewalk is broken, that kind of thing.

I see that you have an ADA transitional, an ADA transition for for the city. Do you have a transitional plan that

AND SO WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE ADA COMPLIANCE, YOU KNOW THAT I THINK THERE'S SCHOOL BOARD FUNDING FOR THOSE KIND OF COMPLIANCES NEAR SCHOOLS. SO I THINK THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING TO LOOK INTO. I'M NOT SURE, BUT I WOULD THINK THAT BECAUSE IT'S NEAR A SCHOOL OR, YOU KNOW, MAYBE YOU CAN REACH OUT TO THEM AS WELL. SO IS THERE SOME TYPE OF FORMAL ELECTRICATION PLAN? for taking the fleet from gas to electric?

I KNOW THAT ELECTRIC PLAN IS MORE, THE COST IS MORE AT FRONT THAN IT IS ON THE BACK END. AND ABOUT YOUR ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, HOW DO YOU DO THAT? I KNOW THAT THE MAYOR TALKED ABOUT THE FACILITY MAINTENANCE PLAN, BUT WHAT ABOUT MAINTAINING ASSETS IN THE CITY? I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THERE'S A formal way in which you guys do that because there's a lot of equipment, furniture, everything in this city, but I don't know if there's a centralized location or plan to be able to track it.

Okay. So the capital project, capital improvement plan you have for traffic size and payment marketing enhancement, are these part of the larger prioritized five-year project?

SOMETIMES IT COULD SIMPLY BE THE I'M JUST SAYING IS IT PART OF THE OVERALL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN OR SOMETHING SEPARATE?

And then I have one more about. How do we talk about contract oversight? So what is the current performance of the solid waste contractor?

I think that I'm concerned more about performance metrics. How do you How do you measure that? You know, missed pickups, customer complaints. How do you monitor that for the city? People call about, you know, their trash pile was not that big, but they got fined for it. How do you keep up with those type of complaints from that contractor?

And the last question in regards to your, I saw that you talked about workforce development and how you're going to promote development of Protecting employee health and safety while invested in professional growth. What training and programs do you currently have for your staff?

And the apprenticeship program, do you have any of those?

Thank you. Okay, just a couple of things for me. I noticed that one of my colleagues spoke about the dredging costs. So you'll be bringing that back to us?

With the approximate costs? Somebody's taking notes, right? And what would have to be eliminated We understand that we got to balance the budget and something may have to go if we so decide to go that way. We used to have, I noticed when I came back elected again, that a lot of the vehicles, not necessarily in public works, but maybe they are in public works too, are not owned by us, the fleet. Are they leased now?

And what was the rationale behind that move? Do you know?

Okay. And this is more toward Mr. Bailey. Where's Mr. Bailey? Sir, Mr. Bailey, I and. Vice chair spirit is served on the MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization Board. But you deal with a lot of transportation issues. And we as taxpayers contribute to the funding that they be given not to the various municipalities. I HAVE NOT SEEN RIVER BEACH IN ANY OF THE FUNDING CYCLES OF LATE. DO YOU KNOW WHY WE'RE NOT APPLYING FOR ANY OF THOSE FUNDS?

Okay. This is not my first ride at the rodeo. I've served on the NPO before. A lot of the funding cycles are not that long. Some of them are. Not all of them. Even if they were, we need to be at the table in order to eat. We're not even at the table now. We're not even applying. That's the problem. I wouldn't care if it was 15 years down the road. We need to be in that funding cycle pipe. And whenever it drops, we're going to use it. I know that we can be competitive for some of those funds. And that's various funds. We were talking about humps and striping and all that. That's all, they do al

Applying for something moving forward. I don't want to sit down there and I don't see my city even in the cycle trying to get anything. Yes, sir. Um, but that is something that has been disturbing me because our taxpayers face some, for some of those cycles, um, rights, care, spirited, um, has been serving on that too. And, um, you know, we represent a wonderful city that pays taxes like everyone else does. And we want to compete for some of those funds.

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. DID THEY HAVE TO REACH OUT TO US?

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS UP, BECAUSE THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT I'VE BEEN DISCUSSING FOR THREE YEARS THAT I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE NOW WITH THE FORMER CITY MANAGER AND THE CURRENT CITY MANAGER. YES, WE SIT ON THAT BOARD, WHICH BASICALLY SPLITS UP ALL THE FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION MONIES, EVEN THE STATE MONIES THAT COME IN THE REGION. AND WE'VE BEEN APPROVING HUNDREDS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. WE SIT THERE AND WE VOTE YES FOR COMMUNITIES THAT ARE ONE-THIRD OUR SIZE GETTING ALL OF THIS MONEY. AND WE'RE NOT EVEN IN IT. AND AS YOU KNOW, YOU BROUGHT UP THE TIP

Thank you, Vice Chair. And I definitely agree with everything you just said. OK, are there any other questions for Public Works? Have you completed your presentation? Yes, sir. If there's no further questions, we'll call the next one up, the next Department of Human Resources as they come. Let me remind my colleagues that when it was suggested to add USD, I said at 9 o'clock, I was going to start winding it up. And we may have to move some things to another day. And it looked like we may have to move some things to another day. So as HR comes up at about 8.42, after this discussion, I want to

One of the critical positions that exist in all public agencies is the risk management position. And that position gauges the type of risks that we're taking and the level of the risks. Do we have a position, one, in that capacity? And two, is it filled? And if it's not filled, when would it be filled? And that's about the fourth question. I'm going to let you answer the first three.

Okay. Do you think we should have more than one prospect in case one doesn't work out?

And I say that because I've had a couple of calls about it and they were indicating they have the insurance, but I don't know what is required. But there have been at least two people reached out to me who said they had the qualifications.

My last question is, is risk management an industry that has an organization locally or nationally that you can tap into for prospects?

What I would suggest is that we get a little more assertive. I know that we have, we up to the city, maybe, um, someone in Georgia that may be retiring and want to move to Florida. We putting the eggs all in one basket concerns me. I think that we need to have more prospects to choose from. I'm not a HR person. I'm just talking as a lay person, trying to think logically to have some options in case something doesn't come through with people you may have your eye on.

Yes. Vice Chair Spirit, this is Dan Mayer Lawson.

Thank you. so uh my question was going to be about the risk manager so thank you for bringing it up uh i see it advertised all the time in our vacancy list it's been well over a year now maybe two years my question is can we privatize that can we hire a private company to act as our risk manager

NEW SPEAKER, FOLLOW-UP. I'm not quite sure your reasons why we can't have a private company. Clearly, we hire private engineering firms to act as the owner's rep on $50, $60 million projects. And those have safety involved in it and pretty much everything that you brought up, the follow through and everything else. I think we ought to consider it, maybe look into it and see if any other municipalities have done that. BECAUSE CLEARLY WE'VE GONE NOWHERE FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS NOW.

TWO PEOPLE HAVE LEFT. SO THAT'S LIKE HAVING NOBODY THERE, REALLY. I just think that you should look into it and see if any other municipalities have done it and if they have, are they happy with it or not happy with it?

I hear what you're saying. I respectfully disagree. I don't see why that can't be privatized and get the same service, maybe even a better service because you might have more people backing them up and a larger organization backing them up. But that's okay. You're entitled to your opinion. Thank you.

okay i think it was mary lawson um um the city attorney did you want to comment on this discussion that um vice chair spirited said or you just had some general comments if they're general comments i'm going there briefly i'm sorry just brief yes just briefly um from historical perspective before um miss jenkins returned to the city we did look at privatizing it dr spiritus and that uh it was determined by

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. THAT'S IMPORTANT INFORMATION. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER YOU'RE WELCOME.

CHAIR. MS. JENKINS WHO'S CURRENTLY DOING THE WORK FOR RISK MANAGEMENT? Because that position has been vacant since about March, I think.

Okay. And you were saying that it's difficult because some of the individuals for the risk management don't have all the scopes of work that we're looking for. Why don't we just bifurcate the job and separate the scopes of work to hire two separate positions?

And that position is currently, I thought you were, you're eliminating, aren't you eliminating the assistant director?

Okay, so. I think that just the current staffing concerns with HR being the heartbeat behind the city, a lot of the discussion amongst all the departments all matriculates through HR. We have to fill all the staffing issues. Brother Good has been here for years doing a phenomenal job and welcome back. But I think our goal right now is to fill all the departments, especially with the staff that we have there now. We're essentially overworking the staff because they're doing everybody else's scope of work. and they're not being compensated to do everybody else's work. So whatever these staffers

Okay. So we're going to replace them with these new positions that you saw more of a need in certain departments. So what I really wanted to look at also is hiring and training from within, seeing if we have any staff that's available inside the department or inside the city that we could hire and bring in, properly train and elevate them. Because I think that would give us an opportunity to keep staff, keep people from within the city, elevate and train them up, and prepare them. So any of those options, I like to change it based upon your explanation. So thank you for that. And if we can qui

I'm sorry not to interrupt you. All city employees don't have emails?

Wait, wait, wait, slow down, not to interrupt you. Is there a reason why they don't, but working out in the field doesn't mean they're not an employee and can occasionally check. I'm not understanding that.

in order to get into the training system okay and we can take advantage of that okay i agree with you every employee that works for us should have an email address acm i don't know where the city manager is who so i keep my street come on come to the mic and chair if we can circle back i just want to finish up my two Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that. No, you're good. Go ahead. Yes, Mr. Sheehan.

They need to be required to come out of the field and do what they need to do to maintain the email address. I'm not understanding. No employee not having it because they don't come, you know, when they're hired, they need to be told you need to maintain this and you be in here every 90 days if you're out in the field to make sure that this stays active. I'm not. That's our means of communications in 2026 electronically. I know we have phones and they may be, they can check it on their phone. Log into their phone and update their address. There's no excuse for that. And that's because we haven

Regarding what we were just talking about, the email address?

Yes, they need to have a general place with computers.

We understand that. We went through the ACM to get to the manager. Thank you.

Thank you. We were talking about before we went off to the other employees, Mr. Good, the additional work or the role that he's been taking on for training. What is that position? What is that entitled? Has the title been updated? Has the salary been compensated for?

DO YOU HAVE A POLICY WHEN AN EMPLOYEE HAS TO ABSORB THE SCOPE OF WORK OR THE WORK FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS THAT ARE MISSING? IN REGARDS TO COMPENSATION AND SALARY INCREASES? BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE MISSING A LOT OF POSITIONS IN YOUR DEPARTMENT RIGHT NOW, AND EVERYBODY IS KIND OF FILLING IN THE GAP FOR YOU. WHAT IS THAT COMPENSATION, WHAT DOES THAT POLICY LOOK LIKE?

NEW SPEAKER THE TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE? NEW SPEAKER YES.

So I really want to make sure that we've allocated enough dollars and funds in your budget to address the pitfalls in your staff. Make sure that the policies are reflective on some of these additional roles and compensations, because what's happening is our employees are being overworked. When somebody leaves a department or a position is vacant, now we're just picking up the additional role, and then I'm not sure if we're fairly compensating them for the time and the effort they're putting into it. Even when we bring somebody else in, as Mr. Goode, as you just said to Mr. Goode, you're bringi

I THINK I HEARD YOU SAY BEFORE THAT YOU WERE LOOKING INTO PASSWORDS AND WERE YOU STATING THAT YOU WANTED TO SEE THE EMPLOYEES USE THEIR PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS AND WITH A PASSWORD?

Just on a personal note, Mr. Good, thank you for coming back to the city and serving us. We appreciate that. Thank you.

Okay. Any further questions or comments to HR?

Yeah, I'd like to get a copy of an org chart that lists all current positions and then the ones that are not filled.

And I have a question. You mentioned something about a policy committee. Who comprises that committee?

I'd like to get a list of the members. I didn't know that we had a policy committee and what their responsibility is. OK. OK. All right. Any further and if any of the other colleagues want that, just send it to all of the elected officials, please. OK. And Mayor. One more question, Mr.

Chair. The public relations discipline, who's handling any of that now in the department? Discipline, more so relations, relations in the city. Employee relations. Okay. So Jasmine's handling employee relations. Yes. What's her position?

Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Any further questions? Hearing none, we need to identify a... Can we come in? We need to identify another day to complete the one that we didn't complete tonight. We can't do it tomorrow, I don't think. We've canceled that one and we will have to probably re-advertise. and let the public know when we are going to complete this meeting.

Chair? Yes. Are we able to extend the meeting until Wednesday when the utility district meets and start at 5.30 and see how much we can get done?

That would be a legal question, I think, or a city clerk advertisement question.

I think the one for tomorrow was canceled. The public was notified it was canceled, if I'm not mistaken.

WE'RE GOING TO DO IT AS MUCH AS NECESSARY. so that we don't burn out. Wait, wait, you ask me a question. Let me finish. I think we should do it as much as necessary so we don't burn out our employees and ourselves doing something that we can do on another day. If we were facing the deadline right up back to back, I would agree to that. But when I came in, I was told that they would stay into meetings to 11, 12, sometime 1 o'clock in the morning. That's unacceptable. I'm not doing that at the chair. I'm not doing that to me.

And we're going to get it done in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not staying tonight.

Okay, my colleagues are down here saying it's a no for them. Why let them say it themselves? You all talk for yourself. What's the next day option? I think Ms. Lanier said a no. Vice Chair Spiridon said that we need to find another day to finish. Okay, hope you got your answer, Councilwoman. Miller Anderson. Oh, that's fine.

No, I didn't. I didn't tell anybody. Okay, anyway. What other dates do we have?

I said nobody tells me what to do, so I'm just saying. Let's go to the next date.

And I didn't tell anybody. I just spoke for me. I told them what I was about to do. um what other days do we have the drop dead date that we have to get the budget meetings done it's going to be august 31st so anytime between now and the 31st of august we'll be fine okay so what what what are the next available days chair what are we planning on doing on wednesday at the ud meeting um do we have a budget hearing at the ud meeting um they're gonna do it josh I KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO DO IT TONIGHT, BUT WAS IT ORIGINALLY PLANNED FOR WEDNESDAY?

IS THAT THE ONE THAT WE WERE GOING TO HAVE TONIGHT?

IS LEGAL ON? CAN WE DO THAT? Ms. Nguyen.

SO CHAIR, CAN WE MENTION THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING AND THEN GO INTO THIS, IF THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE TO DO? THE BUDGET.

YEAH, THE BUDGET. YEAH, THE QUESTION IS ASKED, COULD WE GO INTO THE USD BUDGET WORKSHOP

Okay, would you want to do that? Okay. And then if you have to. Yes, we're going to have it up to the USD meeting, but they would have to advertise tonight, though, 45. Okay.

Okay. The question is, was it advertised for that?

Well, we still have time to do it tonight and cover ourselves. UM EITHER WAY I'D RATHER BE SAFE THAN SORRY ADVERTISE IT AGAIN UM NOW ARE WE GOING TO COMPLETE THE CITY SIDE OR JUST THE USD PORTION OF THE BUDGET MR CHAIR NOW DON'T PUT TOO MUCH ON THERE FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT YES UM MY RECOMMEND MY RECOMMENDATION IS THAT YOU ADVERTISE

Okay, I can make it. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson, there's a discussion about starting at 5.30 on Wednesday. What's your input?

um colleagues that there's a suggestion to do the um utility district budget hearing at 5 30 and go into the usd meeting and if we have time to finish up on the city side okay okay i'm okay with that too thank you okay all righty um closing comments acm

Did you get all of the suggestions about the budgets and bringing back what would need to be cut in order to make it happen? Yes, sir. OK, because we have to have a balanced budget. Something else is going to have to be cut. And that's just part of doing this budget session. We don't get to throw in a lot of things without realizing we got to cut something. Councilwoman Davis-Panier.

Oh. I always skip over legal. I don't know why. Okay. Well, we have a very competent fill-in for you here tonight. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. She signed off. um vice chair spirited no comment chair i have no comment meeting adjourned