City Council - Regular Meeting

Everybody, let's call to order our meeting of the Community Redevelopment Agency. The date is, I suppose, the date is September, somebody remind me, 6th? 7th? Beg your pardon? Well, we're kicking off the meeting anyway.

September 8th, very good. And the time is 10 a.m. Eastern Time, so everybody could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. 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, everyone, for your patience. Ms. Siddons, could you please do the roll?

Very good. Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Mr. Manager, do we have any amendments to our agenda today?

Very good, then the next thing we have is our minutes. We have the minutes of the regular meeting from August 24th, 2026. Does anyone have any revisions or corrections? Because if not, I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve the minutes as presented.

Very good, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Excellent. The minutes are approved. We have no presentations today. We also have no quasi judicial or related public hearings, and we likewise have no resolutions or regular public hearings. So now is the time for public requests. Ms. Sittons, do we have any cards for people wishing to speak during public requests for the CRA?

All right, Mr. Starkoff, please step up, state your name and address, and you'll have three minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Starkoff. Is anyone else wishing to speak during public comment during? I see someone stepping to the podium. Go ahead. State your name, sir. You will have three minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Manko. Anyone else for public requests? Ms. Haglitz, good morning.

Thank you, Ms. Hagquist. Anyone else for public requests related to our downtown? All right, last call for public requests. We will then close the time for public requests. Thank you everyone for your comments. Next item on our agenda is other business and settlements. We have none, so we can move on to the director's report. Mr. Sohaney, do you have a report?

Thank you. Mr. Kaler, attorney's report.

right very good welcome miss growl we can move then to commissioner's reports i'll start with the folks who are there in person why don't we start with miss simple do you have a report no report i was also well i was also at the opening of the skate park i think it's a it's a great location and it's a great asset to boca okay thank you miss simple miss trucker

Thank you, Mayor Thompson. So just a couple of things that came out of public request today or public comment. I think it's important to always state facts. And I think one of the comments made by one of the participants in today's meeting was that wait times for police response would get higher. And I don't want that to go out in the community because that's inaccurate. I think Mr. Starkoff, you said that earlier. The way that the police is done, they do it by stations. And the chief is here. We could also ask him. They're done by zones, not stations, by zones. So there's always police presen

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. Ms. Grau, do you have a report?

And I, too, have no report. So we can adjourn our meeting of the CRA. We will come back in just a moment for a special meeting related to the downtown special assessment. So hang tight, everybody. We'll be right back. Okay, I think it's time we can call to order the special meeting related to the downtown special assessment. The date is September 8th. Yes, that's right, September 8th, 2026. The time is 1017 a.m. Eastern. Ms. Siddons, could you please do the roll?

Sure, we can pledge allegiance once again. Why not? All right, everyone please stand and we will pledge allegiance. United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Very good, thank you, Ms. Sittons. The purpose of our meeting here today, this special meeting is for a public hearing and for consideration of resolution number 99-2026, the Downtown Special Assessment. So I think we should move right to it. Ms. Sittons, could you please read the title of resolution number 99-2026?

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Mr. Sohaney, who will be making the presentation on this matter?

Thank you, Mr. Timberlake. Members of the Council, do we have any questions for staff? Great. Seeing none, we can open up the public hearing. Ms. Sittons, do we have any cards for people who shouldn't speak on this matter?

Okay, very good. Any members of the public in attendance, if they wish to be heard on this matter, please step up to the podium, state your name and address, and you'll have up to three minutes. Last call for public comment on this matter. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion and a second to adopt resolution number 99-2026.

Motion to adopt resolution number 992026, made.

Excellent, thank you, Ms. Trucker. Any other discussion? If not, Ms. Sittons, if you please.

All right, that concludes our business here for the special meeting of the downtown special assessment. And members of the public, we have four meetings lined up for you today. So give us just one moment. We'll be back here for our workshop meeting of the Boca Raton City Council. Give us just one minute, but we will adjourn the downtown special meeting. The time is 1023 a.m. Be right back. So we can call to order our workshop meeting of the Boca Raton City Council. The date is September 8, 2026. The time is 1026 in the morning Eastern Time. First item on our agenda is our board interviews. We

Can I just pause you there for a moment, Mr. West, just to ask you to state your name and address, please?

very good thank you mr west thank you for your interest in being reappointed council members do you have any questions for mr west all right doesn't look like it thank you sir thank you good day next applicant please step up name address you get three minutes

Thank you, Mr. Barnard. Do we have any questions for this applicant? No. Members? Thank you. OK, very good. Thank you. Last applicant, Mr Peterson. Are you there? Great.

Alright, short and sweet members. Any questions for Mr Peterson? No. All right. Thank you, gentlemen. We'll be making our appointments later today in just a little while at our regular meeting. No need to stay. Feel free to stay if you'd like to, but we'll be making those appointments in just a little bit. That concludes our board interviews for today. Next up, we have proclamations presentations, but we have none of those. So it's time now for public requests. So Ms. Sittons, do we have any cards for public requests today?

Thank you, Ms. Hagquist. Next up, Mike Liebelson.

Mr. Starkoff, if you don't mind, sir, I believe your time is expired.

Thank you. I believe that concludes the cards we have for public requests. Anyone else wishing to be heard relating to our city of Boca? Now is the time, please step forward, state your name and address, and you'll have three minutes.

Thank you, Mr. Warner. Anyone else for public requests? Mr. Runge.

Thank you, Mr. Rungeon. Anyone else for public requests? I'm not seeing anybody, so last call for public requests during our workshop meeting. OK, we can then close the time for public requests. Move on to future agenda matters. Council members, does anybody have any questions relating to items on our regular agenda, which we're going to be tackling in just a few minutes?

Talk about the $80 million. We can talk about whatever you want. So why don't you take it away, Ms. Sybil.

That's a county tax. It's not levied on our citizens by Boca Raton. And we've already brought it up to the county that we're sick of paying for it. The county has already taken steps starting in June and July to eliminate that. They actually voted July 2026, five to two, to remove that. And they are scheduled for final approval on it on September 15th. However, it would not go into effect until October of 2027. But that is currently being addressed. So I just wanted to clarify that.

And that's a fair point to simple. And by the way, the the. The situation, as was described previously, has been this way for many years. So it's not a new phenomenon. And to the extent that there is a level of dissatisfaction with that, the county commission is the is the group that levies the millage rate on the county. So those are potentially issues that could have been raised at some point in the past to the county commission. But yes, as you've mentioned, there are steps being taken now to reorganize how law enforcement is funded at the county level. And I suppose that is a good thing. A

I don't, but I would like to just bring up the project hurdle. If somebody from city staff can explain what happened.

Can I interject there, Mr. Manager, to say this isn't a situation where the company is no longer interested in Boca. They're, to my knowledge, continuing to proceed to come and move to Boca, but they're simply not pursuing economic development incentives from us at the moment. Is that right?

Okay. Any other questions for staff? Great, then we can conclude the future agenda matters and move on to the city manager report. Mr. Suhaney, do you have a report today?

Thank you, Mayor. Council member reports. Do we have any reports starting the same morning? Ms. Sippel, any report?

And likewise, I have no report. So at the time of 1051 a.m. Eastern, we can conclude and adjourn our meeting of the workshop. And we'll be back in just a moment for a regular agenda. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.

Everyone, I think we can call to order our regular meeting of the Boca Raton City Council. The date is September 8th. I say again, September 8th, 2026. The time is 11 a.m. First order of business of the invocation, which I will give. Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for the opportunity we have to gather here and perform the business of this city. And in our time together, we pray for the following. We pray for wisdom to make wise decisions. We pray for humility. We pray for servants' hearts, recognizing that we are here not to be served, but to serve. We thank all the men and women of law e

Very good. Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Mr. Manager, do we have any amendments to the agenda?

Very good. Moving on to minutes. We have two sets of minutes from the workshop meeting of August 24th and from the regular meeting on August 25th. Do we have any revisions or corrections to the minutes? If not, I'll accept a motion and a second to adopt the minutes as presented.

Thank you. Any further discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. The ayes have it, the minutes are approved. We have no proclamations nor presentations, but we do have board appointments. So members, what is your pleasure? We have the Community Appearance Board. We've had all three applicants come and interview today. What would we like to do?

Mayor Thompson, I recommend that we reappoint Erez Bar-Nur, Joe Peterson, and Allen West to the Community Appearance Board.

I agree with the sentiment. Can we make that into a motion to appoint motion to appoint to reappoint? Yep, right. Do I hear a second on that second? Any other discussion? Please say aye aye aye any post. No, well, the gentleman all three are been reappointed.

Congratulations and thank you for your prior service. And your future.

Well said. We move then to the consent agenda. Does any member of the Council wish to remove any items from the consent agenda?

Yes, I'd like to pull item 8F resolution 107 2026 for separate discussion.

OK, 8F has been removed. We will deal with that separately. Any other items wishing to be removed from the consent agenda members of the Council? No, okay. Does any member of the public wish to be heard on any item on the consent agenda? If so, please step to the podium, state your name and address, and you will have three minutes.

Okay, Mr. Warner, please step on up. Is Mr. Warner in the house? Oh, there he comes, okay.

Thank you, Mr. Warner. I can take a crack at a couple of those. I know members of staff can. Why don't we finish public comment, and then we can address any questions. Is there anyone else wishing to be heard as it relates to the consent agenda, items on the consent agenda? Item 8F has been removed. Anyone else? No, Mr Manager, could you address some of the questions that were raised, one related to mutual assistance, another one related to the parking at Tower 155?

Thank you, Mr. Sohaney, Mr. Zervas. We've closed the time for public comment on the consent agenda, so I'll entertain a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda.

I move to approve the consent agenda without item 8F.

Second, all right, very good. Ms. Siddons, if you could, please.

Okay, now we can take up item 8F. Ms. Sittons, when you're ready, could you please read the title of resolution number 107-2026?

Thank you. Mr. Sohaney, who can make the presentation on this matter? Item 8F.

Great. Thank you, Mr. Service. Members of the council, do we have any questions for staff?

Should I bring up a few questions? Go ahead, Ms. Brown. I just wanted to see if we can clarify. I was just a little confused about the reserve with the 17% of the subsequent year's expenditures to be included in the unassigned fund balance. I just want to clarify, do you mean that the 17% to be assigned fund balance? Because if it's unassigned, it's not assigned to anything. So I just wanted to find out about that. And also, is BOCA intentionally requiring a combined reserve level approaching 27% of the annual general fund expenditures?

OK, thank you. Any further questions for staff?

OK. so my question is regarding the assigned fund balance of the general fund giving the city council is delegates the authority to the city manager to assign and unassigned fund balances without council approval was that the prior practice

So exactly what balances are in the assigned fund?

okay but isn't that a totally separate like a the committed fund balance that's isn't that a different portion of the general fund as opposed to the assigned fund

Okay, thank you for answering my question. I appreciate it.

Any further questions for staff? If not, we can open up the public hearing on this matter. If anyone wishes to be heard on item eight F, please come to the podium, state your name and address and you will have three minutes.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Zervas. Do we have any further discussion? If not, then this ends. Oh, I guess we all accept a motion and a second to adopt item 8F.

Motion to adopt item 8F on resolution number 107-2026. Great.

I will second that. Is there any further discussion? If not, Ms. Sittons, please.

Very good. That concludes all of the items that were on our consent agenda. We can move on now to resolutions and other business. Item 9A is resolution number 113-2026. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Mr. Sohaney, who will be making the presentation on this matter?

Doesn't seem like it, okay. And then in that case, we can open up the public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on item 9A, please step to the podium, state your name and address, and you will have three minutes.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to be heard on item 9A? Mr. Starkoff.

Thank you, Mr. Starkoff. Anyone else wishing to be heard on item 9A?

Thank you, Mr. Warner. Mr. Unge, I see you stepping to the podium. Go ahead.

Any other public comment on item 9A, Ms. Heckwist?

Thank you, Ms. Hagquist. Anyone else for public comment on item 9A? I don't see anyone else, so we can close the public hearing on this matter. And I'll entertain a motion and a second to adopt item 9A.

Mayor Thompson, I recommend that we adopt resolution 9A, resolution number 113, 2026.

Thank you. You referenced it as a recommending that we approve it. Motion to adopt.

Motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Thank you.

Great, any further discussion? Let me ask a question first of staff. There had been a question as to a quorum on this matter. Can Mr. Kaler provide us, give us some assurance that we have a quorum eligible to vote here?

Sure. Only follow up question I have is as it relates to a recusal on this particular matter, does that impact the quorum in this case?

Okay. That was all the questions I had. Did anyone else have any questions for staff before we hit the vote?

So I just want to recap for the folks out there that are listening to how we got here. So about a couple months ago, maybe three months ago before we went for summer hiatus, we had multiple presentations and we had a more affordable opportunity with Treasure Coast Planning Council, which was a federal agency. The majority of this council, not myself, voted against that. So I want to make it very clear to the public that there were other options that would have facilitated this process a lot faster and a lot less expensive. The majority of this council, not myself because I voted against that,

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. Any further discussion?

Yes, I would also like to say that Treasure Coast was brought up and there was very little lack of trust in anything that was associated with the government or other councils and I had a lot of requests for independent consultants. And as a matter of fact, Mr. Lubelson suggested some of those independent consultants, even though he's saying that he didn't want them. He's asking why we're using them now. However, we did what the people requested and this is where it has come to so that's why we're here that's why it took so long okay i'm not seeing any further discussion so in that case mrs cou

Yes, Josh. I am recusing myself from the vote because my husband's firm does work for Chenmore.

All right. Thank you. I believe we have a motion and a second. And if there's no further discussion, Ms. Sittons, please.

Okay. Very good. We can move on to quasi-judicial and related public hearings. We have none of those, so we can move on to item 11, regular public hearings. The first one we have is item 11A, ordinance number 5794. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title of ordinance number 5794?

Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Mr. Manager, who will be making the presentation on this matter?

Chair Greg Musil Thank you, Mr. Schad. Members of Council, do we have any questions for staff? Seeing none, we can open up the public hearing. Anyone wishing to speak on item 11A, please step forward to the podium, state your name and address, and you will have up to three minutes. Ms. Sins, do we have any cards?

OK. Last call for public comment on item 11A. Seeing none, we will close the time for the public hearing, and I will entertain a motion and a second to adopt ordinance number 5794.

Mayor Thompson, I move that we adopt ordinance number 5794.

Very good. Thank you, Miss Sipple. Any further discussion? If not, Miss Siddons, if you please.

Very good. Next up is item 11B, ordinance number 5796. Madam Clerk, when you have a chance, could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Mr. Soheni, who will be making the presentation here?

Thank you, Mr. Zervas. Members of Council, do we have any questions for staff? Hearing none, we can open up the public hearing on this. Any members of the public wishing to be heard on ordinance number 5796, you can step up to the podium, state your name and address, and you will have three minutes. Last call for public comment. Foreigners number 5796. Oh, Mr. Warner, sorry. Take it away.

Thank you, Mr. Warner. Anyone else on item 11B? Seeing none, we will close the time for the public hearing, and I'll entertain a motion and a second to adopt ordinance number 5796.

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. Any further discussion? If not, Ms. Siddons, please.

Very good. We're moving right along. Last item under item 11 is 11C, ordinance number 5797. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Mr. Sahandy, you'll be making the presentation here.

Seeing none, we can open up the public hearing. Any members of the public wishing to speak on item 11C, please step forward to the podium, state your name and address, and you will have three minutes. Last call. Seeing none, we will close the public hearing on this item, and I'll entertain a motion and a second to adopt item 11C.

Motion to adopt ordinance number 5797. Thank you, Ms. Sippel. Second.

Second. Any further discussion? Ms. Siddons, if you please.

Very good. That concludes our public hearings for the afternoon, morning. We can move on then to public requests. This is the time for anybody interested in having the opportunity to be heard by the city council to step forward to the podium, state your name and address, and you will have up to three minutes. Do we have any cards on this?

All right, let's go in that order, please. And then anyone else interested can come afterwards.

Hearing nos, anyone else public hearing or sorry, public requests. If they want to be heard, anyone wants to be heard by the city council, please step forward, state your name and address. You'll have three minutes. Last call for public requests. Seeing nobody get up, we will close the time for public requests. We can move on to item 13 on our agenda. That's the introduction of ordinances. We have a number of them, so please be patient. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title of Ordinance Number 5795?

Very good. Thank you, Ms. Sittons. I will introduce ordinance number 5795. We can move then to ordinance number 5798. Could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Who will introduce this ordinance?

Mayor Thompson, I'd like to introduce ordinance 5798.

Thank you, Ms. Drucker. We're now on ordinance number 5799. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Sittons. Who will introduce this ordinance?

Thank you, Ms. Sybil. Next up is ordinance number 5800. Ms. Simmons, could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Siddons. Who will introduce this ordinance?

Mayor Thompson, I'll introduce ordinance number 5800.

Very good. We're on 5801, ordinance number 5801. Ms. Siddons, could you please read the title?

Thank you. I will introduce number 58, ordinance number 5801. Next up is ordinance number 5802. Ms. Sittins, please read the title.

Thank you. Who will introduce this ordinance?

I will introduce ordinance number 5802. Thank you, Ms. Sippel.

5803 is up next. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title of ordinance number 5803?

Thank you. Who will introduce the ordinance?

Mayor Thompson, I will introduce ordinance number 5803.

Thank you, Ms. Trucker. Ordinance number 5804 is up next. Madam Clerk, could you please read this out?

Who will introduce ordinance number 5804?

OK, just a few more now. We're up to 5805. Ms. Sittons, could you please read the title?

Thank you. I will introduce ordinance number 5805. We're coming down the home stretch now. 5806 is up next. Madam Clerk, could you please read the title?

Thank you, Ms. Sibyl. Finally, we have ordinance number 5807. Ms. Siddons, the title, please.

Thank you, Ms. Siddons. You earned your paycheck today. Who would like to introduce ordinance number 5807?

Mayor Thompson, I introduce ordinance number 5807.

Very good. That concludes our introduction of ordinances. We can move then to city manager recommendations and reports. Mr. Sohaney, do you have a report today?

Thank you, Mr. Sohaney. That is wonderful news. Thank you, Sandra. Sandra helped me just this very morning on getting all set up for our meeting today. She has served the city well with distinction for many years, and we are very, very thankful for her service and leadership. So thank you for bringing that to us, Mr. Sohaney. Mr. Kaler, city attorney report.

Thank you. Last, we'll do city council member reports. We'll start with Ms. Sibyl.

Okay. I don't either. No report for me. So that means we can conclude our business and adjourn. Our meeting will be back tonight at 515 for the tentative budget hearing. But until then, this concludes our business for now. We will conclude today at 1221 p.m. Thank you, everybody.