Regular City Commission Meeting - Regular Meeting

It's our regular City Commission meeting. Today is Wednesday, September 16th. The time is 7 o'clock. Please call the roll.

Here. Please stand for a moment of silence, followed by the pledge. Go ahead, Commissioner Rosano. All right. First up, we have presentations. Employee recognition for years of service.

Thanks again to all of our employees recognized for their many years of service. Next up on their presentations, it's going to be National Diaper Need Awareness Week. Do we have someone from the Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank here today? Awesome. Awesome. So we have Taram here. She's a representative of the greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank. And from someone who changes a lot of diapers late. Yeah, I'm going to wait. It's OK. I seem to be changing a lot of diapers these days, so I figured I would do this one. I have a five-year-old and a year-and-a-half-year-old. Proclamation National D

Okay, next up we have public discussion.

Okay, public discussion is closed. Commission comments. Commissioner Schwartz.

The hope is that when the city center is built, we will stop having people drive through. Because while I haven't lived here as long as you, only from 82, I have been saying that forever, that we are a pass-through city to somewhere else. So the hope is that when that gets developed, instead of us taking our money to Coral Springs, we will keep our money in Margate. So that is my wish and to everyone who celebrates the Jewish New Year I wish you all Happy New Year from my family to yours nothing else. Thank you Commissioner Simone Thank you I've got quite a few things this evening first.

I would like to extend my condolences to Andrew Valentino's family. He was our chief structural inspector who suddenly passed away last weekend. He was an awesome individual and a very dedicated employee and he is certainly going to be missed by this city. I know I was just speaking with him not even a month ago about different types of bicycles and the trips that he's taken in the good bike paths and good bike trails all over the state that he had visited and ones that I should possibly think about going and doing myself. So he's deeply going to be missed. Next, the household hazardous waste

Thank you. Just a couple things here. To the two speakers that came up, the gentleman from, you've been here since 1974, thank you. Originally, I was against the building out there, and actually, when we got into a developer's agreement, I saw that I was on the losing side, so I asked that we try to get the building. Time went on, and then the state actually had us handcuffed, and we can't really do nothing at this point. So we tried, all of us up here tried, and I'll talk to you after the meeting. But no, they're in control of all that property. We tried to get a portion of it, and the develo

And I know Ant and I have a lot of Jets fans, but the Jets and Giants are undefeated. So we're going to cherish this for another five days or six days or whatever. Guys, online there was a thing about Ascend Academy, the school, the power went out a couple weeks ago and people were trying to blame the city, blah, blah, blah, this and that. I could tell you from what I had been told that a power went out, got hit by lightning. They applied for a permit to get the power restored. The permit was approved that day by the city. There was no hold up by the city. I went out there that evening. They w

The city issued the permit on the 10th. That's when they were asked to. They'd already been out of power for a week and a half or something, told no one. And suddenly it became a city problem. The city doesn't connect or disconnect power from FP&L.

However, the school had resources to call the school board of Broward County and speak to the group that oversees charter schools. But in the end, they were waiting for a part from their private contractor. And if you talk to our rep from FP&L, they didn't know either. did not inform them. So when the FPNL found out that night, they stood there, cut the power, the private contractor apparently did what he needed to do, and then they put the power back on. Unfortunate when people go and say the city did this and the city did that, when they find out the city not only helped that power get back

All in all, it went well, Richard. You and your group over there do a great job, which is going to lead me to my next thing Joanne had already mentioned. Andrew Valentino. Guys, if you didn't know him, one of the greatest guys, man. You might not agree with him all the time, but he knew what he was talking about. And that was the best thing. And he would show me, because I work a lot with the building department, videos of him running marathons with a flag, riding his bicycle. The guy was absolutely incredible. And there's an item coming up tonight, and I'll touch on a little bit later. But la

Good evening? Yep, it's on. Oh, I was, because he's not sitting here, so. Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

I just want to share my total agreement with Joanne on what she said about Dees. Not only that, people still have no idea what they do first. Dees is amazing. Thank you, Kurt. Thank you, the whole department. Also, happy Hispanic month. And I agree with Tommy on what he said about Mr. Valentino. And I'll be better soon, and I'll be back. So with that, it's up to you, Antonio.

Okay, thank you. Several years ago, I went toward the water treatment and wastewater facility as well. It is pretty incredible to see the extent of the operation there. And... The only thing I didn't enjoy was the smell. It was not the most pleasant, but it's a very interesting operation. As it's been mentioned before, those are the things that people don't see on a day-to-day basis, but it's what keeps the city running. So thank you for all that they do. As far as the flock cameras, I am being open about it as well. I think the way technology is going, I don't think they're going to go away.

And with that being said, that's all I have for this evening. City Attorney.

Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. Public?

What is the wish of the Commission? Do we have a motion?

So I'm currently the representative, but I want to pass the torch. If he wants to accept it, I'd like to nominate the vice mayor, Casiano. I know that he's mobile all the time and has expressed interest in those projects in the past. Is that something you'd want to do?

It all depends on when the meetings are, if they conflict with my other meetings. So I would have to find out what's what before I say yes. But I'll say yes until I say no.

That's fine. We can always... Go ahead, Commissioner Simone.

I mean... If someone else wants it too, I just.

I thought he was still on. I think he just, oh, I think he's done.

think somebody read my mind on this because i was actually going to ask that we have a new mpo city representative because unfortunately in the past three years we have had zero and i repeat zero city representation with the mpo and before that from 2021 to 2023 attendance by our representative was very limited i don't know what projects we've missed by not having any representation for the past three years and limited before that on the mpo but i can tell you that by not participating for the last three years together and being very limited for three years prior to that that the city lost a l

How much funding have we gotten from them in the last 10 years?

Can I jump in and say, Joanne, you feel passionate about this. I would be more than happy to put your name in.

She's termed out. And with all due respect, and I know she's going to accuse me of attacking her, but she was very ineffective in that role as well. That's why the commission- All right, let's move on.

Let's move on. Let's move on. Let's move on.

I'm just pointing that out. What's fair is fair.

I'm termed out in one month. That's true.

I apologize. You're right. You're right.

No, I think you'll be very good on it. I know you're progressive, and I know that you have an interest in bike pass. Safety. So I think that you would be good as our representative on the MPO. But as far as me not doing anything with the MPO, that is totally false. I was working with Andrew. with the MPO constantly and the MPO.

I was also... What projects here did you get? Excuse me. Please, please, let's move on. Which projects here? See, they're a rubber stamp board and they all kumbaya there, so you may have kumbaya with them. What project... No, no, Vice Mayor, hold on a second. What projects here in Margate?

I also had the MPO come to commission meetings and speak about various things. I was involved in the Southgate intersection with the MPO and the North Lauderdale one. So I was very involved. As a matter of fact, when I was on the MPO, I let all the commissioners know every month what was going on on the MPO because I sent out the minutes of our meeting to every commissioner every month again so there was no excuse for not knowing what the mpo was doing for the city of margate or what the mpo was doing because i sent out those minutes so the commissioners could read those minutes to keep inform

So I heard north Lauderdale and they came to talk about bike lanes. I don't hear about what they brought to Margate while you were here either. So now we can move on.

So there and also we had projects come through since I've been on as well with bike lanes and stuff. We just finished on copens there for my benefit. We'll move on again. So people like to sell half truths. No, no, no, no. Just like the cell phone, how she was coming after us years ago for getting city cell phones, but the city bought her cell phone and everything. She likes to tell these half, excuse me, I'm going to ask you to leave if you call out again. Any, both of you. Please, please leave. Please leave the meeting. Please leave. I'm asking both of you to leave. I'm asking both of you to

She's causing a disturbance to a public meeting.

Vice Mayor, did you hear those dates? Did you hear those dates, Vice Mayor?

I apologize. Yes, I am here. Yes, I was checking my calendar. It looks good. If there's a problem, I'll let you know, and I'll ask someone to sub for me.

Well, I'll make the motion. Well, I can't make the motion, but if someone wants to make the motion...

I'll make a motion to insert the name Anthony Casiano as our MPO representative for the city. I'll second it.

Do you know of any projects that we have on the horizon that we've talked about with the MPO? I know that we talked about a year, and this is probably going back when Joanne and I first got here. We talked about Winfield Boulevard. We talked about 441. 31st Street, is there anything in there that you know of that the city is pushing?

We were on some, and then they took us off.

Yeah, if you can. I'm probably sure you're going to get this vote. So if you can go to the first meeting, come back and let us know. Because the MPO guys, they figure out ways to move people throughout the city conveniently and smartly. Um, but they flat years ago, they were pushing bicycles on main roads, which I wasn't a big fan of. Um, but and if you could talk to them, possibly maybe utilizing our waterways to, uh, to move people around, you know, clearing out our waterways are doing something. Um, but just anything you just let us know and just keep us informed. That's all. So good luck a

The commission. so moved i'll second okay oh go ahead second by commissioner simone vice mayor actually no he can't have his light lit the paper the paper's like slid here so okay as we need to worry about commissioner uh schwartz

Years ago, well, not years ago, when Fire Station 58 was being rebuilt, it had been my suggestion, since we didn't have enough space to store some of our fire trucks, that we build something next to it where they had, at that time, the temporary admin office. From what I understand from speaking to the city manager, that would be millions of dollars and that this is actually a better way to do this by leasing the property, which is a Cat 5 building, which we probably would not have had otherwise, and therefore being able to store all of the vehicles and have a command center that should there

If I recall during our discussions as city manager, we also looked at purchasing this property, but the cost of it, And then over the years of potential maintenance, you could lease it for a good 10 years or so for the same price as buying. Certainly. Without the overhead of maintaining the property.

Yes. Number seven, discussion of possible action.

Okay, to the applicant. The applicant is here. I'm going to ask that they come up, I'm assuming, so they can explain what the event is about.

thank you um for what you're trying to do here in Margate I I have no problem leaving the fees I know that I've talked in the past about somehow creating a policy or a limit through the course of the year but until that happens I'm not going to pick and choose I'm gonna say yes to every single organization that asks for the fees to be waived until we come up with some type of So with that being said, I have no problem with it. I do know in speaking to the city manager, there was something about some paperwork which is relatively easy to obtain. I don't know if it's been obtained yet. Um, if it

the board can approve her tonight with the contingency that they have that documentation prior to the start of the event. So if anyone, there's still some more lights lit. Commissioner Schwartz.

I would suggest that you get a hold of Doc Reno because he owes us that kind of publicity considering that he's done three of his events here. I would also suggest that every time we have something, whether it's the autumn, you know, the, sundown everything everything that we do whether it's national night out or i would say oktoberfest or that you have a table you know because other people okay that you have a booth because there are other people who do exactly the same thing for different organizations okay but a woman who lost her son uh to drugs puts out things so we have the um

Motorcycle group. They're going to be there as well. All right.

It rained. Yeah. Well, the good thing that you didn't get wet. But I would suggest that that's another way to publicize things because he's got a bigger audience than we do. Yes. Thank you.

video in korean you know it's uh you mentioned doc marino call him doc reyno i mean every time but it's uh you know every month the city has an event under the cover sports field which i think is awesome and moving forward you know i hope to continue that but who knows what's going to happen with the taxes so if you're going to have an event i i would support it i have no problem with it i like having different events in our city and people can come check it out um And, Tony, you said policy. We do have the forms you can fill out. So I think it's great. And I think the more people that we can

I think it is a good cause. I've always had a problem with giving waivers for our covered programs. sports plex. Um, regardless of what the organization is, I just don't think that, um, we should taxpayers should be paying for something like this. I don't think it's the city's responsibility to give waivers. Um, I wish you a lot of luck, but that's been my position since day one. I've sat on here, so please don't take it personally. It's just the position that I have that I don't think it's the city's responsibility, and I don't think the city should be giving waivers for our covered sports fi

We need a motion before we can move forward. If someone could make a motion with the contingency for the paperwork. With the contingency? Yeah. Okay. Is there a second?

Any member of the public wish to speak on this item?

I know that Commissioner Rosano, you asked for this to be on the agenda, so the floor is yours.

So in case you guys didn't know, every year we do the 9-1-1 memorial at Firefighters Park. And this year, Maggie did a great speech, too. You know, this year, like every year, I was sitting there talking to Cal about our city manager, and I said, you know, why don't we have off on this day? You know, it's a day in history where Almost 3,000 people were killed, and there's still people being killed. And the motto is for that day is never forget. So it made me wonder. It would be pretty cool if we can get the city off on that day so people can never forget. Come to find out when I made the post

Yeah, so I thought it would be really great. You know, again, it's something that affected every American out there. 3,000 lives were lost that day, and lives continue to be lost, and families, you know, you never forget it. And that's what it is. It's just all about never forgetting, and hopefully we can have a day where We could sit and remember this day. That's it. So the cost of it, I think, would be the same, city manager, correct me if I'm wrong, approximately the same cost at the last holiday we approved, last meeting. Correct, yeah. Which was $60,000. $70,000. About $70,000. So that's

My suggestion would be, number one, because it says non-bargain for you, realize that it will now be part of every union contract. So you forgot to add what eventually that will cost. But as someone whose son worked in one of the towers prior to, and new people who did not come home, I would make a suggestion that you wait until after Amendment 3 before you continue to give away holidays to people, not that I'm saying they don't deserve it, but you have to look and see whether or not Amendment 3 passes, because you're going to have to suddenly take back some of the things you're doing. So befo

I would still suggest that since the September 11th has come and the next one is a year away and the amendment is to come up in November that we wait until after that before some of the things that we look to do at this point. Just my suggestion.

Commissioner Simone. I agree. I think that we should wait because we don't know what's going to happen with Amendment 3. and also it is not a federal holiday. So for those reasons, I am not in favor of this at this time.

If I can make a motion then. I'm going to make a motion that we... David, what's the best way to word this? A motion to approve the resolution. A motion to approve the resolution and still continue to show everybody that Margate is the most patriotic city out there.

Thank you. I'll second it. Any member of the public wish to speak?

Nina Culver. Just one second. Someone has a speaker on it. We can hear it. Oh, Anthony. Okay. Vice mayor. Can you mute? Oh, I'm so sorry. It's okay. We were getting feedback. I just couldn't tell where it's coming from.

Any other members of the public? Seeing none, let's call the roll.

OK. We are on. Done. That's it. That's it. This meeting is adjourned.