City Commission - Regular Meeting

094r welcome to uh the coconut creek commission chambers good evening everyone city oh good evening thank you city clerk what were we just jamming out to we were jamming out to rock lobster by the b-52 selected by our city manager sheila rose sheila tell us about the inspiration for this song selection tonight

Thank you, City Clerk. Please call the roll. Commissioner Rydell? Here.

Okay, so we do have some representatives from Lions Creek and Atlantic Tech today. Would you guys like to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I know it's impromptu. You weren't expecting it, but it's just the pledge.

with our first presentation of the evening honoring Lieutenant Brandy DelVecchio on her retirement. Chief of Police, okay, I heard a woo. Can we get more woos, yeah? Whoever initiated that woo, thank you. Chief of Police Fred Hofer will conduct the presentation.

so i think uh some members of the commission wanted to address you and then we'll do uh we'll do photos after that is that okay sounds good awesome so we'll start with commissioner right now thank you mayor um i think i met you in 2013.

And I will say this, we got a lot of new officers here. At the time, in 2013, 2014, and 2015, the Coconut Creek Police Department was going through a lot of attrition. There was a lot of older officers retiring. There was a lot of new officers coming on board. you were the definition in the face of this city outward facing for years and years and years to the schools to the community to the associations to people that came to this chamber to the events that happened to my wife to my one daughter and then when my second daughter was born uh you have defined community service brandy and we are l

Why didn't I go first? Well, I don't even remember when I first met you, but I know it was around Monarch High School. And I was able to see firsthand when our granddaughter was going to school there the impact you made on those girls. And I'm sure that was all volunteer. But then when I got to know you in your professional role here, it's just one word describes it. It's a wow. And what you do for others, especially women, other women, in this profession, too, is commendable in and outside of your professional role. Don't say she rose often, but you are definitely one of my she rose for many,

It's humbling to know you, but it was an honor to know you. You are beautiful inside and out. And you are a shining example of what our men and women in blue do for our community. The list is amazing, what you've accomplished, you will be missed. You'll be missed dearly. And you've touched, like everyone has said, more lives than you will ever know. And that's what this is all about. And that's why we go through life the way we do. But I know you're going to be busy. You're going to thrive. You're going to be happy. And we wish you only health, long life, happiness, and just all the love in th

So my first experience with this young lieutenant was the comment of, Commissioner, if you jump out of this car, I'm going to have to put you in handcuffs. So I went on a ride along, and she made sure that my rear end stayed in that car. It was the very first thing she said, and I started laughing. And I got to tell you, it's one of those things where you know she was serious and not serious. But there's a lot of respect. Her team loved her. You've done a lot of great things here. But with that being said, on retirement, I think I'm going to give you a word of advice. Don't make comments on Fa

Life is interesting. You worked so hard to get to this point, to retire. And you might have just graduated college, though, it looks like. It must feel amazing for you to do this. They've said so much. I ditto all their sentiments. Best of luck. You know you always have a home here in Coconut Creek with all of us and your team over there. So nothing but the best.

okay we will now we will now move on to a presentation by state senator tina polsky regarding amendment 3 the proposed property tax reform measure on november 3rd 2026 uh senator polsky how you doing

Thank you, Tina. Thank you for coming. Is there anything from the Commission? No?

Okay, we're now going to transition to a presentation recognizing Lyons Creek Middle School and Atlantic Technical High School for maintaining an A school grade for the 25-26 school year, and our government affairs manager, Bernard Hughes, will conduct the presentation.

okay we're now going to transition to a proclamation recognized in september 20th and october october through october 4th 26 is food waste prevention week every week i uh sheila and i go over who should read the proclamations and and i'm glad that commissioner welch wanted to read this one because i found it to be very fitting for you to read it so it's all on you and she's going to present it to susan steinhauser who's here in that who's here hello i i that's not what was said

I compost a lot of food right here in our own recycle center. She prevents the food waste. And I've seen Susan there many times. So anyway, she practices what she preaches. Whereas up to 35% of all food produced is wasted, even though much of it is safe and nutritious and could help feed those in need. And whereas a family of four can save between $1,500 and $3,000 per year by reducing wasted food. And whereas utilizing... Food resources creates stronger and more resilient communities. And whereas we have an opportunity to conserve shared resources such as land, water, and energy that are used

Thank you, Susan. We appreciate you as always. We will now have input from the public on non-agenda or consent agenda items. I remind everyone wishing to speak that all comments must pertain to city business. Respect and proper decorum will be maintained. Behavior that disrupts the orderly conduct of this meeting, such as clapping, shouting, booing, and cheering, is not permitted. Any person who violates the decorum rules will be subject to removal from the commission chambers. As a reminder, all comments must pertain to city business. When you come forward to speak, please unmute the micropho

Second. Moved by Commissioner Rydell. Seconded by Commissioner Welch. Well, seeing how nothing has been pulled, clerk, please call the roll.

Yes. Thank you. Resolution 2026-144, a resolution ratifying and authorizing the city manager or designee to execute the attached collective bargaining agreement between the city of Coconut Creek and the local 3080 Metro Broward Professional Firefighters International Association of Firefighters District 16, Coconut Creek, Florida. Is there a motion to second? Second. Moved by Commissioner Rydell, seconded by Commissioner Welch. We will now have a presentation from our Human Resources Department.

Thank you so much. Are there any questions or comments from the commission? Vice Mayor.

That's right. I'm going to make you speak, man. You are representing a leader. There you go. So let me ask you one simple question. Are you and the rank and file happy with this contract?

That's all I need to know. Commissioner Welch.

All right. I will. I'll keep it brief. But I just want to say that it was definitely a lot of negotiating. And thank you very much for that. In order to get the work week, I know there were several concessions that were made, as well as bringing the contract back open, depending on this amendment that we were just talking about earlier with Senator Polsky. But we couldn't be prouder of the Coconut Creek Fire Rescue Department, men and women, everyone. And thank you for negotiating so fairly today. I think Pam did a great job, too. And thank you for explaining all the details about the Safer Gr

Briefly, I'm glad the sides came to an agreement. Thank you, Wyatt. Thank you, Pam. Thank you, Chief. I think supporting our first responders is something that the city has never failed to recognize and failed to follow through with. And it's something, at least on my position, that we will always do. So the fact that we have a negotiation is great. I look forward to ratifying it to the community. The blogs and the how dare yous, it's comical to me that people even question that. support we have for our first responders because i believe from from my perspective we will do anything to support

When you go out there, you don't know what you're going to find. And first off, though, I want to commend each and everyone involved with these negotiations. Super. I'm glad everybody walked away from the table happy. Like Commissioner Rydell said, you deserve our support. And We experienced it in Windmore firsthand on Sunday. I have to thank each and every one of our first responders there, fire and police. We had quite a large fire there. And I have to say, you were there with, nobody can doubt the dedication and the advantage of having a superior first responders team, because you guys were

THANK YOU, COMMISSIONER. I WILL JUST FIRST OF ALL SHOUT OUT TO THE LEADERSHIP TEAM FOR THE FIRE DEPARTMENT HERE TODAY IN THE BACK. i'll say and it kind of piggyback piggybacks on what commissioner rydell was saying it's you know you read these headlines on social media and how many fires are actually in coconut creek uh well you guys do a lot more than just putting out fires um and people some people just don't know that so we're out there trying to educate our residents um because you know i i saw some headlines and some people commenting and it's just uh guys do so much you give up so much y

Just briefly, it looks like this is not on the high end. It's not on the low end. It's right in the middle of the county-wide and South Florida regional-wide fees. Looks like we were a little low before, candidly. So I fully support the item. Thank you, Ms. Harvey, for your dedicated work on this and looking at all the data. That's all I have.

Anybody else? All right. We're good to go.

Yes. Thank you. Congratulations, guys. Thank you. Thank you for everything. All right. Moving on. Resolution 2026-154, resolution authorizing the mayor or designee to execute amendment number one to the employment agreement between the City of Coconut Creek and Sheila N. Rose. N? What is it? Is it Nellie? Nell. Nell. That was close. Is there a motion to second?

Moved by Commissioner Welch, seconded by Commissioner Raley. City Attorney?

If I might, I really appreciate the opportunity to speak this evening. I just saw the papers in front of you. I was like, a lot of highlighted stuff.

in over 10 years that i've been sitting on this desk that i see your department heads have all weird smirks so i think that's actually a testament because they're all like literally they're all smiling and normally when i go through this with previous city managers like that's definitely not going on it's definitely not that feel so a that's a testament to the workplace you've generated b uh in terms of the the Contract, I fully support your contract. I'm going to support your contract. I'm going to vote for your contract in terms of the extension document this evening. I will just say this, a

Well, first off, I think it is a testament that actually John Kelly is the first city manager that I met after we moved here in 97. So anyway, I think it's a testament that he came to, I believe, support you.

OK. Well, you know what they say about assumptions. But let's just move on to Sheila Rose. And you talked about the grants. And even before I was on the commission, I heard and saw the grant funding happen here in the city, even before it was popular, even before we had the grants manager. But I mean, everybody was on deck about it. It wasn't just one department. And one thing that I think about when I think about Sheila Rose from the first time I was really, really knowing who you were and what you kind of envisioned us to be was Coconut Creek Parkway. Education Corridor. I tell you, I love t

I, too, support the contract extension. Sheila is a wealth of knowledge. And it only benefits our city and our residents. Ask Sheila any question on any subject about Coconut Creek, and she's right there with the answer. I don't care how technical this question is. And your staff. The climate of our employees, our city employees, is almost unbelievable. Everyone cannot be that happy all the time in a work environment. But you have created that environment. And it's amazing. And our HR can't speak enough about how much you do. And everyone collaborates together. to make it interesting, to bring

Wow, what the heck? You don't need my vote, do you? All right. Well, so from somebody who hires and fires people through business, I'm going to tell you, I think we underestimate the hard decisions that Sheila Rose has had to make since she's in this position. When you have to let somebody go, it's not just, hey, it's this business thing. A part of you kind of gets sad because you know you're hurting these people's livelihood. So it's not hard when you have to let, it's very hard when you have to let somebody go or you have to let a company go. Those are the hard decisions that nobody realized

It's just been pleasant. It's been pleasant being able to have conversations with you. It's been pleasant to see how the staff reacts to things, how they are engaged. And they're not working in fear, they're working for enjoyment. And that's a hard thing to get from one way to the other in three years. So we've got another three years. We've got another three years of keeping all these wonderful employees happy. I'm going to be honest with you. The employees, you guys are amazing. Because when we send emails in from an upset resident, they get taken care of. And they get taken care of to the p

It's just weird now because my face is on the screen when you're talking.

I saw you rolling your eyes. So I have to like keep it like a face, you know.

No, I do too support the contract. I did have, I want to kind of let the deus know where my head was at on a conversation I had with both of you. because the election the next election will be in march of 2029 and you know for me there was this thought process that i was going through my head that and that if if let's just say happenstance the entire board was brand new the entire commission was brand new in march of 2029 And that would give Sheila one more year to meet and get to know the commission. And then they would have to make the decision on who the next city manager would be. And I do

thank you it was very nice all right nope well your time jackie no more you said you said a lot um clerk please call the roll commissioner rydell yes commissioner welch yes commissioner raley yes vice mayor brody absolutely yes mayor wasserman yes thank you city manager report

Commissioner Rydell, let's see how long you talk. I'll be as brief as I can. I don't support elected officials coming and pontificating on their own political positions. general we all have letters next to our name this is not a chamber to bring letters next to our name I don't appreciate elected officials coming and pontificating one way or the other and I don't support giving agenda items to elected officials to pontificate you want to come and present facts that's fine you want to come and present a jaded perspective that we can't respond to and we can't ask questions on I don't support it

You do know what the air horn sounds like. The Alpha 250 site is acreage on the south of the city. We all know what it is. That under the... It's Brody. It's Brody messing with me. It is.

It is. Real professional he's got. Real professional you are there, Brody. uh the alpha 250 site which has been an asset under the rrb that is now going back to the cities we just got announced that it's going to be for sale the county's putting it up for sale um i have sheila and terrell analyzing the logistics behind it that would directly affect the city so just so you're aware mayor you're actually one of six voices ironically the six voices that can vote on alpha 250 have nothing to do with the benefit of coconut creek madam city attorney could you just read the six cities that the mayors

Yeah, and listening to the Solid Waste Authority meeting last time, I almost fell out of my chair when they were being brought up that they were going to move forward with selling Alpha 250. I could not believe it. No conversations, no nothing, just because the county decides. So yeah, I'm very much interested because that property has restrictions on it, and we need to make sure that they stay intact.

It can't have additional restrictions based on what the six mayors in the county decide to for the purposes of the sale if it goes forward with this value, okay, that's that's They're gonna do like a yard waste, you know facility on it then that that's what that could be an edict of a sale That would be good.

Yeah Okay No, I'm glad you did because I wasn't aware of that last point. So, yeah, I'll just leave it at this. Sad and glad about Brandy, but, you know, wish her all the best. I was glad to be able to be here and see her off. And congratulations, Sheila. You got your extension. See you the next three years.

Thank you. Josh, do you have a feel for how the other cities feel?

This came out of the blue, meaning that the county announced essentially their sale while the contract under the RRB is extended that mandates the sale. There is language that doesn't require it. I don't want to get all lawyerly. Tara will advise you all on that. But the hard part is the cities that have a seat at the table, none of which are directly involved here. So to think that, and I don't say this in a good way or bad way, that West and Fort Lauderdale and Miramar have a seat at the table to a piece of property that directly affects South Coconut Creek, West Pompano. It's hard. So that'

Absolutely, and the subset is Merrimire doesn't even have a seat at the table at the solid waste. Yeah, I know, but not all the cities do, so anyway.

I guess to be clear, is there consensus? Consensus, yes.

Yes, absolutely. Okay, thank you. Thank you, it does. I also, there was one thing we didn't mention about Sheila in our, that you've survived, no, she survived adversity. I'm sure it wasn't always, excuse the pun, roses in our working environment, and the rest of our staff Survived beautifully. Thank you. Yes. Congratulations. And congratulations to us, because we deserve you for another three years.

And look forward to the recycling starting on October 1st. That's exciting. And let's not forget Salsa in September on Saturday evening. So residents, if you're listening, come join us here at City Hall.

just want to say once again sheila congratulations look forward for the next couple years of uh watching you work and do your magic yeah um i just had one

I wanted to shout out Chief and the police on working in South Creek over the past couple weeks and helping fix the concerns around the school with crossing guards and students. Oh, sorry. Thank you for doing that. I heard it's noticeable, so I think that's very important. And, you know, people need to follow the law. I'll conclude my comments. Motion to adjourn.