City Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you, one and all. Thank you so very, very much for being here. And welcome all to the October 7, 2026 Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting. And Mr. Clerk, if you would, please call the roll.

Thank you very much. I invite you all to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, which will be led by Commissioner Tom Good. And please remain standing for the National Anthem.

Thank you very much. Couple of items before we get started. Sadly, today is the third anniversary of the attacks of October 7 in Israel, where 1,200 people lost their lives, including 360 who were attending a music festival. 251 hostages were taken. It was a very, very sad day and continues to be a very, very sad day. And we join in sympathy for all those who lost loved ones. And we pray and hope for peace around the world and that all of God's children will find a way to honor the Almighty by getting along and by creating wars No more. Additionally, I'm very, very happy to say that Commission

Item number five, without objection. Let's see. Item number five. Hold on one second. Item number five is pulled from the agenda. OK. We now have a number of presentations that I will come now to do. And the first is the announcement of the District One Natalie Balmonte Great Yard Award. Commissioner, would you join me please? You know, we've been doing this for a while now. If you have a beautiful yard in Pembroke Pines, we're gonna find you. We're going to find you, and we're going to give you an award, and we're going to showcase your home so that everyone knows how proud we are of you. And

Well, it shows. Commissioner Good, if you would make this presentation.

You know, this is going to be a hard presentation because this is my toughest competitor for the yard, right? So we are giving to the Soto family a beautiful certificate that recognizes the hard work and the diligence that you put into your home, the contributions that you made to our city, and making it look beautiful. So we are very, very thankful for you, and I'm very, very thankful that you're my competitor. Again, you are number one now. And for that, we give you a certificate and we give you a $50 gift certificate to Home Depot to help you continue with your beautiful work.

Thank you. And we have our terrific code enforcement officers here. And the code enforcement officers are the unofficial sponsors of the Natalie Belmonte Award. And I just wanted to ask you, so what's your secret?

Well, you do a great job. So who's going to get the 50 bucks? Is it you or your wife?

She's probably getting it. Okay, fantastic. I can't thank you so much, and thank you for being a great citizen. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, let's take a photo.

All right. Thank you very much. I have a special super secret presentation to make. Commissioner Good and I have kept this secret for quite a while. And the person that's going to get it doesn't even know it's coming. So this is a Pembroke Pines proclamation, a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines honoring Sylvia Georgina Roscoe. Commissioner, will you read?

Sylvia, would you like to join us? You all should have seen her face. It was pure joy and blank. But we are so happy to have you here tonight, Sylvia. Yes, ma'am. So we're going to read this proclamation to you and for everybody else to know who you are. So whereas Sylvia Georgina Orozco was born on October 3, 1926, in Trujillo, Honduras, where she completed her high school and college education before beginning her career as a secretary, in Tela, Honduras. And in 1952, Sylvia met Andrew Roscoe, an Englishman working for the United Fruit Company, and the two fell in love and were married in 19

Now, therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, Mayor of the greatest city in the world, Pembroke Pines, Florida, at the request of Commissioner Thomas Goode, Jr., and on behalf of the City Commission, do hereby recognize and honor Sylvia Georgina Roscoe on the joyous occasion of her 100th birthday, celebrating a century of life, love, family, community, cherished memories, and extend our warmest congratulations and best wishes for continued happiness and many more wonderful years. This is for you. All right, now, Georgina, I got to tell you a story. So Tom wanted to do this last year when you were 99. Bu

200 is right. God bless you. We love you. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. OK. Thank you, Commissioner. Okay, and now I get to call up the incomparable Lourdes Diaz. Where is she? There she is. And her friends. Come on up. Oh, just them? Just her? Oh, you're the photographer? Come on, come on, come on.

OK, this is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, declaring Hispanic Heritage Month. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month, designated by the 100th Congress in 1988, is observed annually from September 15 through October 15 and provides an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the rich history, culture, traditions, and contributions of Hispanics and Latino Americans whose heritage and achievements have helped shape the United States and strengthen communities throughout our nation. And whereas the Florida legislature recognized September 15, 2026 through October 15 of the same year

Vice Mayor, welcome. OK. Now we have the winners of the annual Fire Prevention Week poster contest. They draw posters and we give them awards. Not bad, right?

Hey, how about a big round for these kids, huh? And they're great teachers. And the best fire department any city has. Thank you so very much. OK. How you doing? It's good to see you. Here you go. OK. Ladies and gentlemen, it's my distinct pleasure and honor to introduce to you our state senator, Dr. Barbara Sharif. There's a button there.

OK. All right, if you could all keep it down a little bit and let the senator speak. Thank you so very, very much. Senator, the floor is yours.

Senator Sharif, I just want to thank you for everything that you do. It surprised me in no particular way to see how you hit the ground running in Tallahassee. You did the same thing in Miramon. You did the same thing in Broward County. And you always kept Pembroke Pines as a friend. And we went to you with a particular quirky little item about housing and taxes, affordable housing on public lands. And you were magnificent. And you got people who didn't understand it to nod. And it got through. And Mr. Dodge, now we're there, thanks to the leadership of the friends that we had. For many, many

More of the same. Thank you for your leadership, not just in Tallahassee, but prior to that as our county commissioner. Really appreciate you, and I hope a lot of young boys and girls look at you and say, you know, somebody who not only gave up, she served as a county commissioner and didn't just give up. She went to the state level. And she puts public service first. I just came from speaking to students at a middle school, the 5,000 role models Congresswoman Frederica Wilson started. I just spoke with them there. And I talked about how being in public service is a noble cause. telling them t

As you're speaking, as folks are sharing with you their thoughts, I'm thinking as well, too, because I've known you from way back when. In fact, I was sitting here thinking about one of your best slogans when you were in a commission seat, which was commission on a mission. And through that program of yours, I remember you putting together this booklet And it had accessible information for any resident that far exceeded the value of anything the government administration was capable of doing. And you've continued through your career to deliver Respond to residents. Aside from everything else,

Thank you. Commissioner Schwartz? Senator, Dr. Sharif, you have a lot of titles, but I think the most important one is mom. And I think it's being a good mother that drives your integrity and your willingness and your wants to help others. The bill that you passed is one of many. Think about the Broward delegation and the impossible task to work across the aisle. And you just keep ringing the bell. And the governor recognizes it, because the governor vetoes a lot of financials. I want to thank the governor for supporting you and supporting us. Senator Sharif, you have a lot of people who are c

Mayor. Commissioner. Commissioner Rodriguez, are you on the line, ma'am? She was just on the line a second ago. Let me see if we can't get her back on.

Sorry about that. Go right ahead, ma'am.

We're allowed to have those kinds of sessions. Unlike Americans in other states, their cities must be quiet with respect to positions they take on issues. And I just find that quintessentially un-American, especially when state officials are exempt from that and can do whatever the hell they want.

There's only one reason. Authoritarianism. That's the only reason. Wanting to push a narrative that shouldn't be debated. I mean, that's possible. I can't say for sure. I really don't know what the motivation is. I just know that it's un-American. And we should put a stop to that in the great state of Florida, because it puts a barrier in the sunshine.

Thank you. Okay. Now we have... A commission order to report. Welcome.

There's one thing that I wanted to say about recruitment and retention practices, especially in the uniformed forces. There has been recruitment and retention concerns that have been raised within the community. There are officers and firefighters who are leaving. They're being replaced, but they're leaving and they're taking the training, which is substantial in Pembroke Pines, with them and making more money elsewhere or moving to other places where housing is less expensive and taking their training with them. And it is a frustration, I know, for both of the chiefs. And I think that if we c

First, thank you for answering my questions this afternoon, and I hope Christy feels better. Absolutely. So since you did answer them, I don't really need to go over my notes. However, whether Amendment 3 is approved by 60% of Floridians or not, We're due for an economic downturn, which will inevitably, I mean, I don't wish it, but it happens every few decades. I hope it's not what we experienced during the Great Recession, but that will impact municipal budgets, county budgets, state budgets. I'm all for approving your plan. And we have to wait and see what my colleagues think. But I do think

OK. You won't have much time to complete that, because obviously we are less than a month away from election day. However, if it were to be approved, we'd obviously need that. If it weren't approved, I still think we need some kind of roadmap based on your work, your firm's work, on efficiencies that we could identify within government. Again, it's not that the city of Pembroke Pines is not efficient. It is a very efficient government. And our millage rate reflects that because we're lower than neighboring cities our size. It's not a job at administration at all, but there will be Changes comi

And so these are all the items equating to 1,270 hours? Yes. Estimated. The next slide is what are additional considerations, is that correct?

Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. When I look at these, I mean, there's a wide range of what you're doing auditing type stuff for. And for me, an internal auditor focuses on, well, I don't know that I agree to some of these things. Let's make it simple. I don't think it's an audited prospect. For instance, if we looked at what you're proposing for this year, which would be employee training and development, auditing employee training and development. I don't quite understand how that would be an audited item. But when you look at the next page, the audit for considerations, one of them that immedi

Let's go through, and then we'll make amendments to the item. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Commissioner Schwartz. Jamie, it's always good to see you. Absolutely. And I'm thankful for the work product. I want to dovetail off of Commissioner Goode. We have, on the hourly side, an occasional overtime Staff may say, well, we need to appropriate so much overtime in this department or that department, cost contained, dah, dah, dah, dah. So we can track that because those are time clock related issues. But what we don't have, quite frankly, is the ability to track our salary employees and how much time they're putting in on a weekly basis. There's no control over that. other than, well, th

Commissioner, it wasn't about friction. I want to correct any misimpression. Hold on. I want to correct any misimpression. It wasn't friction. It was a lack of communication as management was struggling to figure out how best to handle a situation. It was an inadvertent, honest error. There isn't any friction. So I just wanted to make sure that you understood the context in which that occurred. Because when I read it, just like you did, I made a phone call. I don't know if you did. I made a phone call and I inquired. Staff are busy working on finding the best answer, and there was a communicat

This is not the first time that our commission auditor has had to have these types of miscommunication conversations, because we had one last year. But that's not friction.

I just want to make sure that we're clear. We are not in a fractious situation with the auditor.

Well, certainly, if our charter officer had written, listen, I think we're just having a communication issue. Just want to make you aware of it. That's one thing. I understand. But to have three and four and five paragraphs of back and forth, we may have a difference of viewpoint, but I see it as friction.

And I'm explaining to you, it was not friction. I don't know if you made a phone call. I made a phone call to inquire, because I was concerned about what I read. And I was told it is not friction. It was simply a communication gap. They are working to figure it out. That's a very different context than is being presented. And I'm correcting the context because I took the time to ask. That's all.

Thank you, Jamie, for always doing, and Christy and team for working on behalf of all of us in the most transparent and professional standards way.

OK, thank you so very, very much. Commissioner Good, your recommendation was to trade in payroll and trade out employee training and development. I don't think that's a bad idea. I think that's a good idea. Does anyone disagree with Commissioner Good's suggestion? Mr. Dodge, do you have a concern about it? OK. Does anyone else have a concern about it? OK. Without objection, we're going to make that change. OK?

I don't know if we're going over. That's my only concern.

You know what? We have a part of the budget that allows us to add items. Let's see what happens, and then we may have to go back to, you know? Yeah. But for now, we're talking about the 1,270 hours for 312,420. Does anyone have a problem with that?

Well, just a moment, because it will probably go up about another $50. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if we just allow that to go at least to the $1,320. Yes. Because I like to get the full flavor. Gotcha. I don't want to pare it down.

OK. Any objection to that? Mr. Dodge, we're OK? Yes. Anyone else? OK, so ordered. Thank you so very, very much for your plan. and for your good work, and I know that you'll be getting an email shortly, right? Thank you. All right, thank you all. All right. And that's very much appreciated. Okay, appeals to the Board of Adjustment Decisions. I see none. Vice Mayor, you are recognized for an appointment.

Thank you, Mayor. very happy to appoint Ulysses Arancibia to our Board of Adjustment, which I'll allow him to introduce himself. Come on up. I met Ulysses actually right after I became...

Yeah, he was here last week or so. I met him, actually, when I was first appointed as commissioner. One thing I appreciate is his honesty. No one will ever accuse him of being dishonest or not speaking his mind. But also, it's his... No one asked him to get involved. He wanted to be involved, whether it's in Century Village, where he lives, or with CERT, which again, I'll allow you to explain what it is that you do. But he wants to step up for a volunteer job to make sure our city is protected and that we are complying with all applicable laws. So I wanted to thank you for stepping up. Thank y

You're going to do a great job. Great pick, Vice Mayor. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you very much. And good luck to you on it. Okay, Commissioners, consent agenda, except for item five, which has been pulled, includes items one through four and six through eight. What is your pleasure?

I will move to approve the consent agenda.

Consent agenda has been moved by the Vice Mayor. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Good. Any discussion? Seeing none, any from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show of passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Resolutions, number nine, city attorney.

Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second?

Mr. Mayor, I'll second it. I have questions.

OK. Seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Discussion? Commissioner Good.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So yeah. Current change in law has kind of got me now thinking about providing water service outside of the city of Pembroke Pines. And what's interesting to me is I guess we have been consistent in that whenever we provide service outside of the city of Pembroke Pines, we have a 25% surcharge to that bill. Is that correct?

Yeah, it sounds even more confusing a bit. So if a presentation or a hearing is done, and this is with the Southwest Ranches, is that correct? Yes, sir. and somebody, a public gets up and they oppose it and the commission decides they want to oppose it too, the 25% surcharge. Can they do that?

Yeah, I know. But this is a lot deeper. I mean, it sounds like a nice, simple thing for everybody, but it's not. Because in order to service, we have to extend our asset into another municipality or onto lands that are not owned by us. And if there is a need at some future time to make a repair or a replacement of that asset, we would then have to get approval to do that. Is that correct?

So the agreement is not, we don't have any agreement with Southwest Ranches, is that correct?

Well, they would be releasing the service to that particular location, the service right. Yes, sir. Allowing it to occur. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Right. So this is going to be approved by?

And if there is a future... legislation that's passed that says you cannot charge 25%. Because I know where that legislation generated from. It's really more towards a bulk service as opposed to what we're doing individually. Because we're writing contracts to an individual piece of property as opposed to the governing agency itself for servicing. So if the legislation is passed that says you cannot charge 25%, then all these contracts are null and void? Or is there anything in the contracts that protect us from any future legislation?

Well, I don't disagree with us providing service where it's needed. That's not my issue. My issue is the potential for us to lose. I mean, we're now being layered with another, well, there's another layer of administrative protocol that's associated with this, which anytime you add administration, you're adding costs associated with it as well. So maybe then in one of our legislative meetings, request is we can ask for 35% instead of 25% to cover the cost.

Well, it's also us yielding capacity. So at future times, we have to build additional capacity. It doesn't happen in increments. It happens in block movements. Yes. So I mean, I understand the value. Correct. Other people don't understand it. Hence, we're getting this, having to be responsive to. OK, so I just want to share that maybe more so for my colleagues to better understand that this is not a simple just 25% we're charging. There's a whole lot of other things that go into this. And we probably should be asking for an increase from 25% to a larger amount because of the additional costs t

Yeah, I just want to weigh in on this. This is sort of a strange thing. And I've asked numerous questions about this. We currently provide water outside of our district to a handful of contracts. Maybe there's 10 of them. There might be more. A couple to the county that aren't within our municipal boundary. And several of the homes, as I understand it, pretty much close to across the street from Pembroke Falls, that kind of, yeah. off of Sheridan, that area there. There's a handful of houses that get city water because they wanted it. I remember some years ago, there was a church back there, a

OK. Anything further on this side? It's been moved and seconded. Anyone from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Show pass is unanimous.

MOVED BY THE VICE MAYOR, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER GOODA. ANY DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, ANY FROM THE PUBLIC? SEEING NONE, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. ANY OPPOSED? SHALL PASS UNANIMOUSLY.

Moved by Commissioner Schwartz. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by the Vice Mayor. Second. Thank you, Commissioner Rodriguez, as well. I just want to commend the city attorney and our police chief for language in this resolution, which is so appropriate, putting US Congress and our legislative delegation and the state of Florida on notice that they have work to do. If they wish this tool to be used in our city, the privacy of innocent passersby has to be respected. And it has to be used as a law enforcement tool, and not that it should become a law enforcement tool as a secondary sort of s

I have no objection. Does anyone object to putting this as a priority in our legislative package? Commissioner, are you saying both federally and state? Yes, we can do both. Any objection? Without objection, so awarded. Thank you very much. Anything else on this item?

Thank you very, very much. Okay. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The show passes unanimously.

Under regular agenda, we have reports of the League and the NPO representatives, and I'll begin. I attended on behalf of Commissioner Rodriguez and the Vice Mayor the... Broward League meeting of Thursday, October 1, which was held at the Coral Springs City Hall. The main speaker was Jonathan Hopkins, the administrator of the Mobility Advancement Program. He is the administrator that replaced Gretchen Cassini, and he spoke about his program and how he's going around from city to city. Indeed, he met in the city of Pembroke Pines with our team to talk about projects under the surtax program und

Yes, Mr. Mayor. So the MPO meeting is actually tomorrow. But I do like to report out that over the last several weeks, I've been participating with the National League of Cities. Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committees putting together the policies and the resolutions that will be brought forward at their November annual meeting. Some really good stuff is coming out. I've had a really strong participation in these meetings in regards to dealing with small water systems which we would almost be considered a small water system actually for uh you know some sort of carve out funding

Thank you, Commissioner Good. Anything else on the league? Hearing none, we have reports of the city manager.

Thank you, Mr. City Attorney. Are there any questions on that item? Hearing none. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioner. Thank you. Item 13. Commissioner Schwartz, I want to tell you how thankful I am that you brought this item up. It is an intriguing matter to discuss. And as I reviewed it with the, before you introduce it, as I reviewed it with the city attorney, we both came to the conclusion that it would be very difficult at this time because of state law regarding our ability to discuss matters such as Amendment 3, which would inevitably come up as part of this discussion, to have as... stra

Thank you, Mayor. I asked the city administration to notify me no less than 24 hours before this item was going to be presented if there were any questions. I received no communication from the administration. However, I did speak with the city attorney and no objection was raised to the item being presented. So I will not mention I'm not going to mention whatever that amendment number is.

You don't get it. I'm asking you if you will kindly, in the spirit of collegiality, defer your item until after Election Day.

I would like to read it into the record in taking no action this evening. No, sir.

I'm asking you if you will defer your item until after Election Day.

City Attorney, the mayor is inquiring about potentially compromising this collegial body. You and I had an opportunity to discuss this item prior to this presentation tonight. It was not brought to my attention during that conversation. What's changed between now and the time that we spoke?

It was for that reason. which is exactly what he told me. Microphone, please. I'm asking you if you could please defer your answer.

I just want to finish off the live conversation with the city attorney. To the greatest extent possible, I laid out what it is and what it's not. I would have appreciated having that conversation or concern well in advance of me preparing for this item tonight.

Well, did you speak to the city attorney or the city manager about your item before you put it on the agenda?

I gave the city administration the opportunity to ask questions in advance of this item being presented tonight.

Yeah, but that's not my question. You published this item through staff. Did you speak to them? Because when I asked them, did Commissioner Schwartz Because of the appearance here, did Commissioner Schwartz speak to either you, Mr. Manager, or you, Mr. City Attorney, about his item before he placed it on the agenda? They told me no. So maybe it would have come up in that context. I had to respond to it when I saw the agenda. So I'm asking you, sir, if you will defer your item until after Election Day.

So the agenda was published last Thursday. Right. And yet? at 828 this evening is the first I'm hearing that there's a concern.

Well, again, if you're not in contact with staff, I don't know how to tell you. But I'm asking, the question I'm asking you is, will you defer your item until after Election Day?

Mayor, I will be more than happy to place it on November 4th.

Is November the 4th, Mr. Dodge, that's the day after Election Day, is that correct? I think it is. We have a meeting that day.

And if you wouldn't mind, Mayor, if I know it would be a commission item, but I would like to be able to bring it up to the front of the meeting instead of waiting until the end. Collegially, of course, I'm asking.

We can deal with that. Is that the first meeting? Will you have enough time? Because you only saw it recently. Will you have enough time to do the research that's necessary so that the commission can have answers to questions? I anticipate that commissioner might make a motion for an ordinance. We will need to have lots. This is a very serious and very intriguing matter. But it's going to require a lot of calculations. There's a specific reference here to a state statute in another state. Do you think that that's going to be enough time for you, or would you prefer it to be, in order to give s

COMMISSIONER, I THINK THE CITY MANAGER'S REQUEST IS REASONABLE. TO GIVE HIM ENOUGH TIME TO TAKE A GOOD HARD LOOK AT THIS SO THAT WE CAN FIGURE OUT HOW TO CRAFT THIS PROPERLY. I CAN ANTICIPATE MANY, MANY QUESTIONS, AND I WOULD HATE TO SAY THAT BECAUSE OF HASTE, WE GOT INTO A CONVERSATION THAT WAS DERAILED BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE THE INFORMATION. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOU, IF YOU COULD, PLEASE DEFER YOUR ITEM UNTIL THE SECOND MEETING IN NOVEMBER. IS THAT ACCEPTABLE?

I'LL TAKE IT UNDER ADVISEMENT AND I'LL GO AHEAD AND WHAT WOULD THE APPROPRIATE SINCE THERE'S NO REQUIRED COMMISSION ITEMS ARE DIFFERENT FROM AGENDA ITEMS, CITY ATTORNEY. SO A DEFERRAL OR TABLE THAT'S NOT IN THE PURVIEW. of a commission-controlled item. So we just won't discuss it tonight, and I'll bring it back in November.

Okay. Mr. Mayor, I do want, I mean, in this conversation, I heard some stuff here that does cause me some concern in regards to communication. I know that you were making reference and, you know, correctly that, you know, Commissioner Schwartz, you know, having communications with staff prior to being placed on the agenda, um, But I'm certain he has his reasons. But at the same time, too, though, I do believe that it's professional courtesy for staff to reach out and at least make a comment that once they saw that it was coming, to at least attempt to have a conversation about what was going o

Commissioner Gill, I specifically asked the city manager to reach out to me with any questions. Okay, I understand.

I'm just making it, I'm not trying to belabor anything. I just want to make a statement that I acknowledge.

Let's just get to the bottom of it. The concern. Mr. Manager, your microphone is not on. Did you receive any request from?

I did not ask you to poll my colleagues. It was specific. I didn't say that.

I specifically was asked, should I include the email in the backup? And at professional courtesy to you, sir, I did not do that. So we will get together tomorrow and we'll review the email and the request that I made specifically of you. No one else in this organization. Do you have the email now? Only of you.

It's at the bottom. It's the last thing before best regards.

All right. We'll take a minute and look.

Again, I'd rather not air it on live TV, Mayor. Out of professional courtesy, of course.

No. I was asked if I wanted to include it, and I said no. Out of professional courtesy, I did not include it.

Well, that's right. And my issue is, and we have seen this before, I mean, I can only speak for myself. Come March, I start my 23rd year here. I have never put an item on the commission agenda ever, not once, that I didn't vet through the city manager directly and through the city attorney where necessary in advance. Never once. I never put on an item saying, I want this to happen at fire stations and didn't speak to the fire chief. I never put an item, anything along those lines. So I just think it's good form. If we all get on the program, please consult with the professional staff before we