Village Council - Special Meeting

You good? Oh, you're so funny. The special council meeting for Wednesday, July 21, 2026 is called to order at 6.32 PM. We're going to have a moment of meditation followed by a 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 very much, ma'am. Could we use that roll call, please?

I'll second. Moved by Councilperson Lightfoot-Ward, seconded by Councilperson Urban. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Hearing none. Moving right along. Right now, this is good and welfare. You can come and talk about anything at all. First and last name for the record. You have three minutes. Good and welfare. First and last name and your address.

Thank you. Thank you. Who else? Good and welfare.

Thank you very much. Next good and welfare. Going once. Twice. Three times, all right. Coming back to the council. All right, so the. Yeah, no, do your thing, do your thing.

Okay, so I have no doubt that the mayor is going to address the questions regarding the contract and some of the budget issues as well. So before he goes into all that, I just want to say that in regards to the former Raider Church site being a park, I agree, however, the village had its opportunity almost 10 years ago to acquire that property. uh i mean i i i'm concerned a little bit with uh talking uh so comfortably about acquiring somebody else's property um i'm a little cautious in that even though obviously it's exactly what it should be as a park even a community center for the village b

Thank you very much, Council President Urban, I appreciate you. Let me just say also for the park, as far as the old Raider Church, it's always something, and I explained this last time about my vision of, and why I named this Little Peacock Park, I already explained that, that something has to go into the negotiations. The thing about it is we don't own that property. So if you're soulful now and you're that developer, we have to find a way to give them something somewhere else, maybe over here, right? Because maybe density or something like that. Because if you're soulful, you're sitting the

That's all I'm doing. So I'm doing this for transparency purposes, which I didn't have to do. Also, I would say that if you look at the one from 2025, It says, a resolution of the Village of El Portal, Florida, providing for installation of speed humps and signs village-wide, providing for incorporation of recitals, authorizations provided on an effective date. The Village of El Portal is desirous of installing speed humps and signs as a method of increasing traffic control and safety village-wide. It's 2025. Another reason why I'm bringing it now is because for the past year I have residents

So just real quick on the lights. The village should be petitioning the county to have blue lights there. That's it.

Thank you very much, Councilor Irvine. As far as the, I'm going to come back, because some of this police stuff, the manager and the attorney have to answer, because I don't know the answers to those, you guys. Okay, last thing I'll say before I turn to that stuff. Oh, Ms. Baza. The reason why the police, after they got the laser guns, for lack of a better term, the speed solution devices, the reason why they concentrated on Northeast Second so much is because we had, within maybe a three-month period, two-month period, I think we had two or three accidents there. And that had never happened.

I SAID I WANTED TO SIT DOWN AND REVIEW IT FOR WHAT PURPOSE? WHAT DID I SAY? I SAID I WANT TO HAVE THIS. I SAID I WANT TO FIND A WAY TO PUT IT IN LAYMAN'S TERMS SO I CAN DO WHAT WITH IT? What I said to every single household, correct?

So, all the budget information current, once I meet with him, Mr. , we're meeting Tuesday, correct? That's correct. That's correct. Once I meet with him, my flyer packets, I'm putting every single thing out, every single household. all the residents. And that's why I said I want it in the most layman's terms so it's easy to understand. I've already been working on that for about a month. When it comes to the budget workshops, those we usually do in the end of August, beginning of September. This one will be moved up a few weeks, as I said before, in August. So we're going to try to move it up

Yeah, I just wanted to ask a follow-up on where are we at? with the current audit, and then additionally, we do need to address why there was not a budget review in October or early into this year.

You mean after October? We passed the budget. Yes. I have the audit on here, so I'm going to hit that also. But I was going to hit that right before the police thing. As far as the audit, the audit, I believe that it's completed or almost complete. I know that there were some things that had to be turned in, but we can get an update on that from the auditors, you guys. But it's pretty much done. The audit is done. I believe everything was turned in. So we should be getting that back when we get that back. I know that the assessed value, the assessment assessed value, as you said, as you heard

Whoever knows the answer to that question, Mr. Tobin, whoever knows the answer to that question, can you just answer, do they have full healthcare coverage?

Go ahead. While he's coming up, just correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the end of a process that lasted three years or more.

BEFORE YOU WALK AWAY, I KNOW THAT THE TICKET MONEY DOESN'T GO TO THE GENERAL BUDGET, STAYS IN THE POLICE BUDGET, CORRECT?

But the ticket money, I thought, could only be used for public safety. Public safety items. So it can't be used for like the top lot. It can't be used for, it can only be used for public safety items. Police related. Police related items. So that's why I mean like it stays kind of in their budget. Correct. Basically. All right. Thank you very much. Go ahead, Attorney Geller, and then we're gonna move, because the first item is the police contract anyway.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go to Council President Irvine to close it out. But let me just say, Mr. Pulliam, I'll talk to the building supervisor with the manager, and we'll see what new procedures or whatever they have to implement based on that new law, that new state law. And we'll get that updated. So I appreciate that. And you close it out for us.

Just very quickly, based on the input from the attorney, it sounds to me like as we plan for a three-year, as questions start to come to me, like can we do a five-year, seven-year, is this right? Right. So I believe we've had these discussions before, but... out of the input you've just given us, I feel like we would be perhaps ready as a council to have an executive session regarding this matter so that the manager, the mayor, the council would be able to, you know, an executive meeting session would essentially become public record at some point. The full meeting will become public.

I'll just leave it as my desire for a more lengthy agreement is to provide an environment of stability for our folks who face the highest level of hazard within the jobs that they perform for the village. So that stability is incredibly helpful to have the outcomes that we would hope for.

Thank you very much, Council President Baum. Moving right along to the resolutions, you guys. Attorney Geller, if you can read that first resolution to the record for us at CBA.

We've never done that before. We've never done that before. But yeah, you can go ahead and do it, Fisher.

Just a point of order. Would it be more appropriate to read it aloud during the council discussion on the item?

Absolutely, and just for the record, what Councilperson Winters doesn't understand is that he voted for this last year. The Villagewide Speed Humps, I remember that meeting. Thank you very much. So we're right, so he read this resolution for the contract for the police. Before I open it up to the audience, is there anything on the council you guys wanna say about the police contract?

Well, I mean, I'm prepared to move to approve this item.

Thank you very much. I'm gonna open it up for you guys for the police contract. You guys say your name and address for the record. This is about the police contract itself. And you have three minutes, you guys.

Thank you. Police contract? Someone else?

Next next up for about the police contract.

Last October? So it would be retroactively effective to October, yes.

Yeah, they'll start negotiating this from what I understand. But you can ask. I mean, they can answer that. I'm not part of it.

She's saying the budget itself, because the budget's the one that lists the line items. So in the police budget, the line items will be listed in the budget, right? Salaries, cars, whatever they use. And what she's saying is the negotiators, so she's basically talking about the manager, the attorney, CFO, so you guys need to basically look at the budget and understand the different line items and kind of like where you want to prioritize or put like the weight so that when you go to negotiations, it reflects that basically. Yes, go ahead, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much. Just a quick reminder, Florida is 50th in the U.S. for teacher pay, 50th.

Thank you very much, Councilperson Ervam. Anybody else for the police budget? I mean, police contract, you guys.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. I hope Mr. Cobra, you're getting the help that you need. I can say thank you very much.

Anybody else for police contract, good and welfare or public comment?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, MR. ROJAS. ANYONE ELSE, POLICE CONTRACT? GOING ONCE. GOING TWICE. Going three times. All right, you guys bring back to council. Any other comments or questions you guys have?

Just to reiterate that, that, try and be succinct here okay so to uh mr steer's point of the uh low number of arrests um i would hope that going forward all law enforcement would start to look more towards like white collar crimes and things like that uh um so i would hope that we would have a police department to be able to be of assistance uh for kind of um uh more of those crimes, especially as the growth of Miami is going to be bringing in more scammers and things like this. I fundamentally believe that if you don't want an officer having an envelope of money, his pocket then you compensat

Thank you very much. Any last questions or comments before I go to a vote? We're good? Do I have a motion to approve the CBA police agreement? So moved. Moved by Councilperson Lightfoot Ward. I'll second. Second by Councilperson Erbaum. Madam Clerk, may I please have a roll call, please?

Thank you very much. Before I open it up, is there any other discussion? Let me just say really quickly, after Councilperson Winters' thing that he said, which he didn't vote for last year, but let me just say respectfully, I didn't mean that to be disrespectful, you can change your vote. Even though you voted for something, you can change your mind later on. We all have that option. All right, any questions or comments from the council before I open it up to the audience? No. All right, and for the audience, yeah, go ahead. For the speed humps.

Thank you. Thank you. I'll respond after all of you guys speak.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Next for speed humps.

Anybody else for the speed humps? Speed humps going once. Come on.

It went through the procurement. I can read the thing off of the last year's resolution again.

We are. I believe all your neighbors love the speedy humps. I hear from Ms. Krakenbush, I hear from Terry, you know,

All right, going once, going twice speed humps, going three times. All right, so the first thing I'm going to say is this. What was being argued is not what's up for tonight. The speed humps were passed last year. The second whereas is for the village-wide speed humps. The Village of El Portal has reviewed three proposals, copies of which are attached here too, and finds that the proposed quote for the installation of speed humps and signs obtained by all driveway solutions is the lowest responsive and responsible proposal, and that is the proper source of procurement under Florida law. Like I

So it's not that I'm against speed bumps, it's that I have low confidence in competent execution of speed bumps. What I mean by that is, I want to understand what thought was put into the harmonics of the road that the speed bump's going to be put on matched with the shape and material of the speed bump. So on Park Drive here, for example, you can clear that speed bump down there that's five mile an hour is listed, which you will regret if you're at 10 or 15. but as I've said before at multiple meetings 40 to 45 miles an hour on that long straight there is actually just about as easy on your v

Thank you very much, Councilperson Erbaum. Have you ever rode over to the west side and went over those speed bumps over there?

Yes, they're effective, but those are actually... They're almost too effective, meaning that it's like you're punishing the locals sometimes with speed bumps like that. There is a factor of do you punish everybody to address a small percentage of violators, essentially. And so I'm not a fan of punitive speed bumps.

Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't consider them as punitive. I would consider them, they work, right? And they bring safety to the speeders that are there so the kids can play outside.

Park drive works, but there are people who have learned that it's better for their car at 45 miles an hour. And then the expectation around that speed bump is five. So when you have an offset expectation of speed versus reality, this is how you get a pedestrian hit, which would be worst case scenario, and then everything below that. So I believe that that's what I'm speaking to. So, yeah.

No, I hear you. I would just say that if we feel like Yeah, I hear you, I hear you. No, I hear you, I hear you, my brother. I would say that if we feel like speed humps, which we passed last year village-wide, if we feel like that's something that we want to continue, whether it's a year from now, three years from now, five years from now, resolutions don't expire, then there's nothing against continuing to solidify that the work that was done was quality work for us. Now, what I can also do, which I'm not sure if I would do it, to be transparent, is every time I put in a single speed hump fro

Right, so you'd want to have a prescribed plan already of what types of bumps where you'd want to have.

Which was already done in last year, right? Everything was already done last year. The attachment to last year had everything.

so well we're so i would move the table this to october so that the budget would be in uh we would have clarity on the budget i think that is probably the single largest concern across the board seems to be and then additionally in that time there would be the ability for the public to understand what is going where and so that is my motion to table this to October for those purposes yeah I disagree with that but there's a motion on the table is there a second we have a motion on the table yes second to the motion

going once going twice three times motions fails for a lack of a second is there another motion for the resolution, you move your motion for the resolution, Council President Blackfoot-Wood? Yes. We have a motion, do we have a second? Second going once.

Do we have a second? We did that, we did that, Council President Wood. We're under speed humps right now.

We have a second going three times. Fails for lack of a second. Motion fails. Do I have another motion of any sort? Do I have no motion?

I have no motion beyond what I've already presented, so I would only be making the same motion.

So we have no motion. No motion going once. No motion going twice. No motion. We have no motion on F2. Let's move to agenda item G1. Attorney Geller.

Thank you very much. Any questions or comments before we turn it over?

I just have a comment. My favorite line from the Big Lebowski is, nihilist, or no, I'm sorry, I already messed up. Fair? Who's the nihilist here, right? So I often get, I was raised ultra-conservative, so it's only natural that at some point in my life, I am eventually the conservative in the room, even though I have not been a conservative for an exceptionally long time now. And so about a year ago, I was explaining to my wife that if you could picture a mountain top, a rocky mountain, okay, like a mountain top rock, okay? And halfway down that mountain, you have a lush plateau, a very lush p

I've mentioned several times I worked in restaurants a lot. I don't often speak of it, but I worked always at the highest levels of the food service industry. And so we would have people come into the restaurants wherever I was working. And, oh man, that guy's the, That guy's the owner of Navarro Pharmaceuticals. Oh, my God. Stuff like this. How much is he worth? $300 million. So people mumble and, oh, man, can you believe this? It's not always just celebrities. Fame and fortune give me fortune. I have no interest in fame, but give me fortune. So you'd have all these fortunate people come in a

Thank you very much, Council President Warren. Any other comments from the council? Hearing, seeing none, do I have a motion to adjourn? Do I have a, what motion do you want, Attorney Geller?

But you said you were going to join. It's free.

Oh, I thought you were saying that you were going to join.

I move to direct the attorney to join. Any lawsuit available to take on home rule issues in the state of Florida? Do you have a second?

MOTION PASSES THREE TO NONE. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. DO I HAVE A MOTION TO ADJOURN?

I'LL SECOND. MOTION MOVED BY COUNCILPERSON LIGHTFOOT WARD.

SECOND BY COUNCILPERSON URBAN. ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. OPPOSED SAY NAY. HEARING NONE. THE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING FOR WEDNESDAY JULY 1, 2026 IS ADJOURNED AT 825 PM. THANK YOU.