Council - Regular Meeting

where we recognize extraordinary individuals that are residents, that are staff. And today, we are recognizing our town's parks department because it is Parks and Recreation Month across the nation. And for those who don't know, our parks team is led by Director Jeremy Bagdown. And he's been doing excellent work with his team since I came into office as mayor. Myself and my colleagues have worked diligently to make sure that we improve all our parks, not only the big ones. To date, we have replaced four different playground structures. We have also replaced the rubber matting, rubber playground matting at Royal Oaks Park and Veterans Park. And we are also now on the precipice of redoing the last two basketball courts that we have in the town and have needed this update. So with that, we are issuing a proclamation to recognize their hard work. Jeremy, can you bring your team up here to be recognized? Round of applause, please. Excellent. So we'll go ahead and read this. Proclamation from the Town of Miami Lakes, Florida, proclaiming July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month in the Town of Miami Lakes. Whereas parks and recreation are an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the Town of Miami Lakes, whereas parks and recreation motivate physical activities by offering space for popular sports, trails, and many other activities designed to let active lifestyles thrive. Whereas parks and recreation programming and educational activities such as out of school time programming, youth sports and active play are crucial towards childhood development. Whereas parks and recreation elevate a community's economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, heightened tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction, and whereas the town of Miami Lakes highlights the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources. Now, therefore, I, Joshua Diegas, by virtue of the authority vested in me as the mayor of the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the town council and 33,000 Miami Lakers, do hereby proclaim July 2026 as Parks and Recreation Month. Congratulations. Would you like to say a few words on behalf of the team?

I'll keep it brief, but thank you mayor, thank you council. As the mayor mentioned, our parks are unique to our community. Our parks are extremely, extremely valuable to us. They were master planned into the community before homes were built. There was always this idea of a park being within walking distance of every home. We don't have that everywhere else in Northwest Miami-Dade. So we definitely have a treasure here and the team here does a great job of conserving that treasure, of doing their best to continue to develop it and move it forward. And there's a saying in Florida Parks Recreation Association that it starts in parks, but it's actually parks are for life, right? You learn your kid's first program at two or three years old, you're part of that mommy and me class. They transition to athletics. They eventually become young adults, hopefully playing some of our young adult athletic leagues. They move on. We have some of our senior program participants here. They move on to senior programming. So it's a generational experience. I like to tell the team that our job is to create memories and experiences. And that's what Parks Month is about. It's valuing those experiences in parks, in our programs, and in our case, overseeing the trees as well, the beautiful landscape that we have here in the town. Thank you again to the mayor. Thank you to, obviously, administration that is behind our parks department and our organization. So just a big thank you. And this is just a month, but we do it all year round.

Thank you. Here, let's get a quick photo, and then we'll be on our way. Thank you very much. It's 627. We will start promptly at 6.30 p.m.

Thank you. Okay.

I don't know.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting this meeting at 6.30 p.m. Madam Clerk, please call the roll. We are called to order.

Good evening. Council Member Cuadra Garcia. Council Member Sanchez.

Present.

Council Member Fernandez.

Present.

Council Member Herzberg. Present. Council Member Garcia.

Present.

Vice Mayor Morera.

Present.

Mayor Diegues. Here. Mayor, you have quorum.

Excellent. Everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance led by Councilman JC Fernandez. Thank you, please remain standing for the moment of silence led by Council Member Sanchez. Thank you very much, you may be seated. And council, we are now on the order of business. Are there any deferrals, additions, or deletions? I believe, Councilman Sanchez, you indicated that you had some changes to the order of business.

Yes, I'd like to move 16G and H. I'd like to combine those two and move them to right after public comments, along with items 10A and 10B, the committee reports.

I'll second.

Well, before we get there, are there any other proposed changes? that was 16 a and b 16 a and b no 16 g and h combined g and h and 10 a and 10 b and 10 a and b um both of those being combined and taken up after uh public comments if there's no further changes to the order of business now councilman fernandez you may a second No, you're moving it. I thought he moved it.

Yes, I'll move to make the changes.

All right, is there a second? Second. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. The agenda is amended as stated. Madam Clerk, we are now in public comments. You're called upon to go ahead and read the rules into the record.

Yes, good evening to everyone. As I always mention, if you're here for public comments and you would like to speak, just approach the podium, state your name and address for the record, and I will afford you three minutes to make your statements. And as well, I always like to welcome the public that is remote. The only thing that people that are participating online for remote public comments, the only thing you need to do to speak is raise your hand by clicking on the reactions item and our IT will allow you to speak. We will see the raise hand. If you are also participating online, but not through the computer but through your phone, please raise your hand by pressing hashtag number nine. You called one of the many numbers that we provide and we will allow you to speak. And as I always state, public comments will be heard now at the beginning of the meeting and once all are heard, public comments will be closed. We provide three minutes to speak to everyone and all comments and questions from the public shall be directed to the mayor in a courteous tone. So thank you very much, and again, if you wanna participate in public comments, please do so now, just approach the podium, state your name and address for the record, and welcome.

And again, there's no turn order here, just as you wanna come up and you see that a speaker's wrapping up, you're free to come up to the podium, just state name and address for the record, and then you may continue with your comments. Sir, welcome to the town council meeting, and thank you for coming. At the base of the microphone, you'll see there's a button. Always good to ask. Much better.

Can you hear me now? Okay. My name is Sam Budlong. I live at 14411 Lake Child's Court. I've been a resident of Miami Lake since the early 1980s. Here are my comments. Over 60 years ago, shovels met earth and Lake Patricia was born. soon to be included with Lakes Catherine, Hilda, and the surrounding neighborhoods. A community was created where families with children could be raised, educated, serviced by nearby shops, all within the confines of Miami Lakes, a community of neighborhoods. Over 40 years ago, these same neighborhoods objected to what is now GMX's proposal to build entrances and exits at 67th Avenue. Overwhelming community opposition caused GMX to cancel all of those plans. Sound familiar? Today, I hold in my hands petitions signed by hundreds of members of these same neighborhoods, some of whom participated in the objections of 1984. That universally condemned and object to the current GMX project as being ruinous to these neighborhoods, the exact same project as was objected to in 1984. For the benefit of our mayor and council, you residents here tonight to express your objection to this project have in your hands a colored page that expresses your complete, utter, and ceaseless objection to the current GMX proposals. Please raise that colored page over your head to show your sentiments.

Thank you very much.

Now then, for the reasons more directly critical of this project, it has been found that GMX at its recent meeting in this chamber failed to make any mention of the dangers this project would expose to two school zones, each located within a quarter mile of the Grattany. They failed to mention the redundancies from already existing nearby travel paths. They seemingly failed to include Hialeah in their community outreach. They failed to justify its claim that the sole rationale for the project was, quote, population growth, end quote, when the facts are that these neighborhoods are not now and have never been the subjects of population growth. They were 100% built out many decades ago, and that the nearest population growth is far away to the west of I-75. such oversight is simply not acceptable when considering both the consequences to people their families and their neighborhoods but also to the immense and wasteful expenditure of taxpayer dollars mister mayor and town council members i and my fellow neighbors respectfully ask that you tonight not tomorrow or your next meeting, listen to your constituents to put forward and pass a resolution not only rejecting this project forever, but also that no building permits ever be issued by this town relating to any work associated with 67th Avenue and the Grattany. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Next speaker. Next speaker. Colonel, welcome.

Am I on? Yes, thank you. William Perez, 7280 Miami Lake Way South. So I want to talk about the CMX package from a NEPA, National Environmental Policy Act, environmental law point of view. I've probably seen in my Marine Corps career hundreds of these. And I'm going to tell you a huge flaw this one has. It fails to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. If this project takes $1 of federal funds, it has to comply with it. If it requires a federal permit because it's going through wetlands, and it is, it has to comply with it. If it has environmental impacts on the human environment, it has to comply with it. This is what it says, and I apologize, I'm going to summarize. It's less than a page of what it says for environmental considerations on page 155. It says, based on the results of the environmental evaluation completed today, which is not included in the documents, by the way, no adverse environmental impacts have been identified as a result of proposed improvements. We haven't seen the data. It hasn't been provided to you. And this data covers things such as noise pollution, air pollution, water pollution, water runoff, impact on the environment, impact on the canals, impact to the lakes and the fish that we have. They have given us quite literally less than half a page. and they said, based upon the stuff we've done, you know, I'm gonna tell you what it is, because I've seen this language before, and my lawyer friends are laughing. This is like, we did something, and we hope it's good enough, and we hope no one here knows anything about environmental law. You do, and now you do, and your obligation is to get this evaluation and study before you prove anything, and then we can have a really good discussion whether or not it is compliant with what we need it to be. Thank you, that's all.

Thank you, Colonel. Next speaker, you're welcome to come up to the podium. Yes, ma'am, come on up.

Good afternoon, my name is.

You can pull it down, there you go.

I'm petite. My name is Lourdes Tella. I am a resident of Miami Lakes since 1988. Actually a resident on Lake Child's Court. We are in the Lake Patricia area. And I am here to support the no to the on and off ramps to the Gratney because it will affect our area adversely. The traffic, people cutting through Lake Child's Court just to get to Miami Lake way south and avoid the light. Lake Saranac, Lake Candlewood, all those are cutoffs for people. They just take that so they can get home quicker. But Mr. Budlong already expressed and I think he did a very good job, so I'm not gonna bore you with that. I'm also here to represent the group of senior citizens that regularly attend the parks in Miami Lakes, And yes, they do a very good job. The programs are excellent. However, the programs have been canceled for the senior citizens. As of June 26, 2026, we have no exercise classes. The computation classes have been canceled. The sewing classes, anything to do with senior citizens. So I heard you that, yeah, the parks have been improved for the youth. However, what about the senior citizens here? This is for our health. We need these classes. There are people here. Raise your hands, please. Raise your hands. Raise your hands. That benefit from these classes. And Mayor, you should drop by one day. I think you did. Yes. You did and I invited you to come in and meet our citizens and meet the teacher and you couldn't at that moment come in because you were on some other mission. So I do invite you to come if we ever resume classes, which I hope we will. And I heard through the grapevine, this is all today, that there's no more money for the senior citizen classes. And if you don't know about it, please find out about it. You are our representatives. You represent the citizens of Miami Lakes. We voted for you. So please get on this because we do need our classes back. It's not only for our exercise, for our health, but also for the social point of it. There's a lot of senior citizens in Miami Lakes who, are single and they socialize there. So I don't know what you can do but please get on with it. I also heard through the grapevine that in September the Dade County school budget comes up again and we'll see, we will see if there's money for you guys. That's not acceptable. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. Oh, your address, she did give her address, yeah.

My address? Oh, yeah. My address, sure, Lourdes Tella, 14311 Lake Childs Court, 33014.

And I see our Parks Director is standing up, so I think he wants to learn more and be able to maybe clarify any misunderstanding as far as that goes, but thank you very much for your comments.

Thank you.

And thank you all for taking the time to be here. Next speaker, you're free to come up. Okay, I see you in the back there, excellent. Oh, okay, we'll start with you first. Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Ileana Colombo. I live at 14031 Lake Candlewood Court. I'm right at the end of Lake Patricia. I remember a few years ago when Mr. Angelo Garcia came knocking on my door for my support, and I mentioned to him then the noise of that Gratney. and the noise has gotten worse and worse and worse from my home, and I invite all of you to come and have a picnic lunch in my backyard. You tell me the day, I get the tent, give you the food, the drinks. I want you to walk around Lake Claire and all those lakes, Lake George, Lake Success. The noise, the decibel level of that area is over 80 decibels any time of the day, continuously. Now, there's plenty of studies that state, studies that have been published by the NIH, studied by the World Health Organization, traffic noise above 50 decibels causes disease. And what are those diseases? They're run by stress. Your brain cannot shut down. When you have that noise all the time, your brain interprets it that there is an emergency, and your adrenal gland starts pumping out cortisol, and adrenaline, causing vasoconstriction, getting overweight, insulin resistance, and they manifest themselves as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, which I am a type 2 diabetic, 16 years after the good old Gratney went up, and dementia, tinnitus, Hearing loss, all from traffic noise, all from expressway noise. We don't want that thing there. When that thing was built, they promised us noise abatement, no noise abatement. There are only little walls that probably just shave off even five decibels. I challenge the town of Miami Lakes to do their own noise abatement studies with an independent company. We don't want any entrance or exit to our area. It will destroy our area, not only with noise, with crime, excess crime, because there's plenty of studies that show when you have an expressway in and out, Criminals come in. They have a nice exit. There's going to be more crime to that gasoline station, which they're going to shut it down, to that shopping mall, and to us that live there, that move there, because it was a quiet, nice place for our children. My daughter grew up in that neighborhood. We could go walking to the lake and go fishing. There's a lot of traffic. We still have children that go around in their bicycles. All that is gonna be gone. And there has been nothing in their plans for the safety of our children to walk to school or to do anything. So no.

Thank you. Next speaker. Welcome back.

Hi guys, Derek Cintron, 14821 Lewis Road, Miami Lakes, resident of many decades. First of all, with this Gratigny proposal, It's not going to work the way they supposedly want it to work. It's not going to alleviate the stress of western Hialeah, northwest Hialeah, all that area out by I-75, western Miami Lakes. This does nothing to help any of that, nothing. It doesn't take one car off of those roads. Instead, it just kind of shifts them through other roads to then eventually get to the same roads that are backed up. So that's, just on that alone, it doesn't do anything to address the problem they're supposedly trying to fix. Second of all, as I always have said whenever I've spoken to the council, please try to look at this as if this were happening in your backyard. It may be for some of you. I don't know exactly where everybody lives. But as residents of this town and as stewards of this town, that should be your number one consideration. If this were in my backyard, would I be going bananas or would I be cool with it? And if it's going bananas, then you have to say no. Because you don't want to let other people step on the faces of all our residents in order to further some other agenda. That brings me to the last thing. I know it's been tough in recent, I'd say probably the past 10 years. This town has been under a lot of pressure from outside forces, the county in particular. I don't know if anybody else has noticed, but you see a lot of big airplanes flying into Opa-locka now, huh? I mean, I've noticed it. There's a lot of outside pressures on this town. And if you guys don't stand up to them, they're going to bulldoze right over us. They will keep on stuffing things down our throats until somebody says enough. And you guys are in the hot seat now. So it's your turn to say enough and put a stop to it. And I hope that you guys do that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Derek. Next speaker, please. Next speaker, wishing to speak in public comments. Going once, going twice, I see, okay, excellent. Okay, sorry.

Welcome. Welcome. Joe Placeres, 14415 Lake Canawa Court. The real problem here is we already have an existing bridge on I-75. Royal Oaks community complained and complained and complained, and I'm sure a lot of council members in the past blocked it off. Why don't they open an entrance and exit ramp over there, which is the actual cause of the problem? Number two, why don't they fix 154th Street exit, where I-75, the Gratney and the Palmetto goes into there, and most of the traffic is left going into the west side of Army Lakes. There's nothing that's going to be done over here. We got 157th. If they say the traffic is going to go into, ease off Miami Lakes, go into the Palmetto, have you seen the ramp going south? After the Palmetto got fixed and then it moves the express towards 103rd, notice there's no more traffic on 154th. Guys, I mean, this is probably a formality. This is probably approved because they're going to get money for the state. You guys are going to be up in an election in November. I don't know when this is gonna be approved, but it almost sounds and smells like it's already approved. This is just a formality. It's not gonna work. Thanks. Thank you very much.

Welcome to our former chair of the Elderly Affairs Committee, Dottie Wicks.

I had to be here for this. I love it. I was here from when Miami Lakes was born. I helped Christian it. I've helped build it, especially with the seniors, which I love. And to bring all this traffic in here, you're going to destroy it. It's hard now even getting out of our houses with all the traffic. You open that up and that'll be the end for us. So please think about what you're going to do. And I hope what we're saying tonight counts. Thank you.

Thank you, Dottie. Ms. Reynolds, come on up.

What a gentleman. Esperanza Reynolds, 8465 Mendia Terrace, July, 2026, the 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence. While watching HBO John Adams series, Benjamin Franklin says that nothing could have united the colonies in their effort to become independent from England like receiving a letter accusing the Philadelphia Congress of treason against the crown. THE SAME HAS HAPPENED TO US IN SECTION ONE. WE ARE UNITED IN ONE EFFORT AND THAT IS THE DISSOLUTION OF OUR SPECIAL TAX INDUSTRY. WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH. THE LEVEL OF FRUSTRATION IS EVIDENT. WE SUBMITTED MANY OBJECTIONS DURING THE LAST COUNCIL MEETING WITHOUT A POSITIVE OUTCOME. NO NEED TO REPEAT THEM. WHAT WE WANT IS TO UNDERSTAND THE NEXT STEPS TO DISSOLVE THE DISTRICT. Ordinance 24331 explains a petition is required from an HOA or property owners. Lake Glen Ellen has 141 properties or 17% of the district owners. Do we petition as an HOA or do we gather 86 signatures to meet the 10% threshold? THE PETITION MUST BE APPROVED BY THE TOWN. THEREFORE, WE ASK THAT YOU PROVIDE US WITH A TOWN APPROVED FORM TO DISCUSS IT WITH THE COMMUNITY AT OUR NEXT HOA MEETING. WHEN SUBMITTED TO THE TOWN, WE MUST ACQUIRE THE SUPPORT OF MORE THAN 50 PLUS ONE, AND WE THEN ONLY HAVE FOUR MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THE RESOLUTION APPROVING OUR PETITION TO RETURN IT TO YOU. AM I CORRECT? So please consider this my public records request. I will be sending it to the clerk when I get home. Thank you so much and thanks for listening.

Thank you, Ms. Reynolds. Next speaker. Welcome to the town council meeting. Was that a good oh my god or a bad oh my god?

Hello, my name is Patrice Morales, 6291 Lake Patricia Drive, born and raised here my entire life in Lake Patricia. So I've had the luxury of living and enjoying what I think is probably one of the gems in Miami Lakes. And I think a lot of people seek that area for what it is. I don't think it's a secret about the concerns. You all know what they are. Nobody has to repeat them. Anybody can put anything in a binder, like this gentleman mentioned, like this. A lot of jargon, a lot of numbers, a lot of confusion. However, we are here in 100% opposition. I know that there are suggestions, modifications, so forth but we are 100% against it due to all the reasons and the impact that it will have on this area I personally feel this is just a fix for things that have been unable to be corrected in other areas for whatever reasons those are and I I'm sorry for those in those areas that have to deal with this traffic and problems and there has not been a resolution for 20 years for this problem. However, this area is not the solution. So we ask you, we appreciate your service to us and appreciate anything you can do to put a stop to this. I understand there is, we have a voice if in fact that backhand shakes have not already been done and our voices are going to be heard, please listen and do that. Thank you.

Thank you very much, ma'am. Next speaker. Welcome, sir.

Kind of prepared it on the fly. Hello. Oscar Castro, over 50 year resident, growing up on Parkinson and Drive and owning my house now on 13901 Lake Candlewood Court. I oppose the on and off ramp. BEING IN MY BACKYARD I'VE DRIVEN TO 57TH AVENUE OVER 30 YEARS AND NEVER THOUGHT OF AN OFFERING ON 16TH BEING NECESSARY LIVING IN MY PEACEFUL STREET THAT BORDERS 138TH WOULD BE UNTOLERABLE HAVING AN OVERPASS THE NOISE FROM THE GRAND IS ENOUGH AS MY OTHER RESIDENTS HAVE STATED THE STUDY IS FULL OF HOLES AND FURTHER STUDIES ASSESSMENTS WITH THE DATA IS NEEDED BEFORE MOVING FORWARD THANK YOU THANK YOU VERY MUCH OSCAR

Next speaker, welcome.

Good afternoon, I'm Maria Comeyas. I live at 15925 West Prestwick Place, Lot Loman. I understand all the concerns. I also understand that Miami Lakesway Drive and 67th and El Palmetto are horrible to get through. So if this can alleviate, we need something. Too many things have been built, too many buildings, and too many people for such small area. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next speaker. Welcome, oh, welcome Pat.

Patrick Kunkel, 15860 West Prestwick Place. Tonight I don't talk about the guard gate. Tonight I talk about a memorandum that's been written by our honorable mayor and I support it. And I hope the rest of the council will too. Mr. Peterman's work with the town has been nothing but outstanding as far as the work for the citizens of Loch Lomond. I also stand before you as the elected president of the Loch Lomond Homeowners Association. It's important to Point that out because I've been never opposed, never a nay vote against me. But it's great to be able to count on our town manager and his team that stands here today. And I hope that you'll all join in and support his re-signing of the contract. The next memo I want to bring up, however, is one written by, I guess, someone who opposes that. By the way, it's written. I would like to point out that I hope that that's just an assumption on my part. However, I believe it's political. If you date back to November 3rd, 2005, I mean, 25, in this chamber, you'll see showboating that took on that was not in the best interest of this town. You can watch the video. I hope we oppose that amendment and move forward with our, City Manager being Edward Peterman, thank you. Thank you, Pat.

Next speaker, Ms. Matos, come on up.

I'm going to turn the channel just a little bit. I think the residents have spoken. It's been a long time since I've been here and seen the chamber packed to this level. And I hope when I come back and talk about the airport, they'll all be sitting in the chairs behind me. But tonight is not about that. And tonight I do know why I'm here, just for the record. Oh, my apologies, Lynn Matos, 16340 Woodwalk. I want to talk tonight about 4th of July. I want to say a very special thank you to our Communications and Special Events Director, Claricel de Cardenas. Probably a lot of people don't know that not only is Clara Sell, and I'm gonna call her Clara Sell because she's someone I've known for 20 years, not only is she responsible for communications, and that means website, email, calendars, social media, she oversees all of the council-appointed boards and committees, 150 or so events each and every year. But back to the Fourth of July. Now, if you've ever stood in a park with 5,000 kids and it's pouring rain, you know what she was going through that night. Did she panic? I'm gonna refer to my notes, because I wrote a couple things that I thought were important. Did she panic? She didn't. She didn't react.

She led with incredible grace under pressure.

calm, professional, clear-headed, even as everything kept changing up to the last minute. And her communication with the community was second to none. I was home, ready to throw in the towel, not go. I love the Fourth of July. I used to be on Cultural Affairs. And then I got that message that she posted saying, we're paused for a moment. And I waited, and then I went to the park, and so did everybody else. And if it hadn't been for her, if it hadn't been for her passion and her commitment to the town and to the residents, we wouldn't have known, we would have assumed. It just deluged, it's not happening. She kept us informed, not only about this, but so many things. She's an unsung hero, and I just wanna say, Thank you so much. You mean the world to all of us. And thank you. Fourth of July was beautiful. It's not a single entity. She's awesome. She is. I love her to death. It wasn't just on her. Felicia Salazar and the amazing Cultural Affairs Committee, thank you so much. Your work is exceptional every year. My friends who are the owners of Light FX Pros did that fantastic stage and the lighting and the fireworks. They're to be commended too. And the Parks Department, let's not forget that. I missed the presentation because The council was so packed I couldn't find a parking spot. I need one more consideration. One more what? It's okay. I want to say thank you to the Parks Department because their work goes unnoticed many times too and even after a deluge, that park was awesome. So to all of you, thank you for your service, to your commitment to the town, to all these amazing people and please give a big round of applause to Clarissa Cardenas. Yes, thank you. Clarissa, stand up and be recognized.

And I will extend for anyone that speaks that needs an additional 10 seconds to conclude, you will get that opportunity as well to wrap up your remarks. Welcome, Miriam. Good evening. Good evening.

My name is Miriam Campos, 6801 Dunham Court, Miami Lakes, right across Casabana. I'm here to talk about something different. I'm having a lot of problems with the trees behind my house from the fountains of townhouses. I spoke to the lady there in charge of the association, and she said the town will not allow her to trim the trees, and my pool on my patio is always full of leaves and things like this. I have broken two of my cleaning barracudas, you know, they break all the time. And I don't know what to do, but it's really bad. I hope that you, my neighbors say they don't come because nothing is gonna be done. Those trees don't give no flowers, no shade, no fruits. So they should be trained a little bit at least, you know. It's really bad for us. If you can help us out, I will really appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Miriam. Miriam, Jeremy is going to talk to you a second to get more information on that. Next speaker in chambers. ANYONE ELSE. OKAY. MR. CRUZ.

YES, SIR. A lot of people had this sign and I concur with them and I believe that this should be no remember you guys were elected by the people for the people so there are interest should be first on a different note there's an item in your agenda today for to establish a search committee for a new town manager The position, we have created the Miami Lake Civic Alliance this year.

Some of the directors are here.

Some of them couldn't make it. And this is our official statement from the Miami Lake Civic Alliance and its residents. Recommendation to establish a new town manager search committee. Dear mayor and members of the town council. The Miami Lakes Civic Alliance, representing a broad cross-section of residents who care deeply about the future of our town, respectfully recommends that the town council establish a town manager search committee to lead a transparent, inclusive, and comprehensive search for a new town manager. We believe Miami Lakes deserves a leadership selection process that reflects the higher standards of good governance, transparency, and community input. Dedicated search committee will ensure that all qualified candidates are given fair consideration and the final selection aligns with the long-term vision and the best interests of our town. We fully support allowing the current town manager to reapply for the position if he so desires. At the same time, our residents believe it is essential to explore all available options and alternatives to identify the best possible leader for the future of Miami Lakes. This recommendation comes directly from the voices of our community who deserve the opportunity to participate in a process that is open, impartial, and focused on excellence. We respectfully urge the council to take this important step towards threatening public trust and ensuring the continued success and prosperity of our town. Sincerely, Miami Lake Civic Alliance and its residents.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

next speaker i believe i saw okay mr armesto good evening mayor diegas vice mayor moretta and town council members i am eladio jose armesto and for identification purposes i am the former president and current treasurer of the loch lomond east Homeowners Association, as well as the president of the Loch Ness Homeowners Association. I'm here to respectfully make three simple points. First, Miami Lakes deserves a renewal of its executive leadership. Our town has grown, the challenges facing our community have evolved, An effective government requires fresh ideas, renewed energy, and new perspectives. Leadership renewal is not a criticism of the past. It is an investment in the future. Every successful organization understands that periodic leadership renewal strengthens institutions and prevents stagnation and complacency. second this discussion has absolutely nothing to do with our current town manager as a professional he is a decent man and has done a decent job we appreciate truly his years of service this is not personal in fact the intelligent and experienced gentleman that he is, he probably understands that this conversation is not about his tenure. It's about what is best for Miami Lakes. Across the country, the average city manager tenure is approximately four years. With the current contract renewed, we will have the same manager for a total of 12 years. That's a remarkable tenure. But there comes a time when every organization benefits from executive leadership renewal. Third, we support Mayor Joshua Diaz's vision for Miami Lakes and his desire to leave a principled and lasting legacy. Leadership is not measured only by keeping what works, but by having the courage to embrace positive change. Executive leadership renewal should be a part of that vision and a part of that legacy. Finally, my friends, regardless of how you vote on this issue, We respectfully urge Mayor Diegas and the council to seize the opportunity to do what is best for Miami Lakes. Embrace executive leadership renewal. Thank you, Mr. Armesto. Yes, thank you. And bring the ideas that we need.

Thank you very much. Former Councilwoman, oh, no, first we have another resident before we go to Councilwoman Ruano, or former Councilwoman Ruano.

Calisto Milian, 16422 Northwest, 32nd place. I wasn't gonna state my address, I was gonna state the code, but I spoke to some of my neighbors and they're afraid to come here because they're afraid of the city going after them. I'm here to defend everybody here, everybody. I agree 100% what Mr. Romero said. I support the committee 100%. I'm not politically correct. I've been here like four times already. I don't know if you like what I say or you don't. I really don't care. I'm a Trumper all the way. I am tired of telling you guys we're bleeding money. We're bleeding and bleeding and bleeding and bleeding. It's your money. It's not their money. And I want you guys to understand that. You're here for another reason. I am here to support Mr. Romero, okay? Because the manager of this city makes $380,000, more than Ron DeSantis, okay? And more than the politicians up there next to Trump. But I bet you guys didn't know that. I know that, okay? That's all I gotta say. If you go after me, go ahead.

Nobody's going after you, sir. And so that's a little much. So with that said, Councilman Guarano.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Marilyn Ruano, 15515 Northwest 83rd Avenue. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you this evening. I'm here to support two items. The first item that I'm here to support is the creation of a manager selection committee. I had the privilege of sitting on the dais the last time that we did that. And I also had the privilege of renewing Mr. Peterman's contract the last time that it was renewed. I want you guys to consider giving yourselves the opportunity of going through that selection process. It is an exciting process. It gives all of you and it gives the residents an opportunity to see what talent exists out there. what other candidates can come to the town of Miami Lakes and bring fresh ideas. It also gives our current manager the opportunity to shine and to show that he may by far be the better candidate to be selected once again. And it gives you the opportunity to renegotiate his contract, start from scratch, and allow yourselves that opportunity and give the town of Miami Lakes an open and transparent process. So I do fully support Councilmember Cuadra-Garcia's item. And I'm also here to support the ordinance to define a capital improvement for special taxing districts. I've read it and I think that it's perfect as it is. fair process that's being proposed. And as one of the council members that debated that heavily in the past, I think that this ordinance will serve the special taxing districts very well. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Former Mayor Pizzi, welcome back to Town Hall.

Good to see you. I'm glad after 10 years, the building's still here. It's hugged. We must have done a... And I saw the attorney who did the bond for the town is in the back. He's going to speak later. So it was his bond money that got it built. Just briefly, I'm actually here tonight, Mr. Mayor, because my old friend, Sam Budlong, invited me to his house on Sunday to watch a soccer game. And then he turned off the TV and locked the door and would not let me leave his house until I read five volumes about the interchange project on Ludlam Road, because we voted to study it about 10 years ago. So I did that, and I stayed at Sam's house until he forced me and brought me to the meeting tonight. But what I would say, Mr. Mayor and Councilman, is number one, Mr. Manager, thank you all for your service. It's good to see everybody, and I appreciate your service to the community. Briefly, I looked at everything. I'm kind of familiar with this project. We ordered it about 10 years ago to be studied, so I'm kind of familiar with it. I read all the volumes in Sam's house, talked to engineers. I'm convinced at this point that three things would happen from going forward with the project. We're gonna wind up spending millions of dollars in tax money. We're going to take some of Miami Lakes' most tranquil and peaceful and storied neighborhoods, Lake Hilda, Lake Patricia, the heart and soul of Miami Lakes, and we're gonna risk really ruining them by putting them in the middle of a highway, a freeway interchange, and I don't think we should do that to them. The second thing is I don't think we're gonna really alleviate traffic congestion that much. I actually drove around Miami Lakes You know, when I get my hair cut at the Mario Leakes barbershop, and by the way, rest in peace, the funeral for Mario, rest in peace Mario the owner, I just left the wake with the family. So let's give our condolences to that family, great people. But when I leave the barbershop, and I want to go to the Palmetto or the Gratigny, I just drive past Lake Hilder on the right, past the barbershop and the little gas station, the Shell Station on the left, and I make the right at 138th Street, and right in front of Flanagan's in a few blocks is the Palmetto, and you can take that to the Gratigny. It takes two minutes. When I leave Church Elevate by Richard and the Marathon Station, I just go down to Red Road and make a right, and the Retigny is right in front of you. So I would say that if you want to get to the Retigny and the Palmetto from Ludlam, you simply make a right at 138th Street, and it's a half block away. If you want to get to the Gratigny from Miami Lakes Drive, you simply drive past Elevate Church, you make the right on Red Road, and you run right into Gratigny. You can almost walk there. So understanding that, bottom line, I don't like when I may, I'm not even gonna repeat myself once, but what I will tell you is that, I promise, I'll end with three points, Mr. Mayor and Vice Mayor, and again, thank you for your service. Based on that analysis, and based on 20 years familiarity with this, and based on studying everything, I think there were three truisms about going forward with this project. Number one, Number one, for the reasons I've stated, it makes no sense whatsoever because it'll do absolutely nothing to alleviate traffic congestion. So it makes no sense because you're not going to alleviate traffic congestion because there are other routes that have existed for 20 years. Number two, you're going to spend millions of dollars. And finally, and number three, you're gonna risk wasting millions of dollars to accomplish one thing, and that is the destruction and ruining the quality of life in Lake Patricia and Lake Hilda, and these are neighborhoods that have existed for a half century. I ask you not to do that, and I ask you to kill this project, and thank you very much.

I appreciate it. Thank you, Mayor Pizzi. Do you wanna come up? Yeah. How you doing, Mr. Mayor? Well, thank you. Can you bring the mic a little closer? Because we have people watching online.

How are you doing, Mr. Mayor? On the behalf of a lot of other senior citizens, they are sitting here. On behalf of them and for myself, I don't know why they closed the exercise classes. And I appreciate if you help us to open that because a lot of us, we need it. It's not a big issue. I don't think so. And I think you can help us out there and we'd be appreciative. so we can go back again to our classes.

Really quick, just for the record, can we get your name and address, and then our parks director is gonna speak with you. By the way, were you able to figure out what's going on there? You wanna just announce it to everybody, since there seems to be a few public comments about that? Yeah, and we normally don't do this, but he's gonna provide you with a response.

Okay, thank you very much.

No, thank you. Thank you, appreciate it. Jeremy, you wanna go ahead and answer?

I needed the name and address.

Oh, sir, what's your name and address before the record? I'm his wife. Oh, okay, perfect. So she'll give you the name and address.

We have so many people here with the same problem, and I want to know everybody's voice.

There we go.

Okay, try to help because we need it.

Oh, and your name and address please.

Thank you very much. Director Bagdoun has an update though on the senior classes. Exactly, so he's gonna address it.

Thank you, yes, Mayor and Council. We were, through the grapevine, and we heard that there's going to be a possible ceasing of the remainder of the year for funding, and what has been said is that there's potentially no, potentially as mentioned, there may not be funding anticipated for next year either with the school board for the senior classes. This is the classes that are held through Miami-Dade County Public Schools through the HML Senior Program. At this time, we have not received any official word from the district, from the program manager, from the HML senior programming. I have already emailed him directly as of this evening to ask for an official update as to what is going on with the programming, but there is nothing that has been brought to our attention that is official at this time.

thank you director back down and so in short what that means is we need to get together with our school board member Robert Alonzo to go ahead and make sure that in their upcoming fiscal budget that they include funding for this Miss Perla Tavares-Hampman his predecessor was very big on making sure these classes were protected budget after budget after budget even when the school board is going through bad times so I will get you have my commitment I will speak with him and But of course, I would encourage all of you as well, the same advocacy that you're doing tonight, to also just shoot him an email. He'd love to hear from you. He's a Miami Laker himself, and I'm sure it would take up the cause. So thank you, Director Bagdan, for, of course. And thank you, Director Bagdan, for getting that information. Sir, you may come up.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Tony Lam. My resident is 6716 Orchard Drive. And I've been here for over 30 years, raised my kids. They're all adults, professionals like you all. I want to, first of all, thank each one of you working as a team to doing what's best for this city. And I see great improvements and continue to grow as a city. And with that being said, I want you to all support Mr. Peterman renewal contract. We've known Mr. Peterman for many, many years. In fact, he was in public service prior to coming over here. And he was the chief of the city of Miami, the fire department. that takes a lot of dedication and sacrifice and making the difference in many people's lives and with that being said he's making a difference in this town not only as a city for the people of the city and for the employees and personnel and the community for the city so with that being said uh i wanna i want you to support and renew of his contract basis on his integrity and his record thank you so much thank you very much

Next speaker. Anyone else in chambers wishing to speak? Mr. Carlos Andres, Chair of our Public Safety Committee.

Yes, thank you, Mayor and Council. I applaud the audience here. We're definitely an active town. Love to see everybody passionate about something that makes a difference in their neighborhood. I just want to start off by saying I want to thank our building department. Now that the building is nice and full, we have the best building department in Miami-Dade County. I want everybody to know that they are phenomenal. They've been great with me and everybody that I work with as well. I want to thank the communications department. Isabella is no longer with us, but she served our committee as well and other committees as well. I'm here to show support as well from the public safety committee on Ray Garcia's new business item that was presented last meeting on allowing signs on the swales. This was pretty much born through our slow down signs. This campaign works. We've gotten positive feedback with this ordinance. If it passes, we can now put our signs on the swale and also it gives the ability of the council to have signs in the future put in the swale that obviously they approve. I'm also here to show my support or just to state that there is an allocation that we're asking for. This is not new events. This is not more money. This is just an allocation of funds. This is part of the town manager's reports. And I want to say something that I'm very passionate about that I've spoken to a few people and it's actually the part three. Councilman Herzberg, thank you for bringing this up. Part three is very important. We're talking about traffic here tonight. We need to control our destiny. This would be controlling our destiny. We accept this donation from the Grams. That's a lot of land. I suggest you move forward. I like what you have together as a 90-day plan with the town manager. And also consider, what is it going to cost to maintain that property? Put that part of your budget workshop. So again, let's control our destiny. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Any other speakers in chambers? Anyone else wishing to come up to the microphone at this time? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, are there any online public comments?

Yes, I'm gonna call as I see them in my screen with hand raised. Mr. Abel Fernandez, welcome to the meeting. Please unmute yourself.

There you go. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Town Council, Madam Clerk. Three minutes is not enough to speak for such a huge agenda, but I'll do the best I can. In regards to the 67th Avenue on and off, at first when I heard about it, I thought it was a prudent idea. But after reading and hearing the comments from those affected, I cannot support the building of that. As I looked into it and found out that even the Hialeah residents did not even know about it. And more concerning is what's driving this. So I think we need to take the elephant out of the room. On the Hialeah side, there's a lot of building going on. You'll see apartment buildings right there on that possible interchange. Then you look at Hialeah Miami Lakes that's going to have a charter school inside its property. This is not coincidence. And number three is Hialeah wants to make a move. to annex the land on 57th Avenue, just on the other side of Miami Lakes, which is that commercial area. They need more interchanges for that. So I'm against this, and I hope that you do not move this forward. In respect to the comment that the, through the mayor, that the Miami Lake Civic Alliance said that they were speaking for residents, they don't speak for me. I come to this podium either virtually or in person so they don't speak for residents of Miami Lakes. They're not an elected board, you are. Let me say something about what's happening with this selection committee proposal and not renewing the manager's contract. First of all, yes, Mr. Peterman is a friend. He's a fellow chief as I was with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. I want to make it clear about one thing that has nothing to do with it. We seem to have the word leadership, that we need renewed leadership. Well, guess what? Every two years, we can have renewed leadership in this town through elections. Part of the board, as it is now this November, will be up for election, and in two years, another one. That is renewed leadership. Vote them out if you're not happy with their decisions. But the manager is an executive manager, and he's doing a great job because I've asked, where's the... performance evaluations. Are there key performance indicators? Is there an action plan because he's not performing? I don't see that, but we want to get rid of a manager without finding out what he's really doing. In respect to one of your charter amendments, regarding the town clerk. The town clerk should continue to report to the town manager. If that is the process in a manager form of government, we should leave the clerk under her. And finally, am I given 10 seconds, Mr. Mayor?

Yes, you have an additional 10 seconds to conclude.

Okay, let's stop looking for problems because you have an answer. We've asked last time in November of 25 to sit down with the manager and identify the issues. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Chief Fernandez. Next speaker, please.

I see, I'm gonna call them. Mr. Frank Fernandez, if you want to speak, please do so now, followed by Mr. Frank Diaz. Those are the participants that I see, and then I have many written public comments that I need to share with everyone. I don't see their hands raised, so I wanna state that I don't think they wanna participate, so if I may.

Go ahead.

Yes. Let the record reflect that my office received an email from Jose and Grace Fernandez in regards they're opposing the project of GMX. I shared all these written public comments I have shared with the council, but I just like to state them for the record. Their names, Mr. Gabriel Fernandez as well, sent an email in opposition to the project of GMX. We received an email from Mr. Boris Foster from Monday, July 20th, regarding special taxing districts. It was addressed to all the elected officials. It included as well a new business item of a council member. Let the record reflect his opinion. We received a written public comment from Ms. Hope Reynolds today at 1.13 regarding the town manager contract. And in her written public comment, she included a lot of information and just wanna stay for the record. about special taxing district and again about the manager's contract. Another written public comment from Ms. Hope Reynolds from today at 6 a.m. included the email from Mr. Boris Foster that was addressed to the elected officials regarding the special taxing district. Okay, and, I'm gonna stay for the record, all the written public comments received in the last few days. I'm gonna start with Mr. Luis Collazo, former council member. In support of item 16B, in support of the manager's contract to be renewed, Written public comment from Mr. JP Garcia, in support of the current town manager, Mr. Peterman, for his contract to be renewed. Ms. Katiuszka Barrero, Mr. Julio Barrero, Daniel and Aaron Barrero, all in support of town manager Peterman's renewal. Mr. Sergio Diaz, in support of the town manager Peterman's contract to be renewed. Mr. Luis Espinoza, in support of the town manager's contract to be renewed. Mr. Ray Valdez, in support of the town manager's contract to be renewed. Ms. Hope Reynolds sent us an email which was forwarded from Ms. Bonnie Cintron, who is in Italy right now with her family, but for Bonnie Cintron's written public comment in support of the town manager Peterman's contract to stay in office, to stay with us. Ms. Jacqueline Jebian Garcia, written public comment in support of the current town manager, Peterman. Mr. Jim Hamilton and Rosaline Hamilton, in support of Mr. Peterman's contract to be renewed. Mr. Tom Fabricio, in support of Town Manager Peterman's employment contract. Mr. Anthony Garcia, in support of Mr. Peterman's Town Manager's contract. Mr. Antonio Lam, in support of Town Manager Peterman's employment contract. Mr. Albert Eras, or Harris, in support of the current Town Manager Ed Peterman's contract. Mr. Mike Anchia, in support of Town Manager Edward Peterman's contract. Mr. John Aleman, in support of Mr. Peterman's town manager contract. Miss Connie Pena, in support of the renewal of town manager's Peterman's contract. Mr. Mario Morales, in support of Mr. Peterman's contract. Mr. Eugenio Ochoa, in support of the town manager's contract to be renewed. Mr. Enrique Suarez, in support of Mr. Town Manager Peterman's contract. Miss Diana Jane, in support of Town Manager's contract. Miss Victoria Martinez, in support of Mr. Town Manager's continued service as Town Manager. Mr. Peter Montanez, in support of his employment as town manager, Mr. Edward Peterman. Mr. Ricardo and Martha Gonzalez, in support, yes, I'm trying to read fast, in support of town manager Peterman's contract renewal. mr luis o martinez in support of town managers contract mr peterman mr sergio penton in support of mr town manager peterman's contract renewal mr fred zenra in support of mr peterman's contract mr juan pena in support of the renewal of mr peterman's contract and i'm i said mr juan it's juan carlos pena miss miss marlin or marlene gonzalez in support of renewing mr peterman's contract miss omaida torres in support of town manager peterman's contract Miss Elsie Alvarez, in support of Mr. Ed Peterman's contract. Mr. Lester Barreras, in support of Mr. Town Manager Peterman's contract. Mr. Yosvany Pino, in support of the renewal of Mr. Peterman's contract. Ms. Leti Rodriguez, in support of Town Manager Edward Peterman's contract. Leti and David Rodriguez. MR. MIKE MARTINEZ, IN SUPPORT OF TOWN MANAGER PETERMAN'S CONTRACT. MR. MARIO MORALES, JUNIOR, IN SUPPORT OF MR. PETERMAN'S CONTRACT. Mr. Adrian Basti Obaste, in support of Mr. Town Manager's contract, Peterman. Ms. Lynn Matos, in support of the renewal of Town Manager's contract. Mr. Nicholas Mata, in support of Town Manager Edward Peterman's contract. Mr. Danny Cardoso in support of Town Manager Edward Peterman's contract. Mr. Jorge Alvarez in support of the renewal of Town Manager Peterman's contract. Mr. Antonio J. Sanchez, better known as Tony Sanchez, in support of Town Manager Edward Peterman's contract. Andres Millares, in support of Mr. Town Manager Ed Peterman's contract. Miss Natasha Caballero and Jose Caballero, in support of the contract of the City Manager Edward Peterman. Miss Gladys Jimenez, in support of Mr. Ed Peterman's employment contract. Mr. Jose Bueno, in support of Mr. Town Manager Edward Peterman. Mr. Albert A. Del Castillo, in support of Mr. Edward Peterman's contract and renewal of his contract. Miss Lourdes Barreras, in support of Mr. Edward Peterman's town manager contract. Mr. Angel Martinez and Gloria Martinez, in support of the renewal of town manager Ed Peterman's employment contract. Mr. Ray Palacios, in support of town manager Ed Peterman's renewal contract. Mr. Abel Fernandez, he spoke earlier, but he had sent a written public comment, so I recognize it and I acknowledge it as well, in support of. Mr. A.J. Garcia, also in support of Town Manager Edward Peterman's employment contract. Mr. Tomas Bello, in support of Mr. Eddie Peterman's Town Manager's contract. Mr. Daniel Barrero, in support for renewal of Town Manager employment's contract. mr bobby costa in support of mr ed peterman's contract miss elisa martinez in support of mr peterman's continued contract miss vivian aleman in support of mr town manager peterman's contract mr rafael luces in support of town manager ed peterman Ms. Andrea Graham Rachichi, in support of Mr. Peterman's contract. Mr. Pierre Jebian, or Jebian, in support of Mr. Manager's contract. I hope I did not leave any email. There were many sent. I just want to state for the record, they were shared, as I always do, with the mayor and council, and I always just state for the record the name and the subject matter.

All right, I think I'm going to give you a proclamation just for that reading. What do you guys think? you did a great job gina as always thank you council we are now on items 16 g and h which have been combined and we're moved up to after public comment this concerns the uh grattany project uh as it is known uh informally um i'm gonna go ahead and begin uh if councilman sanchez will indulge me since we're the ones with an item on this tonight Let me begin first and foremost with, contrary to the comments made by some who clearly don't know how this government operates and who have opinions based on bad information, we are not gonna hunt anybody down if you disagree with us, right? We care very deeply about the town. I, myself, grew up on the east side. I grew up at 7220 Poinciana Court. My family and I have been here since 1989, and we continue to stay here. Our law offices are here, and the majority of my family lives everywhere from the Lake Sandra area on the west side to Willow Lane. So if there's anybody who has a very unique appreciation for the situation that we find ourselves in, I would argue it's me. I grew up here when they still did the arts and crafts show there on Main Street, and my sister and I would buy the sand art and the pop guns and everything. I've gotten to see how the community has changed over the years, right? I'm not happy with all of it, and a lot of it has actually been out of our control, right? But every single person on this dais, has run on a platform of reducing traffic in this town. And for those who don't know, we cannot just have a blanket moratorium on development, especially in an indefinite period of time. That would be a violation, for example, of the US Constitution, which prohibits our government from restricting private land and its use to an unreasonable degree such that we affect the taking. In other words, that even if we haven't seized the land, the government has so restricted your ability to use it that it's basically non-functional and we've taken that property right away from you. But beyond that, in the state of Florida, when we're talking about development approvals, in the 90s there was another law that reduced that standard to what's called an inordinate burden. It's the Burt Harris Act, which allows developers to sue local governments that again, unfairly burdened, if you will, their property rights, and they can sue the town and not only get their development order, but also get their attorney's fees reimbursed. Unfortunately, about three years or so, give or take, a state senator, proposed and was able to pass what's called the Live Local Act. Now the Live Local Act, in essence, and by the way, it is becoming more and more popular, and despite what has been put out there on social media, does not have the opt-out provision that it claims that it has. Unfortunately, this law allows developers to completely bypass the public hearing process and therefore the majority of the town's approval process. And in essence leaves it in the hand of bureaucrats to do one thing, do they meet the standards or not? If yes, you have no discretion, you have to approve the project. And on top of that it grants them everywhere up to a 75% property tax exemption. in some cases smaller, and also allows them to build higher than normal, right? They can go to the highest structure within a mile of that proposed project. That's a high-level overview of how the land use and zoning framework has changed in the state of Florida, but also just to explain to you why, unfortunately, this council has had less and less options as the years have gone by to be able to have more smart growth policies implemented. So in that context, in that vein, I bring it up because in order to solve traffic, we clearly cannot restrict development the way that we used to, to ensure that it is more in line with the community aesthetics and community standards that we've long had. Number two, we know that we cannot widen our roads. They simply were not designed for that, and we wouldn't want to get rid of most of the trees that would be involved if we were to do that, so that's not an option. The only option really left to us to really have any sort of meaningful impact on traffic is more highway access. I understand, again, I'm an East Sider, I grew up here on the East Side my entire life, and this project, by the way, just to be clear, predates me, and it is not a town project. This is a project that was started back when GMX was MDX, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, which has since gone away after. This project, in fact, would have been started a lot sooner, but for the litigation between Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida. So that delayed this considerably. Prior to that, actually, the city of Hialeah actually was aware and has been aware of this project, and for a short period of time, former mayor Carlos Hernandez actually held up this project from being able to move forward. So the city of Hialeah has been aware whether they want to acknowledge it or not or maybe they may have forgotten that this was still in the works because again the lawsuit took a while to settle with MDX and GMX. But they have had the notice. We ourselves have had meetings about this. There was, going back to 2016, former council members Lama and, not Hernandez, Rodriguez, had a traffic summit here in which this was one of the pieces of the solutions that they developed. Mayor Sid at the time even did a video of himself Vice Mayor Lama and a former Vice Mayor Rodriguez actually going to the then MDX board's meeting to advocate for this project. Again, years later, after a lot of litigation between the state and the county, this lawsuit has been resolved and GMX now is the entity that stands and they are now, in essence, brushing off the dust and putting this project into fruition. We do not have a direct say in their decision-making process. They are still in what's called the PD&E phase of this. The short version of that is that they're still studying this, so we can provide input. I myself ran, full disclosure, on supporting this project, and I'll explain why. It was on my website, I brought it up at the mayoral debate that we had in 24, and I do not want to mislead you at all about what I've said about this in the past. I understand that approving this project will not relieve traffic on the west side. I'm well aware of that. But the issue that we have in this town when it relates to traffic, specifically as to Miami Lakes Drive, is the knot that exists there. You have everybody trying to get in and out, by and large, through the Miami Lakes Drive exit and entrance and the Palmetto. You have people swarming there from both the east and the west side. The idea, and there are plans to eventually have some west side access to the highway system, right? But the idea was to have one on the west and one on the east. The idea is that you start to push cars to other parts of town in order to have faster egress and ingress into the town and relieve the congestion that occurs daily, especially when school is in session at Miami Lakes Drive. Now, For that reason, I was a supporter of the project, and from the comments I heard at the public hearing that GMX held in chambers here, because I was here, Councilman Herzberg was here, Councilman Sanchez was here, I don't recall, were you here? Councilman Fernandez was here. And the comments there, that I heard at least, primarily revolved around concerns on Ramp B. That would be the egress, the off ramp, that would create a lot of issues for Lake Patricia Shopping Center and necessitate a ramp. So it seems to me as if that is where the majority of the consternation lies. Before I continue, I've been informed, and I just want to share with you, he's in the audience, please don't kill him though, but we do have a representative of GMX here, right? He is the Chief Operating Officer Claudio De Fiera. Would you mind standing? Thank you. Please wave. If you have questions on this project, Please get with him and I think he can clear up a lot of misconceptions. With that said, I think the prudent move here tonight, based on the comments that Colonel Bill Perez made and other comments that have been raised by various members of the public, that we should go ahead and take some more time to further evaluate this project. Again, they are still right now in the study phase. There is, to my knowledge, not immediate decision needed or pending on this. I just wanna again stress that this is not a project that the town controls. It's not using our money. It's not seeking our approval, though I'm sure they would like our buy-in. So it's gonna happen one way or the other if they so choose, but that's on them, right? But they're here to answer any questions that you may have and with the item that I had tonight about expressing support minus support or rather excluding support for Ramp B because initially what I was proposing was to voice generic support for the project but also voicing that we would like them to have a design that takes away the Ramp B, right, which I don't think anybody was really anticipating even way back in 2016. I think it would be prudent for us to go ahead and lay these items on the table, Councilman Sanchez, I don't know if you agree, and go ahead and take the time to get more feedback from all of you, try to see if perhaps with the GMX representatives here, they can assuage some of your concerns and then give us an opportunity to really check whether or not they've met their standards with respect to the Clean Water Act, as the Colonel was mentioning, and other environmental standards. I see the manager is on the mic. What would you like to say?

Yeah, the chief operating officer from GMX is available if you'd like them to come up. I just told him that. He could answer questions.

And I told him not to kill him, so it's okay. Be nice. And before I make the motion, you said you have a question? Okay, go ahead, Vice Mayor Morella.

So my question to the gentleman from GMX is, where we are in the project, as the mayor mentioned, is the PD&E stage. To what extent is GMX still actually open to our public input? You had an entire crowd of people here who voiced a very strong opposition. Is that gonna convince you, or what else do you need from us, basically?

Okay, so I wanna take a step back. So I come humbly, again, my name is Claudia Feria, as the Chief Operating Officer of GMX. We're not looking for a fight, we're not looking to trample the residents' opinions, nothing like that, in fact, We're here because of the original request from the council to study and incorporate this project. There was a resolution that was passed in 2016 by this very council, and it was supported by the, not this one, not you sitting, but the Town of Miami Lakes Council. So we were requested as an agency, you're correct, at that time we were MDX, we are now GMX, and it was also supported by the TPO at the time. you are correct in what the mayor was saying. It was because of the litigation between MDX and GMX at the time that this project didn't come forth at that time. Now that we are out of litigation and GMX is full and kicking, we are now fully funded on this project. It's been approved by our board and we're ready to take the next steps. So where we are right now in the PD&E, that's the whole purpose of the PD&E. There are, contrary to, I guess, some of the beliefs, there's no backdoor deals, handshakes, this is not a done deal in any way, shape, or form. The whole purpose of this project and the PD&E is to come and listen to the concerns of the citizens. We have done that, we've listened, we had a public hearing, and so we're now here in front of you asking for support, right? I do wanna make a couple points, though. We are not FDOT. GMX is fully self-funded. We are funded 100% by toll dollars through the Gratney as one of our expressways. So we have nothing to do with the projects that are on 154th or elsewhere. So there's no money coming from federal grants, so it doesn't require us to do any sort of federal requirements, or from the town of Miami Lakes. So this project is 100% funded by GMX. The other thing is we've spent a lot of money already and time looking at this through the PD&E. We are scheduled, provided what the conclusion of the PD&E yields now, to move forward into construction in next calendar year, so starting in 27. But it won't happen unless we have the support from the council, right? So that's really why we're here. One thing I did want to say, we're putting a lot of effort on State Road 924. We currently have a project that's starting on the eastern end of 924 to mill and resurface and take care of some safety issues. We're also going to look forward to moving forward project now in next year. to add some ramps that connect to the turnpike from 138th Street, which we consider the western side of 924 for us. We're going to mill and resurface all of 924. We're going to paint it. We're going to make it aesthetically beautiful. So the agency is putting a lot of effort right now to beautify and to modernize 924. Once it's done, we're going to shift our efforts and our resources elsewhere. So this is the time we're here asking for your support. So I have my technical team and I wanna make sure that there was a lot of misinformation I think that was done. These PD&Es are very, very comprehensive. I can tell you we don't look at it by opinions or anything else. We look at it from an objective standpoint of view. The traffic studies that we've looked at do say that you have a current problem, clearly, on 154th and 57th, right? This project, to your point, is helping the town as a whole, right? When we look at projects, we look at them holistically. We don't look at them specifically whether it has a specific impact in a specific area. So I have my team here, and I'm more than happy to provide any answers or questions that anyone may have. But the point I was trying to make was that this is a very holistic approach, right? We're looking at this. And the studies do yield objectively that you have a current problem now, and in the future, you will have a much worse problem. And this project does alleviate a lot of the traffic congestions that occur today and will occur in the future. So we're here simply asking you, basically, what would you like us to do next? So the PD&E has not concluded at this point.

I have an answer to that. One of the things I've always articulated when it comes to that intersection is it should I don't have a problem with ramps. I just have a problem with off ramps meaning I don't mind on ramps that get traffic out of Miami Lakes I just don't want to see cars speeding off of the granny right into the front of the gas station right into a school zone and backing up our streets One question I have is because I remember bringing that idea up back when we had the first public comment stage which was in the conference room in the back and in that one I stated this opinion that it should just be on ramps but I also said hey if you have to do an off ramp and then I proposed an alternate design where the off ramp hugged the existing grattany a little bit more than the current design which in turn mitigates the so much noise going into these backyards. My question is, you did say that you have been listening to the people throughout this PD&E and that you have been implementing some changes. So my question is, how exactly have the plans changed based on public input since those early days?

Okay, so I do wanna make a distinction. The PD&E is the study, right? It's basically where we develop the concepts and we study the environmental impacts, the socioeconomic, et cetera. So the off ramp was, the concept was put in there because it alleviates the traffic from 57th and also 154th, right? When we had the public hearing, we did hear those comments about the noise and the proximity of the homes, et cetera. Right now we're still in the PD&E concept. What I can tell you as GMX and as the COO, we will work with you all and the residents to provide mitigating efforts, right? So we understood the decibel noise, so we would try during design to push that ramp as far south as it possibly can. The problem with doing that is It basically has to go over 138th Street, and there's a limited amount of space until you touch down to 67th. So there's only so much we can actually move it to the south. In terms of sound walls, I'm willing to entertain that. Buffers with landscaping, there's a lot of mitigation efforts that we're willing to take. Again, we're not trying to fight. We're really trying to make this project as best as it possibly can.

And then I guess I'll make this my last question. And thank you for letting me go this long. Is...

on what is on ramps only is that completely off the table as far as GMX is concerned no I'll restate if it's the wish of the council to just move forward the project with the on ramps that's something we can take back obviously we have to go through my board but again we're not going to do something that's against the wish of the council nor the residents so What I ask is obviously you all represent the entire town of Miami Lakes, right? Not just the residents along 67th. Because in my experience, you never have 100% support of a project. But you as council members have to look at the project as a whole holistically. Will this project improve the town of Miami Lakes as a whole and in the future? And then it's up to you. If the council's wishes is not for us to provide an off ramp, then we'll go back and we'll redesign the concepts. But one thing I do want to say, now is the time to make some sort of decision, or very soon, just for the sake that the way their schedule's built, it's fully funded in our work program, so we're looking to complete the PD&E in the next couple months and looking to go into construction.

I have a question for you. This would be design-build in terms of when it's issued?

It's slated currently to be a design-build project. That's correct.

Okay. Can you explain to the audience what that means?

Right. So in order to expedite projects, the typical construction would be you would design a project, and it would take several years, and then once that design is done, then you would go into the construction phase. The design-build process is basically combining those two. So you're designing and you're building at the same time. So the things that can be designed early on in the project and then start with construction, that would happen. So by switching to that methodology, we would save about two years.

Yeah, and then also in terms of the residents input, the engineers that eventually are selected to design the project, they would be incorporating everything that's been said.

Yes, I'm actually committing myself personally to be involved in that. So once we would select a design-build contractor, I would come back and we would present back, I would be willing to come back to council and present to you the mitigation efforts that we've incorporated into the project.

So why don't we do this and I'm gonna go to Councilman Sanchez as the sponsor of the other item that was along the same lines as mine. We'll go to him to close and then what we'll do is we'll defer this to the next council meeting. that way the residents that are here can have an opportunity to speak with you more fully about the project and get as much information as they'd like and then we will make a final recommendation that's really all you're asking from us is a recommendation with input on what would be acceptable we can make that at the next meeting councilman sanchez thank you mr mayor

and i thank you for everyone in attendance we really appreciate you coming out it's great to see a full house for our council meetings not what it it usually is a for the residents that are here that want to know who you know which one of us really represent you with all of us some of us live on the east side there's four out of seven that live on the east side myself included the mayor the vice mayor and councilman garcia along with the town manager so you have strong representation up here for the east side um you know things that you bring up Now, the day of the public hearing, I did speak during public comments about the existence of the off ramp and the detrimental effects that it can have. That was with a very little bit of information. I did some more digging, I did some more research, but there's still information that was brought up tonight that I would like to know more about, you know, the environmental effects. I understand that we didn't receive federal funds. But environmental effects still affect everyone, especially when most of the houses on the east side of Miami Lakes have water that comes out of the wall, comes out of the ground. So that feeds their plants and everything else like that. So it's a whole ecosystem type of system. So it's not just the traffic, it's everything else that's encompassing from the plants to the animals to everything else that is Miami Lakes. Not just that. Part of my research was finding out what is the LOS rating of 67th Avenue, and I was given that information in two subdivisions, from 138th Street to Miami Lakeway South, and from Miami Lakeway South to 167th Street, just south of the Palmetto Expressway. They're both rated E, even though the northern portion above Miami Lakeway South is already, is closer to an F. It varies from D to F, but on traffic times, their five o'clock rush hour, it's an F. So to have those cars come off into 67th Avenue, it's just a nightmare. You're just adding even more vehicles into a street that's already congested, which feeds those vehicles into the areas where you heard the residents speak, into Lake Patricia, into Lake Childs, into those areas where kids wanna play outside and they can't because of too many cars coming through. So I think the project is a great idea. The on-ramps to get cars out of Miami Lakes is a great idea. But we also need a solution to get cars out of Miami Lakes through the north. And I understand that's not GMX. That's more FDOT. But if the agencies get together to try to find a solution for that northern portion to get those cars out, I think it can be a big help. However, I do concur with the mayor that we do have to table this for now and discuss this at a later time when we have more information so we can do much more due diligence and provide an answer on behalf of the town. So with that, I move to table this discussion.

Before you do that, I do have a point of order to make that I actually need to make to our parliamentarian, which would be the attorney, because I just realized something. So technically, there's been no motion made. So is this a motion to table or a motion to defer? Okay, so go ahead and make the motion.

I'll motion to defer until more information is provided in pending environment.

Well, I think we need a date certain, so I would say the next meeting. Oh, defer to the next meeting. I'll second that. Oh, it's been seconded by Council Member Fernandez. All those in favor, say aye. Aye.

Sorry, I was trying to get your attention to say some words before the deferral.

Okay. Really quick. So go ahead.

Thank you mayor and I just want to thank you for being here and to the audience members, I think that I think the majority of the Council and I speak for the likes of myself. Realize that that that exit ramp is especially next to the old our oldest neighborhoods are all this. Shopping center is something that most of us are not happy with so and the only way we'd be interested in entrances. I mean exit, I'm sorry. would be if they were environmentally friendly and also there's a there's a school zone right there councilman Coyazo myself worked hard to expand that school zone uh and there's a a small little smaller neighborhood there that will not won't be able yeah that won't be able to exit if there's a looking at the your thing wouldn't be able to even exit at all it'd be very hard for them to exit because the ramp would be right pretty much 50 40 feet away the Crooked Palm neighborhood. So I just if you keep that in mind, I mean, I let's defer this. Let's think about it. But also, those are the things that those residents will be stuck in there when especially in the morning when traffic is hard. So if you can take a look at that area, because I know they would be stuck there and won't be able to get out. It's really hard. That's why we moved the the the school zone. So then cars will go out there slower instead of they were racing through there. So if you can keep that in mind, but I'm for deferring this and and taking a look at some listening more to the opinions. Thank you.

Mayor if I may give me one moment. Okay, well, our station between us on this.

A okay. So on on there's been a motion made. But so are you saying and I'm getting a text from the deputy town attorney. Is it your position then that once the motion is made in second that we need to vote it up or down.

Once you make a motion to defer, yes. There's no debate. Got it. Those are the Robert's Rules of Order.

Okay, so Madam Clerk, please call the roll on the motion to defer.

Motion to defer both items 16G and 16H. Councilmember Cuadra Garcia. Council Member Fernandez. Yes. Council Member Herzberg.

Yes.

Council Member Garcia.

Yes.

Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Morera.

Yes.

Mayor Diaz.

Yes.

The motion to defer to the next regular council meeting passes.

Thank you. Manager Peterman? Do you want it to come back as one combined item? Yes.

Yes.

All right. So thank you very much for being here tonight and thank you for agreeing to meet with our residents. Again, for those of you that want to get more information directly from the source, this is your guy here. So I would just ask, though, if you can please meet him in the lobby there because we do have a full agenda that we have to get through today. Thank you. But you can rest assured that there will be no further action on this item tonight, so you can meet with him for as long as you'd like. That would be out of order from what we normally do. If you want, you can make a request to the clerk. Oh, okay. Well, can you ask the question to her so she can relay it to me? Because I just want to tee up the next item at least. Okay, this is highly irregular, but go ahead.

Thank you very much. You didn't mention building permits at all. Isn't that within the purview of the town to decide, and doesn't that play into whether or not the project can proceed?

We don't have any oversight over issuing permits on any of the expressway systems, whether it be GMX or the FDOT expressways. They do not come to us for permitting.

Building permits are not part of the process. Thank you.

All right, no problem. Have a wonderful evening. Thank you all for coming today. We are now on items 10A and 10B. Let's take up 10A first. That would be the committee report from the Special Needs Advisory Board. Special Needs Advisory Board. 10A. Some of my favorite committee children.

They've been so patient.

Good evening. They have been. I'm Madeline Santana, Vice Chair of Special Needs.

Actually, would you mind pausing a second while we let them clear the chambers? Thank you. I think it's quieted down enough. All right, you may proceed with your report.

Good evening. I'm Madeline Santana from the Special Needs Advisory Board Vice Chair, and this is... in case you didn't know the report to town council okay as you have in front of you maybe we still had a wonderful so far three months four months from the last time our commute our class dojo is still in effect the dance is still in effect since our last uh report we had the fourth of july um special needs sensory room which was a hit unfortunately everybody got rained out so we had a much more people we have installed the two communication boards one at royal oaks and one at veterans park we had the animation graduation thank you councilman herzberg where'd you go he attended it um The next thing that we're gonna be doing, we'll be requesting for two more communication boards. One will be at the Youth Center and the other one will be at Optimist Park. And hopefully we'll get a pickleball clinic that someone has approaches with and Special Olympics.

So with that you you the committee wanted to request approval on the procurement of to communicate and more try.

Yeah. All right. So Mister vice mayor, you're recognized for motion. Thank you. I'd like to move to approve the requested items specifically the 2 part communication boards and did you also need approval on what was the other thing that you brought up.

The pickleball or Special Olympics? Not yet.

I think we approved the event, but you haven't yet.

We haven't set up, because it's summer, it's too hot, and then we're thinking maybe more December, January, so more people can attend and not be so hot.

Okay, I second that. Great, so it's just the two park communication boards.

Perfect, so it's been moved and seconded. Any discussion on this?

Just to clarify, that is money that's already in the committee budget, right? Correct.

I have a question. Okay, Councilman Sanchez.

Are you reallocating, are you taking funds away from another project to fund the project for the communication boards, no? No. Okay, that's all I want to know.

Follow up question, Vice Mayor Morera. After the vote.

Yeah, it's about another part of the report. Got it. Okay.

Anyone else on this item? The approval of the two additional communication boards. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion carries. Mr. Vice Mayor, for your question.

You know, we had a kind of a crazy situation with 4th of July and the rain. You know, again, as one of the public comments mentioned, it was a huge triumph of our communications team. But I did not get to Mary Collins Center because I was with an elderly resident and there was no way that she could walk. Totally understandable. My question is, what was the situation like in there? Because my concern is we created a sensory room

then if you have a barrage of people coming in did that cause any sort of disturbance or anything like that or was everything fine it was minimal it was minimal um it was a lot to do with the band there was it's a big band so they would go in there to get some fresh air ac and get to eat and also there was some a little bit of miscommunication because the room across was available to them but But of course, we were there, lights are on, everybody came in to us. But it was still a hit because the room is so big.

Got it. And then just the other last comment is the animation graduation. I did want to apologize. I did originally state I was going to be there and then I couldn't make it. I'm so sorry. Thank you to Councilman Herzberg for covering.

Understandable. Thank you.

All righty. So thank you all. Anyone else have questions of our wonderful committee members? All right, you knocked out of the park. No further questions. All right, I see that Colonel Bill Perez is not here. Is anyone here representing the Veteran Affairs Committee? They're 10B. All right, seeing nobody from that, I'll move to defer their report to the next regular council meeting. It's been said that, yes.

Mayor, can I interrupt, and on the Veterans Committee, they had one ask, which was to endorse.

Is it time sensitive? Huh? Is it time sensitive?

I don't know, but I just, in case it is time, all it is is there's no money. It's just to authorize the committee to be a co-sponsor with an event called the Heroes Fishing Tournament. Yes, yes, that's right, yeah. So it's been moved and seconded.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion carries. They're permitted. You can go ahead and inform them that they're permitted to go ahead and add their name as an official co-sponsor of the event. With that, we're now on item seven, which is appointments. We have Christina Gonzalez to public safety by Councilmember Ray Garcia. Is Ms. Gonzalez in the room with us? Oh, she was earlier. Oh, okay, well, regardless, congratulations to her on her appointment. We did have a resignation and we did have a removal due to absences, for purposes of the record. Next up, we are in Manager's Reports, beginning with 8A, Monthly Police Report by Major Ulloa. Welcome back, Major.

Good evening, everybody. Major Ulloa, obviously for the town of Miami Lakes. My report's going to be brief. We are currently down 30% on overall crime statistics. Something that I did want to bring up in reference to our residential burglaries, there is a miscalculation in reference to that. There's only three. so that'll reflect in next year. One of them was miscategorized in the system, so that's being corrected, and the other one is being deemed unfounded, so that did not occur, so it'll reflect for next month's report. Additionally, in reference to the traffic enforcement for the month, we've issued 151 citations, provided 10 written warnings, 32 verbal warnings, and issued 48 parking tickets. As a closer stats, that's pretty much what we have for the updates obviously for 4 July. We've heard You know people's input. I know that we've had you know, obviously the weather was was an issue and a concern but overall I was a great event and everything went went very very well, especially on the police side

Well, thank you very much, Major. I kind of wish I had brought you up beforehand so that all the residents can hear the great work that you and your officers are doing, you know, so we're your deputies now, I suppose. We'll go to you in a second, but I just wanted to, again, say thank you, as always, for your great work, and please thank your men on our behalf. With that, we'll go to Councilman Cuadrado-Garcia for a question, and then we'll go down the line.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Major, I've reached out to our town manager several times, very concerned on speeding on 154th Street. 154 from the Palmetto to 67 sometimes is becoming Hollywood Speedway. We have signs that say don't even attempt to do it and they still do it. I've been next to individuals with my golf cart. It does 24, and they fly by me at 37, 40, 45. I mean, they're speeding. I know that we can't be at all places at all times, but, you know, I ask that we consider looking into 154. I know it's at different times.

Is there a time frame focus for it or concern? Because we do it daily, especially considerably in the morning.

going eastbound at the curve at the tennis courts. It states clearly 20 miles an hour. I've seen them take it at 32, in their 50s, all kinds of speeding goes by.

Yeah, that's actually part of our traffic enforcement. The details that we do do, we run radar there often. But is there a specific time frame that you would like me to focus on, or is it just throughout the day?

It can happen at any time of the day.

Okay, no problem. I'LL MAKE SURE TO RELAY THAT INFORMATION, YOU KNOW, TO MAKE SURE THAT MY GUYS ARE OBVIOUSLY CONCENTRATING THEIR EFFORTS THERE AS WELL AS THE 87TH AVENUE, WHICH OBVIOUSLY WE KNOW IT'S BEEN A CONCERN IN THE PAST. YOU KNOW, ALONG OTHER AVENUES AS WELL, BUT I'LL MAKE SURE TO ADDRESS IT ACCORDING.

NO PROBLEM. COUNCILMAN HERZBERG, DO YOU HAVE FEEDBACK?

Yeah, just quick feedback. First thing, thank you for everything you do. Thank your officers. The quick feedback is just an anecdote. I woke up at four in the morning, because one of my kids had a nightmare, and I see Miami Lakes Patrol car going slowly down the street. That's nice to see, right? With the lights on in our residential neighborhoods. I guess it's 4 in the morning, so not many people see it. So I'm seeing it now. They're out there. They're patrolling our streets. I really appreciate that. That type of high visibility is awesome. And I know it's something you guys recently did around a year ago. Just keep it up.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Councilman Garcia. Thank you, Mayor.

Again, great job, 4 for July. I mean, I know it wasn't easy, but you guys were, like, always awesome. I guess my question would be, I've noticed a lot of these electric dirt bikes going through Main Street, going inside the circle, on the sidewalks. I mean, I saw today three kids are wearing helmets, but again, what is the rules and regulations when it comes to these e-bikes?

They're treated just like any other bicycle. So if you can pedal a bike, if you can pedal a bike, yeah.

Even if they don't have pedals?

Correct. Yeah, so there's obviously, like, it's treated very similar to, like, a lower CC bike. So those are e-bikes. Those are regulated just like any other bike. I mean, there are some electric bikes that go a lot faster than others, obviously.

But they have to follow the rules of the road. Correct. Like any other.

Yeah. Yeah. It's the traffic enforcement and like the bylaws and everything like that are all the same for any pedestrian, even a vehicle for bicyclists as well. They all they all have to, you know, and there's obviously specific state statutes that are specific to your state.

So we can't we can't I mean, we can try to lobby to make some changes, but we have to stick with state statutes when it comes to that.

Yeah, I mean, currently right now, because there is nothing addressing e-bikes in specific, they're treated like bikes like anything else. I do know that there are some areas that apparently have ordinances in place in reference to combat that, but that's up to you guys in reference to see what changes you guys want to make.

Because today they were going on the street, then they were going on the sidewalk, and then they were interrupting traffic. And I'm just worried not only their safety as well. I mean, they obviously, there's a lot of power in these things, a lot of torque. And these kids, it looks like they know how to handle it.

Yeah, and obviously, you know, like how Carter Garcia had advised, I know that we can't be everywhere at once. But, you know, if you see it, just make sure to give us a call. We'll be more than happy to go and address it.

Just letting you know, on the weekends, nighttime they can't because you have that cover. Thank you for that. But during the day, during the week, especially in the summertime, I've seen them access all those e-bikes everywhere. And they're not following the rules of the road. So just, I appreciate you. Thank you very much.

Before we go over to my other colleagues, I just also want to point out, I think the manager already raised it to your attention, but every time I go lately to Giardino's, I'm noticing that there's, you know, all these rich kids and their brand new Mercedes itself parking in the handicapped spot that, you know, to go into the dry cleaners or to go pick up their Starbucks order, very appropriate in my opinion. But they're obviously taking away from seniors and others who do need to be closer to the shopping centers. So just my request would be just to continue to stay vigilant on that and to appropriately cite them in accordance with what I know Sheriff Rosie and with our tax collector, that he had been working on together too, you know, clamp down on those that have an improper handicap pass or who are taking up those spaces. With that, Councilman Sanchez, and then we'll go to Councilman Fernandez after that.

Well, we're halfway through the summer. Things are going pretty well. The kids, you know, they're, I saw a group of kids on bikes the other day right off Miami Lakeway South and they were doing, you know, non, non, what's the word I'm looking for? A group of, there were like 10 or 15 teenagers on bikes and they weren't doing wheelies or anything like that. Again? No, I'm kidding. like a cohort of teenagers and you know they were doing good things so I'm happy to see that so we're officially over the hump as we're less than a month away from school beginning so as that's coming up I believe before the next council meeting school will already be back in session are you gearing up for what's to come the of the traffic patterns all over again reminding the officers of what's to come for Bob Graham Miami Dix educational Miami Dix Tech I mean Miami Dix K-8 is that already in your purview

Yeah, we already have that set. It doesn't change at all in reference to what we do. There hasn't been any change to the nomenclature in reference to our traffic patterns at all. So we're gonna address it like how we do every year in reference to our beginning of school details and stuff like that. Nothing has changed on our end.

but if you guys see anything of any concern you guys want to you know bring up to me that we need to address we'll do we'll do so okay and then with regards with what councilman Garcia said about the e-bikes and micro mobility and all that I know Doral is one of those municipalities in Dade County that has an ordinance for that but they also able to enforce it through their local PD department is that something that if we were to bring it

that you would be able to enforce a similar ordinance that to control micromobility if you guys are doing it you guys are doing it via code so it'll technically be a code violation if you guys are gonna you know no different than what you guys did with uh with the school with the the little scooters that they used to have here for rent it's going to be something very similar um again if it's if it's something that can change in legislature in reference to uh you You know, if it's a county code or if it's a or obviously, you know, like a state statute change or an addition. And yeah, absolutely. We can we can address those things.

So if you have, for example, an e-bike that takes a red light, is that something that's a red light?

That's a red light infraction. That's different. OK, even if you're on an e-bike. Meaning if you want us to address something specific to e-bike, it's a little different as opposed to any traffic infractions. We can definitely. Yeah, that's that's a state statute on its own.

OK.

Yeah, no matter what the stuff bicyclists, even whether cycling or an e-bike or anything like that, they still have to abide by state statute. They have to ride on the right side of the road. It can only be side by side, etc. Like it's like there's Peloton rules in reference to to abiding by that. So those are those are all functions. But again, Like everything else is like Speeding if we're not there we don't see it It's the same thing the kids on the bikes if somebody goes through it can be an adult doesn't necessarily have to be a kid They go through a red light, which is pretty common for bicyclists that can be addressed, but it has to be in our presence All right.

Thank you Councilman Fernandez thank you for all that you do we appreciate it i have a couple questions the first is in regards to street parking does the officer to the deputy rather do they have a discretion as to how many times that violator gets a warning before they get a ticket or is there a certain amount if they get a warning once is it recorded and the second time they go out there do they automatically get a ticket

No parking is just like anything else. It's discretionary. We can no different than even a traffic violation as long as it's not a felony in nature. When the officers have discretion in reference to issuing citations.

I appreciate that, but maybe I wasn't clear enough when I say street. Is that including on a street, on a residential street? You were including that?

So there is law that you technically can park along the street as long as you're not blocking people's driveways. And there is an ability for cars to drive past it. So obviously, I know that you guys have no overnight parking and all that other stuff. So obviously, that addresses a lot of that. But no different than like... You know, the challenges that we face in reference to, let's say, Bob Graham, when we were dealing with, you know, the parents staging inside Royal Oaks was that. That was one of the major issues is that we can tell them to move along, obviously, because they're long lines. So it becomes an issue in reference to creating, you know, a hazard because of how long these lines are. But a lot of the residents were complaining about them being parked in their grass or blocking their driveway. And then obviously we don't want somebody driving against traffic for three, four, five blocks. So that's really what we focused on. But you can park for a periodic period of time on the road as long as there is access around your vehicle.

Okay.

I wasn't aware of that. Thank you. All right.

I'll talk to you later on the other issue that I'm seeing. No problem. Whenever you want. Thank you. You're welcome. I appreciate it.

Okay, anyone else from the council with any questions, comments? Thank you very much, Major. No, you're welcome. We are now on item 8B, Public Works Monthly Infrastructure Report by Public Works Director Omar Santos.

Good evening, Major and Council. I'll stick on the topic of cyclists on the road and I'll highlight the Park West project that's getting ready to begin. We're going to be adding bicycle facilities along the roads, Balgo and Montrose. So that should help with that item. And another project I'd like to highlight is the 59th Avenue extension. We are in 60% plan review by outside agencies. These are FDOT and it's already with Miami-Dade County Public Works. In addition, we've completed the plans review from DERER or DERM, I think. And we're in the works of getting submittal to South Florida Water Management District. And MDAT has also received the plans and they're working on getting that to FAA. So with that, I'll conclude my question.

Thank you. Questions to Director Santos before I go to the town manager? Quick question. Let's go right to left. So let's begin with Councilman Cuadra Garcia, Councilman Garcia, and we'll go to Councilman Sanchez. And then we'll go to the manager.

Thank you chair. I wanted to take a moment of public. Privilege point of personal privilege to ask because there's an issue that I brought to the town manager. Reference mosquito issue. In the area. Do you have the address. Mister mayor.

No, it's it's a warehouse on 60th Avenue and they were cited as I advise that they were cited by code enforcement and referred to mosquito control by day from the county.

OK any any update on. Are they planning to vacuum that water out anytime soon because it's getting greener by the day.

Yeah, I don't know what I could tell you is we like we do with anyone we normally provide if they have no previous offenses we provide them a warning then we have a few days to give them an opportunity to comply if they don't comply on re inspection, then we cite them so they've been they've been warned. uh taking the first step i don't know that's i i know the item but i don't know the history of that building so i don't know if this was a warning or straight to citation but public uh i'm not public works code enforcement is on it and they've they've uh they've moved forward with enforcement action thank you

Councilman Garcia.

Thank you, and congratulations, 60% is a great milestone. I know we spoke today, Mr. Manager, about Caterpillar, that you're working with them, but it might be a bottleneck, maybe. I would ask if you don't mind working with the mayor. Perhaps the mayor can meet with them. I know you represent the town and you're a proponent of this project. Perhaps you can get in front of it before it becomes an issue later on or gets into legal issues. Maybe your meeting with them could address some of their hesitation. and maybe get us to the point where we don't have to, we can do this on our timeframe and don't have to worry, don't have to get into legal issues in the future.

I'm just to clarify. You're talking about caterpillar count.

Yes, there's a little sliver of land yet that there's still a little debate there debating with us.

Look here's my perspective on that I've I've personally attended at least 2 meetings with director Santos and with the manager over at their headquarters. They have met with them even before I got involved. They have been gentlemen, because it's been all men, but they've been gentlemen every time we've been there, but frankly, it does seem as if they are reaching a point where they are moving the goalpost. We have changed our design to incorporate so many of their commentary, and it just seems like something new just keeps coming up. this project needs to happen right for the good of the residents again it's a public safety issue as well as a traffic issue at you know at the very bottom of that list it's also a convenience issue um but first and foremost it's a public safety issue for those kids there at the educational center um and additionally Again, we have been more than accommodating to work with them. We're going to continue to work with them. In fact, I believe we're working on having them come to town hall at some point, right? We'll be reaching out to them. Yes, sir.

I sent them a reply to their email and said that when the gentleman, I think he's based in Illinois, when he's down, he asked to get together again, and I invited him to town hall so we can meet and continue our conversations. 100%.

Yeah, so we are taking every step possible to avoid that. That's why we reengage with them. Fortunately, I mean, the individual who basically got them off the wrong footing that we were getting off to at the beginning, unfortunately she is no longer there. Her successor is a great gentleman, but it just seems as if, again, the goalposts keep getting moved. So I don't wanna predict what's gonna happen in the future. All I can tell you is that we are absolutely making every, or taking every opportunity available to go ahead and avoid any litigation. But they also need to understand from our perspective that we have been more than accommodating when it comes to their concerns about safety, right? And some of the solutions to their problems are out of our control because we were made to modify the road design. But we've come this far, it wouldn't make sense to turn back now. I'm pretty sure they're gonna, I'm confident they're gonna see that. But more importantly, I think we're all waiting to hear back what the feedback is from the various agencies before we make any final decision. And, again, you have my word. Trust me. Again, as somebody who has been very clear that I don't want to be involved in any more lawsuits than, you know, if we don't need to, especially if they have a very low chance of success, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure we're not in that position.

No, it's great to hear we're doing everything on our end. We 100% are. Thank you.

We have met them at their headquarters, now we're going to bring them over to ours.

Mayor, before you leave 59th Avenue, I just want to state one thing, which is my plan is next week we have a special call meeting for the setting of the millage, and I don't want to convolute it with too many other things, but I am going to bring one item for is a procurement item for your consideration which is we want to do an appraisal of each of the little slivers of land so we can know what the value of those lands are and what the value of the land West of the roadway through the aviation property We believe that our roadway is going to enhance the value of that property. We want to get that valuation. We have a proposal that Omar still tweaking with the appraiser, but we believe it will be ready to present to you for procurement approval that will be paid from the capital account.

Mayor of a question that I a will aid just you know the the order was to come to come to Sanchez. So it's okay. We finish with us in Sanchez will go to you. Councilman Sanchez.

Well, thank you for all the great work that the Public Works Department does. Just wondering, do you have an estimated date for the groundbreaking of the bicycle lane in Park West?

Our goal is within the next three months. And what we currently have pending is the completion of the negotiations with the inspection contract, the CEI. We received a response back, so we've already done one round of negotiations. So if that is successful within the next few weeks, we should have a executed contract and start planning to get our pre construction meetings with the OT and the rest of the team and then get into into construction. But again within the next 3 months is our goal to break ground. Okay, so thank you.

Councilman hers were it that's OK.

The town. We'll talk about it. I'll be up at you know one o'clock local will talk about it next meeting.

Okay, anyone else, questions of Director Santos? I know the Vice Mayor's in the back there. Does he have any questions? No? Okay, perfect. All right, so we are now on Councilmember Fernandez's favorite item, 8C, alternative color schemes for the proposed Northwest 77th Court entry feature. If this passes, I might go back to revisit my item to paint the one there on 67th Avenue. I like it. Director Bogdan.

Good evening, thank you Mayor and Council. Jeremy Bogdan, Director of Parks and Recreation. The item you have before you comes off of Council direction and discussion at looking at the upcoming exit feature for 77th Court at the same time as the Mayor just mentioned, potentially looking at adjusting the mirroring entry feature at 67th Avenue. Before you, you have three proposed alternatives that start with a lighter, more brighter color, then will transition into a warmer beige, and then a darker gray color tone. This is kind of a span of different options, but at any point, this can be something that we can discuss further if there's any other options the council has in mind. With that, any questions?

Any questions from the council? Councilman Cuadra-Garcia? Yeah. Go ahead.

make sure you have your mic. Yeah, I think that the caller. the best choice due to the fact that it probably won't get as dirty. I mean, that's my two cents.

Anyone else? Councilman Herzberg.

Thank you, First Mayor. First of all, are you asking for us to make a motion in direction today to make a decision?

Yes, the goal here is to look at direction for the 77th Avenue entrance feature, so yes.

It's funny, I look at these and people say, what happened to color? Things you said, there used to be a lot more color in life in the 90s and 80s. Anyway, I digress. the problem i have with one and two is they're gonna get dirty all the time just dirty and oh we're we're gonna be calling the town manager telling him hey pressure clean it doesn't look good so i'm dead set on three because of that i like the contrast and we won't have to clean it as much i think it's an easy decision i don't know if someone i don't know councilman fernandez's position if you want to make a motion but all those may i get through the chair thank you vice mayor so i all of them are fine with me honestly i

probably the last one is my least favorite but I understand that one and two are my favorites the point is I think to get the sign up I don't necessarily I I think there's there's good and bad in choosing you know the color scheme but I I think that the point of my original item was to get a sign up and then we can I'll hear what the rest of the call my colleagues have to say but I I do like one and two I understand the concern about getting dirty but That's something that we have to just face in the future.

That's it. One second now, Councilman Garcia.

Mr. Manager? Yeah, I just want to be clear that one of the options, Jeremy has labeled one, two, and three, but the actual current color scheme of the one on six, seven is still obviously an option. So we actually have four options before you.

Yeah. Councilman Garcia, thank you vice mayor. I know the the mayor the mayor brought this up a couple years ago. You want to bring up some color, but it was way too. It was just done. It was a couple months after want to see how it does. I would like to hear honestly because I know you wanted to bring some color into this. So I'd like to hear from the actual mayor when he gets back. Do you guys want to maybe push this back a little bit until he gets back on.

I have a question for a director of your mind, vice mayor.

uh what is what's your preference i don't want to make a decision i'm not good at this stuff what's your preference so so if you say go one i go one i'll vote however you want me to so to the point that the council has already brought up one of the reasons we went with that softer gray tone was because it was kind of not too dark and not too modern but gave us the flexibility as far as maintenance that it would hold up to both sun UV longer, as well as any rust deposits, anything from irrigation. So it was a kind of happy medium, but to Councilman Garcia's point, the discussion previously was the mayor looking at other options that would move away from that. So essentially on our end, the darker tones are easier to maintain. There is less chance of degradation of the actual colors of anything getting on it. And it's a simpler piece to maintain. But that is for discretion as far as what we want moving forward.

I have a couple of comments and questions on this. What is the current maintenance cycle, specifically pressure cleaning, on the remainder of our monuments and entry features throughout the town?

They are as needed.

As needed. So there's no actual cycle that's put in place? Correct. With this area, is this area where the proposed sign is going to be, is that one, is that area irrigated? No. Okay. So we don't have a rust concern the way we might have in other areas?

Correct. There are some, it is adjacent to some bushes along the edge. I have to go out there and see what bushes are, if they have any seeds or any type of fruit. That would be the only other concern in that area. But correct, there is no rust irrigation system in that area.

Yeah. My main concern with the darker tones, I'm really glad you brought this up because when I drive by the one, by the Grattany, I miss it completely because it just blends into everything else because it's kind of boring. It's gray. I really love option one. Obviously, that's probably the biggest magnet of all of them for dirt. But again, Councilman Fernandez is going to love me on this one. But I really don't like the idea of picking an option that none of us really like. over saving a couple of bucks when we could we're talking about just sending a guy out there with a pressure cleaner to rinse it off every so often um i i think the town of miami lakes can afford that guys i i really do um and it's it's a very nice thing i'm coming back to you so yeah if it's up to me i go option one uh councilman uh

if i may um there are solutions to problems right ceiling is one of them i you know i have for for my backyard i have a deck that is very white um and every other year i i seal it to make sure that when it rains you know it's and there's even solutions of that i've been introduced by town residents because they they are vendors for this product where you spray it and forget it and the rain actually cleans it for you So just because it can get dirty doesn't mean that it has to get dirty. The same reason we wax our cars, the same reason that we wax, that we seal our driveway, our paper driveways and our decks in the backyard, everything like that. So I feel like maybe, yes, it's a little bit more of a front of the expense for a long-term savings where we don't have to send somebody out to pressure unit because it's been sealed, you know, and just take that into account for... for the ripple effect costs to maintain this type of project. But I agree, the lighter color is gonna be way more, there's a reason why the underpass on Miami Dix Drive is white, it's not gray, so that people can see it, it stands out. And the gray one, I agree, the one on 67th Avenue, I know it's there and I still miss it at times because of the gray color to it. So I do, I preferably like the second option, the beige color, because it feels homey, it feels warm, which is Miami Dix to me. And I feel like the one, the white that's above on option one is more to our neighbors to the south and to the west. But I feel like if we seal it, we don't have to be out there as often pressure cleaning. So my vote is for option two. Yes.

And then the only one other consideration that staff took into this is also looking at the wall that is not covered by bush along 77th court. It is closer somewhere in between that beige and white. So the perimeter wall that is in that area is closer to that beige and alabaster color. 87th? 77th.

So does that mean that going with the beige or alabaster is actually going to make it blend into that wall?

It's going to match. So the adjacent home of what we're looking at right now, the identified space, is covered in bush. So there is a contrast regardless. When you go down a little further south and you start to see the wall where it's not covered and obscured by any bushes and it's closer to those colors. So that was another consideration of why there was light options chosen so it would match the area and where it was going.

okay um i'll just see if my colleagues agree um i think option two the beige is a little too old school for my taste so i'm gonna go with option one i'm gonna move option one and see what my colleagues say i'll second second uh any any discussion any yes or no all right uh those in favor say aye aye those against say nay motion passes unanimously thank you director We are now on to item number 8D. Yeah, change in October council meeting date by manager Peterman.

Yeah, this is mine. The International City Managers Association annual conference and educational symposium in October is being held on October from October 16th through the 21st. We currently have scheduled our October council meeting for October 20th. So what I'm requesting so that I can go and take advantage of the educational portion is to move the council meeting from the 20th to the 13th.

I'll make the motion. I'll second. And then there's a second. Did you want to discuss anything?

No.

My, I guess, question is, and if our budget director could show up, that'd be great. We're past the budget period on this, right? Yeah. Okay, so we already have an adopted budget. Okay, so I have no problem with this. Any other discussion?

Seeing none, those in favor? I want to be clear. This would be in net because it's October right so it would be in next year's budget so it would be still with funds that have not been approved yet, but no he's asking if it would affect us, but you know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

Report on resident notification of HOA restrictions. Mr. Deputy Town Attorney. 844.

So there's two things, Mr. Council, I was gonna say Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, but none other, or Mr. Vice Mayor. All right, so there's two issues, there's two matters that are on our report. One was with regards to HOAs. So generally there's a lot of issues when you have and you try to combine HOA information on a municipal webpage. Among them is the state really has established certain types of frameworks on how HOA manage and retain disseminate their information that kind of conflicts with the way that cities are required to. Additionally also being able to put the webpage of the city has to be specifically towards promoting a municipal uh items and municipal purpose hoas are completely different even though they live within the municipality they're governed by completely different rules and they have different purpose also it does open the the city a bit with regards to potential liability in putting information on hoas in our webpage so for all those reasons i would suggest that we we don't uh at this time put any information with regards to hys other than if you want to list that they exist that's fine if you want to list and that's to the extent that i would i would really suggest thank you any questions of the attorney on this item because it was uh okay you don't mind with constant garcia and then go to the vice mayor how about just contact information and links to their websites we came into that any contact information

The problem is they change is pleased to speak into the mic. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Councilman. The problem is that the change. The notice address everything changes and now the residents going to say but the town told me and we're going to get in the middle of a dog fight. I mean when Residents have an issue with their HOA. It's bad enough when we've got a room full of people here. You know, we've got enough issues of our own. Bringing those in as lawyers, we get very cautious and very concerned.

No, of course.

There's two other reasons that legally, just as additional, there's a lot of reasons why it's a bad idea, but one of them is Under Chapter 119, we have to be very careful as far as public information and how we redact that information. Once you start putting information on our webpage, even links that contains maybe information of somebody else that's maybe part of that HOA, then you could run into the risk of running afoul of maybe some of those public records.

It's possible.

The other part, too, is there's very specific laws, and it's statute, I think, 720-303, that mandates how associations on their online portal have to maintain their information and protect certain information that's on there and have certain data. by us putting that link on our web page if they're not maintaining that and we're addressing people to that to those web pages we can open ourselves and be found responsible i mean there is that possibility there's a lot of open issues there uh councilman that could could open the town up to to liability

So because the spirit of it was just to make the communications better with the with with the residents and the town in the age of ways to try to avoid time spent and money spent on changes like that. So I guess we have to come up with another way to educate the residents to make sure they're looking at the H away go before the H way first make sure the H way approves before you know just doesn't gotta be some we can do with that that doesn't put us in. Can we do maybe every once in a while, just maybe something on our communications department's website or on our Facebook website? Nothing we can do? Not even our TV screens?

I can suggest that as your attorney.

Okay.

If anybody has any ideas. Yeah, you were next. I just wanted to ask, Mayor, when you were on the Neighborhood Improvement Committee, at that time, they had constant relations with the HOAs, right? And if I remember correctly. Chairman. He mentioned your day. Thank you. He mentioned that they were kind of going to cease that because it was so difficult to keep in touch with him. It was kind of like hurting cats.

So yeah, the founding resolution for the Neighborhood Improvement Committee required that there be quarterly meetings with the various HOAs and condo boards in the town as a way of keeping everybody interconnected and to keep the town aware of their challenges and figure out how we can work together. At the time when I left the committee to run for office in 2018, that was still going strong and that was driven in part by various efforts we did to boost attendance, whether it was working in a lake presentation by Professor Sinto, Dr. Sinto with our lake quality studies or other informational items that would be a draw for them in addition to talking about their issues. Um, I do recall that conversation that cherry or either was saying it's becoming more and more difficult to keep that up. So I think if I recall correctly as well, he was kind of, uh, asking us to change the resolution. I thought we did. Didn't we make it more? Uh, I'm gonna defer to Councilman Herzberg, who seems to have more recollection of this. But what didn't we do it is biannual.

So correct. We it was an item I brought up early on in last year. for the town to get the contact information for the HOAs, not to share it, more for us. So we knew we can call the HOAs, we can try to figure out when their meetings were to go to meetings and whatnot. And then that was brought up that the NIC had that issue. We did, they wanted to do it, they wanted to get rid of it, and I believe we told them to do it twice. They did have an event, not that, a few months ago, that was HOA related. I don't necessarily know how they contacted the HOAs, what type of outreach they have, but I mean the town does have a working list, I don't know how recent it's been updated, of the HOA, who their management company is, and some of them we might even have when their meetings are. So internally we have information, but the NIC is supposed to continue to do that, and they did have something HOA related within the last few months. That's when Ron McGill came, I believe that was that event. So it's still there.

Yeah, Vice Mayor, we go back to you. No, it was just to say, look, I think I said when the item first came, I expressed some opposition, and it came primarily from my own experience with HOAs and that, you know, one second you have a great board that is on their game and makes sure to update the town on its registered agent, its mailing address and whatnot, and then the next you have a completely different board that is, Derelict in their duties and I also think it's important to mention, you know, we have a lot of HOAs in this town Because I think we it's easy for us to think of like the big ones the the Royal Oaks the Lake Glen Ellens the Loch Lomans, but then you have like the really little ones and you have sometimes masters and What do you call the ones below? Subordinate HOAs? Subassociations. Subassociations, thank you. Where it can get complicated. I just think that we complicate our lives a little bit. That is a private, what gives rise to HOAs is private contract, right? Everyone asks, how do these HOAs have so much rights? Well, it's because it's a private delegation of rights to an HOA. And our state condones it through the freedom of association and the freedom to privately contract. We are the opposite, quite literally. We are a public entity. They look public in the sense of they go through elections and all that stuff, but at the end of the day, they're just a board of directors for a corporation, for a nonprofit corporation. If they can't figure their stuff out, we're not going to be able to figure it out for them is my biggest thing. And again, just from my experience dealing with them and being in one, I can tell you it can be a nightmare.

The next person before we go back to councilman Garcia. Is there anyone else who would like to speak in the first round. Seeing none, councilman Garcia, you're recognized in the second round.

Yeah, no, I appreciate the feedback, town attorney. And yeah, well, I guess we'll have to figure out another way of improving communications between HOAs, the town, and their residents. Maybe through the NIC again, maybe redouble our efforts in that aspect. So I'll reach out to them. Thank you for your feedback.

Okay, thank you very much. With that, we are on 9B, feedback to be provided on the town charter ballot questions. Before I speak, I'll go to the town attorney to go ahead and present the item and get it teed up for us to have a discussion and vote.

So there's two resolutions. One is on the question that you approved that the mayor pushed forward and that is a charter question that you as a council are putting forward to the residents if you approve it. So before you, you have the actual resolution. There's two small changes after discussion with the mayor, we side barred and they're important. So I'm gonna read it out into the record. And the question would be, shall the town charter be amended to revise the council vacancy procedures to provide that the mayor nominate a replacement within 45 days, comma, with council confirmation with an additional 30 days, comma, for vacancies with more, so striking out less, more than six months remaining and then and to provide that if the mayor's office becomes vacant the vice mayor completes the term so the sentence that you have before you that says to require a special election for vacancies with six months or more months remaining that would be stricken out if you want me to read it again into the record yeah read it one more time for the record and then uh we'll go uh or i'll make my motion shall the town charter be amended to revise the town council vacancy procedures to provide that the mayor nominated a replacement within 45 days comma with council confirmation with an additional 30 days comma for vacancies with more than six months remaining semicolon and to provide that if the mayor's office becomes vacant comma the vice mayor completes the term question mark

Thank you very much. Now, colleagues, before I make my motion again, the issue with the prior version of this ballot question that was proposed by the Charter Revision Commission, and to be clear, that one is still gonna be on the ballot because we have no discretion to prevent that one from appearing on the ballot, but this is meant to be an alternate question that I think better solves the issue that we had with that section, which namely was the mayor needed more time to go ahead and make the nomination, and I used the, 20, the seat six situation that occurred when that vacancy happened right in the middle of the holiday season, which led to a lot of confusion and a lot of scurrying. So I think changing it to 45 days for the mayor to nominate is more than enough time. I think also having a firm timeline on which the council must act achieves an important policy objective, which is that we need to have a decision one way or the other. And then if it does not, if that nomination for whatever reason does not succeed in being appointed by council confirmation, then either the council will set it for the next regular election or a special election that they're choosing. Which I think the, and it leaves the time frames six months less and six months more intact as they currently are in the charter. That is the spirit behind this and I also want to include that the attorney has advised me, based on his discussions with the Department of Elections, that they're advising that this item B go first. I personally am fine with moving it in the middle of the list somewhere over there, or not in the middle, but somewhere else in the list, but I've been advised for the ease of transmitting it to the department, it would be better just to put this question as question one. Is that accurate?

The problem is that when we transmit the questions, we have to transmit them as two separate items to the elections department.

So it either goes at the bottom of the list or it goes at the top. Okay, so it's just that. And obviously, I think that this is an important change. I think the one that came from the Charter Revision Commission is, Quite deficient, you know for the reason to put on the record last time So my motion would be to go ahead and transmit this resolution as item number one As as it is stated before you is there a second off second. It's been seconded any discussion Councilman Herzberg

Thank you, Mayor. And that cleared it up because I was confused of why it was six months, but now it's no more. And I understand the item. I guess the question I have is, based off this item, if this item were to pass, that means it would have more votes than the one the commission provides. Even if this one has 60 and the commission has 55, this one prevails, right? That's how it works? Correct. What happens if there is no confirmation? Because it's a 6-6 council, usually, right? It's a six-person council. What does it say?

Well, similar to what, it's basically preserving what's there now. If the nomination fails, then it goes to the next regularly scheduled election, or the council can schedule a special election, much as what we did in seat six.

okay i mean i that's fine and i i agree with this language um because of the timing i think i think i didn't see a need to really change that language too much does that is this question sufficient for for that purpose i believe so okay i'm fine with it the reason why it doesn't mention that other step is because it doesn't change what's already there yeah perfect i have no problems with this i'll i'll be for it thank you councilman harzberg any anyone else

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it, the motion carries. We are now on the CRC proposed amendments, which I believe were here mainly to discuss their ordering. So Mr. Attorney, you're recognized to present the item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Council. The item that you have on your desk is very similar to the item you saw the last time, which you did pass, and you instructed me to come back with a new order. And based on the numbering and how they were provided, I have added those. The only one that I placed as, I think it's there as number eight, not number eight, number...

Okay, are there- Number five. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Is the appointment of the town clerk.

I'm sorry, I missed that, what was it?

Yeah, so number five was the appointment of the town clerk with appointment by the town council.

Got it, that's where it is numbered now. Correct. Okay. So questions of the attorney, questions of the attorney. All right, seeing none, does that mean we're ready to vote? Okay, so then all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it, the motion carries. You are free to transmit away.

Oh, thank you. Mr. Mayor, do you have a motion?

Oh, my apologies, you're absolutely right. Okay, so we did not yet vote. I'll go ahead and move it. Is there a second? I'll second. Yeah, it's been moved and seconded by the Vice Mayor. All those in favor now say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it, and now the motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Attorney, and sorry about the confusion there to my colleagues.

Just a point of order, I don't remember. Sure.

A resolution can be passed by a voice vote? Yes, yeah, ordinances, especially ordinances on second reading, need to be a roll call. Okay, so with that, transmit away, Mr. Attorney, and we are now on item 10, excuse me, pardon me, 11A, so we go to the manager for an introduction. Yep, Jeremy.

Good evening again, Jeremy Bagdon, Director of Parks and Recreation. This evening, I have the pleasure to introduce to you the town's new arbor coordinator. She comes to us with a background in plant science with a minor in horticulture, environmental horticulture, and a recent grad of University of Florida's Agronomical Program. Michelle. saint floor we have here with us has been with us now since the tail end of june so i believe it was her first day was june 22nd she's already transitioning to the town and transitioning to the team we look forward to her extensive knowledge in the biology of plant life and adapting it to our arbor and our tree canopy and continuing to grow our canopy beautiful so with that i introduce michelle

And despite the fact that she's a Florida Gator, we still hired her. Boo! No, I'm just kidding.

Good evening. I'm excited and honored to be joining the town as Arbor coordinator. I'm excited for the opportunity to care for our community's urban forest as well as to grow it too. And also I look forward to working with you all. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Oh, wait, wait. Sorry, the hazing is not over yet. Councilmember Sanchez from the Navy has a few words.

Well, I want to say welcome to the town of Miami Lakes. You're going to see there's a lot of passionate people in the town about our canopy, especially. But we also have a lot of passion about mulch.

Mulch?

So we want to make sure.

There is a mulch genocide going on in the town as we speak. And he's the culprit.

So we do have someone that is very passionate about mulch and the natures of mulch, and there's other individuals that like to use Wikipedia to research the effects of mulch and cancer. So I just want to make sure that I appreciate all the education that you have, and we look forward to the knowledge that you can bring to the town with regards to all plant life, not just for canopies and mulch.

I'll do my best. Thank you. MR. MAYOR. COUNCILMAN CUADRA GARCIA.

YOU MIGHT WANT TO WAIT HERE A LITTLE BIT. I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO COME.

THIS IS NOT THE MULCH GUY. HE'S THE MULCH GUY. WE'LL GET TO HIM NEXT.

I'M GOING TO ASK A QUESTION FOR DR. MULCH. MICHELLE?

MICHELLE, DOES MULCH BRING

As far as I know, for mulch, what it can do is create an environment of high moisture, and depending on how much mulch you apply, it could be bad for the plants, especially for palms. If you put too much mulch, it can kind of rot the bottom of the palm because the roots do need to breathe.

But my question is termites. Have you heard anything? If I go to Chad GPT right now and ask her, does mulch bring termites, what would she say?

I am not.

Chad GPT is an it. We're not assigning an agenda.

I have not done extensive research on termites, so I cannot give you a certain answer right now, but it is possible that the mulch can attract the termites as it can create a favorable environment for them.

That's it. Thank you.

I'd like a rebuttal, Mr. Mayor. This is the mulch guy. Councilman Herzberg. I guess this is the anti-mulch corner. I'm not a mulch fan. I'm an anti-mulch, just to let you know. Welcome. This is a very important position for our town. Like we all said, there's a lot of people that are passionate, rightfully so, about our canopy. And I look forward to working with you. I spoke briefly with the town manager about your qualifications, and it seems like this is a great pick. And yes, I like to limit the amount of mulch, both for fiscal reasons and aesthetic reasons, in my opinion. But we'll have those discussions soon in budget season, guys, so get ready. Thank you.

Okay.

Mr. Vice Mayor, this is our park frolicker. I am the park frolicker. First of all, I'm so sorry. You showed up here to deal with shade trees and beautiful canopies, and you got stuck talking about mulch. No, it's okay. It's all part of it. And just wait until you start talking about Brazilian peppers. Staff knows. First and foremost, I want to welcome you. Thank you so much for taking a chance on us and bringing your knowledge to us. I want to ask, and maybe it's more of a question for Jeremy, because it actually came up today. Would it be within her role to be in charge of determining when our swale trees need medication or some sort of treatment because they look sick or something like that?

No, that's something that we'll still take a look at internally, both myself. You also have Dr. Jose Orellana back there, our green space superintendent. So we have an extensive history of knowledge for the town, so we've probably dealt with it. So for the meantime, she'll be mainly relaying with us. But yes, down the road, she's already gone through IFAS, which is Internet... which is the UF's version of introducing the knowledge of tree trimming. She's already gotten certified basic tree trimmer, so she understands that aspect, but more in-depth items directly with arbor care would be something that we would still look over.

Got it. Got it. Perfect. Welcome again.

Yes, thank you so much. Is there anyone else? Yes. Councilmember Fernandez, this is our traditionalist. Welcome. Council Member Fernandez, you're recognized.

Thank you, welcome. I just, yeah, I think they've said it and you're gonna hear it from, we are passionate about our trees. We love them, and I'm sure that you are too with your background, so I just wanted to welcome you.

Thank you.

There we go, so we got mulch guy, pepper guy, tree man, you know, Navy guy, you know, so we got a couple here. All right, Mr. Manager.

Yes, we have one more staff member that in the public motion department. And Michelle, thank you, and welcome to the town.

Director Santos will introduce.

I will keep mine short. So, Many of you may not know, but in Public Works, we have a sub-department called General Services. This department is in charge of, amongst other things, keeping rooms cold is one of them.

My favorite.

And just the maintenance overall of our facilities. It also serves as a, they assist parks with pocket park maintenance and just general facility maintenance. So with that, I am pleased to introduce our new facilities coordinator, Eliezer Rayo. He comes to us with a background in logistics coordination and planning. and he will be working hand in hand with the department manager for the general service department to ensure that all town facilities are maintained well and and serviced um

Good evening, everyone. I just want to thanks God to this opportunity that you give it to me and I appreciate and I just want to do my best and happy to be part of the Town of Miami Lakes team. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much and welcome to the Town of Miami Lakes.

And GSA also handles our oversight of our fleet.

Of what? Of our fleet. Oh, yes. Angelo's definitely going to love them then. All right, well thank you very much. We are now on 12A, the consent calendar. Is there a motion? I'll move the consent calendar.

It's been moved by the Vice Mayor. Second. Seconded by Council Member Garcia.

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed no. Omar.

Omar.

Don't leave. Oh, yeah. I'm like, you know, who's objecting to the . Omar. All right. The ayes have it. The consent calendar is passed. And before we continue on to ordinances on first reading, I want to, I realize there was something I forgot to do at the top. And, you know, just in case I hadn't made the motion previously, but I need to reopen the order of business. Is there a second? Second. Second. It's been seconded by the Vice Mayor. All those in favor of reopening the agenda, say aye. Aye. All opposed, no. The ayes have it. And it's very simply to combine the other big topic tonight, which is my item and Councilmember Cuadra-Garcia's item, item 16A and B. I believe they should be taken concurrently at the same time. you know, it just is more efficient that way. So with that, all those in favor of the amended agenda? Yes, sir?

Can I ask?

Or rather, I'm sorry, you're right, I haven't even made a motion yet, but go ahead.

I was going to also just recommend, I don't know how colleagues feel of just bringing up the quasi-judicial if they're here, so they don't have to wait.

Are those here for the site plan? Are you here for the site plan approval? Okay. okay yes you know what so let let's uh let's deal with that so then let's move 15 a to our next item right that will be the next one we consider so 15 a ahead of ordinances on first reading and then we will combine 16 a and b when we get there right i'll second so okay well i'll move it it's been seconded by councilmember fernandez all those in favor say aye aye aye all opposed no no Now, one no, the ayes have it, and the agenda is amended as stated, and we are now on 15A, which is a resolution, a quasi-judicial public hearing, which therefore we will go to the attorney for his required statement.

Please be advised that the following items on the board's agenda are quasi-judicial in nature. An opportunity for persons to speak on each item will be made available after the applicant and staff have made their presentations on each item. All testimony, including public testimony and evidence, will be made under oath or affirmation. Additionally, each person who gives testimony may be subject to cross-examination. If you do not wish to be either cross-examined or sworn, your testimony will be given its due weight. The general public will not be permitted to cross-examine witnesses, but the public may request the board to ask questions of staff or witnesses on their behalf. Persons representing organizations must present evidence of their authority to speak for the organization. Any person presenting documents to the board should provide the town clerk with a minimum of 10 copies. Further details of the quasi-judicial procedure may be obtained from the clerk. We're here on hearing number PHS P2026-0195. varh 2026-0196 the applicant is store all acquisitions the folio It's 30 to 2020 to 0, 0, 6, 0, 1, 6, 0 location, 1, 41, 80 Northwest 77th court, Miami lakes, Florida, 3, 3, 0, 1, 6 in accordance with the town of Miami lakes land development code store. All acquisitions is requesting per section 13, 3, 0, 4 site plan approval and per section 13, 3, 0, 5, a variance from section 13 dash 7, 86 C to allow the new construction of a four storage of a four story self storage facility.

I just want to introduce the item of the yeah, I was going to say we're we're Susanna today Susanna is in northern Spain.

Oh boy, now I'm scared. Yeah. So I'm Mr. Manager.

Yeah. And as the town attorney stated, this is for a site plan approval with a variance. This the the code allows this is for a storage facility that's going to be along Perimeter Road, 77th Court, just almost to 78th Avenue. And the only thing is the code allows the proper height, which is what they're going to build out. But it says that it's restricted to two stories, which doesn't make sense to something that we got to fix in our code. So what they're looking for is a variance to allow for stories that would conform with the 50 50 foot height. It's the very same variance that this council approved for the storage facility that's over on the east side off a red road by the bank of America and the Taco Bell by the costco the very same exact of bears because they had the the same exact the conflicting issue so just to be clear then stats recommendations to approve absolutely okay with that may have yet so sorry but yes, I need to swear in whoever is going to speak of this race, your right hand you swear to say the truth and only the truth so help you got.

perfect thank you and as well i need to state for the record that the elected officials mayor and all the council members have provided me the clerk the ex-party communications disclosure forms and before you proceed sir i apologize because we had not sworn in i just need the manager who has now been sworn in to go ahead and answer my question does staff recommend approval of this project yes sir thank you okay um now you may proceed sir

I'm sorry, I think the mic may be turned off.

It's on now.

Perfect, thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, thank you very much for hearing this this evening. And I know you've had a very long night. So, first of all, my name is Felix Pardo. My offices are at 2100 Zalzito Street, Suite 303, Coral Gables, Florida. We have a very, very brief presentation, but just so you understand, this is a very unique site. It has chipped out a corner of the site that has a 150 or 141-foot antenna on there that was actually built before Miami Lakes was incorporated. Furthermore, what makes this interesting is that in this area, which started as an industrial area because it is zoned IU, C, and because of that, Many of the buildings in the immediate area are over three stories or four stories if you will This is a self storage building. I have built or we have built Self storage buildings all over the state of Florida and it just does not look like a self storage building It's very compatible with the existing buildings and more modern buildings in this area the great thing about the use of self-storage is that the amount of parking is minimal. So the impact on the existing office buildings that are in that area is negligible if at all. Second thing is we were able to maneuver around the existing and we were asked by the architectural committee to please buffer with landscaping, heavily buffer the area around the existing antenna because for years the Graham family has tried to get them to beautify that area and they just have not been able to. We gave them our word we would and they were very, very appreciative and they wrote a very outstanding letter of recommendation for our uses and our intention. If you could please put the site plan up. Okay, sorry. That one. You could see on the upper right-hand corner, you could see the area that's chipped out. It is a long-term lease, but that is a chipped out area that makes it very, very difficult to negotiate the square footage that you would need to be able to make it a competitive project. If you could go to the next one, please. You can see here that the entrance off the major street, which is on the bottom, the full alley, which is on the top, that is for service vehicles, emergency vehicles, and just plain circulation. On the upper right-hand corner, you could see what we did that was requested by the Architectural Review Committee. and you could see the blowup over on the right-hand side of the antenna area and how we have just absolutely smothered it with trees, both low and high, to be able to cover the fenced area, et cetera, and make it into a much more palatable area. Next slide, please. You can see here that this does not look like a self-storage building. It looks more like an office building. And we've done this before with very strict codes, such as in Collier County, Sarasota, many areas that really, and City of Hollywood. And people are always amazed that it isn't an office building. If you could go to the next slide, please. So that front view, this is where you come in. It's a horseshoe semi-circular type of thing, and we have the parking immediately to the right abutting the front sidewalk. We've only used an accentual color in the canopies to make it clear for people that are coming in customers that already have a unit there or new customers that are coming in. They have full access. It catches their eye. And you could see also that the signage that we put up is very, very subtle. Next slide, please. This is the rear view from what is not the principal road, but it's an access easement that looks like a road. So therefore, in this access easement on the back, you could see that we also have fenestration glass. The part on the left, we took the landscaping out so you could see what that side of the building looks like. But right now, they have that fence around it. Next slide, please. And there you could see more fenestration over on the corner from the backside. We have removed, on the rendering purposes so you could see the building better and the articulation in the building, you could see there clearly that we have fenestration, we have movement, staff was very happy with this, and so was the architectural review committee. They were very complimentary. So we have removed there maybe more than 20 trees just so you could see the building but as you saw in the previous landscaping drawing that it is completely full next slide please this is the copy of the letter from the association and endorsing endorsing this and they thought that it was a very clever use of the this particular parcel and that concludes my presentation mr mayor Thank you very much, Mr. Pardo.

Thank you. Before the Vice-President has asked me a question regarding the public hearing, we will get there in due time. But first, questions only of the applicant, not discussion yet. Are there any questions among my colleagues of our staff or the applicant? Oh yeah, you can also ask the staff. Through the chair? Well first, Councilman Fernandez and then Councilman Garcia.

I think I asked, but I'll ask, did this go through Planning and Zoning? Did they have to go through PNZ?

I don't know, I don't believe, because normally when it does go through PNZ, they'll reflect it in the staff report and I don't see it, so.

Isn't Justin here? I thought I saw him earlier. If he's available, maybe he can answer that for us. Yeah. And maybe in the meantime, OK, well we have our deputy attorney to stand in. OK, sir.

The PNC it did not go through PNC know this item as per code goes directly to you OK guys for site plan approval with a variance.

OK with that coming over do you have anything else. All right, councilman Garcia.

Just quick question so that it was approved for 2 stories, the variances for 4. So the with the 2 story very 2 story plan approved.

Yes, the two-story goes to four stories. The overall height, we are under the overall height, which is 50 feet, which is the right-of-way width in the front, based on the zoning.

Yes, sir. The issue becomes is that our code is silent when it comes to the actual height for these type of storage facilities. But since it's considered a commercial building, in our code, commercial buildings can go up to a height of 50 feet. So it says two stories, 50 feet. So what he's requesting is in order, since the code is kind of a little vague when it comes to this issue, to allow it to be four stories interior.

Absolutely, okay, thank you.

Further questions? And Councilman Cuadra-Garcia. Mr.

Chair, I'd like to get a little clarification. What is it that I am gonna be voting on?

15 a I know it's 15 alpha site plan approval to approve the site plan and a variance to allow them to do 4 stories instead of 2 stories. But the height that they're building is actually less than the height that they are allowed to build they're allowed to build up to 50. I think the plans are a 48 or 47 or somewhere in there were about 5 feet under yeah, are there any other questions of staff or the applicant.

All right, I'm gonna open the public hearing. The public hearing is now open for comments on 15A. Seeing no one in chambers, Madam Clerk, is there anyone online wishing to speak on item 15A?

There are no participants online.

Excellent, okay, so with that, I'm gonna close the public hearing. The public hearing is now closed and I will go ahead and move the item for approval as presented by staff for the reasons contained in the staff report. I'll second. It's been seconded by the vice mayor, that's who I heard first. And with that, is there any discussion on this item?

I just want to actually say, I was actually kind of commenting it off to the side while you were presenting it. I want to thank you for bringing a design that really does actually You're saying it, and then it's actually blending into the overall area. Yeah, I really like that design. Yes, it's not orange, thank you, or lime green. Actually, I commented, it looks like the headquarters for public storage. It doesn't look like a public storage.

It's funny that you say that, but you're not the first one that has said it on this design. I thought it looked more like the Aloft, but that's just me.

Thank you. That's what we really like to see here in Miami Lakes, where our buildings really almost grow out of the earth rather than get imposed on it. So it really looks nice. Thank you.

I think that's a good way to explain it.

Councilman Herzberg, I share the sentiments. I think it's a nice design, and someone wants to develop an industrial building on industrial land, I'm all for it. It looks good for me.

Thank you. And we're hiding the antennae.

That's a big win. Councilman Fernandez. Just a comment, I think for the rest of my colleagues. So if, I always say we can, when it comes to building, I mean nobody wants to see more building, but when it comes to, we can always restrict building and say no when there's a variance involved. but here they're they're building they're asking to build within their max amount of of uh of height and more importantly i think the the the reason or because just the the business itself it doesn't doesn't really impact traffic i think he stated it but if you just think about how how many times somebody goes and visits one of their storage facilities you know you could leave something there and not pass by for months and months so this is the really attractive for the town i'll just leave it with that thank you okay anyone else seeing none madam clerk please call the roll on item 15 a item 15 a council member fernandez yes

Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Council Member Garcia.

Yes.

Council Member Cuadra Garcia.

Yes.

Council Member Herzberg. Yes. Vice Mayor Morena.

Yes. Mayor Diegas. Yes.

Item 15A passes.

Thank you very much for your time. Congratulations, and again, you can pass on the compliments to your client. Thank you very much. Have a great evening. And of course, yes, let us know when they're ready to cut the ribbon. We'll be more than happy to schedule one with them. Thank you so much. Have a great evening. Okay, ladies and gentlemen, we are getting back on the main order of business, which is 14A, ordinances on first reading. Mr. Attorney? 13A. My apologies. 13A.

An ordinance of the Town Council of the Town of Miami Lakes, Florida, amending Chapter 35, Utilities, Article 2, Utilities, Facilities, and Public Rights of Way of the Town Code of Ordinances to align the town's regulations governing the installation, maintenance, and removal of utility facilities. within public rights of way with current Florida statutes, providing for amendments to definitions, registration, insurance, indemnification, termination, permitting, and related provisions, providing for severability, providing for inclusion in the code, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you. We are now going to go to the Director of Public Works.

Yeah, let him just give you a quick explanation of exactly what he does.

Yes, to go ahead and introduce the item. Again, these are items on first reading. I just want to note that for my colleagues.

Good evening. This is part of a review that was started a while back to look at our code and see specifically to existing utility policy, make sure that we have the language in our code to enforce the removal within a timely matter. During the review we found that specifically to this section article 2 we do have that language but we needed to make some changes to make sure that we're in compliance with current law, specifically some of the statutes and that's what you have in front of you. Many of the changes are related to that.

Well, thank you very much, Mr. Santos. Again, these are items on first reading, so it's very non-traditional to have the discussion on this. No, no, I'm just pointing it out in general for my colleagues, because we have a couple items on first reading. The Vice Mayor has moved the item. I will go ahead and second it. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Ordinance in first reading, item 13A. Council Member Herzberg.

Yes.

Council Member Quadra Garcia. Yes. Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Council Member Garcia.

Yes.

Council Member Fernandez.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Morera. Yes. Mayor Diaz. Yes. Item 13E, ordinance and first reading passes.

Perfect, we are now on 13B, amending chapter 38 of the town code, special taxing districts to be presented by Director Bagdown after the attorney reads the ordinance into the record.

In ordinance of the Town Council, Town of Miami Lakes, Florida, amending Chapter 38, Special Taxing Districts of the Town, Code of Ordinances amending Section 38.2 to provide a definition of capital improvement and to establish a uniform process for the adoption of special assessments for capital improvement projects with the Town's Special Taxing Districts, providing for severability, providing for the inclusion in the code, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you, Mr. Attorney. Mr. Bagdown, or Director Bagdown, you are recognized to introduce the item.

Good evening. The ordinance you have in front of you looks at tackling two issues that we, for the past couple years, have come aboard with our special taxing districts. They come off the most recent change in a resolution that was passed in 2024, which started to add some context that started to put us in the position to look at capital improvements. to look at things of changing, increasing assessment rates for different services. So as a part of that, this ordinance here goes ahead and adopts the definition of capital improvement, as well as establishing the process for assessment rate increases, which is uniform with the same way an amendment to the ordinance will be done. So again, this is an ordinance in first reading, and if there's any questions from the council.

for questions only anyone got questions vice mayor this is just primarily to address like kind of like that gap that we had when uh lock lowman wanted to bring in uh the special assessment to improve their guardhouse right correct okay correct any questions and at the same time identifying and uh putting the exact definition of what a capital improvement is perfect yeah all right so it's been moved by the vice mayor is there a second

Second. Seconded by Councilman Garcia. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Item 13B, ordinance in first reading. Councilmember Garcia.

Yes.

Council member Cuadra Garcia.

Yes.

Council member Fernandez. Yes. Council member Sanchez. Yes. Council member Herzberg. Yes. Vice Mayor Morera. Yes. Mayor Diegues. Yes. Ordinance in first reading item 13B passes.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We're now on 13C. Mayor. Yes?

I believe Mr. Bashedown wants to provide some information.

Why are you interrupting my flow?

I apologize. There is one item, since we're talking about special taxing districts, that I just wanted to address. I know that there was a public comment through the clerk's office relating to the workshop, and there was a topic on the assessment rates that have already been passed. just for clarification purposes on the record these rates are passed not final till September 15th and it is not the rate that will be assessed it is the at this point highest rate that has been approved by the council it still can be I want to clarify it still can be brought back down that is when it comes to the time of setting the actual budget for these um special taxing districts just want to clarify that

perfect i think that will help reduce the number of pitchforks that come after you and the budget director but you know wait but i just want to ask our budget director oh boy to confirm that just when she thought she was out a bit of information during the workshop so sorry when it comes to the budget i she's the one i trust

Good evening, mayor counsel. Thank you for your trust.

Why do you sound so scared?

Do you want me to repeat the question? I'm sorry. Did you want me to repeat the question? Yes, please. Yeah, so what he's saying is that the number that we've set thus far regarding the STDs, that is more like a cap rate, like what we're used to with our budget. It's not a fixed assessment rate because that's kind of what I think Mr. Giannis told us at the workshop. And I think that that's what kind of led to the confusion. So I just wanted to clarify.

What you have approved and what I have submitted to the property appraiser, which will then be implemented into the trim notice that will go out on August 24th, is the cap of the assessment rate. On September 15th, that is when I will have to submit to the property appraiser's office what the final assessment would be if you so choose to then decide to reopen that and have another discussion to reduce the assessment.

Okay, so it can, in fact, come down.

It can come down, you just cannot raise it.

Thank you, and I didn't mean to not trust you, Mr. Bagdan. I just wanted to hear from our budget master.

Make sure to add him to the list.

Any other questions regarding? No, that is all.

all right so with that now continuing on with my flow 13c budget amendment for contribution of 1.56 million for senior center project mr attorney please read the ordinance into the record an ordinance of the town council of miami lakes florida amending ordinance 2025-346 approving the fiscal year 2025-2026 annual operating budget to recognize and appropriate a contribution from the graham companies in the amount of 1 million 560 thousand dollars for the construction of the senior center project providing for the increase of capital projects fund parks improvements revenues and appropriations in the amount of one million five hundred sixty sixty thousand dollars asset asset forth and exhibit a providing for authority providing for implementation providing for repeal of ordinances in conflict providing for severability providing for inclusion and providing for an effective date try not to sound bored as you're reading that

uh you know i got nothing but love for you uh mr peterman yeah real quick this is just the as the approval for the lakeside project uh constituted there was going to be a contribution by the graham company for that project uh to the town they've paid it we're this is to accept the 1.56 million dollars and then appropriate those funds to the capital center or a senior center capital account I'll move it.

It's been moved by the Vice Mayor, is there a second? Second. Seconded by Council Member Herzberg and Councilman Sanchez has a question.

Yes, will the funds be put into an account that will be interest bearing in order to increase it over time, like a high yield savings account or something to that nature?

We always, we commingle our cash. Okay. So we have it commingled and it's always, any excess cash, we always invest it. It's very conservative. Kay and I look at it with the advice of our investment consultant. But it's always, it will be invested. Do you know an average? Until we, the point where we need it. So we always have that conversation. When do you think we're gonna need it? Can we put it in a three month CD, six month CD, a year long CD? And we have that conversation and then we, for all of our accounts, stormwater, capital accounts, everything.

When you say conservative, are we putting it into accounts where the returns are in the decimals or are they in the same?

No, I think we're around three or 4% now, right? There you go perfect okay, you know that we can carry through inflation and yeah, we have a good investment consultant that helps us and then he helps with the solicitation and goes out and put it out in the market and then he gets the solicitation the responses back exactly goes over with K and then K and I look at it and then we make the decision of how to place the cash.

Yeah, because I want to make sure that 1.56 today 2 years from now is not worth 1.56 they just said storming I want to make sure that it grows with the inflation rate, thank you very much.

All righty, with that, no more questions. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Ordinance in first reading, item 13C. Councilmember Sanchez.

Yes.

Councilmember Cuadra Garcia. Yes. Councilmember Fernandez. Yes. Councilmember Herzberg. Yes. Councilmember Garcia.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Morera. Yes. Mayor Diegas. Yes. Ordinance in first reading, item 13C, passes.

Excellent, we are now on ordinances on second reading, which are public hearings beginning with 14A, the revised lien reduction ordinance. Mr. Attorney, please go ahead and read the ordinance to the record. An ordinance. With oomph.

Okay. An ordinance of the Town of Miami Lakes, Florida, amending Chapter 8, Section 8-7 of the Town of Miami Lakes Code of Ordinances, titled Recovery of Unpaid Civil Penalties. Unpaid penalty to constitute a lien interest to be paid on liens, foreclosure, prohibition of the issuance of permits, licenses, certificates of use and occupancy, or zoning approvals to violations with unpaid civil penalties or liens, civil penalty reduction to temporarily reinstate prior lien mitigation schedules, to require town council approval prior to foreclosure on non-homestead property, providing for inclusion into the code, providing for repeal of ordinances in conflict, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date.

Atta boy. I knew you could do it. You see, we deal with enough dry material and with tense moments, so it's nice to break all that with some leavening.

Sounds like a heat announcer. I love it.

exactly you know so that you know so that that's where it comes from when i when i talk about these things so with that obviously this is the lien reduction ordinance to me with uh all fairness to the vice mayor my colleague it has my name on it but this is really his item coming back with the revision that he and i would have worked out but for one council member unfortunately not understanding what they were voting on so here we are now on second reading um before we uh well first to get us in the proper posture i'm going to go ahead and move the item We will, after we get the item in front of the council. All right, it's been moved by the mayor, seconded by the vice mayor. Before we go into discussion, again, because obviously if it doesn't even get a second, you know, yeah. So, all right, with that, we're gonna move to the public comment on this item, 14A. The public comment period is now open, or public hearing, rather, is now open on 14A. Seeing no one in chambers, Madam Clerk, is there anyone online?

No participants online, Mayor.

With that, we are closing the public hearing. And we are now in discussion. Discussion on 14A. Colleagues? Seeing none, all right. If there's no questions, let's go ahead and call the roll. Madam Clerk, do your thing.

Ordinance in second reading, item 14A, Councilmember Hersberg.

Yes.

Councilmember Fernandez. Yes. Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Council Member Garcia.

Yes.

Council Member Cuadra-Garcia. Yes. Vice Mayor Morera. Yes. Mayor Diegues.

Yes.

The ordinance in second reading, item 14-8 passes.

Congratulations Vice Mayor and to all my colleagues, but again, this is gonna be the last one. For real, for real. This time I'm super serial, as they would say on South Park.

all right with that we are on 14b budget amendment jag grant uh mr attorney do your thing in ordinance of the town of miami lakes florida amending fiscal year 2025 2026 annual operating budget adopted in accordance with in accordance with 2025 346 to recognize an appropriate grant funds awarded to the town by the florida department of law enforcement under the edward byrne memorial justice assistant grant jag uh program for the purchase of police equipment providing for the increase of general fund revenues and appropriate appropriations in the amount of four thousand fifty four dollars as set forth in exhibit a providing for authority providing for implementation providing for repeal of ordinances and conflict and providing for an effective date Mister manager.

Yeah, this is the same when you saw last month. This is to accept the second part of the jack grant this year and then to appropriate it. This is for law enforcement equipment.

It's been moved by the vice mayor is second second seconded by councilmember Sanchez. At this time I'm going to open the public hearing on item 14 B. Is there anyone in the public wishing to speak on item 14B? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, anyone online?

No participants online, Mayor.

Therefore, I shall close the public hearing. Public hearing is now closed on 14B. Discussion, colleagues? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Ordinance in second reading, item 14B. Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Council Member Fernandez. Yes. Council Member Cuadra Garcia.

I approve, yes.

Council Member Garcia.

Yes.

Council Member Herzberg. Yes. Vice Mayor Morera. Yes. Mayor Diegues.

Yes.

The ordinance in second reading, item 14B, passes.

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. We now move on to new business items, beginning with items 16A and 16B, which were combined by previous order of the council. And again, this is an identical topic, to be clear, but with two different directions. Although, I just also wanna be clear about one thing, that my item, as it would be in any situation, is not a clean renewal, right? Obviously, there's a negotiating stage here, which the manager and the person I'm nominating that would represent the council in those negotiations, being Councilman Herzberg, they would need to go ahead and discuss the renewal terms, and then come back before this council for a final vote. So just to be clear that there would be no finality in this situation if we were to go with my recommendation. Now, turning to the counter proposal that is before us tonight, I want to begin by addressing the post, the press release, whatever you want to call it, from the alleged Miami Lake Civic Alliance, right? The flat, harsh reality here is that there's not a single substantive issue raised in this justifying moving in a different direction from Manager Peterman. That's the reality. In fact, I got a call yesterday from one of the people listed here who told me that they had not even taken a vote on this at the time that this was put out there. So I find that interesting that an organization consisting of however many people are listed at the bottom is putting out a position statement paper without even having consulted its alleged members before putting it out. So that raises a lot of credibility issues with me in addition to just the fact that what I'm reading a lot into this and from some of the comments that I've seen justifying going in a different direction, it sounds like a lot of hope and change to me, right? I'm not a big fan of hope and change as a governing strategy. That is a political slogan and that's all it is. It's about renewal and what can come next. Again, sounds nice, but what's on the other side of that, right? I will give you a perfect example of what having a fresh start and renewal looked like in Miami Lake's history. There was a point where manager Alex Ray left us, it was in the 2000s, and was replaced by another individual who as a person was a standout individual right to my recollection it was his term was either at about a year or less than before the council had to go back and and drag Mr Ray back into the town because he was not performing his duties as expect as expected This is to say that just going out and seeing what's out there is not as harmless as it sounds and getting a new manager that may present well on paper is not gonna necessarily yield the result that we're looking for if we're serious about moving the town forward. The slogan of hope and change runs up against the reality of the situation which is we have a manager who has been with us now going on 10 years Oh, eight years, sorry, I'm thinking about myself in other contexts. But you're right, eight years. But he is right now at the center of the 59th Avenue project, at the beginning of the Miami Lakes Optimist Park improvements that we're finally getting done. He has been an integral part of the Grattney project. Again, the man's on GMX, on that board of directors. To me, to go and start trying to begin a process for finding a new manager, and having that person come in, and then have to not only get up to speed on this, but then have to, because they're inevitably going to bring their people, and there's always turnover with all these things, right? So where is that turnover going to come from? How is that going to set us back when it comes to these major capital improvement projects? Those projects are obviously not gonna wrap up within the six or whatever months it is remaining on the balance of his contract term. So these are very real issues and I have not heard of any, again, putting aside that so far there have been no concrete deficiencies listed, more importantly for me, because I can even understand the desire to just want a new direction, or not even a new direction, but to have a manager that others have had input on. That's an argument that's come up here on the dais before. It's not new, and I understand it. But in practical terms, who comes after him? Mr. Manager, correct me if I'm wrong, when you and I spoke, you were very clear with me that you would not apply if we did not agree to renew your contract. Is that correct? Yes, sir. So if we decide to go into this other direction, He's gone, and now we have to go out with the speculative future, unless somebody can tell me they know they have a candidate in mind who is guaranteed to apply, would be as good or better than Mr. Peterman, You know, if you tell me that, I will feel a little better. But right now, there is a lot of uncertainty, and that is going to be the result of going in a new direction at this time, right? There's just a lot going, you know, a lot of irons in the fire, and him and his team have been at the core of all that. he and i have worked hand in glove on 59th avenue uh he's working diligently on the optimist park i kind of wish that him and staff had come up with this plan back in 2022 but that's another story altogether but the point is that he has been at the center of that as is his team and again remember because it happened even when he came in and i'm sure he'll remember and for those of you that were even around there's always turnover when we have these changes the question is how big will that turnover be in which departments how will that affect us in the middle of all these big projects So I don't think it is prudent, again, unless there is a guaranteed candidate that is of the same or better value coming in that will be in the mix and will still go through the committee process like everybody else. But unless we have that, I just think this is hope and change. It's a campaign strategy with very real consequences if we get this wrong. So, and I just wanna reiterate as I close, before I make my motion, that this is a two-step process. So there will be another bite at the apple at this for those that are truly not satisfied with the manager's performance, right? Which is, my motion is simply to have Councilmember Herzberg negotiate an extension with the manager I'm actually partial to a two-year extension personally, which I think dovetails nicely with the end of my first term. After all, I don't think anybody disputes that in order to fulfill the intergovernmental role of the mayor, the manager and the mayor have to be aligned. And we are very much aligned, to be frank. So that I think also needs to be considered. And so my motion would be to go ahead and consider a two year contract extension for Manager Peterman, appointing Councilman Herzberg to go ahead and negotiate and come back to us with the contract. And if we don't agree with it, We don't agree with it and it is what it is. And then we still have enough time to pursue the alternate committee process, to look for new candidates if need be. And with that, that is my motion. The last thing I do want to add though before actually I close is, again, I want to point out that at no point, not in this letter, not in any other material I've been given or anything else I've heard, no one has complained about projects being over budget. in fact i don't think that's really been an issue here i don't think anybody's really had any you know major complaints you know you know maybe some disagreements but major complaints with the staff that he's picked um and so those are things that i think militate in favor of at least keeping the status quo for the next two years while i complete my first term and with that i close and i and i make my motion second for discussion thank you seconded and we'll begin with the vice mayor

Thank you, Mayor. So first and foremost, I do want to echo the sentiments of some of the residents that came up and expressed sincere gratitude and admiration for our manager and the service he's given our town. And I want to emphasize that my position on this is strictly in my role as a fiduciary for our residents. And I say that because I truly consider him a friend. I consider him a great neighbor and a very ethical and good person. This has nothing to do with that. This is strictly professional. I do believe that our town can look not at the past. I understand that those things happened in the past, You mentioned that you know that we switched away from Mister Ray and then within a year or so we had to come back and guess what the town survived the town came out of that and it is doing fine. If we don't find. greener grass on the other side we can always engage in the process again and find it but i think staying stagnant is not a good thing either for the same reason that we have term limits on ourselves i do believe the executive should also have term limits not term limits in the same exact sense um it's more contractual you know when the discussion last came around It was more about deficiencies, or as you mentioned, things maybe being over budget or complaints from the council or from residents, and that's why they didn't get support, because frankly, Manager Peterman has done a good job. This is more, the contract is up, and do we wanna go in a different direction? My position is, personally, yes. I'm tired of being afraid. I'm tired of being told like, we don't have guarantees. I'm sorry, but especially the attorneys up here know it's the first thing we tell our clients. There's no such thing as guarantees. We'll never say that a case is 100% strong or 100% a loser or 0%. It's somewhere in between. And the same applies here. The same applies with, this got louder. The same applies with the possibilities of a new manager. We may get a dud that that can happen. I'm sorry to tell you that. but very easily we can also find a phenomenal new manager and as far as the clean renewal i have my concerns because if what we're proposing is another two years then yes he will be at 10 years but what are the terms of that moreover what if you don't reach an agreement because you the message that we're sending by taking this vote today is we're going with you hell or high water what incentive is there on that side sorry again i'm taking my position as a fiduciary of the town but what incentive is there on that side of the bargaining table to negotiate with you for for something that's advantageous to our residents the answer is nothing because he holds all the cards and all the leverage um and so that's where i start struggling as a fiduciary of our residents um it has nothing to do with performance it's and then let's just say because i i think i've heard things about the compensation sting, where it's at, or something like that, then I develop a different concern. My town manager is not going to be getting the standard increases that are customary for a town manager, so we're no longer being competitive. Again, what incentive is there now for him to work harder on behalf of us and on behalf of our residents? There's a lot that goes into it. I respect the opinions of all of the residents that have come forward, all of my colleagues, and most of all, I respect your tenure of service, but I would like to see the options. And I will end by saying, it is a little sad for me to see that it's not something you would be interested in doing in applying if we did proceed, because it puts us in a position of, Well, it's either you pick me or I'm not willing to compete for my job. And that to me is like, well, if we do it to all of our contractors, every single one of our contractors, how often do we get up on this dais and we say, hey, this particular contract, Can we send it out for bid and see if there's better options out there? And nine times out of ten, maybe that contractor is the one that wins because they already know our system, they know what we're willing to pay, and then they keep the contract because they make the best bid. But why are we not willing to do that with one of our larger well one of our bigger contracts even though it's an employment contract it's the same concept applies so yeah i i would like to see it again with complete respect you you've done a tremendous job for our town our town is in a better position thanks to you and frankly if my colleagues don't get on board with me i am happy to continue working with you

mayor no i i'd like to wait wait uh no no no no no that's not how this works i don't know how many times i have to go over this councilman hersberg spoke first so we're going to allow him to speak first thank you mayor and listen this is a very difficult decision right and i've been going back and forth on it i've spoken to a lot of people first of all i want to point one thing out there's nobody here because there's no problem with our town manager I agree, the idea of going after something new is really exciting, really cool. Someone called me today saying, hey, you guys can pick your own town manager, you can make your own agenda. We make our own agenda, that's our job. Do I have issues, some issues with the town manager? Yes, I spoke to him about it. Does he get into policy a little bit too much? Yes. It's a public record, it's an email. Me and him had a disagreement about the charter commission, his involvement. Ultimately, the charter commission decided to bring him back. I think that was a mistake by the charter commission, but they did it, they did it themselves. But the problem I have is where's the crisis? Every single person that said we should go for, every single person, calls, public comments, this letter from the civic association, every single person that said we should replace the town manager says the town manager's done a good job. So we have a potential budget crisis coming up, potential, we'll see if it passes, for two years. I spoke to town manager about that. He's ready to do what we'll need to do, and it might be really difficult decisions for all of us to do, but ultimately, a lot of that is up to us. Someone talked about continuation of leadership's a bad thing. You know I love aviation, I love airplanes. Delta Airlines is the best airline in the world, right? They've had their CEO for 10 plus years. When someone's doing a good job, you don't get rid of them. I do share the issue of, well, this is sort of a public position. Should they stay in power so long? I like the idea of two years. I do believe this will be the last contract renewal if we have one. I don't believe there should be an increase in pay. I do believe we need to have actual performance standards in that contract. I asked the town clerk for all the prior a manager evaluations done in the last four years. Myself and Councilman Cargill-Garcia were the only ones that did it last year. Nobody else here did it. It would have helped me a lot if you guys would have done it. I think we all said we were going to.

If I may interject, I'll be honest with you, that's because my position has been the same from the first one, including the wards.

right i understand that if there's no evaluation it means you're doing a good job i think we i think the contract and i think we need to do a better job evaluating it but i went back and looked at evaluations and they're all very good including someone who just stood up who stood up here and said i want i would it makes sense to replace him the evaluation that that council member provided was a good evaluation So I just, I understand the want to say, hey, let's pick our own manager, it'll be a really cool process. It would, and the political geek in me really wants to do it, okay? But I also watch a lot of town meetings, as you all know, at late at night. And the times town manager leaves is one, they're tied to administrations like the city of Miami. Two, they just resigned because they got something else, they're retiring. Or three, they're in crisis. There's a controversy, there's an issue, something happened. There's no crisis. Where is, what direction, what specific avenue are we doing wrong, what the town manager is doing wrong? Other than, I agree, there's some intra-politics, intra-relationship things that we need to work on. Me too, I have my issues with how the budget was presented last year and things like that. I get it and I let him know about that. but I just don't see the need for the risk because, Vice Mayor, you're completely correct. If we go out the process, it could turn out great, it could turn out okay, or it could turn out a complete disaster. But what we have right now is good, it's performing, we're doing well, the town's heading in a fine direction. Is it perfect? No, we have places for improvement. But I just don't see the reasoning to change something that's working. And again, if I had residents, we had residents here saying the building department's bad, the crime rate is up, obviously it's not. If we had residents saying there's issues, Then we would, it's something I would seriously, seriously consider, but even the people that are telling us we should go a different direction have all said to me, he's done a good job. So what are we doing? Let's negotiate the contract, I already told you, no pay increase is my position. Real performance evaluation and real parameters, I'm gonna figure it out, I'll figure it out, we probably have to sunshine something right before the next meeting, we gotta talk about a timeline. You know, if the council did go in the other direction, I would like you to apply. I would like you to be part of that committee if the council goes in that direction. I hope it doesn't, but that's where I see it. I just don't see the problem we're trying to solve.

Now we will go to Councilman Cuadrado-Garcia and then to Councilmember Fernandez. Councilman?

I'm gonna use, thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me to speak. I'm gonna use something that some of you might be able to use moving forward in the future. I went out this week and we talk about how do we know if we can find something better. I went out and I did something and again, maybe all of you can learn from this. Somebody told me I couldn't buy or lease my wife and I'll tell you why I'm using a car scenario, Mr. Town, Mr. Mayor, was told to me that I couldn't lease her car for $575. I couldn't lease it for any less. I said, okay, that's your best deal? I went to Palmetto 57. Then I went to another dealership down in Pompano. I said, can you do $100 less? And they said, no, but we can do 537. I said, great, I'll take it. I went to another dealership, and I ended up at Rick Case and the vehicles outside leasing it for, and I wanna explain to you why, because the why is we keep saying sometimes that, You know, the scare tactic. We don't know if we can get anything better. This shows you that you can get something better when you shop. Well, guess what? The contract is outside. I'm paying 479, zero down, no exceptions, and somebody said you couldn't get it for, so you could. You just got to forget about those you can'ts and think of what you can do. I don't know if that makes any sense. But that is my two cents of the conversation.

Do you have anybody in mind that you would tell to apply in the event? Okay.

We do, but I want to add something.

You walked very hard. And so why should somebody else not have to also do the same due diligence that you do in four years or two years? You have to run again and knock on doors and get elected. Why do we let somebody else get elected without the fair due process?

Well, he's already was vetted thoroughly. The first time he was picked, he's been vetted by multiple councils that have taken votes to hire and fire him over the years or extend his contract. I also want to point out we're not buying a car here. We're talking about the leader of a multimillion dollar organization with hundreds of employees that manages our taxpayers' money. The stakes are much higher. With respect to my good friend, and he knows that I don't mean this at all sarcastically, Brian and I have known each other since FIU. I actually disagree with you that that or rather I agree with you that we are fiduciaries of the public's trust and their and their money my concern is for the reason that Councilman Cuadra just stated is that there's no there's no plan here really on how to reduce our downside and the risk to our taxpayers to ensure that we get again a candidate that is at the same level or better than our town manager And because of that, because there's nothing I've heard to really reduce our downside, that to me would fall short of the fiduciary standard that other fiduciaries that we encounter in our private practice would have to meet, right? There's not enough being done there to minimize the downside. And this is not a scare tactic, this is reality. Coming from the experience that I have, coming from the experience that this town has had, Right. You know, there are very real consequences to getting this wrong. And again, the biggest thing that would have allayed my concerns so far have not materialized, which is, is there a guaranteed replacement that has said they would submit themselves to the process and be a viable candidate? The answer so far has been no. Mr. Vice Mayor.

I guess I'm just sort of confused here because my understanding of the code is the what this council is required to do is if we're going to replace our manager there's an it's laid out in a code the step one hire an executive recruitment firm or something like that they're the ones that come and make the the recommendations I us bringing people is putting the cart before the horse because otherwise I feel like we could have come prepared with that but I really think if you're trying to follow the letter of the law, you're not really supposed to be putting out people right now. You're simply supposed to follow the code, which is there for specifically this purpose.

My friend, who wrote that provision? Probably you.

Yes.

Well, Ethan. But listen, no, but here's the reality, right? And there was a lot of misunderstanding by people back in the last selection process that seemed to think that the committee was the end all be all. That is not the case because we always had considered, by the way, that provision in the first place was written into the charter at the suggestion of now school board member Robert Alonso, who was my colleague on the time on the CRC. And then from there I went ahead and made improvements to it with the implementing ordinance. So it was designed in a way where it would have resident input, but if for whatever reason there were some shenanigans that went on with that board, or whatever the case might be, the council was permitted to go ahead and still be able to bring out their own candidate if that was the case. And notice what I'm saying is not to bypass them, it's just to have a candidate that it will guarantee that they would throw themselves into that process and be subjected to the questioning and the scrutiny that that that that involves and it would at least put me more at ease that there's that there is at least a strong viable contender in the mix without even having to put our thumb on the scale it's just about making sure that we have a viable plan b mr vice mayor

Yeah, just a point of clarification because I really don't want to engage in an extended back and forth, but I do want to clarify, I wasn't referring to the committee. I was referring to the professional firm that our code requires us to hire, that they are the ones that bring to the committee approximately 15 candidates if we want to completely overrule the committee that's on us and i'm okay with that a committee serves at our pleasure but i apparently accept the charter committee but my main point was to the executive firm that the code requires us to hire in that instance

yeah well that was something I added a little later but it doesn't stop you though from making sure that they apply right because the headhunter is still going to have to go based off who's willing to come over here and who's going to apply but I agree with you I want to go to Councilmember Fernandez who has not had an opportunity thank you mayor

FIRST, I WANT TO SAY A FEW THINGS. I THINK THE THING THAT WE KEEP GOING BACK TO AND VICE MAYOR, YOU STATED THAT NOTHING TO DO WITH PERFORMANCE. SO WHY ARE WE PUSHING TO HAVE A NEW MANAGER WHEN WE ALL AGREE AND EVERYBODY AGREES, EVEN THOSE NAYSAYERS, THE ONES WHO DON'T THINK OR RATHER THINK THAT WE SHOULD OPEN UP AND SEARCH FOR A NEW MANAGER, THEY EVEN ARE SAYING THAT HE'S DOING A FINE JOB. HE'S DOING A GOOD JOB. WE'VE RECEIVED DOZENS OF E-MAILS. WE CAN ARGUE, ARE THEY HIS FRIENDS? DOES ANYBODY HERE THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE A RESIDENT IS ALSO A FRIEND, THEY WOULD, IF HE WASN'T DOING A GOOD JOB, THEY WOULD STILL COME OUT HERE AND SUPPORT HIM AND E-MAIL US AND SHOW THEIR SUPPORT? I DON'T BELIEVE THAT. JUST BECAUSE OF, I DON'T THINK SO. I THINK THAT THEY TRULY BELIEVE THAT HE'S DOING A GOOD JOB. I also want to state that out of all the letters of support and the emails and some phone calls, I did receive one in opposing us renewing the contract. But I received, and I'll say, I don't know if he wanted me to state him, identify him, but he was a former elected official. um which sat mostly on the side of those who fought and were looking to replace him said do not replace him he's doing a good job now um he said the only way that i would even consider it these are his words is if we had somebody in mind and you already had somebody chosen and he was gonna you knew that it was gonna be the right fit and he was gonna be better but somebody who would at that time would say let's look for somebody else's saying he's doing a great job leave him leave him where he is so i just don't see we're there's a problem there's not a problem and we're trying to find a solution to a problem that doesn't exist that's my two cents councilman garcia

Thank you, Mayor. I was impressed by the number of people that, in fact, I counted over 70 who gave public comment for the manager and over 100 that have supported you here, and I'm sure there's a lot of others. I think multiple things could be true at the same time. I think the manager could be doing a good job, but at the same time, as a council, we have to be open to the fact that it's gonna be eight years. Unprecedented changes are coming, or might be coming, but most likely will be coming, that will affect our budgets to over the next two years, more than 21%, or over 20% reduction in revenue, and as a council and as a manager and as a staff, we have to come up with new ideas to be able to maintain the level of service first of all make sure our police have everything they want to keep our crime low and make sure we keep the level of service the miami lakers deserve i think that these items a should always should have come first before being uh mr mayor because if a is voted down then of course b is is is uh something we vote on but if a is voted up then of course B wouldn't at this point be prudent. But this is my idea, or my thinking. Because of these changes, it is okay for us to, I'm not asking for the mayor, I mean for the manager not to participate. In fact, I want him to throw his hat in the ring. As Councilman Ruano said, it'll be an opportunity for him to just basically go over all his wins and give us his ideas for what the future is coming for Miami Lakes. It's also a good idea, it's been eight years, it was four years I'd say now, it's too early, but for that firm to bring in candidates to hear their ideas, I think it's a win-win, because if we decide, or if we hear it, and the mayor in the end will say who he wants, but he'll be able to hear not only the ideas that the manager comes up with, he'll also be able to basically show his resume of everything he's done. You'll also hear ideas from other professionals, not only from the county, perhaps the state, perhaps nationwide, to come in, give ideas, and perhaps if the mayor decides, you know what, we're gonna stick with the mayor, he can incorporate these ideas and so can the manager into making the adjustments we need to make because it is going to be the most difficult challenge coming up for the next budgets if this passes. So I don't see an insult to the manager. And I've talked to the manager about this. I want you to throw your hat in the ring, sir, because changes are coming. And even if we decide we're gonna allow Councilman Hertzberg to go ahead and negotiate, Changes are gonna have to come to your contract because we're gonna lose 20% of our revenue, more than 20% of our revenue over the next two years. So there's gonna have to be changes all around. So I think this should be a hybrid. Why don't we go ahead and go through the process with a selection advisory board, pick someone that'll go ahead and bring good candidates, 15 good candidates. And Mr. Mayor, if you're not happy with it, then of course you can decide, no, we're gonna keep the manager and then we can renegotiate the contract. We're putting the cart before the horse here. I think we should honestly take item A up first since it was first in the agenda, decide on that. If it's no, then we go ahead and vote for the town manager's contract being negotiated by Councilman Hertzberg. And again, even that negotiation has to be, the manager has to be open to changes. He has to be open to differences and changes. And if it's gonna be two years, I don't know, I think if the mayor's happy with him, and he decides you want to keep them, it should be four years. Honestly, it should be four, not two. That's my two cents. I honestly would do a friendly amendment to your item, Mr. Mayor, to vote on A first, yes or no, if we want to do this, and then if it's a no, then we go ahead and go to B. That's my motion.

so the mo the motion that is being made is uh to actually in essence table my item until after we've discussed uh 16 a yes um obviously is first of all is there a second seconded by the vice mayor discussion obviously it goes without saying i disagree with taking up the other one first i think if if mine fails then it makes sense to progress into his item If mine passes, then it obviously moots the other one. It's not necessarily the other way around in my view. But with that, call the roll on the amendment.

Okay, so taking the roll call on the amendment by.

I'm sorry I didn't hear you put a point order is it a table or an amendment is it is it the tape to I don't know what he's couching is an amendment but in essence, I believe in practice, it's really and then then I'll retract and say we table beat we to address a first and so it's first in the agenda is on the motion to table chair clerk. There's a discussion a motion to table so with that madam clerk. Call the roll on the motion to table be to consider a first.

Motion to table item 16B. I'm writing as I'm stating it. And to vote, motion to table 16B. That is the motion, correct?

To table B and think of A.

Okay. Councilmember Cuadra Garcia?

Yay.