Council - Special Meeting

Thank you.

Good evening, the time is 6.30. You're all lucky I don't have my gavel today, but it should be a meeting where I don't have to really fight to maintain order. But it is 6, oh, you keep going? Well, perfect, so I guess we'll pause one minute since everybody just wouldn't know who I am without the gavel. Oh, Thor's hammer, I love it, I love it. But the time is 6.30, so I will be calling the meeting to order. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Again, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Council member, I'm sorry, council member Garcia.

Present.

Council member Sanchez.

Present.

Council member Herzberg.

Present via Zoom.

Who is participating via Zoom, thank you, sir. Council member Cuadra Garcia is absent. Council member JC Fernandez. He's trying to connect.

He's trying to connect remotely, but he's unable to. He's on a plane.

Noted. Vice Mayor Morera.

Present.

And Mayor Diegues.

Here.

Mayor, you have quorum.

Excellent. Everyone, please rise for the invocation today, which will be led by somebody else's mic is on. There we go. Which today will be led by Councilman Garcia.

Bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing us together today. Please grant this council wisdom, clear minds, and discerning hearts as we discuss the needs of our community. Help us listen well to one another, work in unity, and make choices that serve the common good. Amen.

Thank you, and please remain standing for the pledge, which will be led by Vice Mayor Brian Morera. Thank you, now at this time you may be seated. Council, we're now on the order of business. Are there any deferrals, additions, or deletions? Seeing none, or let me go to Councilman Herzberg. You have nothing in this section, sir? Section five? Nothing, I'm good. Okay, perfect. So we are now on public comments. I do not see any public comments in chambers. There's no residents in front of me. Madam Clerk, are there any residents online?

I don't see any participant via Zoom. Please let the record reflect no participants via Zoom.

Okay, there being no residents in chambers or online to make public comments, I will go ahead and we will skip that section and go straight to 7A, which is a resolution of the town council, the town's proposed millage rate, rollback rate, and the date, time, and place for public hearings to consider the proposed millage rate and proposed budget. Mr. Peterman, we are going to need you to go ahead and introduce the item.

YES, THIS IS AS DIRECTED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL WE HAVE PRESENTED THIS ITEM LEAVING A FLAT MILLAGE RATE MEANING THAT IS NOT GOING TO CHANGE FROM THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR AND SETTING THE OTHER PARAMETERS LIKE THE DATES OF THE budget hearings in September. And we recommend approval.

Mr. Mayor, would you like me to read it into the record? I would like you to go ahead and read into the record.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. A resolution of the Town Council of the Town of Miami Lakes, Florida, declaring as required by Section 200.065 of Florida Statutes, the Town's proposed millage rate, rollback rate computed pursuant to 200.0651 Florida Statutes, and the date, time, and place at which public hearings will be held to consider the proposed millage rate and the proposed budget for fiscal year 2026-2027. authorizing the town manager to change the budget hearing dates if needed, directing the town clerk to serve this resolution on Miami-Dade County property appraiser, and providing for an effective date.

Thank you very much. With that, yes, going back to, hold on, somebody's mic is also on that's creating some feedback.

Yeah, one thing that I just failed to mention is that, to be clear, this is not the final setting of the millage. This is only setting the tentative millage rate, which will be advertised on the trim notices that get mailed. Ultimately, during the budget hearings in September is when the council will set the final and adopted millage rate.

Thank you very much. And I'm going to move the item. It's been seconded by the Vice Mayor. And the thoughts that I want to put on the record is that I generally am supportive of starting from the flat rate when building out the budget. I think it's a prudent fiscal exercise. Of course, as the manager mentioned, that does not mean that it is final. And as I've indicated to staff and to the manager, and I've stated previously, I will be looking to do, even if it's a minor cut this year, and figure it out from there. But for the meantime it makes prudent sense just to push this forward while we get a more thorough look at the budget and then we can make a decision um you know from there with that uh any more discussion on this particular item uh we'll go to the vice mayor who seconded the item and then councilman garcia and we'll uh councilman sanchez you want to say something then we'll go to you and then we'll close with councilman hersberg

thank you mayor uh... i want to number one echo your sentiments um... i do think it it is the right move to start here at the at the flat rate uh... given that we after today we we cannot go above this number but we can go below we can still try to cut but i also want us that very reasonable uh... unrealistic expectations for residents and uh... the numbers that they don't really like where we're talking about If we do nothing, if we set the budget today, which is not what we're doing, but if we did, we're talking about an increase of, I lost it now on my page, but it was like a dollar and change a month for the average resident of increase. If we were to, cut the budget to I believe it was rollback, we'd be looking at $3 a month of savings and a loss of about $600,000 in income, in revenues. That's a lot of money that we would have to make up. That's a lot of work. for three dollars a month um that's a lot of work for less than half of a netflix subscription um and so i i just want to caution you know the residents that it is a reality right that we are going to fight for every dollar and i think all of us up here have campaigned on that we're gonna fight for every dollar but but i just want to establish a a very clear goal here that We are gonna keep the flat rate and then we're gonna go down, but we're also not going to starve our town dry and avoid providing essential services that we've always promised to our residents. That's it.

Thank you. Councilman Garcia.

Thank you, Mayor. I wanna echo what the Vice Mayor said. I think the process is here. Thank you, Mr. Manager and staff. To me, it's gone a lot smoother and information is flowing real well and I think we, maybe it's because we're getting more practice at this and you guys are showing us the way to go. No, I do agree that the rollback rate, to start with the rollback rate, because we can always go down, right, would be, you know, might be a little more difficult. I know none of my colleagues, well, most of my colleagues are not, you know, in line with that. What I would like to propose, and it's kind of like a hybrid, instead of going to the rollback as a starting line, instead of the rollback, consider higher than the rollback, maybe the flat rate of 25, which is 2.0732, which would, yes, it would cut, what, about $300,000 from the, maybe the budget director might be able to, but the old rollback, the old flat rate or the rate that it was in 25 as a starting point, just to show, and I know what the vice mayor was saying, it's not that much for each individual, but I think it's a sign to the residents that although we understand they want services, they also want us to try to do our best to try to find savings left and right. And this council has shown in last year's budget, going line by line, that we can find some savings. So I would propose a friendly amendment just to consider, instead of going, the rollback rate, which it's gonna cut more than 600,000, consider the old flat rate that we were at at 25 before we raised it. that would, yes, we would have to find about three, $400,000, about $300,000, I understand, but it would put us in the posture of finding those cuts, and I think that's what the residents are looking for in us now. Instead of going flat, maybe going a little bit lower. I think it's a compromise. I would do a friendly amendment if you guys would be open to it for discussion, just to see if that's something you'd like to start there. If not, I understand, but I think it would be a good place to go, because it's not the rollback. but it's putting us back to the flat rate we were before. And we continue to exercise that muscle, and last year we did a real good job cutting. Maybe we can find those cuts. Not maybe, I know we can find some cuts. So that's just my motion at this time.

Is there a second?

seeing none the amendment fails for lack of a second we are back on the main motion uh councilman uh sanchez you know i'm in full support um of the of the flat rate just for the proverbial i don't want us to shoot ourselves in the foot hey we have two months to go over the budgets look at the special funds everything else like that and i want to make sure that We have at least a sufficient amount of funds with the flat rate that we're able to cut down from there instead of just going back to there and saying, oh, you know, we're going to shortchange the town, services are going to go down, and we're not going to have enough to cover, and we won't be able to go back up. So we have two months to go through everything, make sure that the I's are dotted, the T's are crossed, and making sure that the priorities of this town, like public safety, tree trimming, sidewalks, everything, our parks, are maintained to the standard that is Miami Lakes. So I am in full support of the flat at this time.

Thank you councilman Sanchez. We now go to councilman Herzberg.

Thank you mayor and I just echo what everyone else said that it makes sense to work from here down. We did some would say we made a mistake last year, but I think it made us look at the budget even harder. And I think we'll do a good job finding the cuts that we can. We'll promise specific cuts. And also we have to start looking at the budget overall in case the amendment passes this November. So I think we'll do a fine job just sticking to the plan. That's where we should go.

Thank you very much, Councilman Herzberg. And just, I guess, to close this out and to address our colleague's point, Councilman Garcia, again, I actually would like to get there to that prior millage rate, which was the lowest that we ever had in town in history. Obviously, last year was a particularly difficult year with the challenges of what we had to pay, like non-discretionary spending, that necessitated what we did. And despite cutting almost a million dollars in last year's budget, we still had to make some difficult choices. But I think most of us on this day didn't make a promise to work at some point toward getting there. And that is where my comments stem from, which is, you know, maybe a little bit this year, maybe a little bit next year, you know, to try to get there in a way that's responsible and also, again, honors that commitment that we made that we would revisit going back to the prior millage rate. But maybe not in one shot, but maybe, you know, incrementally if we have to, but we will have a better picture of what's more feasible once we get into the nitty-gritty of this process. With that, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Council Member Garcia.

No.

Council Member Herzberg.

Yes.

Council Member Sanchez.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Morera. Yes. And Mayor Diaz. Yes. The motion passes. Item 7A, approving the tentative millage rate for fiscal year 26-27 at 2.1577 mils, which is the flat rate.

Thank you very much. I'm going to go to the Vice Mayor for a point of information.

Yeah, Mr. Manager and Madam Budget Director, is this the same one that we had at the last meeting? No changes, right? Thank you. Perfect. I just want to make sure that my notes from the other one carry.

I don't know. That may be a substantial change. Thank you. All right, that brings us to 7B, bid waiver for Northwest 59th Avenue Extension Project and Appraisal Services. Mr. Manager, you want to present it, or do we have Mr. Santos over?

Yeah, no, he's on vacation. This is a bid waiver and work order to Walter, Duke, and Partners. It's an appraisal company, very well known, that we've used in the past. We also already have used them on this project. which is the main reason for the bid waiver, that they are familiar already with the project. And what this is is to get appraisals of the properties dealing with Caterpillar, the school board, and Miami-Dade Aviation. And it was in our plan, and it's budgeted in our capital account for this project.

All right, I will go ahead and move it. Second. Is there a second? It's been seconded by Councilman Garcia. Discussion, beginning with Councilman Garcia?

No, no, thank you. This is a next step. Appreciate it.

Okay, Vice Mayor Morera and then Councilman Sanchez.

Thank you. Again, I don't really have a strong opposition on this, but I guess I'm just asking, why are we waiving the bid process and not just going through it?

The new procurement charter that you I mean section that you adopted this year provides that for anything that is Professional or legal can be bid waived. So that's why and also the fact that we've already used Walter do they're familiar with the project Thank you Councilman Sanchez, you know, it's gonna ask the same question.

Where are we bypassing the the procurement process and just Automatically awarding it but it was has been covered often answered. Thank you.

I

Councilman Herzberg.

Yeah, quick question for the manager. Is one of the purposes for efficiency? Because personally, I see the amount, and it's very high for appraisals, right? I see. I just wanted to understand why not going through the bid process. Is it a matter of timing?

Part of it is timing. Part of it is the fact that Walter Duke is already familiar with this project, and it'll be easier for them to do it. But that's the main reason for it. The price is a little high, and I agree. Had it been $50,000 or less, I could have done it without bringing it to the council, but it's a little over the $50,000 mark. But there are things that Walter Duke and not every appraiser, even commercial appraisers, are familiar with the process that may be needed similar. to the process that was needed for the warehouse, that if there's any legal issues down the road, they will already have all the I's dotted and T's crossed and be ready for any court proceeding if needed. And there are specific things that have to happen in some of those legal proceedings for the appraisal and they're very familiar and there's not a large pool of appraisers, even commercial appraisals, that are familiar with that process.

through through the mayor if i can also address one other point uh this was the same appraiser that we used in the eminent domain process for the warehouse okay so a little expensive now and hopefully that's all we have to do but if it got more expensive later this it makes sense to use them so i understand i'm i'm okay with it now thank you very much uh this being a resolution we can do a voice vote so with that all those in favor say aye aye aye all opposed no

Thank you, Councilman Herzberg. The ayes have it, the motion carries. There being no further business, the special call meeting of the town council for July 28th is adjourned at 6.46 p.m.