City Council - Regular Meeting

all right welcome everyone we call this City Council regular meeting of April 27th to order at 7 p.m. call the roll please here

Vice Mayor Llamas? Yeah. Councilman Santin? Yeah. Councilman Deon?

Yeah.

Councilman Perez-Crespo?

Here.

There is a quorum present.

OK, thank you. Please rise for the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance. The invocation will be offered by Councilman Fabian Perez-Crespo.

Thank you, Mayor. As we gather tonight in these newly renovated council chambers, we reaffirm our dedication to the well-being of Miami Springs. Let us remain conscious of our responsibility to serve the public good, to act with honesty, and to pursue fairness and justice for every resident. May our conversations and decisions be guided by wisdom, empathy, and a genuine appreciation for diverse viewpoints. Together, let us work toward a brighter future for our community, one that is inclusive, thriving, and sustainable. Let us approach our duties with open minds and open hearts, always seeking unity and collaboration. We also offer our prayers and gratitude for all the men and women in uniform here and overseas who selflessly safeguard our city and our way of life. Amen.

Amen. Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We got to put a chair rail on that thing. All right. So once again, welcome. We move on to agenda and order of business. I would like to add in a presentation item under that'll be end up being 5f it's a presentation by George Santine on the 2026 preservation award that was given to the city from the Dade Heritage Trust so if you guys are okay with that I'm going to add that AND THEN ARE THERE ANY ITEMS THAT YOU GUYS FEEL WE NEED REARRANGED OR IS THERE, WELL, THERE'S ONLY ONE ITEM ON THE CONSENT AGENDA. ANYBODY NEED TO PULL THAT ONE ITEM? NO? OKAY. ALL RIGHT. SO THAT BEING SAID, I'D LIKE TO ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THE AGENDA ADDING 5F. Motion to approve agenda adding 5F. Okay. We have a first and a second. And we can do that with a voice vote. So all in favor of approving the agenda and moving on, say aye. Aye. All against say no. Okay. We continue to awards and presentations. So gentlemen, I think we're going to go up to the front because we've got a bunch of presentations back to back. So let's go over there. picture-taking about to happen here. All right. So we're going to start with recognition awards. The students of the Miami Springs Elementary School Panther Bots team. So can I have the Panther Bots students come up? If you guys have a representative, we'd love to hear you speak about what you guys have accomplished, then we have a little something for this. Your name is? Miss Lopez, do you want to just tell us a little bit about the accomplishments of the team?

Hi, everyone. I'm very proud to present our Miami Springs Elementary Robotics MSC Panther Bot Team. They've done an amazing job this year and every year, and they have put forth a lot of effort. They have gone into many competitions. We've ranked high. We've scored many, many awards. We've ranked from Team Challenges to Excellence Award. We made states. amazing job these students have been building robots they have been using critical thinking skills brainstorming lots of teamwork and they have never given up which is the most important part it has been a consistent 100% effort on their part so congratulations guys you've done a great job

ALL RIGHT. SO HERE'S WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO. WE HAVE A PRESENTATION FOR EACH OF THEM. I'LL READ THEM OFF IF YOU JUST GO THROUGH THEM. SO WHEN WE CALL YOUR NAME, COME ON UP HERE AND GRAB A CERTIFICATE, AND THEN YOU CAN SHAKE EVERYONE'S HAND, AND COUNCILMAN SANTIN, YOU'LL LINE THEM UP FOR THE PICTURE. JOVIAN INOHOSA. ALL RIGHT. SORRY. AS LONG AS THEY GET IT RIGHT ON YOUR PAYCHECK, THAT'S FINE.

ALL RIGHT.

Alina Alikandu.

Good job, Alina.

Bianca Owens. Camila Marquez. Congratulations.

Hector La Rota.

Adeline Yasser Rojas.

Adeline. Sorry, Adeline. Nice job.

Lucas Castillo. Elaina Bland.

Elaina.

Natalie Perez. Benjamin Owens.

What's up, Benjamin? For you.

Walk towards me, walk towards me. Get up here. Keep going, keep going, keep going. Keep going. getting close all right thank you guys thank you congratulations you may be seated good job keep up the good work

okay next up we have an employee service award that will be presented by our esteemed city manager JC Jimenez real quick so I have the privilege of presenting a service award to our payroll administrator mercy mercy Mercy is, you know, I've been with the city for 10 years. She's a resident. It's a person that just goes the extra mile. We'll do whatever you ask of her. And every other Monday, she will hunt me down. She will find me wherever I'm at because he needs to approve payroll. He needs to approve payroll. It doesn't matter what I mean. They will find me because Mercy really wants to get that approved. She does an excellent job, and she does it with kindness and also shares wonderful stories about her grandkids. So, Mercy, congratulations.

Thank you so much. Good evening, everyone. Mayor, council members, JC, thank you so much. I am privileged to work and live in the city, and I am just very blessed to be part of this wonderful team. There are no words. I'm really appreciative of your guys and of the city, and I would love to continue contributing as much as I can. Thank you.

Mercy, come on up for a picture, Mercy. Come on up for a picture. JC, you want to come up with her for the picture? All right, next up. We've got presentation certificates of recognition to homes that have all celebrated over 100 years. So the following homes are turning 100. Or 102. Yeah, or more. There are some that are over 100. So come on up when we call your name, and then we'd like you to just tell us the address, how long you've been in this home, and maybe tell a little story or something about the house. So come on up. We've got the Naranjo family from 564 Manola. The Molina family, 31 Hunting Lodge Court. The Rave family, 230 Miami Springs Avenue. And the Armistead family, 869 Pinecrest Drive. Come on up. All right, so we're gonna start with the Molina family. Come on up here. You guys are the stars of the show, your homes. So we'll start with the Molina family. Tell us about your home, the address, how long you've lived there, and just tell us a little something about its character.

Hello, we live in the G. Carl Adams House. For those of you who don't know, that's Curtis's half-brother. And so it's directly across the golf course from the Curtis Mansion. We've been there 14 years, but I grew up in the Springs, always admired the Pueblo Revival-style houses. And I hope that we feel privileged to live in this historic home and to preserve a little piece of history for not just our family, but for the generations to come. and I hope it inspires people to learn more about our beautiful city and Miami in general.

Thank you. All right. Next, the Rabe family.

Hello, I'm Steven, and we live at 230 Miami Springs Avenue. And something interesting, we've been there for eight years, something that I find interesting is in the old realtor records, I don't know, I think I got them from the city somehow, it has looked a lot different several times. So the way it looks right now, if you drive on by, it's not how it has always looked. That's all I got. It had a mansard roof, and now it's got a flat roof.

Thank you. Okay.

Hello, my name is Kenneth. This is Macbeth. We're the Armisteads, and we live at 869 Pinecrest Drive. The house was built in 1925 in some Pueblo style, like Curtis intended, I guess. It's got a statue of a rock ensemble, if you will, from, what was it? Arizona. Yeah, from out in Arizona, whenever they built the house in that style, and it's really unique, and it's interesting, and it lives big. That's right.

So a big thank you for preserving our city's history. You may be seated. And each one of them, oh, wait, wait, wait. We got to get a picture. But each one of them also gets a yard sign. If you're driving around, you will see some homes already have their green yard signs out that say they're 100-year homes. So here, let's not do like you guys versus us. Let's kind of put you guys in the center, and we'll flank you on either side. George, why don't you come over this way?

Scoot on over.

All right, show those certificates. Thank you, guys. All right, next up, we've got a proclamation recognizing May 17th through 23rd as Public Works Week. So if we can have incredible by the way how about see you're already getting I didn't even introduce you and and already they're giving you applause so Juan Pena everybody our Public Works director this the remodeling in here courtesy of Public Works so thank you again So I just want to read a little bit about this because we are at this proclamation for National Public Works Week. So it's in the public interest for citizens, civic leaders, and children in the city of Miami Springs to gain knowledge of and maintain an ongoing interest and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs in their respective communities. and the year 2026 marks the 66th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association and Canadian Public Works Association. So be it now and therefore I, Walter Fahed, Mayor of the City of Miami Springs, Florida do hereby designate the week of May 17th to 23rd, 2026 as National Public Works Week. I urge all citizens to join with representatives of the American Public Works Association in paying tribute to our public works professionals, engineers, managers, and employees, and to recognize the substantial contributions they make to protecting our national health, safety, and advancing the quality of life for all. We are all better off because of the work that Public Works does for us. So how about another big round of applause? You want to say a few words?

JUST THE WEEK OF MAY 17, TAKE TIME TO THANK THE EMPLOYEES THAT GO BY AND DO THE WORK FOR YOU. THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, JUAN. ALL RIGHT. AND LASTLY, PICTURE TIME. All right, so our penultimate awards and presentation item, which is 5E, is a presentation by our golf director, Kevin Morris, regarding the Curtis Cup scheduled for June 5th, 2026.

I thought you guys were going to stay up there for me.

No, no.

No, first, good evening, mayor and council. I want to thank everyone for taking the time to support the first annual Curtis Cup golf tournament. Now, before I get into exactly what's going on this year, I want to talk about the future of what the Curtis Cup could be as well. THIS YEAR OBVIOUSLY IS ESPECIALLY MEANINGFUL AS WE CELEBRATE THE CENTENNIAL OF MIAMI SPRING, A MILESTONE THAT REFLECTS A CENTURY OF COMMUNITY TRADITION AND GROWTH. THE KURZ CUP IS MORE THAN JUST A GOLF TOURNAMENT, THOUGH. IT'S THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING LASTING. COUNCILMAN SANTINA AND I HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS A LOT. WE'RE MOVING THIS EVENT TO FEBRUARY, RIGHT, NICER WEATHER THERE, BUT MORE SO THAN THAT, WE'RE GOING TO BE CONTINUING TO GROW AND GIVE BACK. whether it be schools, different things that go inside Miami Springs, youth programs with golf. We're going to try and grow and continue to give back through this tournament and make this an annual tradition. To do that, we have to make the first one a success. So far, we've done an amazing job of getting it out there and getting our sponsorships, but we still have a lot of room to go in about a month and a half. So we're very excited what we put together. Each player with the Curtis Cup is going to get a custom hat, custom shirt, a tailor-made gift bag. They're going to have delicious food, custom drinks, and events on the golf course throughout the day. Now this first annual Curtis Cup, as Mayor said, is going to be June 5th, which is a Friday. There's still opportunities to get involved. We do have a lot of foursomes and a lot of sponsors that are already taken. Our three top sponsors have been taken, which is amazing. But we also have T-signs. $150 for a T-sign. You can get your family's name. You can get your business name out there, which is a great opportunity. We also have practice facility and our brand new short game, a sponsorship for that as well, where we have large signage there. And then our golf carts as well. You can put your logo right on our golf cart out front. And those sponsorships range from anywhere from $2,500 to $4,000, but it does come with a foursome and everything that I had mentioned before. So, so far, we truly appreciate all the hard work from Councilman Santin, John Kenny, John Lascoso has been a huge, huge support for us, Matt with Greater Miami. So we've really been working hard to make this event successful and it's inaugural. And I'm really excited, not just for this year, but the future of what can bring because we've been growing a lot of the game, obviously the junior programs, et cetera, at the golf course. And I just want to continue that because we have such an amazing opportunity at our golf course. And the only way we get better is continuing to grow and kind of thinking outside the box on how we do things. So I appreciate your time. And Councilman Santino, do you want to say anything? I don't know if you can, but... Yeah. No pressure. All right. Thank you all. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Kevin. Okay. And last, 5F, a presentation by George Santine on the 2026 Preservation Award given to the City of Miami Springs by the Dade Heritage Trust.

Sorry. That was fun. Like a month ago, I got a call from Chris Rupp, which is the president of the Dade Heritage Trust, which is obviously a prestigious local nonprofit organization that has been preserving a lot of Miami's history. And to my surprise, to a certain extent, that obviously all the work that we're doing doesn't go unnoticed, we got an award for preservation. This year is our centennial year. But all the things that we're doing from the, you know, the Glenn Curtis statue and monument, plus all the landmarks that this year we are going to present to all the landmark property. So ultimately, people are noticing that we are we do care and we take a lot of pride in our history of the city. So this is what we got. All right.

Okay. Thank you. All right. So we are moving on to open forum. Erica, do we, no one signed up. All right. So we move past open forum. We have approval of council minutes. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the April 13th regular council meeting minutes. Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. Can you call the vote on that, please, Eric?

Vice Mayor Lamas? Yes. Councilman Santine? Yes. Councilman Dionne?

Yes.

Councilman Perez-Crespo? Yes. Mayor Fahed? Yes. The motion carries.

Okay. We move on. We have no reports from boards and commissions, so we move on to nine public hearings. So we start off with 9A, an ordinance second reading.

In ordinance of the City of Miami Springs, Florida, amending chapter 70 traffic code of the city's code of ordinances by amending section 70-02, red light camera enforcement relating to the placement and installation of traffic infraction detectors at an additional eligible intersection, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for codification, and providing for an effective date.

All right.

I we have to have public comment on this hearing and I believe that representatives are here to provide the report that's required. We haven't been there. Come on up. And aside from the report that they're going to give, there have been no changes to the ordinance between first and second reading, so it's just accepting the data and once you've heard from the representatives, I would open it up for public hearing. If there's no comment or at the conclusion of comments, I believe you'll be making a finding and adopting or not the ordinance.

members of council my name is edward tj from vera mobility in co-partnership with the police department we went on to the red light survey and what that means at the particular intersections we actually set up a camera similar like a gopro and actually record the intersection for 12 hours what that gives us is the ability to record the intersection watch traffic from 6a to 6p to see what kind of incidents are going on at that intersection the amount of traffic how many of those people actually committing violations what we found Looking at Northwest 42nd Avenue. which is South, sorry, State Route 953 and Northwest 39th Street. Looking at 6A to 6P, approximately 22,000 vehicles went through that intersection. That includes all method of movement, being eight lanes, two left-hand turn lanes, the five straight throughs, and one right-hand turn. During that same period of time, there was 866 violations, meaning 866 people committed a red light violation at that intersection. It varied depending on the lane. If you look at left-hand turn lanes alone, there's approximately 131, which is quite a few violations for left-hand turns. Straight throughs was the remainder part up until the right-hand turns were 680 for right-hand turns greater than one second. So that means the light has been red for over a second. People are coming out to intersection. You can make a right-hand turn on red if you make a complete stop. These individuals are not doing so, which is obviously not only a risk for cross traffic, but it's also a risk for pedestrians as they see that green walk sign. And you may step out onto the curb and be struck by a vehicle that's not stopping while making a right-hand turn. If we look at the hourly summary, what we can see here is that usually it's right around that rush hour time, right around 8 o'clock is when you had your most left-hand turn violations. When you got into the afternoon hours, again, you had a high number of violations between like 2 and 5 p.m. for left-hand turns. The right-hand turns was pretty consistent all the way throughout the day, anywhere from in one hour as many as 65. When you get into the afternoon, it did fall off a little bit down to about 26 or so around 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Overall, this is obviously a health risk. This is something that it's quite higher than we normally see at a regular intersection. Anything in the vicinity of, say, 100 or more a day, you usually consider that a problem. So to have 800, that's a pretty significant number. And with that, I would open up to any questions you may have.

Do you guys have any questions?

How many data on current amount of accidents in that section on that road?

ANY OTHER COMMENTS?

THOSE NUMBERS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES. 866, WOW. THAT'S CONSIDERABLE.

OKAY.

THANK YOU, SIR. ALL RIGHT.

THANK YOU. So I'd like to invite anybody who wishes to speak on this item open it up for public hearing there anybody from the public who wishes to speak All right close that at so if there's no further discussion do I have Do I have a motion to adopt the ordinance on second reading Okay, we have a motion

I'll second it.

We have a motion and a second.

Call the vote. Vice Mayor Llamas? Yes. Councilman Santin? Yes. Councilman Dion?

Yes.

Councilman Perez-Crespo? Yes. Mayor Fahet? Yes. The motion carries.

All right. Okay, next up we have 9B, a resolution.

A resolution of the Mayor and the City Council of the City of Miami Springs, Florida, approving a Fifth Amendment to the Professional Services Agreement with American Traffic Solutions Incorporated, doing business as Vera Mobility, providing for authorization, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date.

This is a companion item to 9A. As we've done in the past, according with the new state law, this is a public hearing item. So if there's any public comment, now would be the time to take it on 9B.

Okay. So I open it up for open up this public hearing. If there's anybody in the public who wishes to speak on item 9B, do so now. Having heard none, we close public comment and move on. Gentlemen, do you have any discussions or questions to go along with this item? No? I'd like to entertain a motion to approve 9B. I have a motion.

Second that motion.

And a second. Call the vote, please.

Vice Mayor Llamas? Yes. Councilman Santine? Yes. Councilman Dionne?

Yes.

Councilman Perez-Crespo? Yes. Mayor Fahad?

Yes.

The motion carries.

OK. We move on to the consent agenda. Nobody wanted to pull it for further discussion, so I'd like to entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda, approve 10A.

I'm making a motion to approve 10A.

OK. Do we have a second?

I'll second it.

OK. We have a first and a second. Call the vote, please.

Vice Mayor Llamas? Yes. Councilman Santin? Yes. Councilman Deon?

Yes.

Councilman Perez-Crespo? Yes. Mayor Fahet? Yes. The motion carries.

Okay, so we move on to, we have no previous or unfinished business, so we move on to new business, and we have 12A, a resolution.

A resolution of the City Council of the City of Miami Springs, Florida calling a special election on August 18th, 2026 for the purpose of submitting to the electorate of the City of Miami Springs, Florida a charter amendment providing requisite ballot language. Providing for balloting and election procedures, providing for notice of election, providing for copies, providing for charter amendment election procedures and related details, providing for inclusion in the charter, providing for severability, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date.

OK. So somebody going to present? I mean, we all reviewed the ballot language. Is there going to be a, would you like to say a few words?

The ballot language is presented. You have a resolution to vote on to set the election in August, as you've been discussing for the last few months the title of the question is simply revitalizing the Northwest 36th Street district and then you have a question that is fairly consistent with what you've been discussing throughout now modified as a result of the discussion at the last council meeting. So I'll just go straight to that part of the question, which is, I'll just read it in. So currently the question is, the charter provides that buildings that include more than two residential dwelling units shall not exceed three stories and a maximum of 40 feet in height to revitalize and attract investments in the Northwest 36th Street District. It is proposed to exempt buildings with residential units located east of East Drive in the district from the charter's restriction, subject to current zoning height limitations. Shall the above described amendment be adopted? And so that subject to language is really the focus of your last council discussion. And so that's been added at the end of the resolution. You'll see that there's an exhibit which includes the actual language that would go into your charter. So as I've shared in the past, um you've got the question that you're voting on that's being presented to the voters and then separately as part and parcel of that you have the actual text that goes into the charter there's a map that has been included to show the properties that would be subject to this provision so it's those properties that are east of east drive in the district and those are set forth as figure one in the text and i'm happy to take and the other addition that we added is that If I can zoom in. The text in the charter would be that your existing language would remain about the any building that includes more than two residential dwelling units shall not exceed three stories and a maximum of 40 feet in height. And then we have the restrict the exemption language, which is the foregoing restrictions shall not apply to buildings with residential units located east of East Drive within the Northwest 36th Street District, subject to the height limitations contained in the city's code of ordinances for the Northwest 36th Street District as of August 18th, 2026. This exception shall only apply to properties located east of East Drive in the Northwest 36th Street District as the district exists as of August 18, 2026, as illustrated in the map shown in Figure 1 below. And Figure 1 is that map that I was just referring to. And so the August date is tied directly to the election that you are calling for that same date.

Thank you Okay, yeah, and so I just want to reiterate that that I think that that That hit the nail on the head in terms of what we had lengthy discussions last meeting and and the point that we Wanted to convey is that at least I've been hearing from residents and people want assurances that by providing this exemption to the three-story residential Limit that is citywide uh that they would provide an exemption to an area that cannot change in the future right people want to know that what they're voting on is what they're voting on that that won't change so we asked that there be specific language uh when we amend the charter uh when this goes to so if if residents vote yes they are voting to amendment but they will know that the area that we're specifying in northwest 36th street uh the boundaries will not change they will be the same boundaries as they are written as of when they go to vote and that'll be locked in and then also the underlying uh height restrictions because we discussed that IN THAT AREA RIGHT NOW CURRENTLY ALL BUILDINGS CAN BE ROUGHLY UP TO FOUR STORIES IF YOU'RE WITHIN 150 FEET OF RESIDENTIAL AND ROUGHLY 12 STORIES BEYOND THAT 150 FOOT KIND OF BUFFER ZONE WHERE THAT'S WITHIN 150 FEET OF RESIDENTIAL. And we wanted to make sure because the first people the first question people ask is well if you're asking for this exemption What's the height limits going to be and the answer is what it is for every other building right now. We're just not going to in that area arbitrarily Limit residential because it is a strong market and it's not fair that other buildings can can go up to four and twelve stories respectively SO WE WANTED SPECIFICITY SO THAT PEOPLE KNOW THAT WHEN THEY GO TO VOTE, IT WILL BE THAT DISTRICT AS DRAWN ON THAT DAY. AND THOSE HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS IN THAT DISTRICT WILL BE AS THE UNDERLINING ZONING IS IN THAT DISTRICT CURRENTLY FOR ALL OTHER BUILDINGS AS OF THAT DAY. AND THAT WILL GET KIND OF LOCKED IN AND PEOPLE WILL KNOW THERE'S NO BATE AND SWITCH. THEY ARE VOTING FOR WHAT THEY ARE VOTING FOR, AND THEN IT JUST PUTS THE ONUS ON US TO MAKE SURE THAT WE COMMUNICATE WHY WE'RE DOING THAT, BUT I THINK THAT BASED ON OUR DISCUSSIONS, LENGTHY DISCUSSIONS FOR OVER A YEAR NOW, BUT DEFINITELY WITH REGARD TO THE BALLOT LANGUAGE, WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT PEOPLE KNEW EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE VOTING FOR AND THAT IT WOULDN'T CHANGE IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS AND IF SOMEBODY IF A FUTURE COUNCIL WANTS TO CHANGE IT THEY CAN TAKE IT BACK UP TO THE VOTERS BUT THIS ALLOWS US TO KIND OF RESTORE THE RESIDENTIAL HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS SO THAT IT'S EVEN WITH EVERYTHING THAT'S UNDERLYING AND WILL ALLOW US TO TAP INTO THAT REALLY STRONG MARKET IN THAT THAT AREA THAT'S A LITTLE BIT MORE URBAN AND CERTAINLY NEEDS REVITALIZATION. SO I COMMEND YOU, OUR CITY ATTORNEY, FOR WRITING THAT UP BECAUSE I THINK THAT YOU HIT IT EXACTLY AS WE ASKED FOR IT. I'LL OPEN IT UP TO MY COLLEAGUES FOR DISCUSSION. TAKE IT AWAY, GENTLEMEN. WHAT DO YOU GOT?

ALL RIGHT THE CHAIR UH YOU KNOW ULTIMATELY THAT'S BEEN OUR GOAL THAT'S WHY IT'S TAKING A LITTLE WHILE BECAUSE WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR THERE IS NO PULLING ON THE RUG HERE AT THE LAST MINUTE WE'RE BASICALLY TELLING YOU THAT THIS IS NO DIFFERENT THAT WHAT'S THERE NOW THAT'S THE QUESTION I ALWAYS GOT FROM EVERYBODY'S LIKE WELL HOW MUCH MORE IS IT GOING TO BE IT'S LIKE NO DIFFERENT THAT WHAT'S THERE NOW AND THEY'RE LIKE OH OKAY SO ULTIMATELY THIS HAS BEEN THE GOAL AND I THINK WE GOT THE QUESTION CLEAR TO ME TODAY. IT'S BEEN A WHILE BUT WE GOT IT SO I'M HAPPY WITH IT.

THROUGH THE CHAIR. WHEN RESIDENTS HAVE ASKED ME ABOUT THIS BALLOT, I EXPLAIN TO THEM, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A WORD LIMIT TO WHAT THE BALLOT CAN CONTAIN. AND I TRY TO GIVE THEM CONTEXT. SO I THINK IF WE MOVING FORWARD PROVIDE CONTEXT TO THE RESIDENTS, AND I THINK THE ARTICLE, ARTICLE POWERS PRETTY MUCH SAYS SHOULD THAT PASS, THIS IS WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT, RIGHT? THIS IS WHAT I THINK IT'S VERY CLEAR. WE JUST GET THE MESSAGING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY AND WITH THE MAP. And I think they'll understand exactly what they're voting on. So thank you for that, Heidi, to you and your team.

All right.

And then what? Sure, go ahead, Councilman, or Vice Mayor.

And I have to agree with Councilman Perez-Crespo. The messaging is important. And I think one of the most important, top things that is important to the residents is what it does to public safety in the area. And when we convey the message to the residents, I think it's important. And I understand why we can't put it in the ballot. So it's not what I'm saying, but I believe it's important that we convey that message, how this is going to make 36th Street a lot safer.

GET THAT CERTAINLY CERTAINLY IS THE GOAL TO TRY TO REVITALIZE THAT AREA THAT IS KIND OF MISSING, YOU KNOW, ONE LEG IN THE STOOL, WHICH IS THAT REALLY STRONG MARKET OF RESIDENTIAL IN THAT PARTICULAR DISTRICT.

SO OKAY.

WHAT WHAT IS OUR DEADLINE TO GET THE TO GET THIS IN? I THINK IT'S IN A WEEK OR TWO. MAY. YEAH. MAY 22ND IS OUR DEADLINE. YEAH.

Okay.

But we can, I mean, I think we're ready to approve this language as it is, right? I mean, there's...

It sounds that way.

It sure does. All right.

And you have the resolution. It's 12A. It's the boilerplate that we always need to do when we're calling for a special election. And then as I shared, it has the actual text. It has the notice that will go out per state law in the newspapers. And it also has the actual text that goes into the Charter. So when August 18th comes and goes, if this passes, then the actual text that will appear in the charter from then on is attached. So if there's any questions, that's really where people can look.

Right.

Okay. And the election that we were asking for a special election on August 18th? Okay. Right. And that's why that's the date that's in the language, in the charter amendment language.

Mayor, and that's also the just general countywide primary election. So there's judges that are up for election that day. There's other offices. There might be some statewide primaries. I think the governor's primary is on that. So it is a big turnout day.

Yep.

And you do have approval from the supervisor of elections to conduct the election that day, which is a prerequisite to calling for the special election. So May 22nd is your final date. If you approve this tonight, I am certain that our city clerk will be sending the resolution off to the supervisor of elections tomorrow morning. they will begin the process on that end of translating the question confirming that it meets all of the state statutory requirements for word and word counts etc so that process will go get underway

Okay, and then, go ahead.

Through the chair. We piggybacked off the primaries, so we saved a lot of money just to get something out versus a standalone special election, so.

Yeah, and I was gonna ask what, because that's a primary election, will we, HOW MANY VOTING LOCATIONS WILL BE OPEN IN THE CITY?

SO IT'S SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM THE GENERAL ELECTION THAT WE EXPERIENCE FOR COUNCIL. ALL PRECINCTS WILL BE OPEN SINCE IT IS A COUNTYWIDE ELECTION. SO IT'S GOING TO BE ALL FOUR PRECINCTS. THE GOLF COURSE, THE COMMUNITY CENTER, AND TWO SCHOOLS, SPRING VIEW AND MIAMI SPRINGS. SO ALL PRECINCTS WILL BE OPENED. IT DOES GO THROUGH A SERIES OF TRANSLATIONS, SO YOU'RE GOING TO SEE THE QUESTION IN ENGLISH, SPANISH, AND IN CREOLE, WHICH IS REQUIRED BY STATE STATUTE FOR COUNTY ELECTIONS. So, yeah, polls will be open. There will be early voting in certain areas, not necessarily here in Springs. I think our closest early voting site will be the library in Hialeah or the elections office, which is on 87th and 25th Street.

In the government center in downtown. Sorry. You could early vote there as well in downtown Miami. Yeah.

Yeah, there's going to be several sites that will be open for early voting.

Okay. Councilman, you wanted to chat?

Heidi, Erica asked a question about the languages, the Spanish and Creole. My question to you is, does those translations go through the attorneys?

Usually we do look at them and the clerk looks at it. We look at it. We trust that they are being done. They're done by professional translators that the county hires. Either they're in-house or they're hired. When it's in Spanish, I can look and make sure that it meets the intent. I do not speak Creole, but to the extent that we need to run it by somebody who does, I'm sure we can.

Thank you.

I ALSO WANTED TO ADD, ERICA, I THINK DURING EARLY VOTING, RESIDENTS CAN VOTE ANYWHERE AT ANY EARLY VOTING SITE COUNTYWIDE. SO IF YOU WORK DOWN IN HOMESTEAD AND YOU WANT TO VOTE BEFORE OR AFTER WORK OR DURING A LUNCH BREAK, YOU CAN DO THAT. AND CERTAINLY THROUGH ABSENTEE BALLOTS. SO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT REQUEST IS IN AHEAD OF TIME.

AND ON ELECTION DAY, IT'S YOUR ACTUAL PRECINCT WHICH YOU WOULD HAVE TO VOTE AT.

THROUGH THE CHAIR, I'D LIKE TO REMIND THOSE WHO DO MAIL-IN BALLOTS OR ABSENTEE BALLOTS, MAKE SURE YOU'RE STILL REGISTERED. I THINK THE STATE IS PURGING VOTER I.D. ROLLS.

EVERY TWO YEARS. EVERY TWO GENERAL ELECTIONS. SO IF YOU HAD IT FOR THE LAST ONE. BUT CHECK.

AND SIGNATURES ALSO. THEY NEED TO VERIFY SIGNATURES. IF THEY DON'T MATCH, THEY WON'T COUNT THE VOTES. OKAY.

Any further discussion? No. Thank you for staff for all the hard work on this. Okay, having no further discussion, how about a motion to approve 12A? I'll make a motion. All right. Do we have a second? Second that motion. Okay, we have a first and a second. Call the vote, please, Erica.

Vice Mayor Llamas? Yes. Councilman Santine? Yes. Councilman Dionne?

Yes.

Councilman Perez-Crespo? Yes. Mayor Fajette?

Yes. Motion carries. Okay, so we have no other business. We have 14 reports and recommendations. We'll start off with our city attorney.

no no report but i do want to congratulate public works and the city on an outstanding job here in city hall this room looks really amazing there's a vibrancy and energy that wasn't here before so thank you and i want to wish an early happy birthday to the city manager it's his birthday this week

Thank you. All right. So next up, the birthday boy to be.

Thank you. First, we'll get started right away on the PR. We have on the public relations component the marketing strategy for the 36th Street. We have a meeting this Wednesday with our planner and staff. And so we'll get started right away. And they'll come before you soon to meet with each of you individually and get you guys involved as well. um and lastly i i want to thank public works when i i asked juan months ago i said one we need to renovate the council chambers we need to do something he's like i got it and i'm like but i don't want it to cost all money he's like no the guys in house will will do it so we have two guys on staff in public works that are carpenters they built this they redid all the formica they I mean, from the ceilings, the lights, the only thing they didn't do was the carpeting. They did the wiring over here for the... computer software for the sound. So they just did a phenomenal job. And every time I come in here, I'm like, can you move this? Can you tweak this? And I know Juan was doing the same thing with these guys. They're amazing. They not only did this, they did the police department, the real-time center that they have, and they did the passport office across the street. So unbelievable. So I can't thank you guys enough. And that's my report.

Awesome. How about assistant city manager?

The only thing I want to report is we have our summer camp registration is going live online on Wednesday at 11 a.m. It is the first year that we're going to have summer camp registration online. so people are not camping out like it's Black Friday on Best Buy. But it's going to have some – hopefully it goes smooth, but there's a lot there that's new, so we're hoping it goes pretty smooth. But we just keep our fingers crossed, I guess. That's it, really.

All right. We're trying to come up, you know, come to current day standards as far as providing things online. And this is the first major step in that direction. So the residents were asking for it years ago. And then now that we're doing it, some of them are a little hesitant. But I promise you it'll be OK. So we'll we'll figure it out. And Caitlin's doing a great job. It just hosted a like a virtual Zoom meeting with all the parents to give them instructions on how to do it. So I think it's going to go well. I know it's going to go well.

All right. Awesome. OK, next, let's hear from our city clerk.

I'd like to echo my gratitude for this beautiful room. So Public Works, it's definitely something that needed to happen. I know I've been here for several years and waiting for that this day, actually. So thank you. Thank you to your team. They've been wonderful. And to Full Moon as well, making all those connections and the TVs and microphones. Thank you so much. So thank you.

OK, so lastly, reports from our city council. I'll start with Councilman Santee.

Well, I think your name is not going to stop ringing today because, obviously, kudos to you and your staff and the decision to go forward with getting us into the 21st century, at least in this building, at least part of this building. And so we appreciate that. It's great work. Thank you. Just also kind of want to follow up on what our golf director just mentioned. We're getting to that time where we need to finalize this golf tournament. So please look at all the flyers and all the data is out there to register and get involved. It's going to be one of those that people are going to really enjoy and going to want more. So look out for the flyers. And I also want to give credit to a Miami Springs, Virginia Gardens boys soccer team, 12 and under. Boy, this town has usually been run by a lot of the girls teams over the years. And those have had a lot of success in the state level and beyond. So it's good to hear that you 12 boys won the Florida Commissioners Cup and they're first place in the South Florida Premier League. And they got two more tournaments that might come back with more trophies. So I'm not bringing them up. There's no pressure, but bring me more trophies and then we'll bring you up here for some more. SOME CELEBRATION. BUT JUST CONTINUE DOING WHAT ALL OUR REC DEPARTMENTS ARE ALWAYS DOING AND THE VOLUNTEERS THAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED. BUT WE'RE VERY FORTUNATE IN OUR COMMUNITY TO HAVE MANY OF THOSE PARENTS THAT DO IT FOR FREE, WHICH IS NOWADAYS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE. SO THANK YOU.

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. COUNCILMAN DEON, WOULD YOU LIKE TO CHIME IN, PLEASE?

Happy birthday, JC. I hope you have an amazing birthday. You deserve it. And to Juan, great job. From the other side over here, the sound is on point. And I just want to also put out there that Pelican Playhouse will start on the 9th. at 7.30 opening night. My daughter will be in there performing as well. So I hope to see you guys out there and supporting the Pelican Playhouse.

All right. Councilman Llamas, take it away.

Just thank you, Juan, for everything. Room looks great. And you and your staff really do an amazing job throughout the city. It's a very noticeable difference since you guys all took over. Every day is something little but something special, and it just keeps adding on and adding on. It's snowballing into something really special. I think kudos. You guys really do a great job. Thank you.

Councilman Crespo. Thank you, Mayor. Yes, to Juan and your team for putting this council chambers together in such great detail. I also want to thank Public Works and the city manager for responding to a sidewalk, which I came across that was a trip hazard. And they immediately went out there and are addressing it. So that's one of the beauties about living in a small town. We can communicate to each other when there's a need for something. Thank you for Arbor Day. WE HAVE THIS GREAT SIZE OAK, LIVE OAK, RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE NURSING HOME. OUR TREE CANOPY IS ONE OF OUR DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS CITY. AND SO IF ANYONE WOULD LIKE TO LEARN ABOUT PLANTING A TREE, REACH OUT TO THE MAMMY SPRINGS LIONS CLUB. THEY HAVE A PROJECT STARTING NEXT MONTH WHICH JUAN ADDRESSED THEM ON FRIDAY. 100 TREES STARTING NEXT MONTH. Here's an opportunity for anyone in our city, any civic organization to get involved and plant trees throughout our city. On Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending two free music events right here in our city. The first was a fantastic acapella performance by the Miamians, BARBERSHOP CHORUS AT THE ADULT COMMUNITY CENTER. I SAW COUNCILMAN CENTINE WITH HIS MOM THERE. I TOOK MY DAD AND MY DAUGHTER. SO I WANT TO EXPRESS MY GRATITUDE TO ANGIE AGUILA FOR ORGANIZING THIS EVENT AND FOR EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT TO ENJOY AN AFTERNOON OF HARMONY. Now, that night, Grace Lutheran's pastor, Daniel Medina, he has an avant-garde jazz ensemble, and they delivered just a mesmerizing performance where they blended spoken word with drums, piano, flute, and bass. Imagine, inside Grace Lutheran's sanctuary, all the lights off, and it's all lit by candlelight. I've never been here for 20 years. I've never experienced anything like that in the city. Free, total free event to anyone who knew about it, who wanted to show up. What's really cool is afterwards I approached him and I said, would you create something for the centennial of the city? So his gears are turning. So he's going to work on a performance piece, usually like an hour long, of poetry, words, and music about our city's centennial. So I like that. I like that very much. I think it's a very cool idea. And I just want to remind our residents, Lots to do in our city. I'm going to work closely with the clerk's office to put these things on our city's calendar. Thank you for putting the high school's performance this week on it. And I'd like to direct people to the city's online calendar and their social media account to learn about what's going on in the city. Great community events, free events. And I'm going to promise to work with them to make that a reality. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. I, too, am a big fan of the new remodeling. We're going to get back the 1930s aerial view painting of the city because I love that thing.

It's actually hanging in the lobby downstairs.

Oh, is it going to stay in the lobby or is it coming back up here?

As soon as you walk in. So it's in the lobby. As well as the display that was in Miami International Airport done by the GMCVB. We put those up there as well. It's beautiful.

All right. Okay. Are we going to grayscale Xavier Garcia's picture in the...

And it won't be the only one that's like Technicolor.

Are we going to do that? All right. I do miss the placebo panic button that I had up here. Maybe we could put like a fake light switch or something, like a fidget spinner that I can play with. YEAH, SO LAST WEEK WE CELEBRATED ARBOR DAY. PUBLIC WORKS PLANTED A YELLOW POINTIANA ON EAST DRIVE AND SOUTH ROYAL AND AN OAK TREE WHERE WE HAD A LITTLE CEREMONY ACROSS FROM FAY HAVENS ON CURTIS PARKWAY, SO IT WAS A GREAT TIME. AND THEN ALSO WE HAD THE WOMEN'S CLUB SPAGHETTI DINNER LAST WEEK AT THE END OF THE WEEK. AND ALSO THE LIONS CLUB SPONSORED 100 TREES. 100 years, 100 trees, and they're planting on their 100th year, planting 100 different trees. So thank you for that's a collaboration with the Public Works and Alliance Club and also the Boy Scouts, Troop 334, and other organizations. So again, part of what makes our community great. And just, although it seemed a little anticlimactic, we voted on ballot language that's going to go on the ballot in August, on August 18th. And we've been talking about that for years and working on it for over a year. So thank you again to city staff and our city attorney and our city planners for, that's just one hurdle. BUT IT'S A BIG ONE. SO IF THAT'S ABLE TO BE DONE, THEN OBVIOUSLY THERE'S MORE WORK TO DO FROM THERE. BUT WE FEEL STRONGLY, I'D LIKE TO SUMMARIZE I THINK THE SENTIMENT OF THE COUNCIL THAT THIS IS WHAT'S BEST FOR THAT DISTRICT. So it's just a matter of talking to residents and getting the word out. But I will just double underline that this has been a lot of work, but we made a decision that is what's Probably with surgical precision. It's it's the most conservative tweak that we could make we are just restoring the High restrictions that are in place for everything else. So I think that if people Give it Give it some thought they will agree that this is the best thing for the city So I'm glad that we were able to get that done and put it before the voters Okay, so if there's no further comment this meeting is adjourned at 7 55. Thank you.