Village Commission - Regular Meeting

Speaker cards, if you do speak tonight, whether it's about the budget or anything else relevant, please go ahead and fill out a speaker card. You'll have three minutes to come to the meeting. Just for the record, and just so everyone's aware, I've been calling you to speak tonight. Your opportunity to engage in a conversation with the dais. So I'm going to go ahead and ask that you cannot respond. I do think it's not to respond. This is our opportunity to listen to the residents and members of our community. So I'm going to open up the forum. Madam Clerk, do we have speaker comments? We do.

Teresa Murray? Teresa Murray.

Hi, Ms. Murray. Just a quick comment. I just want to see your name and your address. I live at 7901 Hispano Avenue. Just moved in a few months ago to the neighborhood. Just wanted to bring the comment that the soccer field, I know there are already some questions about the lighting on the building that's doing, but there's also... quite late game. And I don't know what I called to find out what the code was, but midweek last week, I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday night, the games were still loud and going on at 11 o'clock at night. which seems late and excessive for everyone who has to get up and go to work. Children, there's a lot of children in our building. I know it's disruptive. We couldn't sleep and we have, you know, impact-proof windows. You can hear it inside. You can hear it all through the building. Just wanted to know if that was something y'all could address and think about the timing of the games. I can see Friday, Saturday nights make sense for those late games, but 11 o'clock midweek seems late.

Thank you so much for for the comment. I know that I am going to be asking the administration comments about where we are on the field lights during my condition. And as far as the use of the fields, 11 o'clock is supposed to be the cut off time and the hours or something that we are constantly revisiting with our partners. Are you subscribed to the villages newsletter? Yes. Okay. Awesome. Thank you. Thanks for being here.

Who's next? Mr. Billy Corbin.

Good evening, motioners, well, some of you, anyway. Bergen-Corbin, Box 4304, Miami Beach, 3140. In July, Republican State Representative Fabian Saab was found liable for sexually harassing, battering his male former legislative aide and intern, as well as defaming that aide and his mother. He was ordered to pay $450,000 for, among other things, at North Beach Elementary School in the back of a classroom full of children. Then he was there to speak for a community, grabbing the buttocks of his legislative aide and saying, I want all that money. At least five have accused him of sexual misconduct, including one man who I know that Mr. Savage raped him in 2003. Despite that, people out there are still are still endorsing this adjudicated sexual harasser and batterer for re-election to the Florida House. That is Commissioners Darrow, Acosta, Cook. I wish he was here because in 2025, Mr. Chivoni called those allegations a, quote, smear campaign against Basabi that had gone too far. Attacks that he said, quote, were disgraceful and completely unsubstantiated amounting to a character assassination that cost every ethical line of public service. Here he is. You know who disagrees with you, Mr. Chivoni? The jury. sat for three days of trial and deliberated for hours, who listened to the sworn testimony of these young men, as well as Basavi. They considered all of the evidence, and they did not believe Basavi. They believed those young men. Truvoni, you went on to say, watching how Fabian responded during that period changed my perspective about him entirely. I want to acknowledge that I misjudged him before. you were big enough to admit you were wrong once, so I'll give you another opportunity tonight, sir, to admit that you were wrong again. And I'd like to give you a chance to apologize to those young men who were essentially called liars, men who committed no crime other than trying to serve the public in our state capital, young men who were subjected to unspeakable humiliation, harassment, and abuse. Because in the words of one of their attorneys, David Wasabi went to Tallahassee and treated it like ancient Greece, wherever you just for his pleasure. Finally, Mr. Chavonne, you said, I can say confidently that David Bissabi was exactly the kind of representative that North Bay Village needs. I disagree with you there as well, sir. I think North Bay Village deserves better, better than Bissabi and better than the four of you who continue to support him. Thank you, Mayor.

Madam Clerk, do we have another speaker? We do. Tamara Theola? Yes. Good evening, neighbor.

Tamara Fiola, 1575 North Treasure, apartment 106. Pardon me, but I'm going to read because it's easier for me. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. I have been a North Bay Village resident and property owner for nine years. When I moved here, I did my due diligence. I looked carefully at the community, the cost of living here, and whether buying a home in North Bay Village was a financially responsible decision for my future. I believed it was. I chose this community because I thought I could put down roots here and stay for the long term without jeopardizing my financial future. Nine years later, that is becoming increasingly difficult. Since I moved here, my condo association maintenance fees have doubled, and I'm paying a special assessment. Insurance, utilities, and the basic cost of home ownership have also increased. And now the village is proposing to increase the operating millage from 5.7 to 7, an increase of approximately 23% in a single year. For me personally, that's more than $1,000 extra in property taxes. At some point, we have to look at the cumulative effect of these increases on the people who are here. And that brings me to the question I really want answered tonight. Why now? North Bay Village is experiencing an extraordinary amount of new development. We have major projects being built and planned throughout a very small city. When those properties are completed and added to the tax rolls, they should significantly expand our tax base. So why are existing residents being asked to absorb a nearly 23% increase in the millage rate right now? Has the village calculated how much additional property tax revenue these new developments are expected to generate? And if this increase is necessary only to bridge the gap until these new developments are completed and added to our tax rolls, will this commission commit tonight to reducing the millage rate when that additional revenue comes online? Because residents need to know whether this seven mil is a temporary necessity or whether we're being asked to accept a substantially higher tax rate permanently. I support improving North Bay Village. I support our police, our infrastructure, and the essential services our community needs. But residents have budgets too. When our expenses increase, we have to prioritize. We have to decide what is essential and what can be reduced and what can wait. I believe we have the right to expect the same discipline from our local government before our taxes are increased this dramatically. I want North Bay Village to grow and prosper, but progress should benefit the people who already live here, not price them out of it. A successful city isn't just one that attracts new development. It's one where the people who invested in the community years ago can still afford to stay. I want to stay. But after nine years of increasing costs, double condo fees, special assessments, and now potentially another $1,000 plus in property taxes, I have to ask, at what point does North Bay Village become unaffordable to its own residents? Please don't balance the village future on the backs of the people who already call it home. I respectfully ask you to reconsider the seven millage rate and before voting for it, explain to us why this increase is necessary now and what happens to that rate when all the new development begins contributing to our tax base. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you for paying attention. Thank you for your comments.

really thank you who's next madam clerk sherry lochala good evening ma'am good evening i'm sherry lochala i live at 7900 harbor island drive 360 condos um I first of all applaud my neighbor and her comments. Fully agree with everything she said. After receiving my tax appraisal this year, I too had to look at is North Bay Village affordable for me to live here any longer? I want to live here. I moved here in 2019. I chose North Bay Village because of the community feel, the people that are here, and the affordability. Okay, like my neighbor, my taxes are going to go up over $1,000. Some of the neighbors in my same building, it's going to be even more. And I want to be able to stay here. I love North Bay Village. But again, ditto to my neighbor's comments. I would like to put on record that I agree with everything that she said. And I do believe that all of the development, the developers, let them pay for this, not us. That's all I have to say. Thank you. We appreciate your comments.

And for those who are here to listen to the budget, some of you may haven't been to our meetings before, maybe listening in the background while you're making dinner. This is a dais that doesn't just approve things without digging deep into the weeds. And so if you stick with us this evening, you are going to hear a significant amount about what The future revenue is coming and we anticipate that actually come into our general fund. There was a good question asked about is this just gap funding and I can only speak for myself on this front. But if I were here in the future, when the new developments do come online, I certainly would vote. To reduce taxes, given the increased revenue to our city, but that has not happened yet. And we have significant time sensitive infrastructure and public safety related expenses. And we're going to dig into a lot more detail about. expenses on as soon as we get to the budget. But I did want to make sure that everyone knows we are going to explain all of this and there will be a very, as we say, in the weeds conversation about where your property tax dollars are going and why we had to propose a significant increase this year. Who's next, Madam Clerk? Paula Maros.

Hello, Rachel. Hello, Madam. Hello there. I just want to say, name and address for the record, Paula Bowles, Island 7921 East Drive, the pink building. You're all invited. Just want to say the ladies on the commission look lovely today. You guys are fabulous, and I'm so proud to call you guys my makers. so i am here to agree with my beautiful mothers that just said these taxes this increase um actually i never thought property taxes would be something that i would ever be talking about um but here i am i have a property and for me also it'll be like fifteen hundred dollars that's normal artists. Again, that's what makes this village cool. You have cool people that do awesome things and that aren't these rich investors that aren't you know, crypto bills. They're not just people. And I keep hearing, and I learned that the development is going to expand our tax base and all that. And I understand. I learned a little bit that it happens when they're done. It happens when they're complete. That's when we finally start paying taxes. But you guys, that's like two, three, four, five, six years. How long is that going to be, right? So we're paying for it. We're paying for it for all these years. Is there a way to, does that even exist to pay 25 complete then at 50 but is that even a thing can we make it a thing no okay cool so i i just i want clarity and that's that that's what my neighbors i think want too like can we get a date of when they'll be complete and what exactly you just said that's great you said that you will be announcing those numbers because for me it's terrifying i don't want to get back to my I mean, to live here, but I mean, she was great, but yeah, anyway, so please let us know when that benefit will reach us. How much is the, you know, the added property tax revenue from these developments and what year exactly, like, can they give us that exact date? I don't know, because I feel like they're going to be like, it's not complete. If it's anything like the Palmetto, it'll never be complete. So you know what I mean? Like, they can just continue to build. They'll be like, oh, but we're missing, like, this other floor, and it'll never be complete. So that's my thing. Thank you so much. Bye.

Thank you for coming, Paula.

Madam Clerk was next. I don't have any other requests and I don't see anybody on Zoom with their hand up.

Is there anyone in the room this evening who may not have filled out a speaker card but would like to take this opportunity to be heard? Strongly encourage you to weigh in. Anyone else in the room going once? Going twice? Okay. All right. Thank you. Everyone who came and to everyone who spoke, let's go ahead and from the open the last proclamation and it's Gabriela. Gabriella please step up to the podium. So Gabriella approached us to support the Miami Diaper Bank, which I was thrilled to do, and I immediately connected her with Janice and Lily, and it appears that we, as of right now, are going to begin a diaper drive here in North Bay Village to benefit Miami Diaper Bank. And we're also going to support them in a diaper giveaway. So I think this is actually dovetailing quite nicely and is relevant to the affordability conversation. Now, diapers are expensive, groceries are expensive, taxes are expensive, and the cost of living does continue increasing. And the village is doing a lot of things to... Make that a little bit easier on residents. We have a workforce housing program, and we have 0 interest loans and grants available for our residents to pay for those special assessments and to also to get a little bit of assistance on their utility bills as well. But as far as childcare goes. We don't really have anything in that vein until now, until you approached us to recognize the Diaper Bank. And so it's really my honor and I'm really grateful to you for bringing this to us. I'm going to go ahead and read this proclamation and then give you a couple of moments to tell us about your organization and what you've got going on. Thank you. Whereas North Bay Village wishes to recognize that diapers and other essential hygiene products are fundamental necessities that help keep infants and young children clean, dry, healthy, and able to participate in child care and early learning programs. And whereas the National Diaper Bank Network has found that 40% of U.S. households with children under the age of four who wear diapers experience diaper insecurity, including 62% of low-income households. And whereas diaper insecurity negatively impacts Tax family economic stability is caregivers who lack an adequate supply of diapers. Often this work, because childcare providers require parents to supply diapers resulting average of 5.3 work days. are forced to forgo other basic necessities, including food and housing expenses to purchase diapers. And the Miami Diaper Bank, a member of the National Diaper Bank Network, addresses this critical need through a community-centered distribution model that includes partnerships with nonprofit agencies, emergency diaper distributions, and mobile diaper pantry services, helping ensure that vulnerable children and families have access to essential diaper supplies. And whereas National Diaper Need Awareness Week's observed September 14 through the 20th, raises awareness of diaper insecurity and encourages residents, businesses, and civic organizations, public officials as well, to take meaningful action through advocacy, diaper drives, donations, volunteerism, referrals, and communication. North Bay Village is proud to support organizations such as the Miami Diaper Bank and other community partners that work to improve the health, dignity, and economic stability of families by ensuring access to diapers and other necessities. And now, therefore, I, Rachel Streitfeld, Mayor of North Bay Village, and on behalf of the North Bay Village Commission, do hereby proclaim September 14th through the 20th, 2020. as National Diaper Need Awareness Week. In witness whereof, I've herein to set my hand and cause the seal of Murphy Village to be fixed this 15th day of September 2026. Thank you. So I'm going to present this to you, please.

Thank you so much council and commissioners for acknowledging this week. This is actually the very first time that this village decides to honor diaper need awareness. So we thank you so much for your leadership on this. As you mentioned, one in two families in the U.S. are affected by diaper need, but more importantly, 68,000 children in Miami-Dade are young. experiencing diaper insecurity, which means their family are having to decide between purchasing diapers, paying more property taxes, or even having to purchase diapers. Because daycares do require you to bring your diapers to daycare, like you mentioned about They miss about five days of work. And I always like to say that if I miss five days of work every single month, I probably wouldn't have a stable job. So many of the families that do come to us, about 300 of those are actually from the North Bay Village. And we're also proud to say that... His president is a village resident. And so this really means a lot to us. And obviously collecting the diapers, but sharing about our mission and letting people know that the diaper bank is there to support their family is crucial for us. And again, we thank you all for your support.

Amazing work. I think it's really just serving a critical need in our community. that you just shared were really shocking. So I'm really proud of us that we're going to be doing this Diaper Drive this week and that we're going to be co-sponsoring with you on the Diaper Giveaway. Let's present the proclamation and do a photo.

Yeah.

Okay, we had said that we're going to jump right into the budget, but we've lost our quorum.

So I'm here second.

I know, but I think state law in the room to mean to be part of the quorum is coming back. Andy, don't worry. Um, OK, so 13 is the first one we're taking up. Right 12 days is not technically a part of the budget. But it definitely needs to be discussed as part of the budget. So should we take 13 a 1st? I'm looking for guidance from either the village attorney or the village manager.

Would you like me to read them into the record, Mayor?

Not yet, because we haven't decided which one we're going to do. Okay.

I think there is the pecking order, and I'll leave that to the attorney.

Okay. Bear with us, everybody. So 12A is modification of water utility rates, while 13A is adopting the proposed millage.

And 13B is obviously adopting the tentative general fund and commercial capital outlay. I don't know which one you want to do first.

Well, I think 13A and B will be combined. Right. And then we can come back to 12A at the end because we're going to talk about the utility rates at the end of the budget presentation.

Okay. I think the budget does contemplate the utility rates as well, right? So, okay. Why don't we let you go ahead, Mr. Manager, and start your presentation? I assume finance and administration, you have a presentation. Okay. All right. Why don't you guys go ahead and jump in?

All right. We've got the screen up. Very good.

All right, so we put together a slide presentation from you for you to and so I'm sorry just for the neighbors who are here and listening and for folks who are listening on zoom. The Commission does not. work actively on the budget over the course of the year. Our department heads meet regularly with the village manager to build the budget for the coming year. I think they use the last year's budget as a starting point and then everyone has their competing priorities that they submit to the budget and then Staff works with Sandra to put the budget together finally. So this is the 1st time that we, as the condition are seeing the budget and it's close to final form and it stops responsibility to present that to us. So I'm going to have staff do their presentation and then. What I'd like to do is I'd like to hear from one on the Deus about what their top priorities are, and I'm personally going to give just a little bit of background also as to why we are where we are in the event that that wasn't entirely covered in the staff presentation. So go ahead, Frank.

Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the Commission community. So we have a side presentation to run through and. We'll do that and then we'll be prepared to address whatever. At the end of the presentation on the general fund budget, we will also present to you the capital budget that also has to be approved. And then open it up to the commission for questions and comments and a matter of however you want to go from that point. So on the first page. Yes, ma'am.

Mr. Manager, if we can read the resolution titles for 13 A and B into the record, and if there's any changes on the millage, we'll reread it before we take a vote. We can have the discussion on both items. We'll just read it into the record now. So 13A is a resolution of the Mayor and Village Commission of North Bay Village establishing and adopting the proposed millage rate for fiscal year 26-27 in the amount of seven mills, which is 30.5%. 39% higher than the rollback rate of 5.3686 mills to balance the general fund, establishing the debt service millage rate in the amount of 2.1659 mills, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. Mayor and Commission, you'll be voting on millage before you vote on budget, and we can change the amount of the millage downward, not upward. 13B is a resolution of the Mayor and Village Commission of North Bay Village adopting the tentative general fund and capital outlay budget for the fiscal year commencing October 1st, 2026 and ending September 30th, 2027. Confirming September 28th, 2026 as the date of the second public hearing, authorizing the expenditure of funds appropriated in the budget, acknowledging the levy and collection of taxes on real and personal property and other revenues necessary to meet the expenditures provided in the budget providing for transmittal, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date. Mr. Manager.

Thank you. All right, the first slide is to give you a starting point of exactly where we are on presenting this budget to you. There were some changes in the state procedures on what the capability of the elected officials are in setting the millages. And the basic figure that we were giving for the rollback amount, which is the amount that can be instituted that will produce the same amount of revenue that was produced in the previous year for the general fund. And that figure is 5.3686. The change that took place was that you, as a commission, had more flexibility in making the changes to the knowledge and raising the knowledge if you so desired. And they have taken some of that flexibility away from your ability to have the span of control that you had in the past. So what has happened now is that it takes a majority of you to approve the rollback millage. So three of the five can vote the rollback millage. Anything above that, up to 110%, 110% of the current budget requires four votes. So if you want to go Anything above 5.3686, it will take four votes. But three of you can vote in the rollback millage. The next slide is what I want to make everyone aware is that aside from the issues that we're dealing with immediately, there is an issue that is on the ballot in November to make a substantial change in how ad valorem taxes are applied to the public. And what this slide shows to you is that if the item passes, if the electorate decides to approve that ballot measure, they will receive in 2028 a $150,000 credit and where they receive $50,000 now, they would get $150,000 of their assessed value would be from the calculations of being taxable. So if you had a $200,000 or $300,000 assessed value of your property for property taxes, you would get a credit of $150,000 off of that, and you would be taxed on the balance of what was left. Continuing on to the second year, that is increased by another $100,000. So you would have $250,000 credit that would not be taxable on your assessed value. So when we look at the budget, not just next year, but we look multiple years down the road as to the position that the village is going to be in to be able to continue to provide a level of service that is acceptable to the residents of the community. The next slide is to give you an idea of where the $100 of your tax dollars go when we are talking about taxing authorities outside of the village. So out of $100 in taxes, you can see that $36.36 remains with the village. $32.46 goes to Miami-Dade County. $28.12 goes to the schools and state taxes takes $3.06 of that. On the next slide, we're showing the money goes within the village. So that $36 piece that we get that's spread out, where does it go within the government here at the village? So $16.38 of $100 goes to the administrations and operations of the village. $15.70 is general government. Those are expenses outside of salaries and operations that support the copy machines, the rent, the... All the equipment and so forth that we use to operate comes out of that $15.70. $55.34 of that $100 is your police department. $7.19 is community engagement. The community engagement we added was a separate program. item today rather than just being in the administration because we now have the impact of the community center and the operations of that, the building and the personnel and so forth has a significant impact on the overall budgets. So that's $7.19 out of the $100 and then $5.39 is your street maintenance fund.

Mr. Manager, just clarifying this slide. This is not just the general fund. This is all village funds, correct? This breakdown? This is just the general fund?

This is a general fund.

Fascinating.

Okay. All right. So the utilities funds, the building department funds are not included in this?

Just was under the impression that the police department was a more significant percentage because it had been at 60 plus and climbing. And so I'm just wondering, I mean, I'm not aware.

Because we have made cuts in the police department.

To be at 55%. Yes.

Okay. Okay. Especially on the commodity side. All right, the next slide that we are looking at is an historical presentation from year 2013 down to where we are with 2027. And it's a table that shows you the taxable values of the... in the millage rates, and then you get how we are assessed or we are evaluated here in the community by the tax assessor's office as to what our taxable value is. And you can see how we've grown and grown over the years and continue to grow to where in 27 we're looking at $1.9 billion worth of taxable value. and then your changes in your millage rate is run along this other column, and then you can see the change in percentage of taxable value. Very seldom was there a reduction, and it was only slight when it did take place. And the next column over shows you the revenues that you'll be getting from the taxable value, the gross, and we received 95%. So when you look at the last item over to the side, you'll see that in the 26th, we received $9,738,173. At the rate that we're proposing, we'd receive $11,600, but if you were to stay with the rollback amount, you'd get the $9,738,173. On the next slide, you can see the taxable value and the millage rates in a bar graph type of a layout in the blue bar graph. And then you can see the line graph that goes across that shows you the millage rates corresponding with those values. with the actual values that we're going up with. So you can see now when we get to 26, 27, rapidly starts to climb. The next slide gives you another look at the general fund expenditures again by year, going across with a bar chart. And then if you look at the pie chart that's just below that, you can see what percentage of that money goes to which of the departments. And you can see on the left-hand side that you're looking at the year to date through August 31st of 26 is this chart. And you are looking at the left-hand side is 22, 23 going to 23, 24. And then the 24 going to 24, 25 on the right-hand side. The big jump that you'll see in the police department going from 51% to 86% is a myriad of factors that have taken place over which they have really had no control, whether it's been retirees, payouts that have taken place, issues with vehicles that had to be replaced that came online, and so there were more expenses that took place in police with that share in this year's budget. You can also see that in this year's budget, the efforts that we have taken to bring that number down, and this is through August 31st. We've still got the rest of September. We calculate in the rest of September, we'll spend about another million dollars through that month. So that number will come up, but you can see that, with the constraints we put on expending dollars that were not absolutely necessary, even though they were budgeted, that we've been able to curtail the expenses this year. Come on, Danny. All right, so now we've got these boxes on the next chart that really show you today. So the trim millage was set at seven mils. At that same meeting on July 28, the commission set it at 7 mils. But the actual budget that we had in front of you was at 6.7386 mils. And you can see the dollar amount below both of those. And then after we left that meeting, we went back into the budget books. And we reduced another $618,700 from the time that we met with you on the 28th to tonight. So that brought it down to 0.3411 mils, which brings you to the proposed millage tonight of 6.3975 mils. So we've gone from 12,697,392 to 11,604,492. Now, we come to some of the meat and potatoes now when we get to the next chart. So this chart shows what was presented to the commission by the administration the night of the 20th when we had the second budget workshop. And on the left-hand side in blue are the items that I came to you and said, we really have not much of a choice, if any choice, in not making these payments. The first one was the four hours to the police department with the shift work that they're on. And the police chief came to me and said that it was just very difficult for them to maintain this schedule with these four hours missing. And if you recall, in the previous budget, We were at the point where the administration, and me in particular, had come to you and said we were going to have to lay off the multiple probationary police officers because we were not going to be able to make the budget that we had with those police officers being here. leadership of the union came to my office and offered that if they could come up with a plan that would give the same amount of dollars that I needed to save without laying those police officers off, would I consider doing that? And I said, yes, that I would. And they came up with this plan, which were these four hours going away. which has worked out financially, but has been a tremendous burden upon the administration of the police department to run that properly with unscheduled sicknesses and absences and injuries. It has increased their overtime and it didn't financially make sense to continue with that. So I agreed to recommend that we add the four hours back to the patrol section. The next item is A cost allocation. A cost allocation is, as I mentioned earlier, there are two areas of the city that are not funded out of the general fund. The utilities and the building department. The building department gets their funds from the fees that are paid by the permits that are pulled, whether it's building new buildings or whatever activities require a permit. And the other area is funded by the utility fees that come in. Well, because the administration, the directors and myself and the deputy manager and so forth, play the administrative role for the building department and the utilities, a portion of their funds that come in can be allocated to us on a percentage basis for the time that we spend with their activities. So in last year's budget, we made that choice and moved a considerable amount of money over from those to help alleviate the strain on the general fund budget. Well, this year, the addition of our new CDFO, Sandra Sifkin, came back on board. and pointed out to us that a study had been done earlier, years ago, as to what the allowable amount was that you could legitimately take from these two areas and offset general fund. And we were worthily above what was allowed to be done. By taking that money, we made it difficult for the utilities. Not the building department was not an issue, but the utilities were short on funds to be able to perform the duties that they had to do. So we have to put that money back. And that's the money you see there of $1,116,000. And we're putting that money back to them so the utility department can operate as they should. And when we talk about utilities, we're going to get into another issue that's a shortfall there when we get later into the presentation. And the third item is the community center. The community center has now got to be operated, and it has not been funded. So we have on board now within the current budget a little over $600,000 that was running the community engagement department that we call it now. And so we've taken those dollars and we're adding to that another $576,000 and we are guesstimating at this point that the million for the year is going to get us through running that community center. And it's, it's a lot of estimating. We know right now that the The electricity running the building is about $60,000 a year. And we're looking at the same thing when we talk about janitorial services at $5,000 a month. Another $60,000. So right there, we've got $120,000 of just basic costs. We've got personnel. We've got to hire personnel. And we have activities that we want to do. So we're going to open the center. We're going to have to have funds to run the center. So those things are on the left-hand side. As your manager, I'm saying to you to do this. Then we come over to the human side. These are issues that came before the commission at the budget workshop. The first two, four and five, came from me as the manager. As you all are well aware, we have one IT technician who is stretched thin, is to say, a stretch in itself. And then number five is a records clerk I guess one of the things that has had a big impact on us has been the advent of the body-worn cameras by the police officers. It's now whenever there's a ticket or just about anything, the individual is arrested and receives a ticket and gets an attorney. They want to see all the footage from the body-worn cameras that that officer had on during that stop or whatever the incident was. The amount of records requests has jumped dramatically. And the existing records room that we have has been woefully neglected over the years. It's not in any type of order that readily makes it easy to access items that are needed by not only that type of situation, but now with the developers that are coming for records of actions that have been taken by the Commission years ago, that they are saying we need this because this was approved way back and And now we need to be able to have a one-story building and a two-story one with things that happened maybe in 2005 or before. And it's difficult to find those records and substantiate one way or the other the position that we're in to defend. So we need a records person, and so I've recommended that. Can we live without it? Absolutely, because they're not on the left-hand side, but I'm recommending and suggesting to you that we have those positions. The rest of the items that are on here, rather than number 10, which was we took away the coffee and the tea from the employees at work, and the commission said, you know, we'll put that back, and it's a minuscule amount of money, but it's certainly a morale issue. But the other items, six through nine, are issues that were presented, some from the commission and some from the police union. And at the end of that budget workshop, it was direction given to the administration to include them in for discussion when we come to an actual budget hearing. So they are in there now. The pay scale for the police department, the pay scale is out of whack to where you have police officers that are senior officers making more than a sergeant, and you have sergeants making more than a lieutenant. And when... Ms. Rosado came back to us as the HR director. She went in and she corrected that pay scale. The pay scale has been adopted in the current union contract, but I have not instituted it because of concerns with the cost of the budget. So that is one item there. There's also an issue about last budget year. There was no, well, there has been no cost of living increases for the employees. No increases. So when they were next due for anniversary dates, I stopped those. And there's been no longevity increases either. So for the last year, there have been no salary increases for any of the employees. That includes the staff. And no cost of living increases either. And then number nine is the community events. You know, we have the four major events that we put on for the community at no cost to the community. And I had cut those tremendously. And the commission... requested that I put back $5,000 for each one of the events to get it up to an area of between $9,000 and $10,000 where we could have a decent event for the community on those four events. So when we finish this presentation, that's the area we'll come back to for you all to discuss, and then whatever else in the budget book that you want to get into.

I have a quick question about the soccer program. Mr. Manager, can you clarify the total millage impact of plus 1.370 at the bottom right of the screen? That says total millage impact is an increase of 1.370 if all 10 of these items are incorporated into our budget. Is that 1.370 above our current of 5.70?

From the rollback rate.

From the rollback rate. Correct. Okay. That's important. Some of us are up here doing math. Okay. This is from the rollback rate. So if we are to adopt all 10 of these into the budget as it's currently laid out, what would the millage be?

The niche right now is the 6.3975. So that was the last . That's where the 6.7. But then we made additional cuts, and we were able to to 6.375. So cuts right now, like today, . I would suggest that we go back from 6.3975. So, for example, if you want to say, like, okay, let's sell the coffee, so then what's the impact of the coffee? So then we'll go to the 6.3975, and then we'll reduce it by 0014.

Okay, so the rollback plus 1.370 equals 6.3975?

That was, okay, it's a different, it's a 6.7, because that's where we, that slide there is where we present it, and so it's going to be.

If we adopt the budget as proposed, including all 10 of these staff recommended items, what is the final millage? 6.3975. 6.3975.

Because of the lecture that we took out after we left the budget hearing.

Got it. Good.

Okay.

All right. Commissioner Acosta had a question. Yes, please.

Yes, Frank. I just want to make sure that the $50,000 we pay to coach. I'm sorry. Whoopsie. I just wanted to confirm that the $50,000 that we pay for the coaching still is in the budget, right? We haven't removed that.

You're talking about the first contract? Yes. Yes, it's in the budget. Good question.

Did you want to make sure?

No, those things are contractually obligated to...

I just want to make sure because that is the largest amount we have for any, by far, any kind of activity. I just want to make sure that it's worth it.

It's a contract and it's in there. Okay. All right. On the next page, you can see the notice changes from July 28th to tonight. So that's exactly what you're talking about, Mayor, where we started with the 7. We went to the 6.3975. And that's where we're at. And now we've got the debt millage that we also have to talk about tonight. And so at that meeting, we adopted 3.4098. And we have stretched that out to 2.1659. Now, let me explain how we did that. So when the stormwater bond was passed, the 60 million stormwater bond. The residents voted for that bond and it passed. And several years ago, the first $10,000 trench was pulled down to start doing the design work for these different projects. But at that time, the debt millage was not adjusted to account for that money being pulled down. And so for the next couple of years, there were payments that were due, interest payments that were due. And I made the first principal payment when I came on board. And the debt millage was not there to make that payment because the debt millage was never increased to allow for those loans. And so we had to make the payment Now, part of the principle that we draw down of the $10 million, because we didn't have the money in the general fund to make those payments. So that payment is $1.2 million. I made a payment in April of one point of this year, $1.2 million. And October 1st, I got to make the next payment of $1.2 million. And then I make another one in April of $1.2 million, another one in October of $1.2 million. That's on the first $10 million. We're getting ready now to pull down the second $10 million. So we're going to start running interest on that. So we need to increase the debt millage to the point that we can start covering these payments with the debt that the voters voted on to do this stormwater work. And so it's going to take another year. Once you set the debt millage now for starting in October, it'll take a year for those funds to accumulate. So the next payments that I have to make, I'm going to be having to make out of principle again. So we are in the process now of working with PFM to not only identify a bank for the next 10 million, but to hopefully combine that debt with the current debt and stretch it out over 10, 15 years. And by stretching it out, we can lower that debt millage to a more palatable amount. than when we were at 3.4 down to 2.1. And that's, as you notice in the works now, the PFM trying to deal with the banks so we can bring back to you so we can make that happen. And then on the last column you see the annual tax savings by the reductions and This is on a home of 526,073. So the average home in North Bay Village is evaluated at 526,073.

So these numbers, when we do that, we're showing you on the average home in North Bay Village.

So when we go to the next slide, we're looking at the accumulation now of the 27 proposed budget. And you can see with the rollback right there at the top, 5.3686, it takes three of the five to vote that in. Up to 110% of that rollback rate, you can do it with four. And then the proposed budget number three that we are presenting to you tonight, you can see what that amount is going across the board there. It takes five of you. Anything above the 110%, all five have to vote for. And then number four shows the millage rate if we were to stay with the seven, what it would be across the board. The next slide. Points out to you the North Bay Village property tax impact. Sandra, if you want to run through that one, please. I would appreciate that.

Yeah, sure. This graph here gives you the increase on a median property taxable value of $526,073. So for a homeowner, the increase on the operating mileage is going to be an additional $364 of what they're paying right now. And on the debt millage, it's going to be an additional $525 for a total of $889 increase per year on their tax bill for the North Bay Village portion.

And I think the significant thing to point out here is disparity between what the general fund Avalon tax is as compared to what the debt millage is, even with the decrease that we are proposing. And the next slide shows the estimated property taxes by taxing authority. And it gives you an idea then, again, based on that average home, as to where the taxes are going. On the left-hand side, you can see the school board And then you get the state, Miami-Dade County, and then our governing board here. So there was a reduction in Miami-Dade and authority taxing, $17 on that home came down. North Bay Village is $889, and the combined taxes come to $872. That's for an average home of 526,073 assessed value. They'll be paying an additional 872. This does not count the utilities, and that will come up the next page. Let's talk about water. So you see in the water there is a There's a pass-through from the county for the water and the sewer and the sanitation that comes from the county, and that passes straight through. We don't make any money off of that. It's charged to the county and passes on. But if you look at the water, you see there has to be a debt adjustment. Now, the reason for that is that we have these loans from the state, the state revolving loan fund. And that fund requires that the payments back to the state for those projects comes from the fees that you charge utilities. Well, the loans were made and the work's being done, but the fees were not adjusted. And as a result, we have been paying the debt to the state with general fund money and not utility fees. That is a violation of the contract that we have with the state. And they explained to us that we are technically in default because of that activity and that they could call the loan, have to pay approximately $1.8 million if they called a loan, but they were not inclined to do that because we were making the payments. We weren't delinquent, but we weren't paying from the right pot of money. So they told us, you have to adjust your rates to be in compliance or we will call the loan to be paid. and you won't have any more loan. We'll make the virtual interest loans that allow us to do weather and sewer work that desperately we need to do in the village. So as a result of that, we have had to raise the utility fees to bring them in line of where they should have been raised as the years along as we made the loans, the rates should have been increased to cover that debt, and they were not. The next page shows you a comparison of a single-family home, a multi-unit, and it's how much you pay for the number of gallons that you use, a typical 6,000 gallons. It's you know, just laying that out and showing you how, and it also shows you your commercial garbage also that has to be paid to the county. You go to the next page, you see the North Bay Village total annual impact summary. So this, again, is on a home that is averaged at that 5-7, which I can hardly read there, but 5-26-073, okay? So your operating impact will be $364 a year. The debt service, another 525 a year. The utilities increase is $213 a year, which brings you to a total of $1,102 a year increase of the total tax bill. That really concludes the general fund and utilities presentation. I wanted to have Roger present the capital capital projects to you and then open it back up to the commission to move forward? Or would you rather move forward on this and then do the capital? I mean, whatever.

I have a brief discussion about the accounting realities. The utility was and the debt knowledge and the cost allocation, which is absolutely mandatory, which is a significant budget expense. It's going to mean a hit to the general fund, but we absolutely have to do it. And I want to open it up for... Rest of the day is to weigh in with questions on the presentation, because most of my colleagues haven't had a chance to speak on it. So, before Roger dives into capital projects, I think everyone would appreciate sort of a little bit of an in the weeds conversation on what we just learned. So. Let's go 1 at a time. Does anyone want to go 1st?

Leadership in action, folks.

Here we go.

Okay. So let me just... We had a conversation already about all of these items. I'm happy to see that most of the changes where these reductions that you mentioned are not really from the pot that we've discussed before. As a matter of fact, one of the things that I said to our city manager was pretty much stop. Stop looking for the penny right now because we really are to the bare bottom of where we can be to run the village. I just want to say that based on the information that is provided, which by the way, amazing presentation, excellent work. I'd like to see graphics. I'd like to see breakdowns for the regular person to just understand what we're dealing with and really see where the money's coming from or going to. A lot of the decisions that made us be in the situation we're in today are from seven, eight, whatever, years ago, right? And we are seeing now the results of all of those decisions, decisions like build a new community center, decisions like let's change the zoning to bring new development, decisions like, you know, here's what the money for development is going to be used like, or how are we going to be paying for the stormwater master plan? Let's create a bond. All of those decisions that in the last two years that I've been part of, we have progressed with, now we need to start the community center. Now we need to continue to pursue the development New City Hall. We need to really work on our storm stormwater master plan and other issues that we have. And I feel like the city took a big responsibility by doing an account forensic accounting of where we were for the past 10 years to where we are today. And it gave me a clear picture on. where the money has been going and then there was, you know, issues with where the money was at a time or use or how we decided to move for progress the way we did. Honestly, today we're here to discuss the next decision. I'm happy to see that the items are still reflecting what we discussed at the last meeting. But I wanted to just address real quickly some of the comments like from our neighbor Tamara, where you mentioned Why now? I hope that this answered a little bit of that, what we went through. What about the upcoming taxes? I agree with our mayor. I say if I have a way to promise that in the future we'll reduce our taxes, that's what I would do. As a matter of fact, I actually did have that conversation with our attorney. How do we do ordinances to protect us from the future in any way? I cannot make the future commissioners and mayor make decisions, but I voice my opinion, so hopefully in the future it's heard at some point. I hope you also see where this presentation, where are taxes where, where would they be in the future? Hopefully that answers some of those questions. And you can see that the effort here is to reduce that hit that we're all getting. The other thing, and Sherry, again, thank you for bringing up 100% the same information that we just went over. Hopefully you also got some answers from that. Paula says something that I found very interesting where she said, She wants clarity, which I hope you also receive tonight. But she says something very important. She said, we're just people. And I just wanted to remind our residents that we're also just people. We're also assessing ourselves and our homes to be able to live here in Northwood Village. I've been here 20 years myself. I'm very lucky that when I bought the property value was very different than what it is today. My circumstances have not changed. It's still the same, you know, income level and persons. My expenses are still running the same way. My boyfriend just bought a property in Northside Village and his taxes are very different to mine now. And, you know, so I just wanted to remind everybody that we're all just people here, too. Richard, Goran, Rachel, Andy at home, you know, his family. It's good to see that our budget is protecting the promises that we make to the staff, which we see working really hard. The beginning, when I started as a commissioner, there was a lot of changes within the staff. And it's some of the things that you have seen reflected in this budget. It's also a result of past decisions that we're trying to work with in the best way possible. I want to just caution people that when we talk about reducing taxes, as we are discussing the potential of losing income from taxes in the next years, the more at risk we put ourselves, you that we're doing by lowering the lowest to the lowest to the lowest is to not have that cushion for when we do run into the ground or with an emergency. So again, I'm happy to see where the budget is. I'm happy to see that you'd listen and that the police department is here in full support of this. We listen to you guys too. We listen to our staff and we definitely listen to the residents. As far as the material that I have in front of me, I asked my question earlier about the money for our coach, which is something I was concerned about being that it's the highest amount that we're paying for any vendor here. But I also wanted to make sure that we protect the promises that we made. Because like I said before, we're nobody's heroes by reducing a couple of cents here and there. We want to make sure that we're planning on the future and to make those decisions that were made in the past work the best way possible. So I hope that everyone here who came tonight at least walks away with that relief to know that that is the work we're all pursuing here, is to make sure that we balance our budget, but also that we don't run into the same case scenario of emergency fund issues in the next few years. So thank you.

Thank you, commissioner, commissioner.

It was either you or the vice commissioner soon. Did you want to. Hi, do you guys hear comments from the administration?

yeah i have i have comments and first of all i apologize that i couldn't be there with everybody tonight uh first meeting missed here in four years uh so i'm sorry again can't be there but look i um i support like everybody i think we want to keep our taxes low you know i support a lean efficient government i do think we are that but that we continue to do everything we can to reduce this burden on that it does get passed to our residents Last month, I had called, I had recommended that we do a sunshine meeting for a broader discussion about some alternatives. It didn't happen. We couldn't reach forum. One of the things that I wanted to discuss was the possibility of financing a portion of Village Hall. I know this is something I had discussed earlier, potentially reallocating some of the funds that are going towards Village Hall now that we've collected to possibly bridge some of the shortfall in our budget and alleviate some of the tax burden by doing so. Some of the difficulties I'm aware of doing this, one are the debt millage. Two, we don't have the village hall quotes right now. I believe that they're coming in as early as tomorrow, which makes it a little difficult to understand where we stand on village hall. Do we have the adequate money currently? Are we going to be short for Village Hall even more? So I think a lot of these decisions that were being made tonight when we don't have the full also simultaneously, I wish that we were sitting here tonight with numbers in our hands for Village Hall. I think we'd have a much better outlook on the financial situation of the village if that was possible. So I think that makes it difficult for me to really determine where we're going to stand. That being said, I would like us to find ways to reduce further from the 6.3 millage that we're currently at. So when it comes time for that, I think we'll look back at our approved budget, the items that were on the discretion. And I think some of these will have to fall off if we're going to achieve that. I think where we need to go to get the millage rate at 6.3, I think we need to be unanimous. And at the moment, I am not completely convinced that You know, I'm not completely on board with the millage as it is. I'm not saying I'm going to vote no tonight against it, but I'm still contemplating it. So I'll leave it at that, you know, and I'll let the vice mayor or, you know, Commissioner Schiavone share their comments on it next.

Commissioner Darrell, I appreciate you bringing up the subject of Village Hall. I think it would be prudent for us. I don't know. Madam Attorney, you let me know if this is possible. Can we have a Village Hall discussion the same night as our second budget hearing so that we, at least as a commission, can have a conversation about... I mean, I... Commissioner, you're right. We don't have... The cost to build those halls is going to be as far as what we're contractually obligated to. Obviously, we certainly have a ballpark figure, but the answer is we're not there. And we're going to have to figure out financing mechanisms to get there. Pulling money in my view, from the village hall pot which is still underfunded and we are obligated to build that building um is is not a prudent decision um these funds have been secured 50 of them have been secured through development agreements and the village could be exposed to A lot of unnecessary bad time consuming and costly circumstances. If the funds were misused, right? Those development agreements very specifically allocate funds for a village hall. You cannot those funds out of that very discrete line item. So, I'm happy to have the conversation about village hall at our next. Budget hearing, I think it would be worthwhile for us to do that. If the commission agrees.

We should.

We should. I'm very curious to know where we're going to see a possibility.

Okay, so we have an understanding that there will be an item on the agenda for two weeks from now, I believe. Is it two weeks from now or next week? It's two weeks from now. So we'll discuss financing for Village Hall. And for folks paying attention, this conversation about a Village Hall and why I've been one of the lead voices fighting for this Capital project for us to, I mean, I can see a cynical person saying, why taxes? I don't need the village. The village that we've got right now. Nothing it's very comfortable, except that this is not our building. Some. To decide to sell it, we would not have a location to run village operations. And there's also the fact that this is an older building that. Needs to be. Innovated and there is actual, I would say, exposure for us being in this building even sway. You. Deserve to have a building that is actually your own that. Sorry. Oh, of course, the rent defense, I mean, I sign a check for 34,000 dollars every month, which is the rent that we pay to be here in this building. So the village deserves a village call. Quality in my county, and that includes this game park and our hotel that do have our own village call. We have an obligation to my county fire department. been in existence for over a decade now, I believe. And we owe it to the many women who show up here every day, both as the North Bay Village Police Department, but also as our staff. And again, primarily for all of you to have a building that is truly the center of operations for your government so that you can come to a meeting, host a function, and know and feel proud that this is where you live. So let's add that discussion item to the October, to the second budget hearing. And I'm hearing you on wanting to see further cuts. You said you're not committing to voting further cuts. I have a question for the village attorney. I know that we ultimately need to have a status to pass a budget, but can we go from the budget on 1st reading to the budget on 2nd reading unanimous vote? Like if Commissioner Dowd were to be on tonight, but we pass it 4-1, does that budget still advance to the second hearing?

You do need it for tonight. And just to be clear, between first and second reading, you've let's say you want to go to a number tonight, you can't increase your millage, separate the millage of discussion from budget. The millage is really where you have the restriction and obviously that dictates your budget, but you will not be able to come to a lower number. You have your cap set from July the 7th. You can go lower tonight.

You can't go lower tonight and then go higher at the next meeting. So for the five of us, let's all just sort of soak that in as far as our ability to be productive this evening. We can reduce the millage from 7 to 6.39%. And then we can go further the next time we meet. Or we can keep the millage at 7 or we can reduce the millage from 7 to 6.5 or from 7 to 6.6 and just keep moving down. We can't move up.

In that case, Mayor, I think it makes a little bit more sense. We are lowering it. I would be more in favor that we are lowering it partially with the idea that it could still be lowered at the final meeting. You know, in that way, I do think it changes my opinion a little bit of how I would vote tonight. I can add that.

That's really helpful. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure everybody knew the ground rules for whose creation we need and why and at what number.

Understood. No, it did clarify.

All right. Awesome. Commissioner Schiavone.

Okay. First of all, kudos. This is an unbelievable presentation that I have yet to see on the stairs in 11 years that I've been here. So congratulations on that. I knew when we settled for the seven that it was high. I'm speaking to you directly because you're the only one left from the residents that spoke. From the residents that spoke. I'm not saying from the residents. I knew it was high, but it was the highest point that I would go. I've been fighting for development. I've been fighting for TDRs. I've been fighting for money, especially for City Hall, because I don't want to cause any more deficits. I wish I could tell you that we're covered fully. I don't think so. Numbers are coming in. Actually, bids will be open tomorrow, but I don't want to lose any residents either. As a resident, I don't know what you do for a living or where you live, but we have a program that helps residents that have condo association fees to cover. You may qualify. It's a 0% interest payable. I believe it's in 15 or 30 years. I'm not sure which one of the two programs it is. So there's options for you. I don't want to lose you. I mean, what you said makes total sense. I'm the only single family homeowner in the dais. So I feel the crunch that you see here tonight. I wish my house was worth $526,000 on the tax rolls. So it'd be easier for me to do the math. It's not. But it's surprising to me that the operating set increase is only $364. The real increase comes in two sections. And sitting here for 11 years, yes, I am partly to blame for it. One is on the debt service, and it's that The last administration after we passed the $60 million geobond borrowed $10 million without having the need immediately for the $10 million. And we have had to use part of those funds to pay the actual interest and now principal of that loan, which is ridiculous. You should have borrowed what you needed. So it's a mistake on that administration that was here to have done that. And the other thing is in the utilities. Again, it's to blame the administration that the loans were not paid or the principal on the loans were not paid with utility funds. They were paid with general funds. That's why we're lucky to still have those payments, I mean those loans in place. But let's be realistic. We are paying now what we should have done for several years, that we have a different administration here. That's where the increase really is impacting us. There's another impact. In this presentation that we have tonight, and I don't know if we're going to get to it, there's one line item that has a $400,000 increase. contingency fee that must be approved each item that gets spent from there must be approved from the commission but i'm going to go into the weeds if you permit me i'm going to go into legal no offense to legal whatsoever uh legal has a line item that's called litigation Litigation, if I am not mistaken, and I asked our CFO this figure, for this current year that ends at the end of the month, we have $180 left in litigation. Today, we received a bill for litigation for the month of August. It totals $196,000. of which $63,000 is up till the end of August. What we have spent on a litigation fee of a candidate that ran for office that was found to be noncompliant. Uh, To pay this $196,000, and we only have $180,000, obviously we have to tap into next year's budget. By the time the check is done will be the month of October. Therefore, we can tap into next year's budget, which has $150,000. We're still short. We still have litigation pending. the opening the boardwalk for three condominiums. We still have litigation pending on Javits that has gone to the Florida Supreme Court as an appeal. That's one of our residents, and we still have the litigation on the Thompson case, which is going to the Third District Court, and there's a question also being asked of the Florida Supreme Court. So we need to increase I hate to say that, but it's the truth. I'm being as transparent as I can be. We need to increase our litigation fees. We can't even pay the bill that came in. What page?

Thank you.

This is the email of the bill that came in today, Madam Mayor. Yep. So we have that expense. I've been looking at this budget diligently, and I have found that One area we can cut one position, increase one position, which is in the building department, which is half funding from general funds and half funded from the building department. That person is interested in a promotion and going for the record. keep record custodian, whatever you want to call it within the village clerks department. It's basically a lateral move. It's a more interesting position and they're interested in the position. It's basically the same salary. So I can save one whole salary of approximately, I want to say $65,000 plus bennies. I don't know exactly what the bennies are. I'm going to calculate about $98,000. Uh, Half of it comes from general funds. We can save those funds if we freeze that position. If they need that position, they can find a part-time person to cover lunch hours or vacations or whatever you need from funds that come from the building department. The building department is a positive-making department, which has nothing to do with the general funds. And they can have it as a part-time employee filling that position. So we can save approximately $35,000, $40,000 in that position. I know it's not a big debt compared to $190,000 that we owe litigation, but we need to up the litigation fee and we need to lower that position.

I think before, I mean, I appreciate that. Are there other line items that you wanted to go into or was it just those two? Because I don't know that I'm ready to dive into line items yet.

The other line items that I would, are basically an oversight that took place in the book that I've been told will be corrected by the next.

Is it my travel? Is it my travel?

Yeah, I'm trying to say it properly.

I specifically said that I don't want any budget from this village, that if I'm going to travel on behalf of the village, I'm going to do it out of my own pocket. And any line item for the mayor's events, travel, conferences, anything should be zeroed out.

Besides that one, we have four individuals that were skipped over for the 3% COLA increase. And I had requested COLA increase across the board evenly for all the employees. There's no difference or preference or whatever. And I heard that that will be in the next book. It's just an oversight.

Well, the money's already there. I just took it away from the four of us who are making the higher salaries. But the money is there, and if the commission says, you know, I don't have to increase the millage to put it back. I just took that money out from there, put it in a safe place, because I figured when we came here, I was going to hear this. And if it goes back, I'll put it back. But I'm trying to cut where we can cut to.

I understand we've had this discussion, and I don't want to be that specific.

No, but we'll just put it back on those line items. I mean, it'll go away from them.

Just because an individual has reached a certain position and is getting a high salary doesn't mean that he's not deserving of the 3%.

Let me just take a moment to emphasize why the COLA is so important. we've got a very mean staff. I work with other cities all day, every day. The planning and zoning department at the City of Hollywood is like 35 people. You look at other cities and they just have staff on staff on staff on staff. For me to get a meeting in the City of Hollywood today, I had to email three people About 1 parking variance, we don't have that many people working in our zoning department. So, having a very lean staff means that the staff that we have need to feel happy and valued in their job. Because when we use a staff person, for example, our capital projects manager was out. For a couple of weeks, and that just means that our capital projects don't move for a couple of weeks. If we some. Downstairs on the 1st floor, it means residents don't get the questions that they have answered. It means that people coming in for permits don't have a friendly face to acknowledge their existence and point them in the right direction. And when we lose staff permanently to other opportunities that, for example, Surfside or Bay Harbor. We are really in a bad spot until we can find someone who is willing to work here and we can train them. And because we have so much activity happening in the village right now, with all of the capital projects and the infrastructure improvements that this dais is making, we really can't afford to lose people because we were not willing to give them what we believe is a very standard... obligation on the part of an employer, which is a cost of living adjustment. We all know the cost of living has dramatically increased, especially as world events occur and they leave us hostage to the cost of things like fuel. I mean, we would have had to raise taxes just to pay for the increased cost of gas, to be quite honest. So the COA is a priority for me. And it remains it remains a priority across the board. Let's go back to more general comments on the state of the budget.

Yes, I may. I just went to one more thing. You said it perfectly as far as to talk about our staff. And I just want to. Put it out there, exactly what our mayor was saying and the way we experience our staff, I would imagine more than most of you, coming from the outside and coming into this, I've learned so much of what they do, but in any corporate job I've ever had, I've never seen a lean company like the Twin. No one has a backup person. No one has a secretary. There are no assistants to no one here. Think about any job you've ever been to that does not have a full-time receptionist or or a secretary or an admin person to help you with your bookings, with appointments. If you get sick, they cover for you. None of that happens here. So when we discuss these increases, it really comes down to retention of the staff that we have more than anything else. It really is about keeping the people that are great professionals who work well together, who only receive positive reviews from the residents to stay here with us. I just wanted to add that real quick.

That's true. Okay, Vice Mayor?

Okay, well, 1st of all, I want to thank all the residents that came out here tonight, taking time out of your day to come speak to us about your concerns over the tax increase in the budget. And I agree with all of you in principle, and I've been warning of this tax increase since last year's budget season. Last year, we had an initially proposed budget of $18.2 million, compared to this year's proposed budget of $11.6 million. That would have been a much, much bigger budget, and I noted that we were using one-time revenue sources, such as developer impact fees, to fund our ongoing operating expenditures. I was able to work with the commission here to see, to understand the issue. And because of that, we avoided what would have been a default today. And we lowered our operating budget significantly by over $4 million. And And now with all that, I want to thank all the staff, Village Manager Frank, all the department heads for all the hard work and reeling back a lot of this year's operational expenditures and bringing back our proposed millage down from what was in the last Commission Meeting 7 to now under 6.4. and i also want to thank you all for the work on this presentation i think this was very comprehensive very detailed and very transparent and easy for our residents to understand so thank you sandra and thank you to to all the staff I still have some concerns because we're still proposing a millage increase of 12%. And considering that property values have also gone up in the same time, that is an even greater effective tax hike. So these are some of the things that are concerning. One, I've heard that our tax base has not increased yet. We're waiting for the new developments. I don't believe that is true. In FY21, we saw on that chart that our taxable base was $1.07 billion. And today, for this fiscal year, it's $1.91 billion. Let me just pause there. Is that correct, Sandra, from the presentation we saw?

An increase in value, not an increase in the base.

That's an increase in the property valuations. Exactly.

It's not as a result of an expansion of the tax base. It's an increase in the value of what existed there before. It's not an expansion of the base.

If residents are being taxed at a valuation of $1 million instead of $500,000, even if the millage rate was flat, they're paying higher taxes on that property.

I just want to be really clear about the words that you're using. Taxable values have increased. The tax base has not expanded.

There's not a single... It hasn't expanded because we don't have more residents, sure. But we have higher assessed value of property, so higher incomes coming into the village. That's what I'm saying.

When we talk about expansion of the tax base, I'm referring to the... New taxes that will be paid by the residents of the show mother continuum 7918 and any of these projects when they finish. I'm also looking at the dozen or so new single family homes, particularly on Treasure Island that look like they're going to finish in the next 6 months and they will be added to the tax rolls.

I understand what you're saying by that, but also with that comes an increase in expenditures consummate to the amount of new residents or the new village residents or tax base that we have growing. What I'm talking about is the assessed value of our property taxes. That's gone up by 78.5% from FY21 to today. So even if our millage rate had remained flat all that time, that is still an effective tax increase on current residents of 78.5% from FY21 to to today that's what i'm talking about so and actually i think it's a great point that our population has not grown it's it's in fact according to the latest census data it's dropped so our services haven't changed i'm receiving no more services today than I did three years ago when I joined the commission. So my whole concern is if our taxable base or assessed property tax values have increased dramatically while population and service demand have not comparably increased, then why is such a higher millage rate possible? Where is the gap? That's my concern. In Miami Beach, they gave out $500 tax rebates to homeowners. And here we're talking about a pretty substantial tax increase. And part of my concern is that, as we can see from the chart also that was presented, is that our expenses have gone up from $10 million in FY23 to $15 million in FY25. Now we're back down to a more realistic range. And I understand the previous issues you mentioned with the loan, but that affects the debt service millage. I'm talking about the operating millage right now.

That affects the utilities, not the debt millage.

The loan that you were talking about.

The loan that I'm talking about.

From the money that we took out.

The $10 million. Yes.

Yeah. Right. So anyways, all that to say, I had to work very, very hard to get us to scale back our expenses for $18 million last year down to $14 million. And I received a lot of opposition, including up here, but we got it done. And I think we're getting it done again this year by getting down from $7 million down to where we are right now. So... i think i mean i agree with commissioner darrell i think this is a really good start and i'm not going to veto our our budget that's proposed and that what you staff say is best because i trust trust you guys um but i would like to see if there's potential or opportunity for more cuts i understand that life is very expensive for our residents it means a lot to them they took time out of their night tonight to come out to speak to us because it matters to them so I just want to make sure we're putting forth our best good faith effort to give it one last shot and see if there's anything else that we can cut, any more support we can give to our residents. Finally, I also, I like the idea that commissioner Darrell mentioned of exploring alternative funding mechanisms. I would even be for village hall. I would even be open to possible modifications to village hall to help bridge the gap between our tax season until some of these buildings come up and we have that larger tax base and larger assessed property values. But those are my thoughts. Those are my ongoing concerns. And next year, with the exception of some extreme scenario, like a huge drop in property value assessments, or perhaps this property tax bill going through at the voting booths, I will not be voting for anything next year but a tax decrease. Those are some of my general thoughts, concerns, and comments.

Okay, I appreciate that. I think the residents deserve to know where I stand very clearly on this, which is I regret the need to increase taxes. I had to pay a $50,000 condo special assessment this year. My flood insurance rates are increasing. I mean, I feel it the same way that everybody else feels it. But I also am a realist. I put my head down to do this job, and I'm not here to lie to anybody or paint a rosy picture. And what I'm about to say is true across all of Miami-Dade County, but we have infrastructure expenses and public safety expenses that we cannot afford to ignore. Reducing the general fund any further would mean cuts to salaries and all of the salaries essentially are in our police department. And I don't think anyone wants to see a reduction and our police department. I certainly don't. A couple of notable things that we accomplished in the last couple of years infrastructure wise. We complete building mortgage premium several years ago. Many people are not aware of that. You know, we're talking about expanding the tax base and having new development. It's not just new development on the causeway. It's new single family homes on North Bay Island and Treasure Island. We could not process building permits for years here in North Bay Village because our wastewater infrastructure was violating the Clean Water Act. And we were under a very strict moratorium from Miami Dade County that we could not issue any permits and that went on for years. So, to get us out of that situation, we spent a lot of money that is probably reflected in the water and sewer utility fees. That we are now having to take from the general fund to compensate those banks of money, because that money was spent to bring to fix our sewer pipes so that they didn't leak. And so that they weren't in this game. We've replaced sewer pipes. We've replaced meters. We've replaced pump stations. We've. on the infrastructure to get out of building moratorium, which is why we're seeing so much construction all around the islands. It's not like there's some big boom and everybody decided to break ground all at once. It's because there was a backup of dozens of people waiting for their permits, and now all of those houses are under construction. So the money that we spent getting out of the building moratorium, in my opinion, was money very well spent. Another bucket of funds also on infrastructure have to do with the state of the galleon street lot where our pickleball and pedal courts are today. Right? So where the center is and where those courts are used to be our public yard. And it was also our police headquarters. I understand at 1 time. So that building was condemned and had to be demolished. She is that the parking lot where we parked our garbage trucks and all kinds of other utility vehicles for 80 years for the entire history of the village required a multi environmental cleanup. and frankly we should have done that cleaning years and years and years ago and i am so grateful that we did that cleanup in the name of a community center because what a great story it's like sparks in iraq right we turned the pit into a park um but that cost over i mean almost two i'm still signing checks to can we learn The contaminated that was on the ground at that parking lot for 80 years, parked garbage trucks there. We have a forest foundation, all of the runoff from the garbage trucks and the utility vehicles was just making its way into the ground water and into this game day. And here we are at the heart of the day. Everybody at Miami-Dade County to hurry up and fix their septic to sewer conversion problem while we, the entire time, we're very much nurturing a point source of Biscayne Bay contamination. We've cleaned up that site. We're being genuinely good stewards of the bay and that means paying close attention to what is happening to our groundwater and spending millions of dollars to a point of solution into the bay. So those are just a handful of reasons why the expenses have increased over the last couple of years. And I do want to acknowledge what you said, Vice Mayor. You had to fight very hard last year to rein in some of the spending. And as a result of that, we did a forensic audit and we learned some things about how we were spending not just taxpayer dollars, but money that was coming in from development. The village is very, very focused on attracting development to pay for these capital projects. We're looking at another 5Million dollars super line location that needs to basically. Now, the 5M dollar cost for a sewer line relocation was not something that we had planned on. We assumed because the sewer line needs to be relocated as a result of the bridge project. We assumed that would be paying to relocate our sewer line. They are not. So we have to pay for it. And we need to start designing that project like yesterday. So my overall feeling is that we should do the absolute best that we can to cut this budget even further. But I don't want to cut too much because the cost to live here is actually higher. We haven't invested in infrastructure aside from the last couple of years. We haven't invested in infrastructure in really 80 years in any meaningful way. You know, Treasure Islands roads are decomposing from the bottom. We need to be able to meet the flood risk in the next couple of years. And we're in the process of doing a comprehensive analysis of every type that we have underground because our water pipes and our sewer pipes are extraordinarily old. They're probably in some cases, 80 years old. And we cannot survive on infrastructure that is decaying. We shouldn't have to. And so this year's budget is a bit of a reckoning with those realities. Last year, we were trying to process a shortfall and trying to wrap our heads around certain spending. And we froze cost of living. We froze merit. We asked the police department to work with us to change their schedules. And it was, frankly, quite a stressful, emergency-feeling type of situation. this year we're in a bit of a different posture. We've got Sandra back. And so someone who can do math is running our finance department and we're thrilled about that and how beautifully she presents it. But she's also uncovered a lot of accounting mistakes that have occurred in the past couple of years. So one thing that I, you know, it has concerned me since day one of public service here is that we are not running As tight of a ship as we possibly could when it comes to some of these finance. Issues, I feel a lot more confident now, but it's not great to say to the public. Oh, we should have been paying for these loan draw downs and we weren't. Those are really big mistakes that if found in the private sector, folks would lose their jobs. So we need to course correct and continue alert for past mistakes. And figuring out how we can correct them. I mean, I think across the board, everyone needs to be aware that just because something was done some way in the past doesn't mean that it was done correctly in the past. So we all need to be looking for those opportunities. And the last thing I'll say is that if and when we do raise taxes, we will this body. We'll commit to expanding the resources that we offer to provide assistance to our residents. We have a number of mechanisms to do that today through our resilient housing program. We offer 0 interest loans to our residents who need special assessment assistance. If you're living in a condo, and I sign those checks, I am very well aware that people are taking advantage of those 0% interest loans and people are staying in their homes. As a result of those loans being available a number of personal stories and so that's really good work. We should keep doing it. We also have a utility assistance program as well as a North Bay village 1st, time home buyer program. So, 1 of the things that would like this condition to do, and if we can schedule it for the November meeting, I think October is probably going to be jam packed. But if we can have. A discussion at the November meeting on expanding the resilient housing fund and creating additional programs that more more tailored to the needs of our residents in light of the tax increase. That's something I'd really like for us to discuss.

May I just add to also have a total of what's available. Oh, yeah, the fund would be great as well because we have spent. Yeah.

You know, and I forget which one of you it was. I think it was the vice mayor who mentioned that his services hadn't changed in the last three years. It's not true. Just in the last year alone, you got access to one and a half acres of park space that you did not have before. One and a half acres in this one. were accessible at no cost to our taxpayers. The residents paid nothing to have a new park right in the heart of Treasure Island on North Treasure Drive, and the residents paid nothing to now have front access on the west side of Treasure Island. And I'm talking about the Anson Park and Stormwater Park.

That was a part that I negotiated with the developer to give us that in exchange of eliminating workforce.

To yourself and not giving yourself credit for an expansion of services. It didn't affect our budget, though. Cities, when they want to increase space, they have to pay for it. Right, the increased park space in a meaningful way without any impact to our residents. And we've also increased the number of activities that we offer here for free in the village. We have a pattern club. We have the run club. We have yoga and we have shower fit and obviously the community center, which is going to at some point in the future. Right. No, I just, Vice Mayor, it's not a personal thing. I just think it's not entirely fair to say that our services haven't changed when we've expanded kinds of offerings to the public in these last couple of years.

Okay. I was just noting the difference between developer exchange.

No, I understand your point. I understand your point.

And I think there was also, you know, a couple questions during the public comment period about, you know, when. I'll be honest, when I sat on this day in 2020 and voted for the changes to the development code, We put a emphasis during those discussions on getting projects approved and built quickly. And unfortunately, that hasn't happened. And so I know for me going forward, I would like to see modifications in our land development code that give developers an 18 month timeline. to pull a permit, otherwise their site plan approval expires. The city of Hollandale Beach has an 18-month timeline. You have a site plan approval, you pull a building permit in 18 months, you can ask for discretionary six-month extension, but that's it. Our code does not have those limitations. I think it should. That's just me. We'll obviously need to talk about it as a commission. But we do to see this development come to mind, too. So, you know, show more support for 2020. I thought it would be good to find out support for 2022. I thought they would have broken ground, but now they've got tax fees. Thankfully, it's moving forward. But basically, these buildings all need to finish being constructed. Then they need to have the final inspections and get those certificates of occupancy. And then I think a year after that, they finally come onto the tax roll. So, given that Tallahassee is threatening to take away to tax. And that we don't have other sources of revenue that we can immediately count on. And this budget year. It's quite literally possibly opportunity to secure the revenue needed to spillage. This is why we're going in the direction that we're going in. And I don't think anybody is enjoying it. It frankly is just our duty. To sit up here and make these decisions. Um, ones that we, you know, obviously do not take lightly.

Madam Mayor, I just wanted to clarify something you mentioned earlier with the residents as far as the staff and the decisions that were made or mistakes that were made by staff members before us. We mentioned before about how great they do. Just wanted to be clear, those people mainly responsible for the things that we're talking about are no longer with the City of Northside Village. So the staff that we have now are working really hard to correct mistakes. A lot of these mistakes, but I just wanted to be very clear so there's no understanding that we're fighting for staff that really did not deserve to be fought for. Those people are no longer here in North of Village. The staff that we have now are the ones that are really working towards improving the situation we're in.

Okay.

I think before we get into line items on the budget, since we do have members of the public still here, it would be a great thing to do now to hear from Roger on our capital projects. I mean, I don't see any changes to the capital projects budget being made.

Before we go to the capital projects, there's only one member left that spoke. Have we answered most of your questions at least? Is there something still that we need to answer for you?

Are you asking an open-ended question to the members of the public in the room? I'm trying to figure out.

They asked and basically all the members that spoke afterwards said they agree with what she's saying. Yeah. So I want to know if we have answered her questions. Yeah. Except the one as to when they're coming online, we have no answer for that one. Right. But have we answered all the, mostly the questions that you had? Yeah.

Okay. Okay. You just want to make sure that. Quite a point of privilege you just took there, isn't it? I appreciate it. Okay. No, I appreciate it. Okay. Roger is going to talk to us about capital projects.

Okay, I have to take a call.

I got the best members of the commission. Mr. Village measure. Attorney clerk. Good evening. I'm happy to present the 26-27 Capital Improvement Plan. And before I get into it, I just want to make clear that this is not just a plan for the next budget year, but also representing the five-year capital plan. So what we're going to see is all the projects that are currently in the plan over the course of the next five years. We all should have the handout of the actual detail of the plan and the budget, but I'm just going to present this quick presentation summarizing what's in the plan. So the program is shaped by resilience, mobility, and civic investment. We're showing about $221.4 million in projects that are at least partially funded. um and next year there's a planned spend of about 49.2 million dollars um as we get into river most of that's going to come is coming from village hall and the stormwater improvements But we also have about a little less than $9 million in unfunded projects. And we have 21 projects in total. Like I said earlier, stormwater resilience is the dominant long-term investment across Treasure, North Bay, and Harbor Islands. And the Village Hall is the other major capital commitment. The reason why we have such a big jump in capital expenditure next year is because we're seeing a lot of these projects transitioning from design into construction. So a lot of these projects that we've been talking about for a number of years, we're seeing them actually going out for bid very, very soon if they're not already in construction. Like I said earlier, Village Hall is the source of most of the expenditure for next year planned, as well as the improvements on North Bay Island for the stormwater infrastructure. That project, as we all know, is already in the construction phase, and we're working with the contractor and our engineers in inspection and on the design side to move that along. We also have Treasure Island stormwater improvements to the design, which we said we transitioned from the original plan of having different phases being designed by different consultants to having one consolidated design. That RFQ is currently under review from legal, and we should be sending that out before the end of the month. We also have Bear Rock, the Treasure Island Roadway resurfacing, which we're going to talk about a little bit later this meeting, as well as the grant-funded projects from, well, partially funded by DOT in Bear Rock and the sidewalk improvements on Treasure Island and Humber Island. So like I said, we have 10 projects that are fully funded right now. We have four projects that are partially funded, and there are seven projects where we would like to execute, that we need to execute in the coming years, that we currently don't have funding identified for. Saltwater is the one of the program, as I said earlier. Mugabe Island is the first island that's currently under construction. That is currently planned to or scheduled for completion in the next two years. Treasure Island is currently going under a different design and is phase one is currently in the last phase of design. We should have that 100% designed by early October. We're happy to move that along very quickly. We're also moving mobility down the village. The phase two annual improvements is currently in the closeout phase. Phase three is currently in the final stages of commenting and review between DOT and Miami-Dade County. And then the Kennedy Causeway Complete Streets, that's the bus shelters that is currently in the construction phase that went out for bid in the summer and actually in the spring and we have a contractor that's currently on board that's working to order the new bus shelters. So that should be completed in spring 2027. As far as projects that are not currently funded, we're going to get into it a little bit. Like I said, the Treasure Island road may be surfacing. That's been identified. And of course, we're also looking at having to move Galleon Street for access to the to the community center. So we want to look at possibly redesigning that roadway, converting the possible to a lonely street, and adding in some additional safety measures there. As far as adding park spaces and civic spaces for the community to use, we have the Baywalk Plaza North. That's where we'll add connectivity for the Island Walk. That project is, we're working on additional funding to be confirmed from our partners at FIND. They are going to be, we should be getting word on that actually this month, later this month. But that project is mostly is actually 100 funded once we get that work from find um for the park um we actually have positive movement on that as far as getting departments to actually work that kayak access um that kayak um launching point so we're that one is actually moving on we had been in a hold for a while um for permits so we're We're moving that one along. We spoke earlier about Anson Family Park. And that's a new facility that was just finalized thanks to the work by Steve. Of course, we have, for utilities, we mentioned that a little bit earlier, we have a master plan that is currently underway that is being completed by our partners at Ardua. They are evaluating our current infrastructure. As the mayor mentioned earlier, most of the utilities are very old and will likely need to be addressed very soon in the near future. So we have that project that's currently underway. We also are looking at several upgrades to all other updates to our water and sewer facilities. Backup generator at the main wastewater pump station that will add resiliency in the case of any sort of disaster so that we're not backed up. We also want to look at adding a macerator and another upgrade to the village hall pump station that will prevent backups in our sewer system. A lot of times we have to Whether we're backed up, we have, what do you say? It's all ragging in the pump stations that causes the sewer system to back up and potentially overflow into the bay. So we want to prevent that from happening. And it's also very expensive to have to call in more pumps to pump it back up and clear the system.

Is it the one that I saw on Dalian being used, those extra pumps?

yeah sometimes at galleon and sometimes at the village hall pump station so that those those recently i've seen them at the galleons yeah so that's what that's that's very expensive every time we have to call in uh three of them there yeah so we already talked about village hall the 57.7 is an estimate based on our old i shouldn't say old but Last, I think it was last year, Steve, we had the estimate from EXP for the construction. So that's our most recent. More than likely, we acknowledge that that cost has the potential to be higher once we receive the bids in the next couple of days. So like I said, a lot of the expenditure that's happening in the course of the next two years is as a result of all these projects that are actually moving towards construction. So we're not just planning, we're not just designing, we're actually executing and building these projects out starting, well, ongoing right now, but we're ramping up next year. We also recognize that there are a lot of funding gaps. Like I said, a lot of projects, we have several smaller projects that are currently unfunded, but we need to look at completing in the near term. And then also, we are still searching for funding alternatives. Every time an opportunity for a grant shows up, we have our grant manager, Lakeisha, who highlights opportunities for us to find funding for these capital projects and hopefully ones that we don't have to match that are 100% funded by outside partners. So in summary, Like I said, we're looking at about $49.2 million in expenditure next year for capital projects in service of the Village Hall and North Bay Island stormwater improvements. And a total right now across all of our program of about $230.4 million in expenditures over the course of the next five years.

And that's some of those services, like you mentioned, that definitely have improved in the last two years and they just keep coming to fruition with the flooding prevention that you guys have worked on. Even our insurance rating went down at some point because of that. So there is definitely things that we have seen change in the last two years for sure.

Our insurance rate went up.

What I'm talking about is the city. That actually for us was a decrease in the cost.

It goes up, but you know what I mean. Our performance went up and therefore our costs went down.

The only thing I want to bring up in your report is you have the biggest utility relocation of the flat bridges for 28-29. You were present at the meeting, Mr. Buckland, and Frank, the mayor and I. They're bidding it out at the last quarter of 28, and they're starting in 29. So we have to do it 27-29.

We've got to move up a year. You're right. Thank you. All right.

I'm sorry that I had to leave the dais during your presentation. Are we all set? Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

So if we're going to go line by line, I'd like to start at Frank's slide to see if we are still unanimous on the remaining seven items. And I'll just say that

I think that our clerk has done and does an extraordinary job and that we are so fortunate to have Alba in the clerk position. She goes above and beyond for our staff, for our commission, for our residents every single day. You go above and beyond. You are an amazing, amazing value add to this team. My understanding is that there is an open position in the clerk's office now, and we're proposing to add a second open position to the clerk's office that would be exclusively responsible for records. And the need for a records custodian was articulated based on 2 things. One is body cam footage from the police department. And two, these sort of ancient land development decisions that developers are asking for to justify their legal non-conforming uses, heights, or whatever, they need the history of our land development decisions. And I fear that in many ways, cases, those records simply don't exist. So I don't really know that a records custodian is going to help us conjure records that don't exist. And so what I would like to do is to fill the currently vacant position in the clerk's office and eliminate the proposal to have a second records clerk in the clerk's office that will save us some money. And if there's someone... In the building department, it could be cross-trained to assist with records, particularly as they pertain to building department records. I think that would be a great thing for us to cross-train a person. And if we need assistance with body camera footage, well, I think the salaries are in the police department. suggest that we identify someone to cross-train from the police department that can help us pull body camera records so that we don't need to hire a third person in the clerk's office when the clerk needs to hire a second person, and that person can also be expected to have this type of work in their job description.

Madam Mayor, I disagree with you. Let me remind you, because I know you were in the dais, I'm not sure who else was in the dais at the time, when we had to clean up the safe and all the records were here, that we had to put them on... Digital. Digital. Have you visited the records room here? One day when you're signing checks, ask the village clerk to walk you over there and show you the room. That room has to be moved to the new village hall in 28 when we open it. You have boxes of records that could be made that need to be retained. You have boxes of records that no longer need to be retained. You have boxes of records of multiple years in a box because they were just thrown in there in the past. So it's not like alphabetized or numerical order by year that you can easily go in and say, let's look at the, I think we need to keep records for 10 years. So what are the records that we have that are longer than 10 years? It's going to take a person between now and our move to Village Hall to clean up that room and see what can be digitalized that we need to keep, because there are other records that we do need to keep forever and ever, and not go through what we went through when Galleon Street, the third floor, had a leak, we had a storm, and we have lost records that we need desperately. So I disagree with you.

Frank, may I ask your input on this, especially, you know, obviously you've looked at every position, everything on the budget. Can you explain or expand a little bit more on the need of having this position open?

I think Alba will be the one to really, especially, I'll see her pain, you know, coming to me and saying, what are we going to do? I said, you need a person.

Yeah. And Alba also expand maybe a little bit on the legalities of the risk we take. Right. Like,

and you know belongingness you you've actually um touched a little bit on the legality of it there's a lot of records in the records room it's probably four times bigger than that back room um a lot of some of them have met retention and they're sitting there because you know obviously i have to prioritize what's on my plate and also my assistant which is currently vacant When I did have an assistant, she just did not have the time. That was one of those tasks that was always on the back burner. And we just could not get to it. There's been several occasions where I've had to come in on weekends because I get public records requests and they go for, you know, I have them pending for two, three weeks and I eventually have to come on a weekend to research if I find a record. Sometimes I don't find a record. Um, it's, they're all disorganized. Some of them, a lot of them have met retention and some of them do have to be, I would love obviously in a perfect world to have everything digitized. Um, that is the main goal. Some of them cannot be digitized. As far as the position, yes, the primary focus will be the records, but that person would also be cross trained through the clerk's office to assist myself and the assistant as well.

So that was another question I was going to ask you, because if this is a position that could be temporary because of that specific goal, or as you see. There's definitely a need.

We are continuing to grow. The records do not stop. Correct. Although there's hard copies upstairs, they're continuing to come in. We have now a community center. Just to provide an example, there's going to be applications for activities there, and I have to maintain those records. Every single record that is created has a different retention. So what might be a two-year or one year, there could be another document that I have to retain it for 10 years. Some of them are permanent. Ordinances, resolutions are permanent documents that I cannot get rid of, some of which I began to digitize.

Would that be also the new position or not just your assistant, but the new position also get training for when you work on agendas?

Because you have agendas for every single board, every single meeting that we have. And I'm struggling right now just by myself. So had I had that third position, that person would have obviously stepped up and I wouldn't have been feeling the way I am right now, which working weekends and working long hours because I don't have the person.

Okay, again, I do have a lot of empathy for that, but I just look when I was a staff assistant on Capitol Hill, I managed the congressman schedule, which had 40 calendar entries a day. I managed the legislative staff, which was 6 people deep and all of their meetings, not to mention capital tours and greeting guests as they walked in, making sure all the trains ran on time. I also was responsible for archiving materials. And so for hours a week, I would go up onto the fifth, the Cannon House office building, and I would sit with boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff that just came into the congresswoman's office that we were required to catalog and keep. And I made the time to do it because it was a priority for her office. So if we can fill that second position for you so that you have a backup. I do not see the reason why that person cannot make time during the week to make a dent in these records and truly help you digitize them. Again, I heard two members of the dais say they'd like to look for more cuts. This, to me, feels like it can be cut, but I'm not going to die on this hill tonight. So if I don't have support from anyone else on the dais, then I'm just going to drop it.

Well, basically, the cut that you're looking for I personally believe that we have an individual in the building department that's getting paid 50% from the general fund, 50% from the building fund, that's interested in a promotion. And the promotion is actually a lateral promotion, not really an increase in salary or a decrease in salary. So we do not have to worry about where we're going to find the funds. The funds are there because they're in the book. So we're going to be saving the general fund obligation of that individual. And if you require a part-time assistant here in the building department, you can use the building fund half to fund that part-time employee.

Why don't... We've got three votes now to direct the manager to look into this and bring it back on our second hearing. Does that sound good?

Yes.

This lateral move that you're talking about. If there's a solution that's a compromise, I'm always going to pursue the compromise solution.

I mean, we also need to talk to the individual. That's what I meant. You're the manager. None of us are going to have that conversation. I understand that. But I mean, I'm hearing what the commissioner is saying. And we've kicked around several different areas where we may be able to use this individual. Because like I say, it's not just over in the clerk's office. So... We can certainly pursue that without a vote, come back and say, okay, we've talked to the individual and this is the way we want to go.

I honestly don't see any other open positions that are funded in the book.

That's right.

That are not filled. The only one that I saw was that one. So that's why I'm looking at that position.

I understand.

We heard the need. That's for sure. You explained the need. I mean, you guys are not college kids doing a job 20, you know, 60 hours a week to get ahead. This is your profession. So it's a very different amount of work that you're doing and how you prioritize your job is the rest of your profession. I'm happy to.

And you mentioned college students. I can't always offer that option because they're sensitive information.

What I meant is like, you know, you're not a college student working 70 hours a week to move ahead. So it's a very different position to be in your regular job doing and prioritizing when you need to get done. She's saying I was basically expected to do that.

You would I want for it. I answered your percentage because of the 27,000 dollars a year.

The very different job relationship. We're doing this for peanuts also.

So is there a possibility because you changed the body cam request? Can the police department help with this?

Because this stuff has to be gone through and decided certain things that have to be redacted from a police.

So the police department does assist, actually. There's one individual dedicated to that, but it's a collaborative approach. A lot of the records requests come directly to me, and they obviously assist with uploading in the state attorney's office, but some of them come with private individuals that have to be heavily redacted, and that comes directly through me. They don't respond. As a records custodian, it comes to me.

All right.

What I'm looking for is support to direct the manager to combine this split building general fund position with the currently proposed position with the clerk's office to see if there are any salary savings that can be done with a combination such as that. That's what I'm looking for support for.

That include also the staff that is needed at the building department?

Or is that separate? I'm going to leave your question to be within the manager's discretion. And again, he'll just present it to us. He'll present the findings. I'm okay with that. I just don't want to leave one without the other. So we've got four votes on the dais, Mr. Manager, to direct you to do that. Okay. Thanks.

Great.

I'm just laughing because I always try to be as clear as I can be about who's voting for what and what we're voting for. And the reason that I just had to take a work call in the middle of our meeting is because some other municipalities are not that good at that. So I had to talk to another city attorney in advance of the hearing tomorrow. So I apologize for that. What other line items do we want to go through?

I really don't have... I mean, you took yours out already. Right. And the COLA was more than macerated by now. So I really don't have any others to discuss at this time.

Mr.

Manager, are there cuts to quality of life related or community event related things in the budget that you think we should know about?

Quality of events?

But here's an example. The signage at the entrances to Treasure Island continue to fall apart. One thing I would really love is to turn into my neighborhood and see Treasure Island spelled correctly on the sign for Treasure Island. So if we wanted to repair the entrance signs on Treasure Island, would we be able to afford to do that under this budget? No.

That's quite a little life. Exactly. I don't think so.

You would need to find where we're going to obtain those, transfer those funds from or where we can obtain additional funds for that.

What would that cost even be? So I've been signing checks and I'm paying attention to how much money we have left over in various funds. Me too. I know. I commend you for really cracking the whip. Everybody is being monitored for how much they're spending. And my check signing duties are very run of the mill. I haven't had a question about what is this check worth. in a very, very long time, and I'm looking at the active balances across our accounts, and they seem very responsible to me, quite responsible. We have money in operations and maintenance. Have we reduced our operations and maintenance accounts as projected for next year, or have you kept them flat?

We've kept them flat. We have, well, first, it isn't me really cracking the whip. Okay, we got together with the staff, They understand what the issues are. And I can't be a daddy looking at every dime that they spent. They understand what the objective is. And unless it's absolutely necessary that they have to get whatever this item is, they are not spending the money. And it's reflected, as you can see in this report, and it's reflected in the invoices that you and I both see that come across our desks. You know, to say there isn't any cushion anywhere to be able to have to do something is really not the case. Because we have to keep in mind that it is now about 99% correct that we're going to get this $6 million back. So it will be distributed in the places where it needs to go for our chief financial officer. So it's not like it's a boom, but one of the things that we need to address is the reserves that we're required to have, and that's not in the budget now. And so, but when you talk about, right now, fortunately, when the letters fall off, they've been falling behind the bushes, and we've been able to get the individual letter because... It's a different letter every day. Because the signs are deteriorating. Yeah. And the problem is not the letters. The problem is the stand they're connected to. Right. Those big white... Obelisks you see there are hollow tubes, and they are deteriorating from the inside. and they need to be replaced so that's probably a capital project somewhere down the road place all the signs now when we go to replace the signs do we put exactly what we have or do we upgrade them do we upgrade them with lighting do we do them to where we come into the 21st century that you're entering north bay village and not have a incandescent light just shine on them but we do something innovative with the leds that you know welcome the north bay village so we've looked at that already is how far do we want to go with these before we want to actually replace them and come up with the next iteration of the entrance signs into the villages so Can we put the letters back on? Put the letters back on as they fall off, and that's how we're doing it right now.

it's not, look, I know you're doing the best that you can, but you have to go out there pretty much once or twice a week and do it. And so I would love for you to say, yes, we can find money in the budget that we're proposing to find some type of a solution, whether it's putting some type of support on the back of the structure to, you know, you know,

We'll find a way. Yeah. It's just a bad look.

Frank, just a little bit of context from my perspective about cuts and all these things as we think through these proposed cuts and areas that we can cut. I still think that the events are an area that we can cut. I think we have an opportunity to fundraise our way through events. I think that, I mean, I know that AFA PFL have a commitment to have one or two events a year. I think we can find a way to make the events happen without the budget. Also, isn't there an additional cost to events? That's a considerable amount of staff time and police time that goes into those as well. Is that right? Because the $5,000 is just the cost of materials and food. There's also another kind of cost in terms of time that goes into these as well. So perhaps we could go a year without the events and without with the getting more of the staff time back to focus on other things that are essential services and go from there. And as far as cuts, again, for me, I want to cut anything that's not essential. We were talking about this sign and that kind of stuff. All those things I think are potential cuts. What I consider essential services are police, PD, wells. I think they've gone down to bare bones. I don't think there's really anything to cut there. It's things like that.

Well, listen, I encourage all of you to really go through the books that you have line by line and see where we are this year and what's happening next year. And you're going to find a lot of blank spaces, and you're going to find a lot of places where it's been cut drastically. There is no travel going on now. There's only two people that got some travel money this year. The clerk has to go for some recertifications, and the HR director has to. Nobody else is traveling. Here's another one. Sorry, go ahead. No, go ahead. I'm saying I think we have cut it to where it can be cut, but you're more than welcome between now and when we come back next week to go through those books, and you don't have to wait until that meeting. If you see something in there that you feel we can cut, give me a call, give Sandra a call, and we'll look at it and either justify it or we'll take it out.

Yeah, so community center is one. The other thing is like yoga that that contract now is cut. I saw that email, right? So I think that's one that we don't have to find anyone else or renew. I think we have a new community center. I know that there's going to be yoga instructors interested in delivering classes for donation basis. I've I've met people to that. I know that I'll let.

Yeah, why are we not really?

I miss a lot of. Classes.

So there's been quite a few resident complaints regarding the yoga classes that have been. Delivered to us and maybe is as the community engagement director not really looking to renew the existing contract that's up now.

And so we don't have a replacement contract. We're going to do this pilot to see if anybody wants to teach for free. I think we're going to find we're going to someone that's good, OK?

Yeah, I think we should consider that for the other services that we have, like, I mean, everything. Fundraise to fundraise for it?

I actually don't. And I don't agree with you on fundraising for events. I'm just being honest. I think our events department, community engagement, has a lot on their plate opening this new community center.

The complaints and questions from residents are overwhelming. It's going to be our first year in this new building. And if we have to then fundraise for our events, it's going to be good stuff.

Commission. And that's, that's one of my more time to focus on the community center.

Again, if it's up to us to fundraise for events, we're not going to be able to necessarily do it all up front. And I don't know that I'm honestly vice mayor. I don't know that I'm going to have the capacity to fundraise for events. I don't want to be walking up to a developer's office with my hat in my hand saying, please, developer, give me $5,000 so that I can host a Halloween party. It doesn't make sense.

It's $5,000 from the tech community. It can be from your legal community. It can be from other sources. But anyways, it's just an idea. We can go.

I really cannot fundraise for events for the village. I have enough problems right now fundraising for the Peace Park.

Well, right. Yeah. But then we could skip out on a couple of events a year if we have to. It gives the staff time back.

thousand dollar line item is for our four main events that draw hundreds of residents that we get amazing feedback on it is not intelligent to raise taxes and cut events like you just don't do that we're talking about cuts across the board we have to start somewhere we we've been cutting yeah we've been cutting you don't either right it's not the start of it

Yeah, but I'm sorry to start the continuation of there. There's still potential cuts. Residents really care about. They really care.

There is no actual cost in the employees or the police department for the for these events for events.

It's their time, though.

But they're giving up their time. They're giving us their time.

I know I'm saying to allocate that time back to opening the community center, the parks, the other park that we have opening up, things like that. But again, it's if the commission doesn't want to move forward with the fundraising idea, we don't have to. That's okay.

I mean, I'm fundraising, but I'm fundraising for a specific purpose, which is the Peace Park. That's it.

Yeah, I mean, and I'm fundraising for all kinds of things.

And I'm going outside the village, and I'm going outside the normal developers. I'm going outside the personal individuals within the village to give me the funds for the Peace Park. Now, I'm tapping new sources, but they're a one-time tap, and that's it. If you're going to have a Halloween event that you're going to fundraise for, you're going to have a Halloween event every year. You're not going to have it just one year.

Right, but we could put those back into the budget next year or a year when we get development.

Proposition 3 passes. You're going to have to cut $1.3 million off your budget or find ways to get $1.3 million. That's what I'm saying. You're talking out of both sides of your mouth. You can't do it.

Well, those are what ifs. We don't know if that's going to pass or not.

You can always fundraise the money and then it doesn't get used. It doesn't get used and it goes back to the bucket.

You're welcome to fundraise for it.

Let's hear from the Fraternal Order of Police. Hello.

How you doing, Mayor? Sorry, I don't know if I'm speaking out of turn, but reference to... Just wanted to try to help out, reference the events, the community is as important to us as it is everyone here. And I'm sure if I bring it up in the next union meeting, large meeting, and if legal accepts it, we do willing to sponsor not an event or part of an event from our large funds. So.

That's very, very just of you. Unhelpful for the arguments that I'm making in this moment, but very helpful. Thank you. Okay. So any fundraising, please run it by me for any events.

I'll bring it to a membership and I'm sure it won't be a problem.

Basically, you can talk and they're all sitting there.

As I tell the staff, just because it's in the line item doesn't mean we have to spend it. So, if we keep the money in for these events and fundraising comes along, that money will remain and it will go over into either transfer to something where we have a shortfall or it goes back to the general fund at the end of the budget year. This money that we're saving now is not going to disappear and it's not going to automatically go back to the department's budgets. It goes back to the general fund, and it'll help give us some of the cushion there, maybe to buy letters for the signs.

I mean, it's actually a really great example of something that is small but prominent that residents see. They see the letter missing. It's like... It hits home. Yeah.

It's like... We're going to do a different letter each time walk.

Yeah. Start spray painting the letters.

We're going to get the letters.

Okay. I want to go back to legal because Commissioner Trevone raised the issue of how much money we're spending on litigation. And I see the legal budget has increased about $18,000 from last year. Can that $18,000 increase go into litigation or what is that for, Heidi?

That's the built-in increase in our contract. So it's a 5% or CPI increase each year. That's where that 18 is from. Okay. And this year we've kept legal. Otherwise, the budget is the same.

Basically, the line items that are not included in the contract were kept at the same level as last year. And we have basically exhausted litigation this year. We have $180 left for this year.

Yeah.

And we have a bill that's... that soon will be presented to you for signature for $190,000 for litigation.

And to clarify that, on the email that Mr. Manager sent this morning, the most recent election lawsuit, that is a bill that's sitting on your desk.

There are no bills sitting on my desk.

That will be sitting on your desk.

I will say the village is very efficient, and I thank you for that. The Javit lawsuit, which is one of the ones that was on the list, that one's at about $93,000. But to be clear, that's $93,000 over the course of several years. That litigation has been ongoing for several years. So there is not a pending invoice for that amount. There's monthly invoices. And so the distinction, just so that I know that there's interest in, well, why is a lawsuit that just occurred last month reaching that amount? When you have a lawsuit... like the one that we just, that we are currently in, that lawsuit was consolidated. And in 11 days, we went from the start of a lawsuit to an appeal. So everything got expedited and everything moves much faster where normally that would happen over a longer period of time, like you've seen in some of the other litigation. So I just wanted to make that

But that same lawsuit has gone now to a new appeal and to even to the Florida Supreme Court for an answer of a specific question.

But we don't have to do anything, really.

We do have to respond. We do have to respond. And the appeal is a it's. In the Thompson case, what's being asked by Mr. Thompson is for the Third District Court of Appeal to rehear the appeal en banc. And this is sort of going into my attorney report, but that's what it is. It's asking the Third District to reconsider the decision that they've already issued, but as a whole. So all of the judges of the Third DCA. In addition to that, he is asking for the third district court of appeal to certify as a matter of great public importance, the question that he is asking of the court. And so that would go up if they were to approve it, that would go up to the Florida Supreme Court. We have until sometime, I think middle of next week to file our response to his request. And so we are beginning to work on that.

So in September, is Billy going to get that?

Nope.

Do we need to increase the litigation budget for next year?

No way we're going.

Right now, we've spent Obviously, none of the budget for next year. Your budget at 150, which is the same as this year. We had more litigation this year than we've had, I would say, over the last five years that I've been with the village. And that's as a result of the Zachary Thompson lawsuit. There's the Javit lawsuit that's been ongoing. There was the beginning of all of these lawsuits. island walk litigation we had the lease litigation um to terminate the lease for the public worksite so there's been a lot more ongoing than we've had but currently right now we have the three lawsuits for the opening of the boardwalk and we have the thompson case those four are active for us right now and they're going to continue

And the Thompson case was $63,000 to net.

So far. So far.

And we only have $180 to pay for it. That's incredible. So we have to tap into next year's litigation budget. So, you know, calculate. I mean, you know better than we do what litigation costs.

That's true.

You just figure out. That's it.

And I don't litigate. So, yeah.

So, and I have discussed the question. It. If the commission's will is to increase the litigation budget, I'm fine with that. I'm comfortable with what we've presented, knowing that we have done a lot of the groundwork on the Island Walk cases up front, and unlike the Thompson case that was condensed into an 11-day span, these cases will go on over the course of a year and probably into your next budget year.

Let me ask you something, especially on the island walk cases. I presume, you know, and I've seen the complaints and I think a lot that was in the 360 complaint can go in the other two complaints. When we meet in shade sessions to discuss these three cases, are you billing us under litigation or are you billing, you're billing, you're billing us under litigation? Yes. And that's your hourly? Yes. Okay. All right. Does it matter, I mean, for your invoice purposes, if that 18K from the CPI increase, if that moves into the litigation bucket, just to give us a little bit of an extra cushion? Yes.

Let me talk to the manager if it's all right with the commission between hearing and the next and see what we can do.

Yeah, just because the commissioner did highlight a concern about the budget, we see an increase if we can just move that increase into that other line item, because we know that we have these cases active. And we can always do a budget.

I know we haven't been doing budget amendments lately. We can always revisit where we're at.

We can do a budget amendment if we have the budget.

Correct. But if at some point mid-year, we see that the court has ordered us to go to trial and we need to... sort of move a lot faster and increase that budget, we can come to you and say, look, we are not spending as much on our other issues, you know, specialized matters budget, and let's transfer some of that money over here. This year, a lot of that budget was also used in preparing for the litigation. And so it started as specialized work. in one category and moved into, once we got the direction to litigate, it moved into the different category.

Let me put you on the spot on another issue. And we have not discussed this one yet, so sorry about that. But I just thought of it. The lease on the cafeteria of the community center and the breaking apart of the taxables Oh, the community center. Is that something that falls under your contract or outside of your contract?

That's under the special issues.

Okay. So we're eating that budget up in those cases. These are the things that I know that exist that we're going to be looking at in the near future, hopefully, and making a lease for the office as well. So that all falls under specialty.

And you also need to note that we had to move out the cost allocations from the law department back to utilities. So that was $58,630 that went away.

That's something that we have to consider as well.

What is?

That the contracts for the cafeteria... for the lease of this office and the breaking apart the taxables of what they have to pay in taxes, that all falls under the specialty line on the legal.

Yeah.

So we cannot say that we're going to move what's left over specialty and to litigation because we're using it up on the specialty.

Right. So let's have you guys put your heads together on the budget for legal and see what you guys can come up with. Does anyone want to make any additional line item suggestions or do we want to just move the millage? We can move the millage or we can move the budget or we could do both. The millage as recommended by staff is 63975.

And Mayor, just to be clear for public hearing purposes, we do need to take a vote first on the millage and then on the budget. Right. And just to clarify a statement I made earlier, I want to be clear that the vote requirement for unanimity and majority and all of those distinctions that the finance director and the manager went through earlier, that applies when you are adopting the final millage. So that will apply at your next hearing, not tonight.

So I just need a majority tonight to get across the finish line?

No.

To get through tonight. To get through tonight. To adopt the final millage.

That would have to be.

To adopt the millage. That's when you need, that's when you have the vote requirement.

Now, we have to keep something in mind. And I hate to bring it up that way. Frank, I need your help on this one. We do have, or Sandra, we have the $400,000 contingency there. So we need to raise legal, for argument's sake, I'm going to say another $100,000. We can take it out of there if we agree to take it out of there, correct? So we really don't have any major other expense foreseeable. That's going to raise our millage because we cannot, once we vote on our millage today, we cannot raise that millage.

Correct. That's right.

You know, we got, we can lower it. We cannot raise it.

Yeah.

I like to be conservative, but I feel like the budget could be, it's a little bit too conservative.

Now, what about, what about, Heidi, what about the debt millage? We vote on that today also? We include that today also?

Yes, that's part of it. It's all item 13A. They are both there.

So when the vice mayor gets back, I'd like to move the millage. And vote on it. So staff's recommendation is 6.3975. We've already identified some potential cuts, but more so a potential increase in our legal fees. And so what I'd like to do is play it safe and agree tonight to go down to 6.7 with the understanding that we're all committed to get it.

6.7.

Yeah, closer to the seven than the other way around, because that way you can always readjust at the next meeting.

I'm going to give us some wiggle room for the last budget hearing.

Like, I don't want to go down to 63975 tonight.

We can do that at our next budget hearing.

What about a 6.5?

Yeah, 6.5 is what I'm going up to.

Okay. I agree with that. 6.5. Okay. And conservative numbers by meaning.

A 6.5 would give us what range more of adding if we need to from the 6.3.

That's a very good point.

And once we, while she's making that calculation, once we determine what millage you're going to set this evening, we do need to calculate what the percentage increase is. So we'll need both of those numbers and read that into the record and then take the vote.

Yeah. But I want to see what the 6-5 increase is. And if Angela was sitting there, I couldn't trust those numbers for all of them in the world.

It gives us about $185,000.

That gives us a decent wiggle room, $185,000, above what we have right now.

Yeah, I like that.

And we have a $400,000 contingency in this budget.

On top of that, yeah. Okay, someone make the motion. I'll make a motion. I'm sorry.

I'll suck it.

This is a motion to approve general fund millage, regular millage, at 6.5. 6.5 mills. And the debt millage is as stated by staff?

Correct. Sandra, can you confirm the percentage increase?

The percentage increase from the rollback rate is going to be 2107%.

Okay, so I'm just going to reread the resolution title as now presented with this motion. So this is 13A, a resolution of the Mayor and Village Commission of North Bay Village establishing and adopting the proposed millage rate for fiscal year 26-27 in the amount of 6.5 mills, which is 21.07% higher than the rollback rate. of 5.3686 mills to balance the general fund, establishing the debt service millage rate in the amount of 2.1659 mills, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. And just to confirm, Madam Clerk, we did open this for public hearing, correct?

We did.

Thank you. If there's no further discussion, Mayor.

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll? Commissioner Cervone?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Cook?

Yes.

Commissioner Acosta? Yes. Commissioner Darrow?

Yes.

Mayor Streiffel? Yes. It's unanimous.

Thank you, Commissioner Darrow. You got it, guys. Good work.

Okay. So we're down to 6.5. Um... Let's go ahead and take 13.

Of the utility?

Well, let's take 13B because we did 13A and 13B is adopting the tentative general fund and capital outlay. Are we ready to move that? Yeah, I think so. I know.

Okay.

Has it been read into the record? I can do it.

I read it earlier.

There's no changes here. Okay. Does anyone want to move the budget? I'll move it. I'll second it. Okay.

We have a motion from Commissioner Schiavone and a second from Commissioner Acosta. Madam Clerk. Commissioner Schiavone. Yes. Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Commissioner Darrell.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Cook. Yes. Mayor Streiffel. Yes. She anonymous.

Okay, great.

You totally can.

Yeah. So before we get back into the original agenda, I think we should cover the stuff that we didn't do at the top of the agenda, like consent and presentations.

I think we should do utility and finish with the budget.

Okay. If you would prefer to do it that way, we can do it that way.

Might as well get all the numbers out of the way. Okay. 12A, an ordinance of the Mayor and Commission of North Bay Village, Florida, amending Chapter 51, Water of the Villages Code of Ordinances to Modify Water Utility Rates, providing for severability, providing for codification, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date. Village Manager Frank Lawlison and Chief Financial Officer Sandra Sifkin.

This is y'all's item.

Page 14.

Steve, I mean, we're talking about the utilities. Do you want the public works director to come out and speak to this?

Page 14. Page 14 of the slide.

Yeah. I mean...

I know Mayor had wanted to discuss 11C at the same time as a related item. This is the resolution authorizing the work order amendment to ARDURA for the water and sewer master plan for additional services of $89,150. And that was consent item 11C that was pulled to be heard alongside 12A.

Right. At the beginning, they were combined.

So I wanted to talk about. The water item because we have this consent item. That is related to it. Which is the water and sewer master plan. So. I wanted staff to explain. what we're paying for in terms of these additional services and why this expense is needed. And that dovetails, I think, with the water utility rate conversation. So... No, it doesn't, but... But it does.

But it's also utilities, okay.

Yeah. So... And I just do this for the benefit of everyone. Like I am looking at our engineering contracts with a lot of scrutiny.

Every time I sign a check from an engineering firm, whether it's Stantec or EAC or Kimley Horn or whoever, you know, I'm looking very closely at that. And when I see items on consent for engineering services, I want them to get their day in the sun, so to speak, so that everyone understands what we're paying for and why we need it. So Steve, go ahead.

So 11C for the Odora local area amendment is to do a water and sewer rate study for the village to see where we're at with our rates as far as comparable to other cities around us, but then to also address the items that will be brought up with the water and sewer master plan with different improvements that the utilities department will have to do over the next few years. So we would have to adjust the rates to pay for those improvements.

Yes, the. Additional 89,150 dollars. So it's the resolution is written as an additional almost 90 K. so was that contemplated originally in our scope with our Dora? And if not, what is the additional cost for.

No, it was not. They were not doing a water and sewer rate study at all. They were doing this water and sewer master plan, and that master plan was to map our existing system, give us ASBILs with GIS mapping, give us SOPs for operations of the system, and then to plan for the future of what the city's going to have to do two years from now, five years from now.

The thing is, actually...

I have a good idea of how everything is, yes, and what we should have to plan for, especially with new development. As new development comes on, are we going to have to put in more land or sewer lines? So that's what the master plan does. And then the water and sewer rate study then helps identify how we fund those improvements.

So that 89 K is just for the water and sewer rate study.

There's a couple of things that go with that. They're very small. The bulk of it is for the water and sewer rate study.

Is this expense include the sewer we talked about with. Oh, I was under the impression that it did.

No, because that is not even determined about how that's going to be done, what's going to be done. I had a meeting with FDOT this morning about that. They've got a Sioux team that will be coming out probably within the next couple of weeks to do another type of exploratory where they're actually going to put a robot into our sewer line and track it so that they can hopefully identify the exact depths and locations of that sewer line. so that we would know for sure one way or the other if we have to move it. Chances are 90% we will. But then we had the meeting with FDOT that you were at, and I know that the director there or secretary was quite, he was positive and thought that we would get an allocation from the state to pay for that. Right.

Well, even even if we are successful in getting an appropriation, we'll have to have skin in the game with probably a 50% match. I just in my briefing, when we went over this item, it was explained to me that a portion of these services were to be spent on coordinating. But that's a.

It's a minor part of it. Of FDOT design submittals time and materials not to exceed a portion of this amount.

That's right on time and material as we need for the FDOT project. And so far, we haven't spent any time on that yet.

Yeah, I just want to make sure we're not going to see another $200,000 purchase order. I'd like... I don't know. Obviously, what it's going to cost is what it's going to cost. We have to start planning for it. And so I want to have a clear understanding, I mean, of how much of this 89K is going to be toward coordinating with FDOT, or do you anticipate that we're going to see another expensive work order for Ardura to deal with?

I would foresee that happening.

No?

No. I mean, I don't have a crystal ball, and I can't tell you for sure what's going to happen in the future. But I've been through that.

The typical no, which I really enjoyed. Well, I didn't say that.

I never said no. I said I'm going to sue it.

I think the intent of what's here now is for her to be or for them to be on board with FDOT reviewing what they're coming up with to see if we agree with their analysis at that point. Now, if we have to go forward and still do this on our dime, then there's definitely going to be different design work that's going to have to come for that line.

Yeah, but I would agree by recommendation that we do that through the FDOT contract. Let them handle the whole ballgame.

And then just pay them for it?

Yes. That's in a lot of cases, and it's not happening in this case with Miami Dairy, but in a lot of cases when you get projects like this, the FDOT or whoever the contract is, does all the work for a lot of the different divisions.

Even the design?

Yes.

How would we control costs if it's an FDOT project? control?

We'll just sit back and say, okay, take care of it. We'll point to that whole process saying, yes, we like this, yes, we like that, and yes, we agree with this, and no, we don't agree with that.

So it's costing them, right? I have a feeling, just a sneaking suspicion, that engineering costs at FDOT may be a little bit expensive. If Like, how are we going to assert ourselves to have, you know, some type of veto rights or whatever in the conversation in terms of how much they spend?

Well, they may give us the cost estimate of if we agree with that cost estimate, we're moving forward. If we don't agree with the cost estimate, then that's at that time that we can say, no, you need to fix your price or no, we'll do it ourself. And then the problem with that is now you're coordinating, you've got an engineering firm designing this particular thing, and it has a major impact on our facility. And now you're trying to coordinate two different engineers.

And we've learned from those mistakes in the past how detrimental it can be to the overall success of a project.

The other element we have to consider is we have to move this line far ahead of what they're doing, and that's likely so. So whether their contractor is going to be on board with a timeline that we're involved in is another question we'll have to determine.

That's right. There's a lot of coordination that goes through this, and if you're able to utilize the same engineer and the same contractor, it would be a much smoother process. But again, that's not saying that we just say, okay, you do it. We stand back and let them do whatever it is, and they charge us whatever they want. It doesn't work like that.

Okay. Moving 11. Well, does anyone have any other questions about 11C? Hearing none, I'm moving the item. Does anyone have a second? Seconded by the Vice Mayor. Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please?

11C, Mayor Streifel? Yes. Vice Mayor Cook? Yes. Commissioner Acosta? Yes. Commissioner Cervantes? Yes. Commissioner Adaro? Commissioner Adaro?

You still are?

Commissioner Adaro, are you on?

He's not responsive. Let's just mark him as unavailable for the vote then.

Okay.

Passed 4-0.

It passed 4-0. Yes, sir. Yes. Does someone want to move? 11C, right? Yeah, we just voted on 11C. Now we're on 12A. We've got a motion from Commissioner Cervone. Is there a second? I'll second it. And now we can have the discussion.

I just want to back up a little. I just wanted to ask, when do we expect that report to be completed for the water and sewer?

The water and sewer master plan? I believe the target date for the completion of the water and sewer master plan is in February.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second on 12A. Is there any further discussion?

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll, please? Commissioner Cervone. Yes. Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Commissioner Darrow.

Yes.

Vice Mayor Cook.

Yes.

Mayor Streitfeld. Yes. It's unanimous.

Okay, so we have done the bulk of this meeting's substance. Do we want to...

Mayor, you took...

I pulled the speed table item. 11D is going to be heard with one of the discussions, so we can vote on the remainder of the consent agenda if someone wants to move that.

I move that.

Commissioner Acosta is moving the consent agenda. The Vice Mayor is seconding. Is there any discussion? No.

No discussion.

Madam Clerk, will you call the roll? Commissioner Acosta. Yes. Vice Mayor Cook. Yes. Commissioner

Yes.

Mayor Streiffel. Yes. It's unanimous.

Okay. All right. So we've taken care of consent. Before we move into discussion items, let's go back up to the top of the agenda and hear from Approval Commissioner Minich. I don't see any minutes to approve on the agenda. So we don't have any minutes to approve. We also don't have any advisory board reports this evening. Stop did a really good job of really slimming down this agenda so we could dive into the budget. Commission reports. Commissioner Acosta, do you want to start? Sure.

Thank you so much for that. I'll be brief as usual. We have our monthly activities. I've tried my best to walk through the area with our Corps Enforcement Department, the same with Public Works, constantly just reporting on minor things. I wanted to bring up the upcoming International Coastal Cleanup Day, which is going to be right here on Saturday at 9.30 a.m. at 7903 East Drive. I hope our residents sign on and register to help us maintain this beautiful coastal town. And also... Be aware that when you're coming to this cleanup, it's a zero-waste zone, so please bring your own bottled water so that it's refillable. And there will be no snacks or food provided that is going to create waste. So just keep that in mind as you come along, and other supplies will be provided. We were all very worried about this meeting tonight with the budget as the main topic. So I'm happy that we came to a really good resolution. It seems like we have a good, clear path coming along and even more future progress just with the new observations from tonight's meeting. Other than that, I don't have much more to add on. So thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Acosta.

Commissioner Darrow, do you want to give a report?

Yeah, I just want to add, you know, we've now on Harbor Island. I think everybody's seen we have roped off the Sakura lot, which is exciting in anticipation of shortly after next month or already we have, you know, begin excavating the land in preparation, which is great. I have noticed, you know, I had asked the staff. I didn't think I got an answer. Village manager, maybe you can direct me. Are we putting up... the wrapping in North Bay Village wrapping on the street. I mean, we have some standards. I know that we go with our wrap. Are we doing it on our own town hall or something different there? Is that still in works?

Commissioner, we're just having it fenced off by the contractor that we have on site, and that will be addressed with the primary contractor once we make the selection as to how we're going to physically close the side off, whether it's going to be more decorative or the village emblem and that type of thing.

Very good.

It's just a lot so that we can work in it.

Yep. Awesome. It was good to get it started and I'm just seeing going forward if we were going to get anything done. done with our wrap there and then obviously the last item you know i know i've been working uh with the staff and roger and you know he had expressed that hopefully this month we will be putting in um final comments to fdot in the county with the the sidewalk is you know i'm here for another two months and i i really hope we can we can finish that up before november so um that's that's my main mission and uh getting this budget done next next week and um Yeah, I'll see you guys. I'll be back for the next meeting at the end of September.

Are we going to break ground on sidewalks before Andy's turn is up, Mr.

Manager?

Yeah, me too.

It would feel good. We'll say that. So we'll see. Not holding my breath at this point, but I remain optimistic we'll get through the finish line here in the next month and a half.

If we can get through the final issues with the county, I think we've taken care of the left-out issues.

But we shouldn't have outstanding county issues since we signed an interlocal agreement saying that we were going to take care of traffic calming and pedestrian safety on our local roads. It's none of their business.

That's what we thought too, Madam Mayor, but that's not what has materialized. So we will refer to the ILA and the The issues continue, and what I've said to Roger is I'm tired of messing around with this thing, and if they can't get it settled here rather quickly, I want to get back with the Director Miller and say, look, you've got to cut through this. This is sidewalks, okay? We need to get this done.

Yeah, I hate to micromanage here, but Look, it's we all we all have jobs. It just happens to be my job in the private sector. But when a permit is being held up, I step in and figure out what the solution is and fix the permit being held up. Right? So, are we not contractors are engineers. Are they being proactive? Are they notifying us when we have log gems like this? Are these things just sitting out there for two weeks? I mean, I think it's going to be Stacy tomorrow.

That's what they said last week. And I sort of said, hey, we're going to mess things up. And Roger, you want to come out?

We've been trying to build sidewalks on 16th of May for four years.

Listen. I'm hearing you.

Sidewalks. So there are two problems on the sidewalk. One is DOT cleaning office where there's a concern that we're impacting what they call section 4F facilities, basically the parks. And we got, there were two issues. One was that We're concerned that Vuelva Park was partially funded by LCWF funds from the federal government. We managed to get past that and prove that the facility was not, in fact, at any point funded that way. What that means is that if it is a Section 4F or 6F facility, then it requires additional So that is one hurdle. And then there's another hurdle that we have to provide in identifying the potential like I'm bending over. I'm sure sites, so the parks basically and and I'm sure that, in fact, not being affected by the potential construction, construction. So I'm sure we'll have a new thing with DOT last Monday. It was about something. Let me see. It was actually on Monday. And in regards to work progress for the sidewalk project. So we have the Section 4F, and the second issue was the monitoring bat survey that was done as part of the design. We got to do the bat survey again, because they got to do another bat survey.

Are bat survey expired? That's a real thing?

Yeah, those will only last a year.

That's comical. So the bat, the sidewalk construction expired?

Because they have been done for a year, but this is something that we got guidance actually this Monday, is that instead of not getting feedback from the feds, actually. Oh, my God. Well, there are a couple of moving parts. Part of the issue was that guidance was issued in the past. New guidance was issued in the process of us doing the environment of the project and getting clarification from them on that. And the idea was that we had to move forward instead of having to just do a visual spec on it. So I think I said this at the last minute. It's not... Talk about it as if it's just we're installing just sidewalks, but we're proposing installing new sidewalks. The part of it is installing new crosswalks, revising the ramps across the village. And in doing that, there are a lot of moving parts. A lot of things are being proposed to be relocated. So every time we propose to move something, impact something else that requires additional review, The beautiful thing is that we are closer to being done with the design than at any point we were supposed to be at 100% last year.

Absolutely, because this is not a reflection of how good you are at your job. But if like five people sitting up here being crystal clear every month over and over and over again for four years can't make this project move faster, I don't know what it can.

Like, we just don't understand. We are at the end for the design. Like, the only thing that's being done... well there's no the thing is done yeah this is this is all the end point so once we get the the final comments addressed between um d.o.t and miami-dade county we're done and that's what i mentioned to when i responded to commissioner dyle's question that we're looking at

Okay.

So.

How do you actually build the sidewalks? Say, so, yes, you can build the sidewalks. Have we got a contractor that we can jump on and get the sidewalks done?

We have to go out to build them. We have to go out to build them. See? Yeah. It's a DOT-funded project. It has to go out to build them. So how can you say that we're going to break ground before Andy's terms? I didn't say we're going to break ground before Andy's terms. I didn't say that. I said we're going to be done with the possibility. We should go up to the building. So it's breaking ground before September.

Don't let it be through by the time Andy leaves. Until the first of the year?

No. It'll be after the first.

This is insane. This can literally never happen again. If this is what it's going to be like when we have to relocate the sewer pipe, we have to start five years ago. It's horrifying to me. And again, it's not a reflection on you, but the process is horrifying to me. Commissioner Darrow sat up here, ran for office to bring sidewalks to Harbor Island. He sat up here for four years every month Diligently asking what's going on what's going on what's going on the issue with Miami Dade County and the fact that we needed an sort of just sat there for 5 months before anybody either on the side or the village side said, let's figure this out with the county. So now we have the, but that's not enough to move this project faster. I just. I'm never gonna blame our staff. I'm always gonna blame a third party consulting firm. And I just think every single one of our contracts needs to be reevaluated to make sure that these companies are extorting us for like astonishing ability to just be accepted or to just accept these timelines. Like that's crazy. Andy, I'm sorry. We're not gonna have sidewalks by the end of your term.

Yeah, it's disappointing to say the least. I still can't quite figure out what is exactly broken in the system and who is to blame for it. But something doesn't work, and it's confusing. And the fact that nobody within North Bay Village has the ability to move the needle within that, I mean, yeah, it's confusing to me. It's just confusing.

But that is all in the counties issues resolved.

This month, we'll have a question, an engineering opinion from our designer to address one of the comments from the county. That will be sent in next week to us for review. So the idea is to close all of the comments from all the reviewing organizations this month. Are the specs put together to go out to bid? I mean, this is going to complete the specs and the design drawings. So we'll have a full set of specs and drawings to go for bid. The other issue I have is that because of the funding source, we are bound to follow a set of rules and regulations because it's federally funded. Understood. So there's steps that we have to follow to move the project from design to build. Once we have the final construction drawings and to get our build package, DOT has to review the build package for conformance. And that takes another, that may take another couple of days from the time that they, from the time I was able to get it from ODOT. So, you know, the source of funding that we use for these capital projects affects, can affect the level of scrutiny that we're under and the steps that we have to take to move the project forward.

So the lesson is don't take money from FDOT ever again?

No, the lesson is avoid taking federal grants because that's where we have our constraints.

Got it. Okay. Thanks, Roger. Andy, are you good on your report, my friend?

Everything's else good. Thank you.

Okay, terrific. Commissioner Trevone.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

The Jew in me. As we come back from a month of vacation or recess, Kind and sort of, the two of us have been involved in continuous work on the budget and village business. We return. Just like the Jews in my faith, we return to the days of awe. We just celebrated our new year, or Rosh Hashanah, a day of commemoration proclaimed by the sound of the shofar of the ram's horn. Rosh Hashanah celebrates the beginning of a new year on the Jewish calendar and ushers in the Ten Days of Awe, culminating in a major fast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This period is considered the most holy time of the Jewish year. The theme of Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe is repentance. For 10 days, the Jewish people are to focus on their sins of the past year as they contemplate how they have violated God's law and injured other people. They are to confess their sins to God and seek to make things right with those that they have violated. This is an important time of reflection and introspection to consider the consequences of their sins in order to be motivated not to repeat them. According to tradition, Rosh Hashanah is also called the Day of Judgment in which God opens up the Book of Life and Death for the year. The focus on repentance is designed to highlight their need for the forgiveness and reconciliation with God and culminates in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is the holiest day of the year and is the day of fasting to express their repentance and need for forgiveness. On this summer day, the priests forego the usual ornate attire and leather sandals and wear all white as a sign of personal purity. It is a day to turn away from anything humanly mundane and focus on their relationship with God. The community hoped that God would accept their contrition and animal sacrifices as atonement for their sins and write their name in the Book of Life for the upcoming year. So permit me. To those I may have wronged, I ask for forgiveness. To those I may have helped, I wish I had done more. To those I neglected to help, I ask for understanding. To those who helped me, I thank you with all my heart. Since our last time together, some of the acts seeking forgiveness have been I sponsored a lunch for a public works department and showing our deep appreciation to the team for all their hard work. It may not be visible, but they're the ones who work day in and out, in the rain and in the heat, doing the setups and the breakdowns of our events and doing the jobs that we need to maintain the village running. Administration, the mayor, Commissioner Darrow, and Commissioner Elizabeth Gonzalez also joined me. Thank you all. Last week our Mayor Administration Public Work Capital Projects Director and I met with District Secretary Danny Iglesias and his staff to go over the plans to update and the rebuilding of the four flat bridges. Some questions were answered on the spot and some more are forthcoming. We're looking at having a town hall in January or February for FDOT staff to explain to the residents the project. I'm sure the mayor will get into the weeds with this project. I also want to share the thrill of being notified that North Bay Village Against Hate has been selected to be one of the four programs that will be showcased at the annual Blue Square Alliance Gala in New York City on October 21st. There's more to come on this at the future meetings and on our website. Last in my report, I want to start educating the public on Proposition 3 of November's ballot. Some of you may think you're saving money by having a larger homestead exemption, but you're hurting yourselves in obtaining village services. The first year, it means over $650,000 in income, and the next year doubles up to over $1,200,000 in services. We either need to make up for those funds in another way, taxing, other stuff, or we need to cut services. The answer remains in your vote. I request that you vote no on three. In closing, gamar hatimato va. May you be sealed in the book of life. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. Vice Mayor.

I think I'm very short. I just want to let everybody know I've been working with the village manager staff on some of the issues we've had with the community center. There's been some progress across all fronts, including the lighting. I have heard from residents that the lighting changes did not work for tonight either. So tomorrow I may have to come out there with Mariano and the crew and take a look at it and see what else can be done to reangle the lights so it doesn't affect residents.

Can you provide a A little bit more, because one of the things I was going to ask about is what's going on with the lights on the fields and residents at the Lexi.

Yeah, they came out and adjusted it by five degrees two days ago and then another 30 degrees tonight.

They actually moved the lighting.

The lighting, yeah, moved it down towards the field. But I've been getting texts from residents saying that it's still just as bad that it hasn't changed. So it looks like they have to angle it down a little bit more. It might be good to do this exercise at night when people are in their homes and we can give instant feedback, but...

We've offered to do that, and we'll see what happens at the meeting tomorrow. Tomorrow night, yeah.

To the services of the photometrics expert at Wanamaker Jensen?

I don't really think it's a photometrics issue.

It's literally lights on a field.

Right. So they're concerned with the photometrics on the field. What we're concerned with is a glare that's coming off the lights that are not aimed on the field. They're shining on the Lexi. And with the photographs that I'm getting from the residents is that I've been in the condo and the lights aiming right at us. And when you look, you see inside their whole apartment. It's not the photometrics on the field. When you look at the field... from their apartment, there are shadows on the field that if they put the light down on the field, the shadows will probably go away. They just don't want to listen.

Having a photometrics expert to help deal with the glare in the apartments and the houses on the streets down the road too.

It makes to have a bunch of dudes who don't know anything about lighting try to address this issue. Like we should retain the services of the photometrics expert on the architecture in this building village hall.

Right.

I mean, how many more meetings can you have with Mariano and PFL? I mean, Frank, I'm not dismissing your lifetime of experience and all of the random. I can see the light shining in my face. Have an expert who says, hey, there's this product. We might be able to put this type of a visor or a blinder on the lights.

I have requested on several occasions to hook us up with a manufacturer of the lights. I don't want to talk to the installer of the lights. I want to talk to the manufacturer of the lights. What can be done with the problem that we have from that aspect? They have not provided that information to me. PFL haven't provided that information? No. No, he said, tell me who, the manufacturer of all the MG3s. No, they are the contractor that had a subcontractor install the light. I want to talk to people a bit.

Here's my thing. This is now the third time that I'm making this request and suggestion. We have a photometrics expert on staff at the architecture firm that's designing Village Hall. The photometrics expert, I have to assume, knows a little something about... products that are manufactured that might be suitable for this situation. And that person being an expert in their field may be able to offer some useful insight into how we come to a resolution instead of us continuing to have meetings and meetings and meetings with Lexi residents and other residents and PFL.

I will make that contact tomorrow. Thank you. It would help if we had cooperation.

On the other side.

On the other side.

Yeah.

Well, and that's why it's eventually going to end up with this lady and Fabian Powell to do something. It's fine.

Well. We have a long list of things that need to be discussed in that future conversation. You're right. Because I asked for there to be a list built because there wasn't one. Now we have a lot.

there was a there are lists here and lists there and less there different buckets of things but i asked for one massive comprehensive we have a bunch list of outstanding things that are there that they have yet to address we just go on and on yeah but that's that's you know use the resources that we have and get an expert to help us answer the question i will do that okay

Sorry, go ahead.

No, it's okay. Just tomorrow night, see if we can angle those lights at night and have real-time feedback from the building. I mean, I can go in there and take a look. I mean, they have a ladder going up there. It's just to readjust it, and if that's not possible, maybe install night guards. There's night guards that'll stop the glare. We'll be there tomorrow night. We have the apartment. Yeah, noise is another issue. There's been, I've received a couple complaints tonight. There's a DJ, there's drums over there right now. So, yeah.

We mean at the community center? How is that happening? And how are there people playing on the field past 11 p.m.?

I don't think, I think there's like a party out there right now. So, I'm serious. I've gotten several complaints already.

So they grill, they have parties.

They have a DJ. And we received two calls on noise complaints. I had PD shut down the DJ music. Game is still on.

I'm sorry. What?

This is coming in right now.

Yeah. Fresh news. Hosting a soccer game.

Arellano has a soccer game generating a crowd of around 50 people on and around the field. He also has a DJ, and we received two calls on noise complaints. I had, Janice, I had PD shut down the DJ music. Game is still on.

They can have the game to 11 o'clock.

They can have the game to 11 o'clock.

So this is the partnership we're dealing with.

Well, this is...

No, I've got a bunch of calls and videos and pictures and looks like a good time, but it's a Tuesday night and it's 10 o'clock. And we need to know about this, be proactive, communicate with the residents.

Commissioner, we don't, Vice Mayor, we don't disagree with you. We can go over and talk to Mariano again tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we're going to be bringing lawyers into this conversation.

When are we bringing lawyers into this conversation? Are we waiting another three months till the building's open and then we can have a more global conversation with them? Or what are we doing? And village attorney, I mean, how are you advising the manager in this situation? Or are you just waiting for us to talk about the issues so you can advise us?

The DJ issue we just learned about. No, I'm talking to the...

The landscaping hasn't been cut. It's not ready yet. There's no trawls. The sidewalks.

Like I was giving us any notice whatsoever.

There's no timeline to getting this completed ever.

Look. I think. And I encourage you to read the agreements. OK, because there are very limiting on our side. They just are. They're limiting on their side too.

To be honest, Mr. Manager, I don't love the agreements either. I voted against them. But I think that you're interpreting them to not as aggressively as I would interpret them, let's just say, right? I think that there's enough gray area in these agreements where we can assert the authority of the village in more places and in different ways than we have done so far, which is why I'm asking at what point do we have the lawyer take over?

We have informed them on the lights that we have an ordinance that deals with lights. And if they can't willingly fix them, we will cite them and start to run the fines on the violation. Listen, this is going to be a long relationship. long relationship. And to draw a line in the sand and start heading out this way is just not smart.

respectfully that's been your guidance to us on this for a really long time and we've picked up the tab when they've decided not to pay for things we've bent over backwards to allow them to do things that our residents probably otherwise wouldn't like us to do it is going to be a long relationship and i don't want us to be bullied in this relationship frankly anymore um the building is built

Yes, we need to finish it, and we need to finish it in a timely manner, but we need to assert ourselves, and we need to use every ounce of gray area in that contract that's in our favor.

Exactly.

I mean, we're going to push this around, and we don't – I'm getting more complaints from residents than I've ever received, and I've been in public service here for six years.

No, because it's operational now. That's it.

I know.

we need to make sure that it's working for the community. And I know that it's gonna get better as we obviously open up the building and have events and services and things that like, when it becomes an actual heartbeat of the community that we all intend for it to be, things will be different. But right now, all I'm hearing is we're hamstrung because they're difficult to work with. We have all kinds of resources and we have great lawyers and we agreed to do this in partnership with them. So for us to continuously defer to them because we're worried about the relationship is not the direction that I personally would like us to continue on in.

Mayor, what I would suggest to answer your question is, and Frank and I spoke about this very recently, I think we need to have a meeting, my team personally, here on site to actually see the issues, everything from office space, concession space, operational issues, all of that. And whether the agreements need to be amended or not, or there just needs to be some sort of understanding, we all need to get in the same room and do that. So I will work with Mr. Manager to get that done. And I'm not going to say by the next meeting, that's in two weeks, but we will work together. Yeah.

Yeah. I just, I really have a lot of sympathy for the folks living around the community center. One, they can't get on those fields and they see other people getting on those fields. They can't get into the building and they see other people in that building and the lights are keeping them up at night and it's loud. I would be pissed too. Sorry.

It's okay. I agree with the mayor on this. I think there's plenty of gray area for us to explore options, legal options. I think we should give it another shot to try and resolve this diplomatically. Mariana's email today was... relatively cordial and he seemed willing to try and make some efforts to fix the lighting, talk about the noise, talk about issues.