Remarks by David Suarez
153 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 5 of 7
- Play at 8:28:43
“So through the chair, could I respond? Yes, but then I'd like to call the vote. I just want to ask, if Matthew does take out the battery, is he...”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:31:33
“Thank you, Matt. We have it on the record, Mark, if there is an e-bike and the battery is missing, Will police be able to issue a citation? No matter, it's not there, it's in the backpack. If a police officer decides to give a warning, or not a warning, but a citation,”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:32:03
“By the way, the only reason I'm saying this, I'm not trying to throw a curveball. I was at South Point Park last night, and Commissioner Mateo Salinas can attest. There was a young kid. He's, I think, 18, 19. He's a special needs kid. And someone gave him an e-bike. And he didn't have a battery. And he was, I think this was in December 25, he told me he was on the boardwalk. He was pedaling. And he got arrested. He went to TGK. Can I finish, please?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:32:47
“Listen, I just want to make sure that that doesn't happen.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:34:15
“I believe this was pulled by Commissioner Mateo Salinas. Monica Mateo Salinas.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:34:47
“It's simply to send, SAVE ON EFFICIENCIES WHERE AI CAN HELP THE GOVERNMENT AND IT'S SOLELY BASED ON A CONTINGENT BASIS. SO THERE IS NO COST UNLESS THERE IS A COST SAVINGS TO US AND EVERYONE USES AI NOW SO I CERTAINLY DON'T SEE WHY WE NEED TO DELAY THIS CONSIDERING we're trying to save money moving forward in our budget, in our operating budget, it's kind of like a no-brainer. I don't think we need to put this through the meat grinder of .”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:36:02
“I don't know if Frank is here. Is Frank here? OK. I just have a question. So we're not hiring. We're not using AI. We're going to see if there is a consultant group will use AI to save us efficiencies. And it is going to solely be based on a contingent matter. So Frank, maybe you can give a little bit more nuance to what this proposal does.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:37:12
“Yeah. And so I, you know, look, we're all, we're debating how we can save money right now for, to lower our millage rate. I mean, this just goes hand in hand. I don't know why we need to send this to the committee. I have a question.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:39:04
“Yeah, but again, guys, I mean, I just want to move, I want to get back to the item. The item is designed specifically for a consultant to make a fee on how much we save. So if we save $10 million based on their recommendations and we move forward with it, I don't know what the percent, maybe they get, they save 10%. So we, the taxpayers have saved 10 million and they get paid a million in fees. I'm not saying that's the case, but we pay less and they get, THEY GET CREDITED FOR THAT. SO THEY HAVE SKIN IN THE GAME ONLY IF WE IMPLEMENT THESE MEASURES. IT'S NOT THEY'RE GOING TO GIVE US A BUNCH…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:46:45
“That's what it's directed to do. There is no fee to this. There's no flat fee. It's zero right now.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:46:53
“Yeah. So I can't believe it comes back to us. It's going to be still be zero. It's only going to be based on how much money they save the residents. Now, what that fee is, we can certainly determine that when they come back with that solicitation. But again, I mean, guys, we're trying to save as much money as we can. We're trying not to cut frontline workers like police and fire. This is a perfect opportunity right now to save money where there may be efficiencies. I don't see why we need to send this to FERC. It's going to come back before us and we're going to be able to take this as fast…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:51:00
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:52:15
“So you know That's a director for every 4,000 residents. I think we can start shrinking our government to have less of an overhead. I wanted to see where my colleagues sit on this to really find an efficiency in government and have less of a tax burden on our tax.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:53:50
“So we're deferring to have a presentation on what the city administration could consolidate with?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 8:54:56
“AGAIN, WE TALKED ABOUT A ROLLBACK RATE THAT WAS A BUDGET FOR THE ROLLBACK RATE THAT WAS COOKED. AND IT WAS REALLY LITERALLY putting police officers, firemen, and cats on the chopping block. And here we have an opportunity to lower managerial positions and shrink the government so that it's less of a burden. I mean, again, this is to October, and there's plenty of, there's no... There's no, this isn't going to hurt anyone. We have a motion and a second to defer.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:00:59
“Do any of these police vehicles have a monitoring?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:15:48
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to have Deputy Tackett kind of bring it home on this one. This was before us and then staff wanted to come back and give us, I think, two options for deregulating a lot of the issues that we have when it comes to the permitting process.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:17:09
“And how much? You said it takes a considerable amount of time percentage-wise.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:18:31
“I'll be okay with option two. That gives it a more nuanced approach.”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:19:24
“Then it has to go back to the planning board?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:19:27
“That's ridiculous. Why? By the way, this is exactly why we need this, is because we have these long processes that get drawn out and government just gets in the way and red tape. So we have to go to the planning board, hear what they have to say, then it has to come back here, then it has to go back to the planning board. So that's like six months. Guys, what is the number one thing that we heard, not the number one, but one of the major things that we heard when we were knocking on doors? It's getting a permit. By and large, that is one of the biggest pain points about our government that we…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:26:58
“for a couple of reasons. David, can you go over some of the funding and the roles and responsibility that this third party would be doing?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:28:59
“The harmonization agreement's already done, correct?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:29:20
“Okay, so the only reason I pulled this is I think it's a little redundant. We have a neighborhood affairs division. Why should we spend close to a million dollars on outsourcing this when we already have a department designed specifically for this? I think a million dollars in taxpayer funds could certainly be used BETTER OR MORE EFFICIENTLY. THIS WAS APPROVED IN 21, SO THIS PREDATES AT LEAST THREE OF US ON HERE. I WOULDN'T HAVE APPROVED IT IN THE BEGINNING. I HATE TO SOUND LIKE A BROKEN RECORD, BUT WE JUST TALKED ABOUT HOW WE CAN SAVE so much money from the operating budget, I just think…”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026
- Play at 9:31:53
“But what does Neighborhood Affairs do? Why wouldn't Neighborhood Affairs be able to handle this?”
City Commission · Jul 22, 2026