Remarks by Eileen Higgins
260 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 7 of 11
- Play at 18:24
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 35:23
“Good morning, everyone. Good morning. That was a pretty inspiring way to start the day with people who serve us every day, sometimes when it's hard and sometimes when it's dangerous. This morning, I am very grateful that Pastor David Dorisgar from Lively Stone Church of Miami is here to share a prayer with us to open our meeting. Thank you, Pastor.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 37:01
“Commissioner Rosado, would you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? All right, good morning, everyone.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 38:06
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 43:21
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 44:27
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 45:18
“Colleagues, do you have any things you also would like to withdraw or defer? Does that cover everything?”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 46:12
“Absolutely, that's not a problem. All right, so with that, we'll set the agenda.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 47:04
“Yep. Can I have a motion for all of the deferrals and withdrawals? Second. All in favor say aye.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 47:10
“So the agenda is set. Thank you. All right, we should open for reasonable opportunity to be heard in public hearing items. If folks could line up at both podiums. Not too many, but maybe five in a row. Get this underway, thank you.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 50:04
“Folks, when you hear the buzzer, it's two minutes, so thank you means thank you. All right, please, go ahead.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 1:40:41
“Thank you. Mitch, we need your address for the record.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 1:54:34
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 2:04:10
“Thank you, sorry, two minutes is up. Amen.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 2:34:47
“Unfortunately, we also need your name and address for the record. I see Todd.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 2:47:54
“You can give it to the clerk and he'll pass it around.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 2:58:55
“All right, I see no more speakers, so the public hearing and comment period is closed. Colleagues, what would you like to do? Would you like to power through till one o'clock and get a few items done? I'm seeing heads yes. No. I have three yes. OK. Great. We will do that. So we have the consent agenda. There's two items there. Anybody want to bifurcate any of those? I'll take a motion.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 2:59:28
“All in favor say aye. Aye. Show those passed. We have a lot of people here on, one, the bond, and two, So I think we'll take those items up early so perhaps we can get folks on their way before we break for lunch. So let's start with RE5. I think over the past couple of weeks, including the two deferrals, as you all know, I've now visited every facility in our city multiple times. sometimes even into the back of the electrical closets and the generator rooms in a way that probably had never previously been done. I know that, particularly for the three of you that have been on the commission…”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:12:37
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:13:34
“Yeah, I have. I think I could have some amendments I could propose, but I would need a motion first and a second to have it.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:17:16
“Thank you. Commissioner, I still need a motion and a second before I can make amendments, but why don't I say back to you what I think I heard? which would make an amendment and that would give you a little time to legalize it. So as I see it, there are three potential sources of revenue that could help offset the need to issue the full $450 million. One is, once the new public safety building is built, we can move folks in there and we could sell the police headquarters. So we could allocate the proceeds from the sale of that police headquarters building to pay the debt off or not issue face…”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:18:12
“So we could either pay off the, you know, you and the finance people, we either pay down the debt or we do not have to issue the debt. So I would say the police headquarters Also, grants, I think, obviously, that is very important as they come in. It's easier to get, generally, capital grants for fire than for lease, but we probably will get some almost every year, so we should have any capital grants that, or for the projects that are in this bond, should have the same conditions. They would pay off the debt, or... or avoid the issuance of debt.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:19:09
“If it's a capital grant, meaning if we get the grant from the state or the federal government, it's allowed for construction, we can do that. If we get a grant, for example, for police cars, That's not capital. So we do have to use the word, I think, capital improvements or physical improvements or something like that.”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:19:40
“We're not allowed to bond those things out anyway, but this is a project-based bond. If it's not listed in the projects on the website, we're not doing it. But I also have a third suggestion, which I think is in line with your thinking. Over the next three or four years, we may have developers that might want to proffer some community benefits that would be contributions to police and fire capital. And so we could perhaps, Javi, you could help with this. Any future community benefit agreements that are negotiated that are directed to these projects would also offset the debt. Because I think…”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026
- Play at 3:22:03
“Maybe I want to clarify that. I don't think we want all community benefit agreements to go to this, right? Because sometimes we're going to want affordable housing or sometimes we're going to want neighborhood participation. But should there be in a community benefits agreement agreement, which are generally negotiated by and with the commissioner of the district, that is most effective, should there be the choice made that part of that community benefits agreement be for police and fire capital for one of the projects in this bond, that that also would be used. So you're right, that's the…”
City Commission · Jul 9, 2026