Remarks by Mark Merwitzer
132 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 2 of 6
- Play at 1:18:40
“Of course, and do you make the determination when the public records request comes in, or is it on a... Like, as you're giving us the invoices, for example, I believe I saw in one of your attorney's reports, like, it would probably give, like, a more vague description as to what the actual work was, but, like, I'm wondering, like, what the process is for that.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:19:49
“And I guess to the sponsors, the intent here to essentially like have a report during our meeting where it says, like, for example, Steve Cody versus Mark Merwitzer. I don't know which one it would be because there's multiple of those, but it'll list that case and then it'll say expenditures and then so on and so forth. Like in, for example, we're in a slip and fall case right now and would show the expenditures there. is that the intent to include in the manager's report, like, just that overall line of, like, here's what was spent per case, and is that something you'd be open to? Because,…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:20:52
“I mean, so just as a cleanup then, instead of saying no attorney-client privilege information shall be disclosed, I would just add another sentence saying only public records, only information subject to public records requests may be disclosed as an addition to your point, just so that essentially if it's public records, We're publishing it automatically as part of our agenda, and if it's not, it's not, and that way we don't have to worry about mental impressions or anything else.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:21:26
“Exactly. It's already in there. Yeah, exactly. I just want to add one more thing. It just has to be public records requestable. That's all. All public records requestable information shall be disclosed.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:21:39
“and i guess the last thing and just to reiterate this wouldn't create like i guess any administrative hassle because it's already being tracked by case and i'm wondering instead of showing all the um invoices as well um would it be possible to just show like for example slip and fall case i don't remember like the person who trips somewhere on one of our sidewalks x dollars steve cody versus mark morowitz or x dollars so on and so forth would that be possible”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:30:33
“Yeah, I just think, I mean, What I was getting at earlier is I think it would just be easier to just report the total litigation expenditures, not just from the month and fiscal year to date, but total from when the case was first brought on to us or served to us to date so that we can see the totals. And also, yes, the year to date would be nice as well. And then just have that included as part of the manager's report. And that would just make it very clear if someone wants to find that information, like how much did we spend on a... trip and fall, or how much do we spend on something else,…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:31:55
“Is that what you're asking? Yes, and just make it really simple. We already do this work. We already have it available. Instead of having a member of the public have to essentially crunch up the numbers on Excel or whatever else they use, as part of the manager's report, we'll show the year to date and also the total expenditures on a case-by-case basis. And that's all we're adding to the report, which is what I'm hoping for as well. So I'll support the amendment.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:33:00
“Essentially be striking the entire resolution except for line 39 on page 1 of 3, and then also at the same time adding the words and total litigation cost to line 1 as well that you have there. So essentially what we're doing with this item is to direct the manager to go ahead and publish a total for litigation across the board on a case-by-case basis, and then that will be part of the report as well.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:33:57
“And the overall litigation cost for the case. Yes.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 56:35
“Yeah, I saw that our only capital project for the following fiscal year is going to be the replacement fence at Coral Reef Park. My understanding is that we have over $600,000 in park impact fees available. Is that correct?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 57:34
“And is that park fence project being funded by our fund balance or the park impact space?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 57:40
“Got it. I guess one of the questions I'd pose to council is given that we have about $250,000 worth of park impact fees available, I personally walk through Coral Reef Park quite a bit. Maybe one of the projects that we consider as a capital project from that park impact fee to get an estimate on would be to redo some of the bathrooms that we have especially over by the baseball field those are quite old and I think could use some updating and then also some of the other areas as well if I believe we have two bathrooms that are along the pads and then we have the one at the cafe and then we…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 58:39
“Got it. What about being able to use it for, I guess the other thing I would use it for then is the woods. Are we able to use the park impact fees for woods improvements then? It's new. Anything that's new. I mean, by definition, I feel like it would probably be a new improvement if we're working on the woods, so. um i i'm wondering then i'd pose this to the council then perhaps allocating some of that money i know some residents want to go a little bit slower with the woods perhaps we can allocate a portion of that for some additional work this coming year um into the woods from that park…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:10:17
“Yeah, I'll just say, um, I haven't seen the freebie offer, but my preference would be that if we were to contract out that service, given the budget situation that we're in, I'd like to potentially see us do a full on open RFP to see if anyone would come back. Um, and essentially we just compare what the proposals that we get are. Um, my understanding is that freebies more specialized with point to point service. i do know that they have operated in the past the fixed route but i know that there's a lot of other companies out there that can do fixed route i know there's especially in…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:25:57
“yeah so a couple things um actually a question um and then followed by i guess some more comments um the question that i have is i see that the i guess deficit or fund balance withdrawal was 800 000 this coming fiscal year it seems like we're going to be ending up with a under execution of about a million ish i mean i don't want to hold you to it but that's the ballpark in the event next year we under execute and we're at that same i guess area would that essentially cover that 800 000 if we under execute yes that was okay that's my only that's one question the other question i have is taking…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:34:04
“yeah I was just gonna say I mean I came prepared tonight with some ideas and suggestions and I just shared some of them but I would just say to the folks watching at home I feel like this is part of the underlying challenge that we have with the village of Palmetto Bay's council which is that instead of having productive conversations everything has to be personal in your face called stupid and I just think that we're better than this and I would just hope that as the night goes on instead of just pointing fingers look and i agree this a lot of the decisions that we made i disagree with i…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:49:49
“Thank you. So I remember at the Committee of the Whole presentation, there was also a urban forestry program that was also presented. I was wondering if you also have those rates available tonight.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:50:49
“Makes sense. The next question I have is with the vac truck, why is it recommended to have the vac truck in fiscal year 31 instead of earlier in the process?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:51:43
“My next question is about the capital assumptions. I see a couple projects on there. I'm assuming those are currently in our current plan for our master plan. I'm assuming once Kimley Horn completes their plan, will there be new projects identified as well? Likely.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:54:12
“I also know that the EPA has some clean water funds as well. Is that a separate program from the EPA's grant program, or is it combined?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:55:03
“Yeah, I mean, I mentioned this during the Committee of the Whole workshop. This is a program I'm incredibly passionate about, mainly because the investments that we make in this program are going to directly impact my generation and the generations to come in Palmetto Bay. Cost of infrastructure is not getting any cheaper. It only goes up in cost. So as we're having the conversation about the stormwater rate, I would like to at least have some discussion about our urban tree canopy program. I mean, I don't know if you all have been outside today. It's not very pleasant to be outside at this…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 2:01:08
“Yeah. I mean, with the 13 specifically, I mean, are we going to do the program or are we just going to go straight to 13? Cause I think specifically with trees, I mean, the earlier plant them, the better. Um, so if there's willingness on the council to go to 13, I'm more than willing, as long as the trees are in there. And I think it's a critically important thing. And I would just point out that our stormwater ordinance would just need a small update, um, to authorize the expenditure for trees. If the council is willing to do that, I'll bring that on the same meeting as well. And for the…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 2:01:46
“For the program itself, that's the new council. I'm kidding.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 21:09
“Yeah, my core question is, as you're building out this model for both scenarios, I'm just wondering what the, I guess, assumptions were for the math behind the numbers that were presented. And if you can go into a little bit more detail as to what the calculations were.”
Village Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 21:40
“Well, both. And before you said it, I actually pulled out my calculator and calculated the cost per tree, and then he said COT2. So I am guilty of doing that. But And I was surprised by the actual cost. And I guess the key question I'd actually like to get to is, for example, what is the assumption as to how many staffers we need per tree to plant and maintain? What was the assumption as well for acquisition for those trees? And just everything that went into that number that's being presented. And just so I get a little bit more context as to what's behind that, please.”
Village Council · Jul 14, 2026