Remarks by Marsha Matson
70 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 14:10
“Thank you very much. Well, good evening. I guess it's evening, almost evening. Mayor and Council, this ordinance is about good financial information. It is not about eliminating fee waivers. It is not about criticizing nonprofit organizations. It is about understanding the true cost of a village program before we make policy decisions. Over the past several months, I requested and analyzed the village fee waiver records. And I appreciate the staff's work, especially Director Carmona's help in assembling that information. The data revealed several important findings. First, from February 2023…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 28:14
“All right. Listen, we can argue all day long or talk all day long about how a lot is used or how the fellow room is used. That's not what this one is about. This one is about is getting a handle on our expenditures. And we're in a budget crunch right now. I think this is a very appropriate thing to talk about how we really need to look at where we are spending money. The major argument that's going to be coming up in the budget workshop we're going to have is that we're putting a lot of money into things for quality of life. Well, how much money do you want to spend on that for quality of…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 30:05
“In fact, I had to spend a year gathering all this information. So I think it's just important for being financially accountable and transparent to be able to do this. And I'm not saying what the final disposition should be, but I think we need to know if we're a responsible village that watches our spending. So I can see I'm probably not going to get support. I don't know. The mayor hasn't given any opinion, but I do hope that it is supported. This is simply an accountability, transparency measure. We should know where our money is going. Thank you.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 45:46
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 47:17
“Okay, because the ordinance calls for the enforcement officers are a police officer and also a community service aide. I don't think we have any community service aides. And also code compliance officers. So I think that that would go, if a code compliance officer gave a citation, that would go to the village, right? And if a police officer gave the citation, that would go to where citations go, which is to the county and some to Palmetto Bay, correct?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 48:59
“Okay. Okay. Manager, do you know the exact numbers?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 49:10
“And also a question is, does this include insurance that the parent, let's say, has to have insurance on the vehicle or on the mobility device?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:01:57
“Yes, I think this is a very important piece of legislation. I think we really do need to have some regulation and enforcement on these vehicles. I think they're dangerous. And the major thinks it's a good idea. The manager thinks it's a good idea. It's a good idea. These are the two people who are responsible for it. So I don't think it needs any tweaking in terms of sunsetting. I think that it will have training, as the commissioner mentioned. I think there will be training. I think the police will do that. They will hold sessions for training. So I think it's good as it is. And thank you…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:06:21
“All right. This resolution is for enhanced transparency and fiscal accountability for legal services and litigation expenditures. This is another item that I worked on quite a while. I wanted to bring it because this is one of the main drivers of our budget deficit coming up in our budget workshop. And I think that we need to have more or we need to have more transparent reporting so that people really know what's going on with our litigation expenses. The purpose of this resolution is not to interfere with the village attorney or litigation strategy. is to provide the council and the public…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:16:01
“Yes, currently on the manager's reportable checks, the... expenses regarding various litigation like Lexcom are reported. So it's not exactly a secret. What I'm, I mean it is reported and they're in litigation so that part of your argument is not true. However, what I'm looking for is a comprehensive overview because these are individual items that you can't keep track of in terms of how the money is accumulating. And that's the important thing is people need to know how much these things are costing. And really it's mystery unless you follow it every month. And even then it's hard to follow.…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:20:36
“Yes, that's exactly what I'm looking for, is something that is transparent, and something that people don't have to spend hours digging for and maybe not getting the right information. I mean, it's just putting it out there for the public to see. That's all.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:21:18
“Well, I already have in the resolution on page 203, line 13, no attorney-client privilege information shall be disclosed.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:21:35
“Okay. I don't see the problem with that.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:28:32
“Well, Obviously, I don't want your legal mind to be made available to people who are suing us. And if your concern is the budget, anything about budget, I'm certainly willing to delete on page 1 of 3, line 40, and page 2 of 3, lines 1 and 2, which mention budgets. And I'm certainly willing to do that. That was not my intention whatsoever. As I recall, I either ran this by you or by your associate. I really don't remember at this point because I was putting other things out there to you and you were out of town. But I wish I would have heard this before because I hate to bring something to…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:29:44
“It was just a review for... All right, so my understanding of this is sending something for legal sufficiency, but that doesn't mean it can't be changed, and there can't be negotiation. So... That's what I'm talking about. I wouldn't bring something to this council if I knew that you were going to object to it. I really wouldn't. I mean, that's not a good idea, right? Okay. So I would like to amend it. Is that acceptable to you then, to amend it by eliminating page one of three, line 40, page two of three, line one and two, that reference budget?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:30:22
“It's better. Okay, so it's better, so. I would like to make that amendment.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:31:26
“Question for him? Okay. I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Because right now in the manager's checkbook, items are detailed in terms of litigation expenses, but they're detailed in such a way that there's no way for the public to have the overall view of what's going on. So I think you're talking about essentially what we're doing now, except adding an overall annual or fiscal year to date.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:32:25
“Okay, did you propose the amendment? Well, we have an amendment, so I guess we can incorporate that into the amendment that I already made for the budget.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:32:51
“All right, and also... I want to incorporate the suggestion of the Vice Mayor. Can you read that back?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:35:20
“I think that this is getting now to With the amendment, it's getting, I think, to a resolution that I hope satisfies the attorney and also gets to the gist of what I'm looking for, which is transparency for the public so that they don't have to spend hours and hours trying to figure out what the litigation costs are and legal costs are. So I hope you'll support it, everybody. Thank you.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:16:32
“Okay. All right. I feel like I'm in an alternative reality here in terms of what's coming down the pike with this reduction, property tax reduction. But before I get into that, let me just say that on a really, really common sense level, like a family, the families had a pretty good run It's spent pretty much what it's wanted to. We had a tremendous gift, what I call almost like if we were a family, it would be like an inheritance or winning the lottery. We got $12.4 million from the federal government, and that bought a lot of stuff, paid for a lot of stuff, including hiring staff and giving…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:20:38
“We can settle the Luxcom lawsuit. That's taking up half a million a year. Councilwoman?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:20:50
“We can negotiate the police contract. I mean, again, on a really simple level, when I need work done and I go out for estimates, and if the contract is presented to me, well, I negotiate the contract. So why not negotiate it? I mean, it's like everything is fixed. That's what it reminds me of. It's like an alternative reality. Our spending is fixed. The police budget's fixed, park's fixed, so then we have to figure out how to pay for it. But I don't look at it like that. I mean, a budget can be negotiated. Can our user fees be adjusted? That would be some way. Well, can we stop, can we look…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:24:13
“Okay. To zero out litigation is not realistic because we are increasing our litigation expenses every year to zero them out in the budget.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:24:27
“This is a huge expense, and it's zero in the budget? I looked at your chart. I thought, well, maybe you know something I don't know, like we're not going to have any more lawsuits or we're going to settle. But to zero out doesn't make any sense.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026