Remarks by Steve Cody
54 remarks on the record, newest first · Page 1 of 3
- Play at 16:07
“Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just looking back two years during the past presidential campaign, we saw a continuing cavalcade of racism aimed at the Haitian community. I don't know if you recall, but the man who would go on to become elected for a second term, used the phrase, they're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats. And he said that about Haitians. It wasn't true. There was no evidence of that. But it was an appeal to racism. And the racism continues. And as my colleague to My left pointed out Haiti is a failed state. And to send people back there right now puts every one of them in…”
Village Council · Jul 23, 2026
- Play at 20:55
“I beg your pardon. How about now? Yep. Oh, by the way, viva España. Okay. This question goes to the manager. Councilwoman Madsen spoke of $290,000. Is that money where we have written checks for $290,000? No, it is not. So... Let's take the gazebo in Coral Reef Park. Coral Reef Park only operates during hours when the park is open. If someone wants to use that and we do a feeble waiver for it, do we ordinarily bring on extra staff to service that feeble waiver use?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 23:04
“And taking a facility like Thalotta Estate, where we make it available to nonprofits, has there ever been, in your experience, an occasion where we bumped off a paying user to make room for a not-for-profit and a fee waiver.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 23:39
“Okay, so this $290,000 is not an out-of-pocket amount that this is costing the village, correct?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:00:58
“Thank you. I think sunsetting would not be a bad idea because the state of Florida, at least back in the 80s, when I worked with the legislature, we had an entire committee that was chaired by Bill Sadowski where various parts of the Florida Code were... equipped with sunset dates, and it was up to the various legislative committees to take up before the expiration of that to see whether they wanted to keep it intact or not. If Mark wants to make a motion to add that sunset language, I'll second it.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:11:53
“I seem to recall that when we passed our current fiscal year budget, there was a decision made to not budget for litigation expenses. Is my memory correct? Correct. And so is that one of the reasons why the apparent number between what we set aside for the village attorney at about $300,000 and the amount that we spent total village attorney plus litigation expenses was so much greater. That is correct. So it was not that we were not aware that we would be having litigation expenses. It's just that a decision was made to move it off the books. Is that correct?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:12:53
“And for the village attorney, in the report that you provide for us at each regular council meeting, you give us a breakdown of what various expenses are generally for your services as... village attorney and also expenses related to other attorneys at your firm who have worked on items correct correct all of my bills are available and some might be redacted for if they're in litigation but they're all available and they're all public records but you also in those bills will reference um expenses with regard to uh cases that we have pending or matters correct”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:13:54
“And that's just a pass-through? Correct, yes. You don't charge a markup on that?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:14:02
“I know a few firms that used to put a little bit of a markup.”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:14:11
“All right. And all of that information is included in the report that you provide with us as part of our regular council agenda packet, correct?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:14:39
“So if we have an active... litigation matter, even under this resolution, would we have to redact that information in order to preserve our legal status regardless?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:15:16
“And so the idea that this resolution would give us complete transparency is not something practically that we're going to be able to do simply because we have to protect the legal position of the village, correct?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:34:04
“Yes. Isn't what the vice mayor is suggesting is actually a motion to amend the motion? And wouldn't that require a separate, once Marsha's motion was made, would require a motion to amend the motion?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:28:06
“Thank you, Madam Mayor. I am surprised that I witnessed this evening from the councilwoman a road to Damascus moment from her. She tells us that, and my colleague knows what that means, that we need to cut back on spending money. Well, over the years that I've been on the council with you, Councilwoman, you have put forward a number of projects, not through the budget process, but just because you thought that they were a good thing to do. Like, we'll reimburse you for adopting a pet. We'll reimburse you for emergency pet expenses. Wasn't in the budget, but you thought it was a good idea.…”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:52:51
“Thank you. On the second item on the summary slide, it said consider SRF funding for capital plan. What does SRF stand for?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:56:15
“I have a question. When we set the rate for this program, Is there any supermajority requirement, or can we do that based on a simple majority?”
Village Council · Jul 20, 2026
- Play at 1:13:56
“I want to begin by separating premise from proposal. I agree that trees, permeable surfaces, rain gardens, bioswales and other forms of green infrastructure can provide public benefits. But that general proposition does not establish that the three proposed ordinances are financially responsible, legally appropriate, administratively workable, or effective in addressing our village's actual flooding problems. The presentation relies heavily on attractive photographs, broad environmental statistics, and reassuring phrases such as inside existing means, grandfathered, which I have to tell you…”
Village Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 2:01:18
“Can you hear me now? Yes, sir. Okay. Can you make me a presenter? Because I also have a PowerPoint, a short one.”
Village Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 2:01:36
Not quoted here: it may name a member of the public. Hear it at the meeting.
Village Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 2:03:13
“Okay. And we can't get there unless we have five votes of the council when it comes time to adopt the budget, correct? Okay. So, Mark, if you want this to happen, not only are you going to have to vote to take us up to that level, you're going to have to lean down the dais and convince Marcia that she's going to have to be able to do that. But I do wanna make some clarifications. Your slide that had the 53% little clock graph was not accurate. Our budget does not go around the council. What happens is we have a big cafeteria menu and the manager sits down with the major and they go through…”
Village Council · Jul 14, 2026
- Play at 19:52
“Thank you. And as I learned in law school, always try to get the last word. So that's why I grabbed the microphone now. I don't know. We're going to have a foot race later. and see who's faster. Now, I also wanted to pass on my thanks to you all. The first person I met at a department head level was Missy Orocha. I was in a wheelchair. I came in to talk to her about running for office. In fact, I showed up on the last day, practically the last hour, with my paperwork and my checks. And she gave me encouragement, and I said, I have to win this race because I want to work with this lady. And…”
Village Council · Jul 6, 2026
- Play at 1:20:39
“Thank you, Madam Mayor. I am in support of doing the survey. It gives us a data point. The councilwoman cries for scientific accuracy, and yet meeting with people who are willing to talk to us is not scientific at all. It's not, I don't think, a valid substitution one for the other. I think that this can give us a talking point. And we can find out from people, see where they live, see what their preferences are. And some of this is a survey that, as the manager went through it, is intended to inform before people take a stand on something. I'm all for it. Survey with a scientific survey…”
Village Council · Jul 6, 2026
- Play at 1:44:41
“Thank you, Madam Mayor. You gave us some figures concerning what the impact would be on the median house here in palmetto bay what would be the difference if you can do a back of a napkin kind of thing between what it would additionally cost going from 269 to 2.75 i'm going to ask the just in the interest of time council member if you don't mind i'm happy to answer additional questions in less”
Village Council · Jul 6, 2026
- Play at 1:47:57
“You're talking a little over $2 a month.”
Village Council · Jul 6, 2026
- Play at 1:48:10
“Thank you. I know that for politicians, the idea of we should cut taxes and we should cut expenses is something that's very appealing. Everybody wants that. Just like everybody wants to wake up younger, better looking, and personally richer, but often that's not going to happen overnight. We have gotten ourselves in a situation because of the tax rates that we have adopted on the last two budgets, we have caused the plane of Palmetto Bay, instead of flying level, to begin losing altitude. And every year that we are forced to go to the rollback rate or near the rollback rate, we lose more…”
Village Council · Jul 6, 2026