Village Council - Regular Meeting

As the vice mayor says, that'll be for the next council to decide. All right, I think we're live. So if you're hopping out, if you could hop back in.

You lost everybody.

Well, we still have quorum, so we can go ahead. We have quorum and the clerk, which are the two most important things. Very good. So we're now live again. We're back in our business meeting, if you don't mind. I'm just going to ask everyone to get real quiet again Thank you so much. All right. I'm going to go ahead and call to order this meeting again. It's our regular council meeting for Monday, September 14th. We're starting at 9.33 p.m. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll?

Mayor Karen Cunningham.

Present.

Vice Mayor Mark Meritor. Present. Council Member Patrick Fiore.

Present.

Council Member Steve Cody.

Here.

Council Member Marsha Mattson.

Here.

Quorum is met.

Thank you. We had invocation during our last meeting, so we'll just let that prayer stay in our heart. And if I could encourage everybody to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Would you lead us in the pledge?

Madam Mayor, I would move that we Take item 10A up immediately.

Wonderful. OK. So is there a second on that?

Second.

OK. All those in favor? Aye. Great.

What is the item? The item is a resolution for standardized procedures for notification to counsel of certain matters of great public importance. It was circulated amongst counsel.

Very good. You've got this. There's a motion to add this to the agenda. Is there a second? Second. How many votes do we need to add it to the agenda?

Three.

Three. Okay. Is there discussion? Questions? Discussion. Okay. On the motion to add.

On the motion to add. Yes. I do not think that there has been demonstrated in the either email or the text of the matter itself showing why this can't be taken up at our regular meeting in October when people have had an opportunity to review it and consider it. This is not like there's a hurricane barreling down on us. So I'm going to oppose this because there's just no need for us to go over and beyond what we normally do.

Thank you. Other comments?

I just wanted to say I'll be glad to explain it if we're able to talk about it tonight.

All right. All those in favor of adding the item? Aye. Opposed? Nay. Item will be placed on the agenda. It will be, I'm not even quite sure to be honest with you if it's going to be heard tonight, but it will be the last agenda item, which will be 14... H. All right. With that, I know we made a motion for bringing 10A up. Could we do request petitions and public comments first? All right. And ladies, I'm sorry. I don't know who's talking. It's so strange because when you're up here, I don't know what it is, but it's like I have supersonic hearing. I can hear everything everyone's saying. So I'm sorry. I know it's a late night. I appreciate your patience with us. At this time, we're going to take request petitions and public comments. This would be for things either A, not on the agenda, or B, you just can't take it anymore and you want to give your comments now. We'll accept both at this time. Go ahead. Yes, sir. Name and address, please.

Good evening, Jeffrey Berman. My address is 14063 Southwest 67th Place. I live in Old Cutler Grove South Homeowners Association. I'm sorry, I live in that community and I'm the president of that HOA. and its general counsel, Madam Mayor, Vice Mayor, and council members. I'm sorry, I'm really confused, but what just passed? Adding something to tonight's agenda?

Oh, just immediately, yes. There's one item that one of the councilwoman brought forward. You don't have a copy of it, but I have it here if you want to.

I don't know that anybody else in this room knows what was just added to the agenda.

I understand.

Can you tell us?

I can give you this. Do you have an additional copy? You can go ahead. Come on up. Thank you. Is that it for your comments? Yes. I understand. That's why I voted no. No. Next speaker, please. I'm sorry. I can't go back and forth because if I did that with everyone, we'd not get through the meeting. Go ahead.

Go ahead, sir. My name is Vitaly Falkovich, 9280 Southwest 167 Terrace, Palmetto Bay. You know, when you talk about budget, you know, and we're hearing somebody, well, the police department is really huge budget. Well, check this out. If you never had an American flag handed to you because the family member got killed in the line of duty, how is it that we can, talking about budget, you know, we have an officer responding and there's no backup because, oops, our budget is too small. We cannot budget an extra officer to respond as a backup to a call, which is a traffic stop. Sometimes we think it's a routine traffic stop. It's not a routine traffic stop, because there's nothing in the police work that's routine. Where domestic violence go, we can't get our second officer out because we don't have more money. You know, to me, the police department, and I understand, maybe I'm biased, should be on limited budget. One thing is the police department or sheriff's office should be on limited budget, because they sacrifice their lives when they put on the uniform, put on the gun, and go work their shift. They don't know if they're gonna come back home or not. Yet we get to sleep in the blanket up there risking their lives. I ask that when we look at the budget that we will consider that police department and public safety should be a priority. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening, everybody. My name is Muhammad Taha, 14599 Southwest 82nd Avenue. Palmetto Bay, of course, 33158. I'm speaking on item 10A, and I think this is what this is all about, right? I start by saying, in the name of God, the most merciful, the most compassionate, ladies and gentlemen of the board, I lived in this community since 1977, that is 35 years of which were within the village of Pinecrest and Palmetto Bay. I have seen the changes that transformed this area and made it a better place to live. Over the years, as I am sure you are aware, our village has celebrated holidays with Christmas lights, manure lights, trees lighting programs, and more. I remember Village Hall during the holidays is transformed into displays of beautiful artwork in celebration. Our social media platforms are full of congratulation messages in the spirit of community, Togetherness, social media have been an integral part of bringing our community together to share these events. These celebrations have built a sense of community that brings families and neighbourhoods together. This ordinance seems to provide equal opportunity for recognition of all faiths, cultures and traditions among village residents. It declares that equal treatment, mature respect and inclusion are fundamental community values and recognition of such promotes goodwill, understanding and civic harmony. Our village, strengthened by the many different backgrounds, beliefs and traditions that make up our community, recognizing the observances that are meaningful to our residents is one small but important way we affirm that every neighbor matters and that everyone has a place in the civic life of our village. I strongly support and recommend that you pass this ordinance. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good evening. Mayor, council, my name is Conrado Vasquez de Moral. I live at 16510 Southwest 77 Court. I'm here tonight to address two connected priorities for Palmetto Bay's golf cart community. Protecting the lawful access to our local streets and creating a practical community-wide safety framework. A few weeks ago, a group was preparing for a public rally regarding the county rollback roadblocks at Southwest 72nd Avenue and Southwest 169th Street. As of Friday, September 4th, the main roadway ballots have been removed, restoring community access. That outcome follows our coalition's public records research and its presentation of concerns involving property deeds, mobility access, and federal Title II ADA requirements. Golf carts can serve as a mobility device for seniors and residents with disabilities, making it reasonable access especially important. New ballots have been installed closer together at the foot of the dock, preventing the golf carts from driving onto the dock while keeping the streets open. The immediate access issue may be resolved, but the underlying questions of roadway authority remains I urge the village to retain counsel to review the relevant property deeds and state contracts, confirm the effects of the 2005 road transfer agreement, and define the respective responsibilities of Miami-Dade County and the village on these roads. A clear legal framework will help prevent future disputes, protect Palmetto Bay's authority. At the same time, the council should address a structural problem in Palmetto Bay's golf cart audience. The current rules are highly restrictive and leave much of the community disconnected. The original ordinance limited golf carts to secondary streets owned by the village. It did not establish access except for the county corridors and run through Palmetto Bay, nor did it pursue the county petition process needed to create those connections. As a result, Palmetto Bay's golf cart network is divided into five isolated areas. More than 400 local families cannot leave their immediate neighborhood by golf cart without entering a county road and potentially violating the ordinance. Cutler Bay addresses a similar challenge by petitioning the counties submitting safety and engineering information and connecting its community network. Palmetto Bay can similarly do the same.

30 seconds.

Concerns about traffic safety liabilities on high-speed roads legitimate rather than allow those concerns to end the discussion we should use them to guide and cooperate an evidence-based solution i thank you for your time and i want to personally thank the village manager the team and everyone that helped out to get the doc reopened thank you conrad and thank you for your service to our community and thank you for your service to our country thank you

Yes, sir.

Good evening. My name is Chodri Kasir. I live at 20524 Southwest 88th Avenue. Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Council members, and members of the community. Before starting, I would like to thank everyone for everything you have done for our community. I'm here today to speak in support of recognizing religious culture and heritage observances in the village of Palmetto Bay. Our village is straightened by the diversity of the people who call it home. Recognizing important religious, cultural, and heritage observation is a meaningful way to show respect, inclusion, and appreciation for the traditions that bring our community together. This recognition does not divide us, it brings us closer. It gives every resident an opportunity to feel seen, respected and valued while also helping our children and future generations learn about the rich cultures and traditions that makes our community special. I respectfully ask the Village Council to support the recognition of religious, cultural and heritage observations in the Palmetto Bay. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your commitment to making Palmetto Bay a welcoming community for everyone. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, please.

Good evening. You should just say good evening back. Good evening.

Go ahead. Your time has started. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you.

My name is Dr. Tarek Shebby. and I'm a resident of Palmetto Bay. I'm also proud father of four kids who grew up in this community, who are now very successful professional after attending four Ivy League schools to include Harvard Medical, UPenn Law, Princeton, and Northwestern. I am here tonight, to ask you kindly to recognize the Islamic holidays, just as we do for all other faiths. After all, we're all the creation of the Almighty God. The Muslim members of this community of Palmetto Bay are an integral part of this very delicious Greek salad. Different ingredients, different colors, but very beautiful, nutritious, and healthful food. The Muslim community in Palmetto Bay are medical doctors, engineers, business owners, law enforcement officers, an educator, and a university professor just like myself. Recognizing the Muslim holidays only two a year, like the city recognizes all other faiths, will be a signal that the city treats everybody equally. And it's also a signal that the city sits on the right side of history.

One minute.

We need to apply the meaning of one nation under God and divisible with liberty and justice for all. And before I finish, for any of our Jewish friends, I'll say happy belated Rosh Hashanah and an early felicitation for Yom Kippur. Thank you for your time and your understanding. Assalamu alaikum.

Thank you. All right, anyone else? Great, okay. Do we have comments by form, Missy? This would be for request petitions and public comments. Thank you.

The Office of the Village Clerk received two public comments submitted by form. All the comments that are submitted by form are read into the record for a time allotment of one minute. The first form was received by Monique Casado, residing at 15910 Southwest 90th Avenue in Palmetto Bay. I respectfully request that the Village of Palmetto Bay prioritize the development of a public park and recreational space on the existing green area on Southwest 160th and 89th. This area represents a valuable opportunity to provide residents, families, and children with a safe and accessible place for recreation, exercise, outdoor activities, and community gatherings. Developing this property as a small park would also preserve its green character while making it a meaningful community asset. I believe this project would significantly improve the quality of life for nearby residents and benefit the broader Rambling Woods community. I ask the village to consider this project as a priority to move the development forward. The next and final question. Comment is submitted by Tom Dunador, residing at 19425 Southwest 98th Avenue in Cutler Bay. I want golf cart access to People's Dock. I have read both comments into the record.

Thank you. All right. We are now on item 10A. Is that right? All right. Very good. Could I get somebody to move the item? Move. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Okay. Actually, before we move the items, well, we moved and we have a second. It's 9.51, so I don't have to interrupt at some point. How long do you want to extend the meeting for? Is 11 o'clock okay with everybody?

Okay.

All right. All those in favor?

Aye.

Anyone opposed? All right. Madam Clerk, please read the items.

Agenda item 10A, an ordinance of the mayor and village council of the village of Palmetto Bay, Florida, creating section 2-25, village communications, relating to the recognition of religious, cultural, and heritage observations through village communication channels, providing for severability, codification, and an effective date. This ordinance is sponsored by council member Marsha Madsen, passed on first reading at the July 6, 2026 regular council meeting, and is being heard on second reading this evening.

Thank you. And I know some of you got up and spoke during request petitions and public comments. Does anybody else want to speak to this particular item? Do we have comments by form? No, none. I'm going to take the village attorney. I know you had mentioned an amendment. We might as well just get that out of the way right now.

Communication staff had asked if the council would consider an amendment. This would be on page 3 of the ordinance, lines 32 and 33. They had asked if you would consider striking everything after social media platforms because apparently now all of this is just posted on social media platforms, so they were looking just to maintain the communication channels that are used currently as opposed to potentially expanding them. So they had asked if you would just strike everything after social media platforms.

Is there a second? I need to find it first. Can you show me where we are here?

Yeah, if you go on the third page of the ordinance, if you go most of the way down, there's a definition of village communication channels, and it starts on the second line where it starts with newsletters.

So tell me again the amendment that they're asking for and the purpose of it.

To strike everything from newsletters on. And it's because we don't put, apparently Village, we don't put things out like that through newsletters or on the website or anything like that or on bulletin boards any longer at least.

So it would read Village Communication Channels means Village operated social media platforms period correct okay uh it's been moved did i second it uh i'll second it uh for the purposes of discussion yes um vice mayor i'm wondering if this were to be adopted um my only concern is that obviously we want to make sure we're giving everyone equal treatment um

And keeping to the intent of what I think the sponsor is trying to do here, could we say where holiday greetings or, I guess, religious, cultural, and heritage observances are regularly posted instead of the boilerplate that we have here or social media platforms? We strike the whole village communication channels and just post it with where typical greetings are ordinarily posted.

We're asking the communications director to come out so that she can clarify as to whether that would work.

My only concern, and just for the record, is this, that Right now we only post to social media, but maybe one day communication staff might want to post something to an email blast or the other channels. So the rule that I'd like to have kick in would just kick in if it's ordinarily posted or sent through the other channels, like holiday greetings or, I guess, communications that conform with subsection A up here, which is religious, cultural, and heritage observations.

Go ahead. Yes, good evening. Mayor and Council, Olga Karava, Human Resources and Communications Director. And basically that is what we're asking with this amendment, just to keep it consistent. So right now, any time that if there's a village closure, for example, which we do close for Christmas Day, we will post the closure on the website. We will post it on newsletters. But when it comes to observances, Those are limited to social media. So to keep the consistency, we're just asking to make the amendment with this one as well.

I see what you're saying in terms of that particular part of the definition there. I would just say instead of just social media, because in the future, I don't know what the plans are to post observances or greetings. on the email blast or wherever else the village uses communications to the public. So I would just say where the village ordinarily posts holiday greetings, and right now that would include social media, but if in the future you wanna send out an email blast or posted on the news, like the website, like, hey, Merry Christmas, and that's it. There's no other context. I would rather just the rule kick in where it's ordinarily where we're posting the holiday greetings or observances. So that's what I would like to change it to, which is what I think you're going for, too. But mine is just a little bit more broad, where if you do decide to use other platforms in the future, this ordinance would still kick in.

Right, so... I guess my question is, do we want to go ahead and make, yeah, not sure. I mean, for right now, what would make the communications consistent would be to keep it to social media. And I do understand that the language that the vice mayor is requesting is just so that if that is broadened in the future, that it would be consistent with whatever the practice is. So I'm not sure if perhaps that should be the language then, that just to keep it consistent with whatever the practice is at the time or something to that effect.

Yeah, I guess it would be... The village ordinarily conveys... And then I guess we could call it, I think the term phrase you use with holiday greetings are observances.

Observances, it's what's actually in the ordinance. Right, that's the language in the ordinance.

Yes, how the village normally conveys observances. And then that way, staff, if there's a new way of communicating, I guess administration can make the decision if they want to expand that or not. But as of right now, I guess the understanding is we only do it on social media. How we're I guess would be continuing to do it if this were to pass.

So the language, I guess, would have to change to keep it consistent with whatever communication outlets we are using for other observances. And observances is defined in the ordinance.

Can you read that back to us? Sure. While they're doing that, quick question, probably for the maker of the item or the village manager. This ordinance, and just correct me if I'm wrong, if I'm recalling from when we heard it at first reading, indicates a process for which people would be requesting to have a greeting, a religious holiday greeting placed somewhere. is what I recall. So I, right now, if I'm understanding correctly, you're asking that it just social media is where those greetings, the three or four greetings that have been placed at some point over the last few years are on our social media channels.

All observances. So as it is defined in the ordinance right now, all of those that fall under the definition of observances as defined within the ordinance are currently only posted on social media.

So if I have a, I'm Roman Catholic and I want something placed in the email, then what is the process for that? We would reach out to the village manager to make a request that it be placed in an email or the next time it would be placed maybe I want it on social media instead so it would be my request to contact the village manager to place something on a social media or if we're including emails newsletters then I might say I don't want it on social media I would like it in the email blast I want it in an email. So we're just, and I'm just trying to understand, folks will just have the opportunity to reach out to the village manager and make a request that they want X, whatever X may be, placed on social media and or an email and or the website, if I'm understanding correctly the way it currently reads.

The way it currently reads, the village would need to convey it through all those means. Right. So whether they request it or not, that's how the village would need to convey it. So if somebody said, I would like you to, you know, they comply with the timing, I would like you to recognize X. the village would recognize it through social media, newsletters, websites, calendars, bulletin boards, or any other outlets we might use.

And who determines if it's not going to be posted? I make the request, and I guess I send it as a member of the public to the manager. Then who decides, no, I'm not honoring that?

There is no discretion. It would need to be posted unless it does not comply with the provisions of the ordinance. So if it was untimely, if it was, if it did, there was also a, was not viewpoint neutral, but we did strike the exclusions out of it at the last reading. Primarily, it's really just a timing item. The village retains control over what is actually conveyed. So if somebody says, I want you to say this and I want it written like that, the village does not have to honor the express language that they are asking. So the village retains the right as to how they will recognize it. We wish you a happy X, as opposed to if somebody wants a long recitation as to what X means to them, the village retains the right to... how it's going to be worded.

So, Mayor, if I may, so exactly. Right now, the way that the ordinance is written, it requires us to post it everywhere. At the moment, if there's an absorbance for, let's say, Flag Day, we currently only post that on social media. But as written right now, it would require us to post it on social media, on our website, within our newsletters, emails, any app.

And the amendment, yeah, I just want to, for my own, because we're on this amendment, and the amendment would, it would just be for social media channels.

That was the amendment that was requested. The vice mayor has asked to modify it, although admittedly we're only talking about social media now, but he has asked to modify it in case there's other avenues, and it would read, at least this is how I've drafted it, Village communication channels means the avenues by which the village customarily conveys such observances. Which is social media.

Right now it's social media. If it changes in the future, then obviously we will accommodate accordingly. Okay.

I'd like to weigh in, and I think that the vice mayor's amendment is a good one because then it incorporates what might happen in the future and not just limited to social media. But there may be other ways that we want to talk about this or let people know about observances. And also, this is not like a demand for any kind of thing from the part of a group, a religious organization, It's something that is a honorific, that is an announcement of an observance so that everyone is aware of that. So I think that I really wouldn't worry about the fact that it has to be published. That was not my intent when I wrote this. It has to be published in everything. But I think that the vice mayor's amendment is a good one to go for because then it incorporates what might happen in the future. And everybody is treated equally then.

Right. And that was the other point that we don't believe that was the intent of the original ordinance. And just to keep it consistent throughout, which is actually the intent of the ordinance.

Thank you.

Council Member Cody. Thank you. This is a question for the village attorney. I have some First Amendment concerns. I believe in the last census they did in Britain, a group of people declared that their religion was Jedi. And I don't know if that was sincerely held, but that is something that currently appears. If we were approached by someone who said that my religion is Jedi and May the 4th is our sacred day, would we have to use this capacity to honor the Jedi holiday?

If it's a religious holiday, as I mentioned at the last one, it's all or none. So if we're opening it up, we're opening it up for everyone, whether it's your religion or not, I hadn't heard of that one, but if that's a religious movement, then yes, that would be, as long as they met the deadline, the time frame, and as long as it comported with all the requirements, then yes, we would recognize it under this.

There is speculation that in the next census they do, people are going to claim that they are also Sith, so you would have both Jedi and Sith. in Britain, again, that would be something that a group of people could get together and say, I want our Sith holidays to be recognized and we'd have to do it.

Yeah, we would analyze each request and if it falls within an observance and the definition of observance and it's timely, then yes, we would recognize it.

And we would not be able to say that that's not a real religious belief. but that's not a sincerely held religious belief, that wouldn't be within our purview, correct?

Correct. We would have to comply with the law on that, with the law on religious recognition.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions? Yes.

I'd like to move my amendment to the amendment, please, which is what the attorney just read out prior to the back and forth we just had. Sorry. Would you be able to read out the amendments to the amendment, please?

Yeah, the amendment would be to change subsection B2, where it defines and says village communication channels means the avenues by which the village customarily conveys such observances. I move that, please.

Second. All right, it's been moved. It's been seconded. Anything? Other questions? Comments? Okay. All those in favor of the amendment, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed?

Nay.

Okay, so the amendment passes. Can you read it one more time for us?

Yes. Village communication channels means the avenues by which the village customarily conveys such observances.

As close as you're going to get. All right. Thank you, Director. Just keep one ear in case we need you back, Olga. Just in case. All right, thank you.

We vote on the amendment to the amendment. We still have to vote on the amendment now. There was a motion on the floor. I amended the motion, and now we still have the motion as a whole. That's correct.

Okay. All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Anyone opposed? Nay. All right. Passes 4-1.

All right. Now we're back on the item as it has been amended.

I'd like to have the opportunity to present it.

Yes, go ahead. I haven't been able to present it yet. Go ahead. Okay. This is something that I think is very important for the village. We have a very diverse community in terms of religious belief. In fact, I believe right across the street is a Hindu temple. We're very fortunate to live in a diverse community and we enjoy and need to respect everybody's religious views. So I wrote this because a circumstance came up in which a request was made for notifying or noticing the community about a Muslim religious observance and because of the policy of the village up to that point and even today until this is passed which I hope it does was that the village could decide what was appropriate what was not in terms of a religious observance so I wrote this so that there would be fairness and equality in terms of another religion or other religions having the same kind of notification as Christianity and Judaism currently have in the village. We celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah and Easter and whatever other observances come about as a result of those two religions. So I think it's important to expand it to other religions in the village. And one of the things that I think should be mentioned is that a qualified applicant has to request a notification and a qualified applicant is a resident of the village. A nonprofit organization located in Palmetto Bay and serving village residents or a religious congregation, cultural organization, educational institution or community group located in Palmetto Bay, Florida and conducting religious activities within Palmetto Bay. So in the particular situation that resulted in this ordinance being written, it was a resident who lived in Palmetto Bay requesting observance or notification of observance of a Muslim holiday. So I would appreciate support for this. I think that the community would appreciate it. Certainly thank you all for coming out for this. And I think that it reflects what Palmetto Bay is, which is welcoming of diversity.

Thank you. Are there other comments, questions? Final comments? No? OK. Very good. I'm going to make one quick comment. First of all, thank you all for coming out. Mohamed, you and I have spoken multiple times. I had the opportunity to recognize the holiday when you came out. We did a proclamation. I know some of you in the audience were here for that as well. I did not support this item. previously, and I'm not going to support it today. I will say it has absolutely nothing to do with people of Muslim faith. It has to do with my conversation, actually, and some of the comments that were made by our village attorney. I think we're setting ourselves up for problems, not with you in particular, but I think we are setting ourselves up for problems down the road. If I had my druthers, I'd say, we don't post anything religious, and I do think that that's going, I think the next council, as some of my colleagues like to say, will have to revisit this. I do have to refute some of the comments, I think, that were made in an email to me by one of the folks in the audience, which is that I should be more sensitive to the Muslim community If I were not sensitive, I would not have issued a proclamation for you for the holiday. I kind of take a little bit of umbrage at that. I appreciated the conversation you and I had subsequently. Maybe a miscommunication. But in any event, I didn't support it on first reading. I'm not going to support it now. And as I said, If I had my druthers, I would say we are not posting anything for any of the holidays. I honestly think it's going to set the manager up in some weird space here. I know we removed a lot of the exclusions, but at the end of the day, somebody has to make the decision when the request comes in. So if the manager chooses or makes a decision based on the ordinance, I'm sure that folks are going to be upset by that, whether they're Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist. I think it just puts our manager and the staff in a very, very uncomfortable position. But I do appreciate your comments, Mohammed. I do appreciate. And the young man at the back, please, can you come forward for a second? It takes a lot of bravery to stand in front of a village council or any body that's making policy. I don't know how old you are, but I'm 22. I was super impressed by your comments, so I thank you for sharing them. Know that we'll be on the opposite side in terms of this, but it's likely it's going to pass. It's no direct reflection of your comments or anyone else's comments. It's just my belief that we have to definitely make some separation. And I just don't think it's appropriate to put our staff in this conundrum. But kudos to you. You could be mayor one day. Come be mayor for the day. Thank you so much. I appreciate your comments. All right. Without, since there's no other comments, Madam Clerk, you want to call the roll?

Council Member Marsha Madsen?

Yes.

Mayor Karen Cunningham? No. Council Member Patrick Fiore?

Yes.

Council Member Steve Cody?

Yes.

Vice Mayor Mark Meritor? Yes.

The item passes. 3-2. If you're going to stick around, awesome. We'd love to have you stay for the whole meeting. If you're going to leave, if you could just do it very quietly because we have 15 minutes left to kind of get through a bunch of items. Thank you so much. Thanks for that. Appreciate it.

Madam Mayor, I would move that we take up the consent agenda items next. Item 12, A, B, and C. All right.

Would somebody move the consent agenda?

I just did. Second. I wanted to actually add things.

I was going to ask if we could add a couple of things. What do you want to add?

I wanted to add 14A. Okay. Yep. 14B, I had some questions with, so no. I'm happy to add C, E, F, and G. Can you give me those again?

14A? A.

So I got, in addition to consent agenda items A, B, and C, adding, the motion is to add 14A. East.

i thought you said you had questions about b oh sorry a c e e f yes okay uh that's your motion i'll second i'm so sorry yes oh madam mayor we'd like to pull uh 12a f dot change the criteria we're not going to be able to apply for the grant this year so we'd like to pull 12a

Okay, do we need to do anything, Mr. Attorney, if the manager is pulling his own item?

No, it would just be pulled from the agenda.

All right, so it's consent agenda item B and C, and then I'm going to say it one more time, A, C, E, F, G. That's your motion. I second it. Is there any discussion? I'm going to go ahead and call the question. Should I wait for Patrick?

Probably.

Yeah, please, just for the quick vote. Yeah, sure. A, C, E, F, G. A, C, E, F, G. If he's outside the building, is that? Patrick?

Thanks.

I want G to be pulled.

Okay, well. then you won't vote for this. Let's hold up, because I'm going to have to get him caught up anyway.

Okay, I don't want you to be pulled.

Okay, we're going to go ahead and vote without him then. I'm sorry. Wait, I hear a door opening. I hear a door shutting. That's okay. Council Member Fiore, we added A, the motion from... the vice mayor and seconded by me to add the following a c e f and g to the consent agenda before we vote on the consent agenda it's of item 14. i'm sorry and that's of item 14. you did that say you just gave the i'm sorry it's 14 a c e f g yes they're all resolutions okay is there yes that's it sure

I do not think that we should pull number G. I'd like to know much more about this one in terms of how this is going to replace the iBus. We had a number of parents six months ago or so, maybe a little bit longer, come in and talk about the iBus. So I would like to know how that actually is going to replace it. That's number G. So I don't, I would like G not to be included.

Go ahead, Mr. Manager.

Dr. Madsen. We are not making any change to any schedule, to any service. It's purely the replacement of the village-owned iBuses with platforms provided by Freebee. Same schedule, same park and ride lot. There's no changes.

What about our employees who are driving the iBus?

They're both being offered positions with Freebee.

And are they being offered similar pay?

Yes, yes. Similar W-2, they're not independent contractors. They're getting W-2 positions offered with freebie. Yes, ma'am.

All right. Does that answer your questions? Yes, ma'am. All right. So could we move the consent agenda with the additional items? Would somebody move it? Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? All right. it's okay tonight I will make an exception and if we could just move the I don't think we need to move it but if you don't mind the village managers report village attorneys report and village clerks report if that's okay with everyone it's it's in thank you it's in writing and we can read it if I could go back just quickly to the approval of the minutes for the regular council meeting July 6th would someone move the minutes It's been moved. Is there a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Board committee reports? Move it. Second. All those in favor? Aye. All right. Now, here we go. So we are now on item 10B. Would somebody move? Actually, if you don't mind, could we do the AIPP? And what item is that? Sorry.

That was 14B. 14B.

All right. Could someone move item 14B? It's the AIPP, the art.

I'll move.

Is there a second?

Second.

Madam Clerk, can you read item 14B?

Can you clarify who moved and seconded item 14B for the record?

Moved by... Council Member Fiore and seconded by Vice Mayor Merwitzer.

Item 14B is a resolution pursuant to section 30-160 of the AIPP program, accepting the board's recommendation of the Copper Pyramid of Art and Energy, revisioning by artist and resident Tone Kaye, directing the village manager to enter into a contract with the artist for the materials and labor for project execution with Simply Evolving Endless Design, known as SEED, LLC. This resolution is sponsored by administration and prepared by sustainability and resiliency planner Andrea Candelaria.

All right, public comment. Come on up.

Rodriguez, 8420 Southwest 181st Street. On the Art in Public Places Committee, we take many things into consideration when recommending a piece of art for Palmetto Bay. Durability, enhancement to the community, maintenance. The pyramid gives us the opportunity to bring a piece of art back to life. This started as a structure to cover an air conditioner unit. Now it will be a space in a busy, active recreational area to catch your breath. I think we have lots of things going on in the parks. It's utter madness, and I revel in the madness at times, but we have a lot of people with autism, children with autism and on the spectrum, and this will give us just a quiet space that you can duck out of the madness and kind of just get a grip. So I hope you support us on this. This is something that we actually do have funding for.

I like that, get a grip. Other, thank you. We're going to close. Anybody else? All right, I'm going to close the public hearing. Questions? Comments? Staff report. Thank you. It's like QVC. Home Shopping Network, I love it.

Good evening, Madam Mayor and Village Council. My name is Andrea Candelaria, and I'm the sustainability and resiliency planner for the village. I'm also the staff liaison to the AIPP board, and I'm really excited to give you a presentation tonight on one of our pieces that was approved by the board. You could get started for the sake of time once we get the PowerPoint. But for some background information, you should see it on your packets as well as on the memo. As stated before from our board member, the piece, the original piece is now located within the back of Coral Reef, behind the Coral Reef new rec center. Family games, the piece was installed in Corby Park in 1979 and was transferred over to the village in 2003 along with Saul's capital assets. During its relocation, the village staff reached out to local resident and artist Tone Kaye to develop a reimagining of the art piece that can invite visitors to the piece and appreciate its worth. During incorporation, the village acquired Coral Reef Park as well as this piece. Thank you so much. You can just go maybe to the second slide, please, the second one. Thank you so much. Last year, this piece went before the Art and Public Places Board in May of the committee, and after some questions regarding the legalities of it, we took over a year to decipher the process and ensure the process that we were doing was correct. And so we went to the Miami-Dade County APP Trust because this was actually maintained by the county. It was not ours yet. It was only maintained by them. They would do their occasional checking, but it was not ours to maintain. So actually, in August last year, the Miami-Dade County Art and Public Places Trust Board approve this piece to be decommissioned from their collection and part of the villages. This transfer of property releases the county's responsibility for the ongoing care of the work and supports the artwork's removal from the county's inventory and public art collection. Next slide, please. And now it's some information regarding our artists. He's in the audience today. He's actually a resident of the village and he considers Coral Reef Park his home office sometimes. He loves jogging there. He has over 20 years experience in artists and design for developers. His design is focused on sophisticated multifunctional and eco-friendly designs. that blur the lines between interior and exterior spaces and creating a seamless and like environment.

Next slide, please.

And so this copper pyramid of art and energy was designed again by Tonkaye and it encapsulates everything that the board truly believes in, which is transferring this new art piece and giving it a sense of purpose. And so this piece aims to provide a living art installation for the village through a meditative changer that senses as an architectural marvel and a community experience all at once in a resonant space that promotes grounding, inspiration, and healing. This, again, this, next slide please. This was unanimously approved by the art board in May of last year, and the timeline is about three months pending material and availability, and the budget is also $25,000, which will be used from the AIPP fund. And I am available for any questions or comments. Questions?

Comments? Anyone? Anyone? Go ahead, Council Member.

Well, I have an amendment to this item that I asked the clerk to pass out.

Yes, I'm so sorry. I missed that.

And I don't have my reading glasses with me tonight, so I'm going to have to do this from memory. This is a resolution with all due respect to the AIPP and to the artist who's here. This would strike out everything that's in the resolution down to the portion that deals with the date, mayor's signature, attorney's signature, and then the compilation of our votes. I'm going to ask that we reject this item. I, from the beginning, when we first got the presentation, was a bit offended because this was pitched to us as an idea for something that would have health benefits, and it was specifically mentioned because it's been thought that sitting under a copper pyramid can help people with autism. And as the father of someone who has autism, and the uncle of several, well, a couple of my nieces and nephews also have it, When I heard that, I wanted to slap my forehead and said, if only I had known that by putting a copper pyramid on their heads, a lifetime of problems could have been avoided. But there's a more practical reason for this beyond personal feelings. We live in Lightning Alley. You are putting a conductive piece of metal up above where people are, and if you take a look, It is supported by four copper tubes. The copper doesn't stop there. We then have copper straps that go on the inside. We then, it goes down and gathers to a copper plate on the floor. Now, if you're familiar with this structure when it was attached to the old building that we had, it's something that collects rainwater in the bottom. It fills up. So you're potentially having people sit in something that is a lightning attractor and collects rainwater. And I think it sets the village up for a tremendous amount of liability. My amendment would say we reject this. We are going to offer it back to the county if they want it. If they don't, we would have it declared surplus. And if nobody wants it at that point, and certainly the artist, if that were to happen, would be more than welcome to take it at his expense and set it up wherever he can place it or have it removed from the park as construction debris. I don't see us facing the potential liability of the way storms creep up on us having a dozen children sitting on those little buckets, and one lightning flash comes, and suddenly we're dealing with a number of injured and dead children. So I think that we need to come to our senses. I'm all in favor of art, but we need to let this one pass us by. So this is my amendment, and I hope you will second it and adopt it. Second.

Alright, motion. It's been seconded. Discussion?

Question?

Yes, question. Go ahead.

So is the art piece going to be grounded so this doesn't happen?

The art piece is already grounded. There is no structural changes to this.

Well, we have not had any kind of engineering report and while I The inside of it is cast concrete over a rebar frame. Right now, there is no grounding from that framework or from what's going to be put in to the ground. I mean, respectfully, Andrea, that's not the case.

Thank you, Mr. Cody. So go ahead. Is it grounded?

The piece was relocated from its original piece to the back. As far as the foundation is concerned, perhaps Fannie could provide more insight.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor and Council. So to answer your question, Council Member Fiore, we can add that as part of the permitting phase. When the permit is pulled, they'll have to make sure that it is grounded.

OK, so then I think Mr. Well, I don't know what you want to do, Mr. Cody, but I would at least, Madam Mayor, I would add that as an amendment to this, if it's OK, that what Fannie just described is done. Thank you, Madam Mayor.

And if I could, I see you nodding. Do you mind coming up? I know how much you love the mic. Does this make sense to you?

What part of it?

Well.

Councilman Cody's assessment.

Well, the assessment and then also having the item or the structure itself, making sure that the structure is grounded.

Absolutely. In the permitting phase, it'll be. It'll be dealt with, all of your concerns.

Well, if you would take a look, though, at the maquette that's sitting on the table next to you, can you ground where those electrical pathways are going to be down and into the floor of the unit? Will merely grounding the outside of it pull the lightning and electricity away from the people who might be sitting in it.

There can be lightning protection.

But we don't have that right now.

Designed into it. That's correct. But not what you're looking at.

Madam Mayor, I think we need to get that information first before we move forward on doing this. I am concerned for the lives of the children who live in the village.

Just a thought, and if I could, is it possible that we could bring, you guys could explore whatever those potential issues. I like the structure. I would love to see the enhancement. And I actually went on a golf cart ride through Coral Reef Park, and this was one of the things we stopped and looked at. Would the council like to see the item until the next meeting and then we have some I'm asking the whole council member not just you I get to shake my head so my thought process is if thank you I know my job I know the artist is here thank you if we're able to have the staff manager take a look to make sure and alleviate any of the potential safety to life concerns that you've brought up, then maybe we can have another discussion at the next meeting.

I would support that with the proviso that it include an engineering report to make sure that this is not just someone's guesstimate, but we actually have an engineer who can calculate all the things that need to be done. We have an engineer. He works in public services. Yes.

I'm a lightning engineer.

Quick question to our parks director, or through the mayor and then through the manager, obviously. We have a lightning alarm system at Coral Reef Park, correct?

We do.

Is it functional?

Yes, it is.

And if that lightning alarm system goes off, would people be allowed anywhere near that structure?

No, they're supposed to leave the park.

Thank you, that's all.

If the alarm goes off, how do we make sure that people who are in there get out, and nobody else goes into it.

The alarm's pretty loud, I will say. But I don't want to disregard your concerns, but I also want to be respectful of the time as well. I know we have the artist here. I see you have your hand up. Are you able to answer these questions? Come on up, then.

No, hold up, hold up.

Toned. Toned. My name's Tone Calle. Listen for one second, if you would. Name and address, and then you can ask the questions.

Tone Calle, 7801 Southwest 146th Street.

Thank you. Question. You have a question for him.

I've got a question I want answered by an engineer who is experienced in lightning.

Go ahead. Get a little closer to the mic.

It's my understanding that during any type of storm, thunderstorm especially, the park is automatically closed and everyone's supposed to leave the vicinity. Let's start with that first off. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but that's what my understanding was. There is no copper going down... You have to use the mic tone because it's a... There is no copper going down into the unit. We had... Dean go by, we asked us the situation. We talked about structural strength that passed. We talked about grounding, and that could be easily achieved. There's about four other all-metal structures that are much higher than this that are sitting in the park now. Those do have a roof over them, so they provide shelter so people would logically run under that and run under something that has no shelter. So basically, there's a lot of other environmental factors surrounding this that are much higher that would probably be more attractive to lightning than this would. But again, during a thunderstorm, no one is in the park. And if they are, they're going to be under another metal roof that the park has now. I don't know if those are grounded or not, but they are much taller and they're all metal. And there's metal that actually supports those structures that people are sitting under. No one is going to sit under this structure when it's raining. If it's thundering, the park is closed. So that's just basically my logic to the whole thing.

Well, can I ask the artist a question? Yes, sure. Okay, you have four copper tubes coming off the pyramid. Correct. Attaching to the walls. Coming from the top, attached to the concrete, correct. Right, and then you have copper strips, as it looks like, along the walls.

The copper strip... stops about two feet from the top of the wall. About that much. And if that is a major concern to you, we could easily eliminate that. That's not what you show on your... What I'm telling you right now is that if that is a major concern because you don't want little children to die from getting struck by lightning, we could eliminate those. I mean, I don't want little children to die either. In the beginning, this was... Thank you. Thank you.

One moment. Thank you. Councilwoman? Yes, I understand that the councilman is the liaison to this committee. That's true. So I would like to know if you brought this up in the past to this committee, your concern.

I believe that I did when it was first proposed.

I'm sorry, no. I'm on the committee. I can speak to this. Can you please sit down? Thank you. This is not a circus. We're trying to get through a business item. Thank you, Patty. Go ahead.

Go ahead. I believe I did raise it when it first came before us. And the matter was not well taken. Several of the members were more impressed by the idea that they were told that razor blades underneath pyramids automatically resharpen themselves. all the kinds of new agey stuff that has no scientific basis. So.

We cannot just walk up to the mic and start speaking. I'm gonna ask you to sit down, please. Thank you. Ma'am, I'm gonna ask you to sit down. Thank you. We had public comment. We heard your public comment. We're speaking with the artist and we're making the decision on the item.

Thank you.

Madam Mayor. One moment, please. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Councilwoman.

Yes, I would just like to say that part of the responsibility of council liaison is to work with the committee and make sure that whatever they're talking about is proper and will come to council. And I think that if you did have these concerns, I attend almost all the meetings. I don't remember your concern coming up when this was proposed. But in case you did, I think instead of bringing this up, at the last minute here and torpedoing the project, it would have been good to work with the committee instead of against the committee, in my opinion.

Okay. Tom, thank you for coming up. We'll go back to the director. Are there any other... Yes, go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Yeah, I mean, I'll share why I seconded the motion. I actually... my own personal opinion um is that the structure you're building on itself not the artwork the actual structure that's there the actual shape of it i'm just personally not a fan of um i i think that that has been in our park since we've incorporated for the longest time i've always thought that that should have been taken away from the park um i appreciate the work and the amount of thought that went into this i appreciate the aipp um but i'm just i was personally just not a fan of that particular structure right there from the beginning. I thought it was a little bit out of place for the park. I personally would have preferred something more natural for the area, like as artwork i would say something more in the like i guess trees landscaping um flower beds gardens whatever else we could go there instead um i understand you applied to the project i really appreciate the thought you put into it i actually think it's great for what you turn that structure into i just i still just don't like the structure as a whole we inherited it from the county i'm not a fan of it as a whole but um so my preference would just be to get rid of the whole thing and

plant a garden there but again I want to say thank you to the AIPP thank you to the artists are coming forward about this it's just my own personal vision for that area I'm not a fan of it and that's all thank you councilmember Fiore I have nothing else anything else all right I I just want to check for the purpose of the process we had and I we had a substitute An amendment, I guess. A very big amendment. It was, you made the motion. Am I correct, Vice Mayor? You second the motion. Alright, so now if we could vote on the amendment to the Copper Pyramid Resolution item that Council Member Cody provided. All those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

No.

Alright, so now we're back on the item. Is there more discussion? Which direction do you want to take? Do you want to Table it and have someone look into it. I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry. Can you repeat the vote on that amendment, please?

Yes, it was 4-1 with... Is that right? Yeah, with Council Member Cody as the nay. Or as the yay, right? That was your amendment, so you voted yes. The rest of us voted no. Okay. Okay. We're back on the item. Yes.

This art object has a lot of sentimental value to me. I remember my son playing in it right before Hurricane Andrew. I remember that. It's been in the park a long time. I always enjoyed seeing the etching around it, and I'm glad that it's being repurposed. I think it's a great design. It's really interesting. It's something different. And, of course, art is in the eye of the beholder. So I do like it very much, and I intend to vote for it.

All right. Vice Mayor?

Yeah, I'll just say this, too. This is not a hill I'm going to die on. So if there's two other votes for it, I'll be the third vote to support it. I mean, I'm not going to die on this hill.

Okay. All right. If that's it with the discussion, let's just call the question. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed?

Nay.

Okay. All right. It passes 3-2. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right, we've got like 11 minutes left before our time runs out. And I know the village manager mentioned the stormwater, which is item, excuse me, it's item 11B. Can someone move it? Is there a second?

I move to extend the meeting to 1115.

I'll second that. All those in favor?

Aye.

Okay. Okay. It's okay. 11B. It's been moved and seconded. Madam Clerk, can you read the item?

Item 11B is an ordinance of the Mayor and Village Council of the Village of Palmetto Bay, Florida, related to stormwater utility fees, revising the stormwater utility fee structure in support of the Village Stormwater Management System, providing for ordinances in conflict, severability, and for inclusion in the code, providing an effective date This ordinance is being heard on first reading this evening and was prepared by stormwater engineer Mairelis Gensler.

Okay, so do we have a presentation?

Yes, sir, we do. Stormwater engineer, and we have our Rev. Telles consultant here.

Thank you, Mr. Manager from Delaware County. Go ahead.

My Rally is Gensler Stormwater Engineer. This ordinance is related to the stormwater utility fee change from $5 per month per year to $13 per month per year. If you recall, at the last CAL meeting, our consultant presented the findings of the stormwater rate study. Our consultant is here today, Raf Delis. His name is Joe, and he's here to present a summary presentation as a refresher.

Okay, go ahead, sir.

Good evening. Jeff Williams from Raftelis. And I was last year on July 20th in front of you with a more extensive presentation. We had good discussion. There was good feedback. We've made some slight adjustments to the plan, as you likely remember. We had more of a phased plan before. There was discussion of going more quickly to the $13. So at the, you know, Taking into consideration the time and the fact that there was good discussion, I'm going to keep this fairly brief for you all. And if there's questions, more than happy to answer those. You're currently at $5. You've been there since 2020 when you did about a $1 increase at that time. As you saw in your budget presentation earlier, the stormwater fund is operating at a pretty severe deficit right now. We're taking corrective actions to catch up with operating cost increases, provide funding for capital improvements, and provide some funding towards the green infrastructure and shade program that has been discussed as well. Next slide, please. This is a present, we did a five-year forecast um the ordinance in front of you is just addressing the 13 so the first increase we are projecting that there likely will be need for more in five years from now there's a stormwater master plan underway so to be determined on the projects that come out of that but This program right here from $5 to $13 is going to fund about $7 million in stormwater-related capital over the next five years. There are likely to be some loans associated with funding those projects, but we're allowing for repayment of debt service, continued payment of operating costs. Next slide, please. This is a visual presentation. So on the left side, The bars building up are the different costs of the department. The two lines are the revenues. You can see that the blue line going across is the existing rates. The purple dashed line is the forecasted revenues. We're trying to bring you in line with your costs for this department. We're also trying to sustain a reasonable reserve balance. Next slide, please. This is a comparison Everyone else is shown in fiscal year 2026, current rates. We do not know where everyone else is going now or over the next five years, but you'll see that you're still largely in line with your neighboring communities. Next slide. Summary. This rate increase really is needed for the stormwater department. Stormwater is an enterprise fund. It provides very important services and improvements to the community. And more than happy to answer.

Is there any questions for the gentleman? Questions for the gentleman? Anything? Any questions? No? Do we have discussions? Vice Mayor Merwitzer.

Yeah, I have a motion for the item. I wanted to strike the portion where it mentions the ERU and just add the words the maximum village service fee per ERU shall be I'm deferring to the attorney, $1,650 per month. And the reason why I'm making this amendment is that according to the presentation here, in 2031, we're going to have to hit $1,650 to cover the stormwater budgets cost. So I'd rather just meet that now with this current rate so that we don't have to come back in 2031 and adjust the budget again to meet what we're already projecting we're going to need this money for. So right now it's projected to be $1,300. In 2031, it's going to be at $1,650. I'd like to just set it as the maximum of 1650 so that in the future, if we want to up it to 1650 to meet that, requirement in 2031 it would only require a resolution rather than going through this whole process again where we have to hire a consultant study go through um two public hearings and everything else and all we would have to do is pass a resolution to make the stormwater fee effective at the 1650 per month um which is what was recommended toward for 2031. so wanted to make that motion i spoke to the attorney about it it's legal um so this would again allow us to go up to 1650.

Look at us coming together. I love it. I'm going to support the 1650. I'd support more if I could, just to make sure we're able to get through all of our projects. I would hope the manager would be smiling from ear to ear at this point. 1650? Where's the smiles? It wasn't listening.

I mean, just a question.

there's a support on council go to 1650 today could we or can we only go to 13 the our stormwater draft recommends 13 correct it does not recommend 1650 or did it recommend it as I haven't I don't have the whole document front of it if it recommended 1650 but was trying to phase it then I think we could but if it says 13 now and we'd have to support for 1650 later we would have to wait so

So our study did suggest 13 for this year. However, just because we were waiting for grant funding for our stormwater master plan, our stormwater master plan has to start in a few months. That plan plans to include four proposed sub-basin projects that would cost more and that aren't included as part of the original study. But yes, the study itself does suggest 13.

Okay, but the study that we presently have does not support a 16 at this time, correct? Or does... If it does, then if we have the support for it that we can cite to, I'm okay with it. But if it just has it...

When you did the presentation, it was a range. I remember because it was... What I'm hearing is refreshing my memory. There were some projects that were kind of pie in the sky and we'd need more money than the $13. And then $13 was like minimum, you know, it was the lower. It was like not the PPO, it was the HMO, if that makes sense.

What I'll offer is... based on the up you know we made some changes we looked at the more quote-unquote more advanced green infrastructure program that gets you to the 1650. the nuance here is that there are a lot of capital projects our study does rely on debt to fund a lot of those projects if you were to go to 1650 sooner in theory you'd have more cash along the way to take on less debt in this enterprise fund, freeing up future cash flows for potential additional projects that may be identified in the new master plan that could then use debt funding with some available cash flows.

I'm comfortable if you're saying the report would allow for a reduction in debt services if we increase to 650. I'm comfortable with the support being there for 1650 today.

I'll move 1650.

Quick question for the manager from me is we're not approving projects. Projects would have to come and be approved as they... Mainly as...

Right. I mean, we're going to have an annual program, but you're also going to have the stormwater master plan as well.

Very good. I get it. We're not approving projects. I mean, we have a plan, but with this, we're approving a fee. That's it. Okay. Anything else on the 1650?

Was there a second on changing 13 to 1650?

Yes, it was right here. It was Vice Mayor and Council Member Cody coming together once again. All right. Very good. Anything else on this? All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? No. Okay, so now that changed the rate. Now we're back on the item as it's been amended. That was a 4-1 with Council Member Fiore voting nay. Is there anything else on this item? Okay, then all those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Madam Mayor, it's an ordinance.

Oh, I'm so sorry. Call the roll.

Thank you. I'd like to make a comment about it.

One moment. Let's hear a comment.

Okay.

Now I'm voting for this. I said earlier, I'm voting for this just to let you know that, um, I think this is one of the most important things that the village does, um, to prevent flooding. And of course this has to do with the resident's quality of life and their property values. And, um, it's just really important to do this. And also the master plan talks about resiliency, green infrastructure, and urban cooling. And it'll be part of that. And I think that's a really important aspect too. So not only sub basin projects, flood control, but also increasing our trees and our canopy. That's all really important. So I'm, I'm supporting it. Thank you. All right. Awesome.

Okay. Anything? Yes, go ahead.

very quickly to the residents watching at home part of the reason why this program is going up in cost is that we're actually delivering a lot of the savings from this program back to homeowners through our CRS program so what that means is that the more aggressively we invest in stormwater infrastructure the lower our CRS score is lower is actually better so hopefully at some point with the investments that we're making with this fund We're going to be able to lower flood insurance premiums, and I would bet you that the increase that we're approving tonight is going to be less than the savings you're going to receive from the stormwater or from your flood insurance premiums. So that's why this is such an important program. I'm happy to support it, and I think it's a very important thing for our village to do as a coastal municipality. So thank you.

Call the roll, please. Council Member Patrick Fiore.

Yes.

Council Member Steve Cody.

Yes.

Council Member Marcia Madsen. Yes. Vice Mayor Mark Meritzer.

Yes.

Mayor Karen Cunningham.

Yes. Yes. Wow. Five zero. Yeah. Congratulations. Okay. We have 15 minutes and like five items. If we could plow through some of the easier ones, it'd be great. 11C would be the passport. Would that be okay if Missy presented? Is that all right?

Can we wait for the presentation, just move the item and let go through it?

I would have put it on the consent agenda. Okay. Well, I think we have to move the item now because we already passed the consent agenda. So are you moving it?

I'll move it.

Second. Okay. It's been seconded. Madam Clerk, please read your item.

Item 11C is an ordinance of the Mayor and Village Council of the Village of Palmetto Bay, Florida, amending Chapter 32. passport acceptance facility of the village's code of ordinances establishing that passport application fees and related fees collected on behalf of the united states department of state shall automatically conform to the fees then in effect as established by the united states department of state without the need for further amendment to the village's code of ordinances updating the village's passport photo fee providing for codification severability and an effective date This ordinance is being heard on first reading and was sponsored and prepared by your village clerk, Ms. Yarocha.

Thank you. Do you mind just presenting from your spot right there, if that's okay?

I'll be happy to. I'm presenting Agenda Item 11C on first reading, which amends Chapter 32 of the Village Code as it relates to our passport acceptance facility. The main purpose of this ordinance is simply to modify the way we handle fees going forward that are issued by the US Department of State. The US Department of State periodically changes its passport application fees and charges. Now, under our existing code, as it reads right now, whenever the federal government changes one of those fees, we would need to come back and amend our ordinance. If you approve this ordinance, In other words, you would eliminate that unnecessary administrative step and allows the village to automatically follow those fees established by the Department of State. For example, when we opened our passport facility a few years back, fees for a passport were ranging $100. Over the course of time, those fees go up by the federal government to, let's say, $130. So in other words, any time the government changes those fees, we automatically conform to the fees by the state. Specifically, we are also recommending that the passport photo fee be increased from the current $12.84 to $17. This recommendation is based on a review of fees charged by other businesses and municipal agencies providing the same exact service that we do. The proposed $17 fee remains within the average range of what is currently being charged by other agencies and is not higher than the average. The adjustment also helps offset our actual cost associated with providing our passport photos, our passport photo paper, ink, and photo holders. The recommendation helps bring our charge more in line with comparable providers while also helping to cover the materials required to provide the service. For the federal passport fees, as I mentioned, the ordinance lists the current Department of State fees for reference, but those amounts are not being locked into our code. Instead, the village will automatically follow any future changes made by the Department of State. Overall, this ordinance helps keep the village compliant with federal requirements, keeps our passport services and information current for our residents, and avoids having to repeatedly amend our code every time the government changes their fees. For these reasons, the Department of the Village Clerk recommends approval of the ordinance. If passed on first reading this evening, the ordinance will return for second reading at the October 5th, 2026 regular council meeting. I hope to have your support for this. Thank you. Thank you. Questions?

No comments? Okay.

Is this an ordinance?

Yes. Madam Clerk, call the roll.

Mayor Karen Cunningham? Yes. Council Members? Yes. Patrick Fiore?

Yes.

Council Member Steve Cody? Yes. Vice Mayor Mark Meritzer? Yes. Council Member Marsha Matson? Thank you for your support.

For your presentation, we've got a few more items. I don't know that we'll get to all of them, but let's go with 10B, Ordinance for Second Reading.

Move it.

Is there a second? Second. Madam Clerk, can you please read the item?

Item 10B, an ordinance of the Mayor and Village Council of the Village of Palmetto Bay, Florida, amending the Code of Ordinances of the Village of Palmetto Bay by creating Section 21-1 to establish regulations for the operation of micromobility devices, providing for conflict, severability, codification, and an effective date. This ordinance is being heard on second reading this evening, sponsored by Vice Mayor Mark Meritor, passed on first reading at the July 20, 2026 Special Council Meeting.

Very good. You want to give a real quick report?

I mean, I'll just be really fast. Same policy that was before you guys during the last meeting, pass on first reading. Once again, ask for all your support. If there's any questions, happy to answer them. And if there's anything out there as well that you'd like to change about it, open to suggestions as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions, comments? All right. It's an ordinance. I'm just going to go ahead and call the question. Madam Clerk, can you call the roll on item 10B?

Vice Mayor Mark Meritzer?

Yes.

Council Member Steve Cody?

Yes.

Council Member Patrick Fiore? Yes. Mayor Karen Cunningham? Yes. Council Member Marsha Madsen? Yes.

All right. Item 11A. It's an ordinance for first reading.

I'll move to defer it to the October meeting.

Thank you. Do we need to do anything with that? it's a motion you need a second is there a second second uh all those in favor aye anyone opposed all right beautiful and hold on we have two more okay um item 14d but somebody is somebody going to move that move is there a second second madam clerk can you please read the item

Item 14D is a resolution addressing the unapproved named Diadem Pickleball Complex depicted on official village signage for the Palmetto Bay Park Indoor Pickleball Center, directing the manager to correct the signage. This resolution is sponsored by Council Member Marsha Madsen. Thank you. Public comment?

Evening. F. Gerald 14271 Southwest 74th Court. I was a little shocked when I went by and saw this sign with the name Diadem. I have no idea how that could have gotten there without your having a discussion on this. This is a very controversial project to begin with. So I would, to me, it would have been much more appropriate to call it Palmetto Bay, not Diadem. So I really, despite, I don't know what the thinking was, to bypass discussion at council about naming this. I think it was very inappropriate. I don't know if some of the thinking, because there was a contribution on the part of the company that's going to be running this, but I really feel that this is not theirs. This is ours. This is our facility. And it's on our land. And I really am very disappointed that there wasn't a discussion about it. And I don't think the diadem name should be there to begin with. But that is my opinion. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? All righty. Councilwoman? I'm so sorry. It's 11-11, by the way, so I'm just mentioning. Does anyone want to continue past 11-15?

I'll give it five more minutes.

Okay, there's a motion for 11-20. There's a second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? That doesn't matter. Okay.

Okay, I'll make this short. There's a sign outside the construction site of the Pickleball Center, which designates the Pickleball Center in the photograph of the Pickleball Center to be, calls it Diadem Pickleball Complex, which according to our code, the council names a village building, which was never done. Council didn't name it Diadem Pickleball Complex. And this sign also has the village seal on it, which means that the village approved of it unless the maker of the sign did not get permission, which would be a violation of the code. So in order to prevent confusion on the part of residents and not to give the impression that the building is named after the management company, that taxpayers paid to build this building and they should have the ability through their representatives to name it, I would suggest, and I hope you will go along with me, that this sign either be changed so that Diadem Pickleball Complex does not appear on the name of the building in the depiction, or the sign be removed and try again with the default name. And the default name would be Palmetto Bay Park Pickleball Center. That's what we've been calling it since its inception. So that's just a default name that we don't have to move to name it tonight. Leave it up to the next council to name it. If they want to name a diadem, that's up to them. But we haven't named a diadem. So I'd appreciate your support on this to direct the manager either to change the depiction on the sign or to remove the sign altogether and put up a new one.

Thank you, staff report.

Okay. Mayor, this isn't our item.

There's no staff report for this.

We're happy to answer questions.

Are there questions then? Yeah, we'll start with Council Member Cody, then Vice Mayor.

Thank you. This is for the manager. The illustration on the sign is not a photograph, but was a architectural rendering that was done and submitted to us by Diadem when we first took up the issue of whether we were going to build a pickleball center and give it the management contract to them, correct?

That's correct. Okay.

And by placing that illustration on the sign, is that an indication that the village has decided to name that building the Diadem Pickleball Center?

No, I think it was an attempt by the professional design team to recognize that it is the Village of Palmetto Bay's building. DiADEM is managing it. It's a fair enough point that Dr. Madsen has raised. If we need to go through a formal naming process, we're happy to do that.

And we have not purchased signage because I know that the steel components to the building are out on site. The big slab has been poured and is curing or drying out, however. But we have not purchased signage matching that illustration saying Diadem Pickleball Center, correct? We have not. Okay. And so by having that sign up, there's nothing that will bind us to... turn this into the Diadem Pickleball Center by some kind of, and this may be for the attorney, by either estoppel or default.

No, our code sets forth the manner in which you can name a building. Like I said, other than what Dr. Mattson said, if we have a descriptive name that's like Coral Reef Rec Center, it's just descriptive. But if you're naming it, there's a process in the code that would need to be followed.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. I guess we can just vote. Is there anything else? Comments? Council Member Fury.

Yeah, yeah. Dr. Madsen is right. Let the next council name it.

That's all I have. Thank you. All right. Is it a resolution? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Nay. Okay. The item fails. 3-2. We just voted on it, the item two. Sure, I can give it to you. It was nay, Cody, nay, Fiore, nay, Cunningham, yay, you, yay, Vice Mayor. Thank you. All right, we have one last item. If we can do it in four minutes, I'm in. And it is, unless you want to move it to the regular council meeting, it's your item, Councilwoman. It's the one we put on as 14H.

Keep going.

All right, 14H. All right. so i've got to move is there a move for 14h is there a second you're going to second it okay sorry i didn't hear the motion i'm sorry madam clerk can you read item 14h item 14h is a resolution of the village of palmetto bay florida establishing standardized procedures for notification

to counsel of certain matters of great public importance and providing for an effective date. This resolution is sponsored by council member, Marsha Madsen.

Thank you. Public comment?

Jeffrey Berman, 14063 Southwest 67th Place. I'm here on behalf of my HOA. It's really a question. Can't help but wonder why this came about.

Thank you. All right. Anything else? Okay, I'm going to close public hearing. Go ahead, Councilwoman.

Okay. Thank you for asking the question. I'll explain it. This past week there was an item on Luxcom that theoretically was going to come on the agenda because other items were placed on the calendar, the village calendar, that indicated that it would be voted on tonight and it would be on the agenda. And those items were a community meeting and an LPA meeting and a zoning meeting. So what happened was, this was my experience in explaining to residents who asked about it, that it was going to be continued as we thought it would. But on Saturday, a Sunday morning, a councilman put out a an email to the community in which it appeared that it was not going to be on the agenda. But since I had received no notification from the manager or the attorney or any official, the mayor, well, I couldn't get it from the mayor, but she didn't put out an email, then I just assumed that we were going to take up the Luxcom issue tonight. So I continued to inadvertently advise the public that it was going to happen, but it didn't happen. As you can see, we did not take up the Luxcom settlement tonight. So this came about as a result of me feeling very badly about that, that people were getting information that was not happening and there was no official notification. So all this does is it establishes a standardized procedure for notification of council. of certain matters of great public importance, which in this particular case was the Luxcom settlement. I worked with the attorney and the manager on writing it, and I believe they agreed to it, that the village council would direct the manager and the attorney to notify each council member through an electronic communication or memorandum at the earliest and most reasonable time under the circumstance when it's a matter of great public importance. And the other aspect of it is that in such matters of great public importance, each council member shall be provided with the same information at the same time unless circumstances dictate that such information needs to be conveyed to the mayor or vice mayor for public safety purposes. And finally, any formal village communications to the greater public on such matters shall come from the village manager or designee via official village communications. So it just straightens out when there's a matter of importance. The example that the attorney suggested, which I agreed with, great public importance includes, but it's not limited to land development matters over 10 acres, Claims related to potential exposure in excess of a million dollars or an action item related to a matter of great public importance not being included on a council meeting agenda when such item was expected to be included. And this list is not exclusive and it's provided by way of example only. It's simply setting a standard notification policy for an item of great importance.

I'm just going to make a couple of quick comments. I will say this. We all received the information at the exact same time. It was in an email. That's how I received it, in an email from the village manager with the legal settlement. Moments later, I saw an email go out. It was literally moments later, 30 minutes later, from Council Member Cody that included the item I know you mentioned I didn't send an email. I don't know what that means. I got rid of constant contact. I let that go six months ago. If you follow me on social media, you know I did that. So I didn't send anything out. It's not my role to send anything out. It was an administrative item. I think we were all notified again at the same time. The second communication, frankly, I didn't really understand it, how one person was making a determination it wasn't going to be on the agenda. I had not had any discussion with the manager at that point. Later, I did on Monday. I'm sorry, actually on Tuesday. So I'm just clearing the misinformation because in part of your description, there's a little bit of misinformation. Not that you're trying to mislead, but I had no role in it. It was an administrative item. I didn't have any role in it. The fact that one colleague sent out two emails back to back, I don't have any control. Mom says I've got to just control myself, not what everyone else is doing.

I'm sorry if I misspoke. I thought for something like this, there would be someone in the village in a position of authority, like yourself or the manager or the attorney. But there was nothing, so I continued to inadvertently give information that was not accurate.

Well, obviously they didn't. we didn't have any we have one person here tonight that uh so i don't think it was in my opinion i don't think that it was a number of people misleading i i don't know anyway um all right uh vice mayor and then and then i know you want to council member cody

Yeah I'll just say that I know that a lot of us up here like to talk about getting information from reliable sources of information and one of the concerns that I had about this process and I know is partly because the process was still in the works but my personal preference is that in the future anytime that we have a situation like this that is such high stakes. only source of information should not just be a single council member and i think there's got to be something from the village from an authoritative source explaining to people exactly what's going on why it's going on and what's happening and what we had in this instance was a single council member putting out a whole bunch of information that i don't believe was fully correct but i'm not going to get into it and i just think that for something of this importance there should have been communication in general. And I know, again, there's a process that had to be followed, and there's a lot of things going on, but my personal preference throughout this, and I was clear to the administration privately, and I should have been public about this honestly, is that I did not want this circumstance to be miscommunicated and i wanted residents to have all the same information that i had and because of the i guess context of attorney client privilege and everything else where that line was was a little bit blurred um so my commitment to residence is this whatever information i have i want to share with you as soon as i can i mean that's not anything and then to the administration whatever information they have that they're able to share i just ask if they do the same with residents. So that's all. Thank you.

Council Member Cody. Thank you. Mr. Attorney, given that this is an item that is setting forth policy beyond just governing the council, but extending through the entire government, would not this item be more appropriately created or sketched out as an ordinance as opposed to a resolution?

I think you can do it either way. I mean, obviously, the ordinance has more formality, is built into the code. But, I mean, I think you can give direction to your administration on how to convey information either way.

Now, can anything in this resolution...

Pardon? It's 1125. I'm just making mention of that.

Okay, then move to adjourn. I may have to call the question on the item first.

Okay. We're going to call the question. Madam Clerk. Well, actually, all those in favor? Of what? Calling the question?

It would be all those in favor of ending debate and calling the question.

All those in favor of ending debate and calling the question? Aye. Opposed? Okay. All those in favor of the item, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Nay. All right. The item fails. We're going to pass on council comments, and I'll take a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Is there a second? Second. All those in favor?

Aye.

All right. Good night, Palmetto Bay.