Village Council - Regular Meeting

Testing. Oh, there we go. When they don't want to hear from me anymore, they put the mic on mute, so sorry about that. Well, good evening, everybody. How is everybody doing? Good. I'm doing well, thank you. I'm doing well. I'm doing even better seeing so many of our youth in our audience. This is a special time for me on many levels. This is my second to the last regular council meeting. where I will be termed out come, we will have a new mayor in November, possibly December if there's a runoff. So each one of these things, each last that you do obviously has special meaning. I've said to folks, you know, when you love something so much, sometimes it's hard to separate from it. I don't know that I'll have a hard time separating because I feel I've been very well supported in the community. But tonight's very special. I'm also, and I don't think they're here yet. We have Council Member Cody with us. He will remain on our council for another two years. But two of my colleagues will also be termed out. That's Council Member Patrick Fiore from District 1, and I'm sure he'll be here in just a few moments, and Councilwoman Marcia Mattson from District 3. It has been an honor to serve, and again, this is probably... And here he comes, the man of the hour. I was just mentioning that we're terming out coming up. Pat's counting days down, but 47 days, he said. But anyway, each one of these is special, but just know that for me, tonight is very special. And then, of course... as we move into the final, our final meeting, it'll even be more special and bittersweet. So why is it so special at 6.30 in Village Hall on the first Monday, in this case the second Monday of the month, is because this is the time that we have the opportunity to recognize people, and organizations that are, that's okay, I just mentioned you, by the way, people and organizations in our community that are doing great things. So everybody that you hear tonight, when you hear their name, they have committed their time and resources, their time and talent to the village of Palmetto Bay, and we're so grateful for that. So first up, Could I get Deputy Rolando Lechuga? Could I get Commander Tony Rodriguez? Could I get our village manager, Nick Marano? Oh, where is she? Where's your wife? Come on up. Oh, she's taking video. Hand it off. Yeah, hand it off to one of these folks. They'll be happy to take video. What's your name? Martha. So super special when you get to recognize one of our deputies that has served the community, the village of Palmetto Bay. On a bigger picture, I know that you have many commendations lots of good things that you've done over the course of how many years? 32 years as a police officer. So we're kind of experiencing something at the same time, which is transitioning into next chapters. And it's very special. We have, I'm so proud of our village sheriff's office. I know I'm not getting any of this right. I know it's municipal district, municipal district. You know, they changed. If you see the cars now, we're part of a Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Office. But so honored to have had almost all of my time here, I think. How long have you been with the Village of Palmetto Bay? Six years. Well, not quite all my time, but it seems like all my time here in the Village of Palmetto Bay having you as a part of our policing unit. One of the reasons why, first of all, all of these folks that serve under our major are just amazing human beings. They truly care. about the village of Palmetto Bay. More importantly, they care about each and every individual and know many of the individuals in our community by name, especially when you have frequent contact with them, which I think is amazing because that kind of takes some of the edge off when you're having contact with a resident. But why I'm so pleased with our police department is numbers. People like to talk about data I just learned at the Palmetto Bay Business Association meeting We were down, please correct the number, because if I get it wrong, 74%? It's close to that. Thank you. We'll leave it at 70% from the same time last year. And let me get some of your colleagues, come on, and join us as well. Why is that? In my opinion, it's because we have one of the best policing units, sheriff's office, municipal districts, in all of Miami-Dade County. And yeah, and I see the waving over here. You can give it up with a big round of applause because these folks work hard every single day. Steve, can I get the, can I get the, thank you. So it makes, thank you. It makes it difficult to see somebody leave, but we're going to celebrate you. And I know you're going to celebrate as well. And I do have to give a shout out as well, because it's not just the service person that goes into service. The family goes into service with them, whether you're an elected official or police officer, and you have a lot more worry every single day. So maybe you'll worry less and travel more.

Does that sound like a plan?

A family of police officers. I didn't realize that. A big round of applause for you, too. Thank you. So hopefully you all will stay retired longer than Commander Rodriguez did. That was like a month and a half, I think. So tonight, and I am going to read the certificate. I won't do that for each one of the certificates this evening, but I think this is important. Tonight, this certificate of recognition is presented to Deputy Sheriff Rolando Lechuga. The Village of Palmetto Bay is proud to recognize Deputy Sheriff Rolando Lechuga upon his retirement. and to honor his many years of dedicated service to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, beginning May 16th, 1994, while honorably serving the residents of the Village of Palmetto Bay between December 16th, 2019 through August 31st, 2026. Throughout his distinguished career, Deputy LaChuga demonstrated an unwavering commitment to public safety and was instrumental in protecting the lives and property of our community through his faithful enforcement of laws and regulations. Your professionalism, dedication, service have made a lasting impact on the village of Palmetto Bay and the residents you have proudly served. We consider it a great privilege that the final years of your distinguished career were spent right here at the Palmetto Bay Municipal District. Your presence, commitment, and dedication to our community will be sincerely missed and gratefully remembered. So today, the Village of Palmetto Bay extends its sincere appreciation for your many years of dedicated and honorable service and wish you and your bride many, many years of happiness, health, and fulfillment in your retirement. You'll have to come back and tell us what the fulfillment part is, but very good. Thank you. And if I could, I'm gonna turn it over to your immediate boss, Commander Tony Rodriguez.

Good evening, everyone. Roley and Martha are special to me because I've known them for a very, very long time. And I know that Roley right now is, he wants to crawl out of his skin. He's a man of few words, but of action, right? Incredible law enforcement career, investigative experience, proud husband, and father of two sons. And if you hear my voice crackling, it's because it really is special for me to see them. I consider them a statistic, a very positive one. It's very strange, it's very rare, unfortunately, to see a police couple that have been together for three decades. And it really is a tribute to both of you guys. So a round of applause to both of them, please. And it's really to Martha who has been the glue that kept that together. We normally would have turned something over to them on behalf of the municipal district, our Palmetto Bay municipal district. However, we gave them a send-off a couple of weeks ago, and we did it together. It was a really nice, intimate event because, as I said, Roley is a man of few words. He's a man of action, but a man of few words. So I don't know if he even wants to say anything tonight, but this is your opportunity, Roley. I thank you. I thank you on behalf of the sheriff. I thank you on behalf of our municipal district. I thank you on behalf of your peers for the work that you've done, not only for the Palmetto Bay Municipal District, but Roli is also a member of one of our rapid deployment forces. That's the county's unit for rapid response to disputes, riots, a number of different, of of just different responses that we in the county have to do. And he's got very specialized training. It's a big loss to us. It's a big loss to the agency. So I thank you for everything that he's done.

Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. I just thank God and Jesus Christ for all these many years. We still have our toes, our fingers, and we're just going to start another chapter in our lives. Thank you.

So I'm also honored tonight because I have this young man, AJ Florentine. Did I get it right? All right, very good. And he's going to present both of you with a challenge coin. All right, so the only rapid response we need from you now is Target. Target. Starbucks? What else? Italy? That's a great rapid response. All right, let's come together. Mr. Manager, would you join us for a photo, please? Big round of applause for Deputy Lechuga and his wife. I do just want to make a comment. We also have another deputy that retired just a month ago. His name is Deputy Enrique Rick Sanchez. Unfortunately, his retirement did not last that long because he's back at work at University of Miami, so he wasn't able to join us here this evening. But a special shout-out to him as well. Thank you. All right, moving on. Thank you. All right, moving on, I'm going to invite up Fanny Carmona. So every year we have summer camp right here in the village of Palmetto Bay. This year it was hosted at Coral Reef. elementary, as it is every year. We had the extra bonus that we got to use the rec center a little bit during the summer. The young people that are here today are counselors in training. Is that correct? We could not run summer camp without our CITs. I can tell you that from the get-go. These folks are actually volunteering their time and their talent to be with young children every day. And to those of you that have done that, I will tell you that's how I got started, and it's one of the reasons why I became a teacher. I think you'll either figure out how much you love it, or you'll figure out this is not what I want to do with the rest of my life. But congratulations to them. So we've got some special things here for them, and I'm going to turn it over to their boss, Fannie Carmona.

Thank you, Mayor. I also want to say thank you to all the parents that took the time to make sure that their kids or their teens made it to camp every day. And I'll tell you, those campers look up to you guys and you know it because they were waiting for you every day. And it truly makes a difference in our summer camp program. We really could not do this successfully, not without your participation every year. I'm going to call your names when I do. Please come up. Or actually, the mayor is going to call your name.

She meant the mayor is going to butcher some names here. I can see that already. What are they receiving besides a certificate? They're also getting?

The letter for their community service hours and a small token of appreciation of gift card.

Gift card to Amazon. All right.

Those are the ones that I got.

Okay. All right. If we miss you, you'll make sure to let me know. Alistair, are you here, Alistair? Come on up. Yeah, we're going to get you to stay up here for just a couple minutes. Oliver. Xavier. Xavier, you brought a little fan club. I love that. I try and do that when I go out and about. Angelique. Did I get that correct? Mike. All right. Sorry, Brian. Amelia. Brooklyn. Olivia. Ronald. Matthew. Catherine. Scott, Justin, and Sophia. Now the question, did I miss any CITs? Did we get everybody? All right, another big, big round of applause for these young people. So I just... I have to know by a show of hands, this is a lot of pressure, but I have to know by a show of hands if you are interested in coming back next year. Some of you may be traveling on. How many of you are going to be gone? You're going to be off to college. No? Okay. All right. One. So how many are going to come back next year? All right. These are going to be the future teachers. Mark my words. These are going to be future teachers. Big round of applause for them. Let's get you all to come on up. You're helping out right here. You're my wingman. And our Robert, our public information officer, the communications department, will be posting the photos probably by tomorrow. So look for them. They usually come out pretty good. You want to look one more over here? Got dad. All right. Big round of applause for these young people. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. We've got some, I'm going to ask Mr. Frank to come join us. And could I get the girls state and boys state? Well, Tom, are you, Roger, are you the boys state? Come on up. Thank you. Peter, come on up. Officer, deputy, judge. Wearing many hats, I see, this evening. All right, and I think, Steve, we also have certificates. I know that they've got certificates. We're going to gift you, the folks from State. So I'm going to let the experts tell you a little bit about Girls and Boys State, but I'm going to give you the non-expert little wrap-up. So the young men and women that you see up here today had a really unique opportunity, or that you'll see in just a moment, had a very unique opportunity to go to Tallahassee and be able to learn about policy, legislation, how the whole thing kind of works. And I think probably learning those things as a young person, and we have one council member I know will want to make some comments because she was in girls' state many, many years ago, right? A couple years ago, I'm sorry, a few. A few years back, a few years back. But just the amount that they are learning, and hopefully it sparks in each and every one of them curiosity about how can I be more involved at the local level and maybe even thinking about getting involved a little bit bigger in a different way, whether it's volunteering to assist in making policy, working with a legislator, working with a local elected official. I think all of the skills that you learned, I would be willing to bet all the skills you learned, I could step away right now and one of you could fill in my place very easily this evening. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Roger. Am I turning it over to you? Yes.

I just felt like looking behind me. Does anyone want to volunteer? Any of the boys states to get up and talk about it?

Okay.

I don't blame you. So I'll do it. I'll do it quick. So like the mayor said, Boys State and Girls State essentially is the same thing. So the reason it's Boys State and Girls State because you never want two groups of teenage boys and girls at Tallahassee at the same time at FSU. So that comes later. But what it does is it gives young people an opportunity to learn about the legislative process. Everything from at the town hall level, right, like what we have here in the village, all the way through state representation. You apply for positions, you run for office, you write papers, you try to get bills passed. Am I doing okay? Just elbow me if I'm messing it up. I'll be quick. So it just gives young people an experience of what it takes to actually run government. And then from that group, some other boys and girls are selected to Boys and Girls Nation where they actually spend the weekend in DC as well so very impressive very well recognized for college applications in fact it's did you attend Boys State or Girls State is actually a question on all of the military academies applications so that's how high it's regarded

Hi, I'm the president of the Women's Auxiliary at POST 133. And I just wanted to say, as he had said, it's a pretty grueling process in terms of these individuals being able to participate in this. It's not just a matter of us selecting. They have to go through interview processes. They have to actually interview different people in government. Um, and then it is a grueling week. It's not something that is, is just going and partying in Tallahassee. Um, and, and so it's like the best of the best that ended up getting selected. And so, and I did want to say, he did bring up that there are two people from every state that gets selected to go to girls nation or boys nation. And Elena was one of the two from the state of Florida. So it's very rare. So we are very, very proud of her for that.

Awesome. So we've got, the village has a certificate of recognition, and I know both of you have some recognitions as well and pins. From the village of Palmetto Bay, we just want to say your dedication to educating future leaders about government, democracy, and the responsibilities of citizenship has made a lasting impact on the lives of countless students. Hopefully, it has made a lasting impact on each and every one of you. And you're now equipped with skills, value, and knowledge to serve communities with honor and integrity. And I did want to give Councilwoman Matz in a moment to speak about Girls State.

Well, I did go to Girls State many years ago. And see who in the audience knows what state that was, if it was Buckeye girl state. What? Ohio. And yes, that introduced me to government. It was a wonderful experience. And thank you so much for continuing the program. It's fantastic. I enjoyed myself so much. I remember very well being a teenager going to the state capitol in Columbus and campaigning and passing bills and it was just really exciting and it really got me thinking about government and so here I am that's what happened so thank you so much for girls and before we call all the names I understand council member Cody was a part of boys state that's right I tried to go to girls state but they wouldn't let me I went up to Tallahassee in 1974 so I am

Older than, in fact, your parents could probably be my kids. That inspired me to go to Florida State in Tallahassee. I then went back and worked for the legislature for Representative Bill Sadowski, and I was stationed in Tallahassee. I wrote a number of bills. And then we came back down here and eventually got talked into running for a position where I get to wear Bling. So it's an excellent experience. I know a lot of people I went through that with back in the 70s went on to go to law school, get degrees. And so congratulations to you all. I know it's not easy because I managed to somehow survive. So thank you.

So how do you want to do this? Do you want to call the names?

All right, I'm going to call the names, and do you want to present your, Elena, am I saying Buter? Did I get it correct? All right, and I have a mayor for the day. Come on, AJ. You want to give Elena a handshake with a challenge coin? Very good. Brandon Gutierrez.

Gutierrez, I'm so sorry.

Matthew.

How do you pronounce your last name?

Shemek, thank you.

All right.

Alec Van Court. And last but not least, Troy Walensky.

Brandon. To you, two certificates. One is for your certificate of appreciation for Citizen Training Program by training by state. The other one is your good citizen citation. And last but not least, Chairman, would you give him his by state medal? Matthew, the same two certificates. And Chairman, if you would present him with his four-state medal. Troy. Again, those are yours and yours. And Alec. Those are yours and your Boys State medal. If there are any high school juniors in the crowd who are thinking about going to Boys State or Girls State, applications are open. See your school counselor for all the paperwork, right?

A big round of applause. Why don't you get a medal? Do the girls get a medal?

Oh, I was just checking. I was just checking.

No problem. Let's put it on you. Let's put it on you.

Very good.

Robert, we are ready for a photo in just one moment. Another big round of applause and congratulations for these folks. You'll be surprised, he will get everybody in this photo. I don't know how it works, but Thank you, thank you. And thank you to the American Legion, because without them it would not be possible. All right, let me invite up, so every once in a while you get to meet some heroes. How many of you know a hero? We've got some heroes in this room. We've got military personnel here. We've got law enforcement here. I know we all know somebody that's done something pretty amazing in the community. Tonight, if I could, I'd like to ask Newton Mulford to join us. You can bring the dog, too, if you want to come on up. So I don't know, how many of you are on social media? How many of you see things on social media every once in a while about the village of Palmetto Bay? Okay. Well, one morning, I got a message and then saw on social media. Come on, right on up here, Newton. Turn around and face your adoring fans here. And it was a picture of an invasive boa constrictor strangulating a duck, a Muscovy duck, in the canal at Coral Reef Park. That news spread very, very quickly. We had posts on social media. We had folks reaching out, mainly because they were concerned. Yes, come on up and join us. Yes.

Oh, okay. All right.

The manager will take the photos. Be careful. Don't trip on the dog. So Newton was just making your way around the park like you do every single day to get a little bit of exercise. Yeah, I'm just going to wait one second. Thank you. To get a little bit of exercise when he saw the commotion, right? The commotion. Yes, you saw the boa constrictor. Obviously, he's got a little service dog here. And I'm going to give you a minute just to tell the story a little bit. I will say from my end of the deal, I got a phone call and a text message. I reached out immediately to the village manager who makes his rounds through the village every single day. And he said, well, I'm over here at Coral Reef Park. So he headed on over. By the time he arrived, matters had been taken care of. So, Newton, tell us a little bit.

Well, the snake was there, but the lady was taking photos of it and making phone calls. The police, FWC, and a bounty hunter for animals. Nobody would come. So I went to my truck, made a spear, and I took care of the matter. I tried to save the duck, but it didn't work out. And that's pretty much it. I feel safer now in the canal. I didn't know that was in there. Next thing I got to worry about is the gator. But at least now the snakes are going to stay away, I think.

Well, a big round of applause for Newton. And if I come by the park and see you alligator wrestling, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not feeling that. I think you got to stay away from that. So this evening, Newton Mulford, resident here of the village of Palmetto Bay, for your outstanding civic responsibility and environmental stewardship, The Mayor and the Village Council of the Village of Palmetto Bay proudly present the Certificate of Recognition in appreciation of your commendable efforts in identifying, capturing and safely removing an invasive python from Coral Reef Park in September 2026. Your initiative, courage and commitment to protecting our local environment exemplify the spirit of good citizenship and demonstrate the important role that individuals can play in preserving the natural beauty wildlife, and ecological well-being of our community. And I just wanted to say on a personal level, thank you for just taking action. Not everybody would do that. Newton, I'm going to go. There you go, AJ. All right, we're going to get an official picture.

I've got Robert right behind you.

We can get you into communications if you'd like. All right. A big round of applause for our snake handler. Thank you. All right. All right. Steve, it's National Recovery Month. So I had the opportunity, I have two more, so hang with me. I know we're going a little bit over, and I promise to go even further over next month. So David, make sure you come on out for that one, because it's going to be a long recognition. We may have to start really early. I had the opportunity most recently, if I could get Thomas to come join me, please. Thomas is with No More Dead Homies. And I'm going to let you explain just a little bit more articulate, with a little bit more articulate, I'm not getting this right, than I'm about to do. But I had the opportunity to go to University of Miami, it was just a few short weeks ago, to share a moment and a recognition with the organization of course, No More Dead Homies, but also more specifically for University of Miami. They were in the process that evening, actually it was a two-day, was it a two-day event, of providing resources for, I want to say young people because it was at the university, but I'll be honest with you, addiction doesn't know any boundaries, it doesn't know age boundaries, it doesn't know race boundaries, it doesn't know religion boundaries. And as I said that evening, I don't think anybody wakes up one day and says, hey, I want to be an addict. It happens, right? I shared my personal story that evening, which I will not share right now, but this, for me, it kind of hits home personal, right? We have so many amazing young people in our community and periodically, not the ones that we had here this evening that are engaged and doing all kinds of great things in our community, but periodically individuals will get wrapped up in something that they didn't mean to get wrapped up in. And sometimes that leads to a longer issue, a lifelong issue. In this case, No More Dead Homies as well as many organizations across Miami-Dade County came to provide resources to the students that came out on those two days. What I found most touching that evening was I realized as I was starting to speak, I saw a few folks kind of look like me and maybe a little bit younger than me. in the front row, and that's what compelled me to ask, do we have any parents of children that have died overdosed? And there were four or five parents that were there. I have a 36-year-old daughter. She'll be 37 in February. I cannot imagine the loss. I lost a husband, but I cannot imagine the loss of a child. It doesn't It's just not the natural progression of things. So I'm going to have you, I'm not going to read this whole thing, but what we said was that September 2026 as National Recovery Month, and I said there that day, every single day we should be finding ways to help those that are struggling, right? So we're not just doing this for the month of September. I hope for the other 11 months during the year, we're also raising awareness with our young people in the community and any age group. They are not alone. And I think that day, as I said to the parents that were there, we don't know, right? There might've been somebody in the audience that was impacted deeply enough to say, hey, I have to get a little bit of help here. So tell us a little bit more about No More Dead Homies.

First off, thank you so much for recognizing National Recovery Month, and we just passed overdose awareness, which I never take for granted that, you know, I'm one of the lucky ones that is in recovery, but a lot of folks are not so lucky, and we want to make sure that we remember them as well. No More Dead Homies is a nonprofit organization. We're focused on overdose prevention and breaking some stigma attached to overdose and recovery, right? Really, there's no one type of person that this can affect. This affects everybody. And so the goal here is to provide the education, to let people know there is help, and to know that it's something to be celebrated. Recovery is something to be celebrated, and there's no one pathway to recovery. There's multiple pathways, and every pathway should be celebrated.

So today... I present you with this certificate. And AJ, do we have a challenge coin? Got my mayor for the day here. Okay. You want to give it to Mr. Guerra? All right. Big round of applause for the organization and for Tomas for all your hard work. All right, and last but not least this evening, I think we've celebrated this on multiple occasions, but if I could get, I'm so sorry, I forgot your name. Scarlett from the National Diaper Foundation. Is that correct? I'm getting kind of close. Miami, thank you, thank you, thank you. Miami Diaper Foundation, right? Bank. Bank. Thank you. Let's rewind that tape and let's start this all over again. Thank you for joining us. I think, I know that a couple of times years in a row you've asked to have them recognized. I think last year we collected diapers here. How many of you know somebody that has an infant at home using diapers? Could be a grandchild, a neighbor's child. I don't know if you've taken, could be somebody sitting right here that has a child. I don't know if you've checked out the price on diapers, but diapers are very, very expensive. And like so many things in our community, we talk about the inability for people to purchase a home. We talk about the inability to put gas in your tank, if you've looked lately. I just paid for something the other day for a gallon of gas. That becomes a little bit cost prohibitive, right? I make decisions based on maybe I'm not going to drive as much this week because I don't want to spend that amount of money on gas. But of course, if you have a child or family member that's using diapers, adult diapers included, you cannot go with by saying I'm not going to use diapers. this week or this month or this year. So this organization has done a really remarkable job, not only raising awareness, but also collecting diapers for those in need. So can you tell us a little bit about Miami Diaper Bank?

Thank you very much, Mayor. Thank you very much to all of you. And for this recognition in the Miami Diaper Needs Awareness Week. Miami Diaper Bank is a nonprofit organization. We help families to get diapers, families in need in Miami-Dade County, to get free diapers for their babies. You might not know, but diapers are not... are not part of any program, federal program, so they're not recognized as a need. So you'll have programs that give the babies daycare, but in order to a family to bring your baby to the daycare, they have to provide eight diapers per day. So if you don't have that, then how come you're gonna go to work? Or how come you're gonna go to school, right? So that is very important. We try to provide 50 diapers per kid to every single child here in Miami-Dade County. Right now, we've been distributing more than a million of diapers today. Yeah, so. Thank you very much. With this recognition, you're helping us to make awareness of this need. Thank you.

I want you to know I'm a full-service dad. I change diapers. I'm a full-service grandpa. I change diapers still. And when the village had a charity that we decided to close down, there was some money left over in that, and each of the five of us got to choose a charity to which a share of that money went. And my choice was the Diaper Bank. I know how important it is. It's very tough to reason with a six-month-old and say, you need to cut back on that. So what you do is very, very important in this community. You're making the lives of children and families much better. So thank you.

So as is our custom, we will present you with a proclamation for Miami Diaper Bank, and a challenge coin. Big round of applause for this not-for-profit.

All right.