City Commission - Regular Meeting

Everyone, thank you very much, and welcome to the 03/04/2026 Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting. It's a pleasure to see you all. Let me begin with two important comments. Our nation is, as you know, in a military conflict in The Middle East.

For the

duration of that that event, which we hope will be resolved and with as few casualties as possible to keep your minds on the troops, keep your minds on the civilians, and to keep your minds on the need for there to be peace in this world and freedom for all the people. It's it's a thing that we that we enjoy and sometimes take for granted. But there are places in the world where you're not free and where there is a great deal of belligerence. And that's a bad way to live. And, hopefully, that can be resolved very, very quickly.

And as we do the pledge and the national anthem as we do it at each and every city commission meeting, I'd like to I'd like to ask you to keep those thoughts in mind. Additionally, sad news, at the passing of former county commissioner Sue Gunsberger, who represented the city of Pembroke Pines throughout the majority of, if not all, of her duration as the longest serving county commission county commissioner in Broward County history. I had the sad duty to represent the city at her funeral yesterday with her family and a very lady who used her toughness of kindness. She was devoted to making sure that everyone had a chance, but that everyone brought their best to the table. She was devoted to making sure that everyone obeyed the law, but also that they be respected irrespective of their characteristics of birth or chance.

She was an amazing woman with attributes that ran on either end of the scale, but always pointed toward kindness and fairness toward other people. Because of term limits, she'll always be the longest serving county commissioner in Broward County history. And we're very, very thankful. I think it was twenty two years that she served on the Broward County Commission. And she did a lot of good things for the city of Pembroke Pines.

And so before we begin, let's have a moment of silence for her. Thank you very, very much. Can we call the roll, please?

Commissioner Good.

I'm here.

Vice mayor Hernandez. Present. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Here.

Commissioner Schwartz? Here. Mayor Castillo? Here. City manager Dodge? Here. City attorney Gordon? I'm here. We have a quorum.

Thank you very much. Today, leading us in the pledge of allegiance and also singing for us our national anthem is Azaria Lee, who is 13 years old. She lives in Cooper City. We don't hold that against her. It's a great place to live. She attends Florida Virtue School. She's a seventh grader, she's simply outstanding in every way. I got

to meet her and her mom just before. And, Azariah, when you are ready, please lead us

in the pledge. Please stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

What so proud they we hail at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight. And the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets are red glare, the bumps bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, who saved us that star spango? Banner yet of the brave.

Wow,

Azaria Lee. Thank you so very much. That was lovely. Items at the request of the public.

No items, mayor.

Commission ordered a report.

None, mayor.

Appeals the Board of Adjustment decisions?

None, mayor.

GREGORY Okay. And there are no appointments to boards or committees?

None, mayor.

GREGORY Okay. We'll go to presentations. And I'm going to come around. So here we have some cheerleaders in the house. Wow.

This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, West Broward High School competitive cheerleading team. Whereas on 01/22/2026, the West Broward High School competitive cheerleading team won its seventh FHSAA class 3A state competitive cheerleading championship with 90.2 points at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland, Florida. Wow. And whereas on 02/08/2026, West Broward High School competitive cheerleading team won its second national championship in the d one large non tumbling competition with 88.6 points at ESPN wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.

Whereas this is the fourth state championship and second national win for coach Daniella Culberson who has coached this team for ten years. With this win, West Broward High School competitive cheerleading team are seven

times state champions and two times natural champions. Whereas, yes, clap for that. That's great.

Whereas the West Broward High School Competitive Competition Team is as

follows. Adelia Cabrera, Alexa and you guys can start coming up. Alexa Mulan, Andrea Rebao sorry about that. Andrea Lopez, Antonella, Chiarella, Ariana Aguirre, Bristol Booth, Meadow Scott, Emily Cheran, Faith Delgado, Hailey Sarmiento, Isabella Gonzales, Kennedy Moore, Olivia DeWoskin, Marin Berthelot. You guys can correct me afterwards too.

Marley Charcone, Emma Fernandez, Mia Cleary, Mia Dawaski, Nia Cabrera, wonder if you

guys got those mixed up every once in a

while, Nyla Harper, Olivia Terron, Peyton Chapman, Shiva Shavit, Camilla Fuentes, Melanie Zimmerman. Whereas the West Broward High School cheerleading coaches are as follows, Danielle Copperstone, Corey Jackson, Amber San Angelo. Congratulations.

Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida along with the city commissioners, do hereby commend and congratulate the West Broward High School competitive cheerleading team for their dedication and perseverance in achieving another championship season. Congratulations. We're so proud of you. Commissioners, do you wanna join me for a photo? Wanna join us for a photo?

Where's the coach? I know we got I know we got parents who wanna take these photos, so we're gonna stand here minute. Wait a minute. Minute. A a Alright, but you gotta get going.

Wow. I could do that. Wow. Yeah.

Yeah.

We could do that. Wow.

Wow. That's pretty impressive.

Yeah. Damn. That's pretty high.

I was gonna say I remember when I could do that, but I could never do that. Thank you so very, very much, and congratulations. Them back and have women's history? This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida declaring women's history month, whereas American women of every race, class, and ethnic background have made immeasurable contributions to growth, strength, and prosperity of our nation and of our community serving as leaders, innovators, educators, entrepreneurs, public servants, caregivers, and in countless recorded and unrecorded ways. And whereas throughout our nation's history, American women have played vital economic, cultural, civic, and social roles shaping char charitable philanthropic educational and cultural institutions, advancing scientific and technological progress, and threaten and strengthening our democracy through leadership and volunteerism.

And whereas American women have courageously served our country in the armed forces, stood on the forefront of movements for suffrage, civil rights, labor rights, equality, and peace, and continue in 2026 to break barriers and expand opportunities for future generations. And whereas despite these extraordinary achievements, the contributions of women have too often been overlooked and undervalued in historical accounts, underscoring the importance of recognizing, celebrating, and uplifting women's stories and accomplishments.

Now, therefore, I am Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, on behalf of the city commission, do hereby proclaim March 2026 is women's history month in the city of Pembroke Pines and encourage all residents to celebrate the vital role of women in shaping our community, our state, and our nation. I

was gonna stand, no. I just wanted to thank you and the rest of the commission for honoring this. I wanna thank Christina. She just sent me a link to peeppines.com/women'shistory. And we have some amazing Pepper Pines women breaking barriers in history on that link if you guys are interested in learning a little bit more. I am on there. But there's also a lot of amazing women in the city that help the city run day in and day out. So I wanna thank them for doing that. And make sure to check online, and you get to learn a little bit more about the city and the women breaking the glass ceilings across the city as well.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you very much. Okay, National Procurement Month and Procurement Professionals Day. You all here? These are the good folks that buy the things the city needs.

And they work very, very hard. And they're terrific at what they do. And they're led by assistant city manager Mark Gomes. And I just want to thank you all for everything that you do. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines declaring National Procurement Month and Procurement Professionals Day, whereas public procurement plays a critical role in ensuring the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of government operations by securing essential goods and services and promoting transparency, fairness, and accountability in the competitive bidding process, and whereas procurement professionals add value by developing strategic procurement initiatives fostering supplier relationships, ensuring cost effective practices, and upholding the highest ethical standards while influencing economic conditions through purchasing power totaling billions of dollars annually.

And whereas the city of Pembroke Pines procurement department is committed to supporting all departments, including the city's charter schools by adhering to the public procurement values and guiding principles of accountability, ethics, impartiality, professionalism, service, and transparency as established by the NIGP, the Nash the Institute for Public Procurement. And whereas March is recognized as national procurement month with 03/11/2026 designated as procurement professionals day by the National Procurement Institute to honor the contributions of the procurement professionals and raise awareness of their essential role in local and national governance. Now, therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, by the authority vested in me in May as mayor of the greatest city in the world, Pembroke Pines, Florida, and on behalf of the city commission, do hereby proclaim 03/11/2026 as procurement professionals day and national procurement month in March of the same year in the city of Pembroke Pines and encourage all residents, businesses, community organizations to join in recognizing the importance of procurement and expressing appreciation for the efforts of procurement professionals in our city. Congratulations.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, vice mayor. Thank you, commission and city manager. I appreciate you guys taking the time out of your day and this commission meeting to recognize our procurement department. And I'd like to thank our procurement department for all the hard work you do day in and day out to help procure all the things that the city needs, whether it's the body armor for the police department or the fire trucks for the fire department or the roads we drive on. We really appreciate everything you guys do. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Stam, we have the Natalie Belmonte Award for District 2. Well, have two here.

One, yes.

We're going to mayor. As you know, the District 1 winner was not able to come last month. But I'm going show their home up here so And they get then our District 2 winner, the Morris family

you want come on down, Morris family?

So

mayor, our District 1 winner was the James and Annette Fett family. This is what their home looks like. This is our District 1 winner from last month. They've already received their certificate and their gift card. Again, but we want to make sure they were recognized here at commission. They could not be with us tonight. But But now we're here to celebrate our District 2 winner, Roger and Lynn Morris. And this is their home. And again, just amazing. This program has been really exciting. And our residents are embracing it. We're getting more nominations every day. And if all of our homes started looking like

this, we'd

be in really great shape, man. So I just want to congratulate the Morris family. And again, we'll be back next month with our District three winner.

Thank you so very much. So what's your secret? I'm retired, so I got to stay off the couch. I got yard work. I like the yard work. And what do you do to help with this?

I design it all. And I just tell him, and we put it. We grew it. I just want you to know that we have put everything in that yard ourselves and grown it, most of it. We only have one tree left that was ever in the house when we moved in. And it's all done by us, especially Roger does all the work. And you'll never find a leaf in our our yard from all the trees. He's out there every day picking up all the leaves. You

guys do an amazing job, and the proof is in the pudding. Commissioner?

Roger and Lynn, on behalf of the city of Pembroke Pines, thank you for making us the best looking city in the world. So I have two things. The first thing is for Roger. It's for both of you. But more important. Roger, I want you to hold the certificate. And Lynn, I want you to hold the $50 gift card. Congratulations. And

our code people,

they picked you. They picked you out. They just tag the bad houses. They picked out the good ones, too, and code selected you.

Okay. We'll be taking number six out of order. Mister Dodge, number six, regular agenda.

Mayor and commission, we had begun this conversation at the last meeting, and it's regarding town hall meetings requested by elected officials. I had submitted to you a memorandum explaining what the issue was for a town hall meeting. And the city attorney, with our assistance, has drafted what we consider to be a policy for the future to make sure there's no misunderstanding as to how town hall meetings are to be called, how they're to be conducted, and in the future. So before we

get into the discussion, I spoke to the city attorney, and it's the administration's desire that we discuss the draft, as it were, and the memo. And then, if we wish, direct the creation of a resolution, which we would then adopt at another meeting. Mr. City Attorney, you put together these suggestions together with Mr. Dodge?

Yes, mayor. For the purpose of the record, the items that you see before you, the item is marked draft. It is simply a proposal from the city attorney's office. There are 11 points of reference that kind of put together some of the thoughts that were given by some members of the commission independently of this discussion publicly, and also for the purposes of discussion looking at other available data and information and prior history and custom and practice in the city, trying to find a way to kind of circumvent not circumvent, but to circulate around the issues of how things have been done in the past, whether there be a town hall meeting called by the mayor or other town hall meetings besides. These items are suggestive.

It's policy driven. And to the extent that the mayor and commission would direct that we prepare a resolution to include them in a resolution for consideration by the commission. We're prepared to do so at your direction. But think that this proposal simply gets you from A to Z by at least describing a methodology for calling town hall meetings, conducting town hall meetings, protecting the public's of access, protecting the public record, and also protecting the precise basis of why town hall meetings are critically important to the city of Pembroke Pines. That's the short version, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much. Commissioners, it's your pleasure.

I have a couple of questions and comments.

Okay. Commissioner Rodriguez. I

wasn't part of that last conversation, but I did go back and watch it. And I do agree with some of the sentiments that Commissioner Good brought up in the sense and I think that's reflected in point number one, where to me it makes sense that a citywide meeting would be called on by the mayor. A district wide would be called on by a district commissioner. However, I want to understand from my colleagues' perspective, what would be the thought of us asking for, through the dais, with consensus of everybody else, if I say, hey, I want to have a town hall meeting regarding a citywide town hall meeting regarding communications or transportations or any topic that I may be looking to bring policy forward on. And the kind of part that I question is the moderator part.

Because let's say, simply because I'm in communications, that's the work that I do, and that's the background that I have, if let's say I call it with the consensus of everybody else, my goal in doing a town hall of that sort is for all of us to maybe get together in a workshop regarding communication before that and say, hey, these are kind of the options we want to bring forth to the city as a whole, talk about it. But because I have, maybe even Commissioner Hernandez might have, a different background because it's what we work on within our careers to bring forth. Like, could we then be considered the moderators of that space? And obviously, everybody be allowed to talk, but us be able to present those ideas at the forefront and then have staff and everybody present the ideas that we talk about, whether it's different types of communication channels. Do we want alerts to residents for general city things going on, not just on social media, but through text messages or something like that.

Like how do people want to be communicated, which is an aspect that I've wanted to talk about, not just within ourselves, but with the larger community. So how would we go about doing that, me requesting something that is of particular interest to me, but not necessarily only applicable within my district? So

city attorney, Mr. Dodge, correct me if I misstate this. But my reading of this was if the commission wants to have a citywide meeting, it would be held citywide. Or the mayor can call a citywide meeting, or the commission can ask the mayor to call a citywide meeting, which will never be denied if the majority of you believe that we should have it. Moderator is simply somebody who welcomes.

It's not the only speaker. So if someone else needs to be recognized because they have an area of expertise or if the commission wants to have that particular individual speak on something for a particular reason, that's not foreclosed by the rules. This was really more about how these meetings are called, making sure that it's understood that every one of these meetings that's called is a public meeting, But there's a cost associated to these events. It's a cost well worth spending because the purpose of a town hall meeting is to educate on a specific issue, which should be done by staff. But also then to hear from the public what it is that they have to say.

No one will be kept from speaking, including commissioners and certainly the mayor, if he has something to say. Everyone will be heard. There'll be an opportunity to do that. But the main issue was if a district commissioner calls a meeting, we want to keep politics out of it. So we don't want, let's say, a commissioner from District A to call a meeting about and in District C because that becomes unnecessary.

That falls to District C to call someone if there's a particular issue in District C. So if you want to have a citywide town hall meeting, we can do that too. But I think the issue here was that the manager started to feel like maybe this was drifting in the direction of politics. I want to commend him. Point of order. Yeah.

Mayor, I believe the manager can speak for himself. The interpretation of what the manager's thoughts were are clearly, and I have a, with your indulgence at the appropriate time, I can make this crystal clear. This was not a citywide town hall, nor was it political.

Okay. All right.

All right.

So if At the appropriate moment, I'll

At the appropriate moment, I'm going to need about ten minutes, just for planning purposes. Ten minutes to read into the record all email communications that I had with the city manager.

I guess point of order, the flyer that was sent out said citywide town hall?

He actually didn't, Commissioner Rodriguez. If I may I'm not finished. Okay.

Okay. So Commissioner Rodriguez has the floor. So I what think looking at is that there was an appearance issue that the manager felt had to be brought to our attention. And that's what he did. And I commend you, Mr. City Manager, because that couldn't have been an easy choice to make. And I'm thankful that you brought it forward. So I don't know if that answers your question, commissioner. But I think that everything that you've just mentioned is within the rules.

And I have one more on number three. And now reading again, it says the advertisement for these official meetings shall only be created by city staff. For example, is that just the citywide ones or for the district ones as well?

The thought here, commissioner, was that we have professional staff that have historically done a great job at town halls by presenting information.

No, for the advertisement.

The advertisement. The advertisement would be done by them. But certainly nothing precludes you from your First Amendment rights. So if you want to put something on your social media pages, your personal social media pages, that kind of thing,

And what you're would be the process? Like, who do we reach out to, the communications team

The to communications create people through the city manager. We should all reach out to the city manager. And the city manager will delegate and make sure that all of that

goes Could we include in that advertisements by the city staff or approved by city staff? I remember I had a meeting in Durango and the trails. And I created the flyer. I think Christina was able to look at it. And then they printed it onto one of those things. So can we include

I think at the point, Commissioner, that we individually create a piece of work, whether it's informational of any kind, and we give it to staff and staff accept it, it's staffs. It's the city's. It then belongs to the city. It should have a city seal on it. It should very clearly indicate that this is a City Of Pembroke Pines event, that it's not a political event of any kind, that this is for the purposes of distributing information to the public and for gathering comments from the public which are important to our decision making process.

These are public meetings. So I think that that's the key to that. Is there anything else?

No, that's it on my comments.

Okay. Commissioner, you said you had ten minutes that you needed? No. Can you yield so that I doubt that the other commissioners will need that much time.

I won't need ten. In the event that there's conversation, I'd like to be able to at least have the opportunity to have that time. Thank you. Vice mayor?

That I appreciate all I have to say is I appreciate city manager Dodge contacting me and explaining his position. Obviously, he's also done that formally here in the memo. After we're done with this item, though, mayor, there is something completely unrelated. And I believe my constituents over there, which I need to bring her up later, she was not planning on speaking on this item at all, just at the appropriate time. It's an unrelated item she, know me about earlier today. So after this, if you could

There's a public comment?

There's a public comment not related to town hall. It's a completely separate matter.

Are you going to introduce it? Or does she fill out a yellow form?

She just walked in, so she doesn't know that. So I'm telling her that now.

Okay. There's a yellow form in the back, ma'am. If you could just fill it out and give that to the clerk. We have to record everyone that publicly comments. So there's a yellow form if you could.

Other than that, mayor, no, I commend Manager Dodge and his team for what they're trying to do. And I do believe Commissioner Rodriguez had very good points in her questions. But now that they're clarified, I don't have any issues.

Okay. Commissioner Good.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I understand the need for a policy. It's just one of those things that sort of has unspoken guidelines.

And so now we're getting guidelines. And the one thing, too, of course, for me is recognizing a policy can always be readdressed and changed to better accommodate some of the things that we might not be thinking about tonight. I can say that any of my town hall meetings that I've had at this point, my interest is that that process for me does not change. I do rely on staff to participate in my town hall meetings. I do rely on staff to assist me with an agenda.

I do rely on staff to assist me with any type of notification process that goes to the community in order to let them know that we're having this. And I really don't want to see any of that change because it's important to me when I do a town hall meeting that I am able to present concerns the way that I see them, the way that I receive information from the public, and in a format where it's understood and accepted as being a recognized issue and set up for input. So I don't wish to see any of that change, Mr. Manager. We've done that several times.

And I hope that none of this changes that process. And certainly if it does, it will be brought DELL: back again as a recommendation for DELL: an update to the

purpose of this is to eliminate concerns that are legitimate and that have been brought up by the matter.

And I stated that earlier. It's just to recognize we need to just kind of put some guardrails onto the process.

That's it.

I understand that. Thank you.

Thank you.

Can I go back, just because there was clarity? The post that said that there was a town hall meeting, the caption does include citywide town hall on it, which may be up from you or from staff. But that was definitely, and I'm not saying it's your staff. Me finish.

It was staff that did that. I

did not

direct them. Let me finish.

Let's one at a time, please.

So whether it's staff or someone putting that in or that was in the flyer, that's what it came across to the public as being. So that's the point that I was trying to make.

I believe that was the administration's belief as well. Commissioner Schwartz, you're recognized.

Thank you, mayor, and for your indulgence, colleagues. I just want to take you through a brief timeline of events. On the February 2, I emailed the manager, copied Udanis, copied the city attorney. Mr. Dodge, please reserve for me commission chambers for February 25 at 06:30PM.

I will be hosting a District 2 Town Hall. On the third at 10:17 in the morning, I received an email from Christina Golding at the direction of the city manager who had asked her to reach out to me the day before, the manager on February 2 at 07:26, to Christina, please check availability and advise. And I'll wait for my colleague. I understand, sir. But this I need you on the dance. I'll wait.

Thank you. Lisa, you will speak as soon as we're done with this item.

I'll be be as brief as possible so we can have that happen. Anticipating Commissioner Good's return, I'll continue, mayor. Ms. Golding reached out to me at the direction of the city manager. Good morning, Commissioner Schwartz.

The Commission Chambers is available February 25 at 06:30PM. Please let me know your preferred room setup and any audiovisual needs so I can coordinate the space accordingly. Roughly 03:00 on Monday the second, Udanis made a calendar placement for the District 2 Town Hall. At the commission meeting on the fourth, at the end of the meeting, I announced I was having a town hall and that the information would be forthcoming because I was still gathering some information from FPL and from TECO. And I didn't want to overcommit.

So on the twelfth at 10:30 in the morning, had sent out an invitation. I'm copying the manager, all of us, some members of the administration. Good morning, mayor, vice mayors, commissioners. On behalf of Commissioner Jay Schwartz, I'd like to extend an invitation for you to attend an upcoming town hall scheduled for the twenty fifth, 06:30 in Chambers. Thank you for your time and consideration.

From there, Udana has created a calendar invite for all of us. On February 6, I received an email from the manager asking if I need anything from staff. And my response was, at the moment, I have everything, but I will advise. Because based upon the forty eight hour window from what I knew, the flyer hadn't even been created yet. On the twelfth, I had requested that the flyer be distributed.

And it was a public invitation for the District 2 Town Hall. Following that, on February 5 I know I'm bouncing around from a timeline standpoint, but if you recall at the last meeting, I mentioned I had had a conversation with assistant city manager Marty Gajewski. And turns out, I memorialized that conversation the very next day after that commission meeting on the fifth, which I copied directly to Mr. Dodge, Mr. Gajewski, Mr.

Hernandez, Karen, Michelle, Udanis, myself, and FPL. Good morning. Please be advised FPL contractor has begun digging up front yards to install underground electric in Sunswept this morning. I spoke with Marty before last night's meeting to advise that I have requested FPL provide the city with an education video of the work and what to expect as a resident. This morning, I spoke with FPL again about the lack of communication to the city about this work in progress.

Residents can be assured that sod replacement or sprinkler damage will be restored by the contractor per my discussions with FPL this morning. I'm awaiting info from FPL on how a resident informs FPL about damages. Please advise the public with a social media post to include my communication with you until we get more information from FPL. At that point, we can share their information, meaning FPL's information. I imagine folks will come home from work with a surprise in their driveways.

Let's please get ahead of this issue and put something out this morning. This was on February 5. This was one week before my flyer included utilities on it. Specifically, when the manager had asked me on February 6 what I needed, I said, good morning. Possibly.

I've gathered most of it. I will advise as needed. And this was six days before the flyer was sent out. Now the clerk this is interesting. On the twelfth, the clerk's office put out all of the postings that included our agenda, Senator Scott's information, and the town hall.

In that, notice of Commissioner J. Schwartz town hall meeting. Pursuant to Florida statute 286.011, notice is hereby given that a town hall meeting hosted by Commissioner J. D. Schwartz will be held at which one or more city commissioners may be present.

It doesn't say citywide. It says Commissioner JD Schwartz Town Hall. That's a District two Town Hall, and it included the flyer. Going forward, on the seventeenth, five days after oh, in the email, by the way, mayor. When I sent the flyer to staff, I included, if you have any questions, please let me know.

I was open to any and all suggestions. So I received a phone call from city manager Daj on the seventeenth. What I wasn't going do two weeks ago was have a back and forth on the phone. It wasn't proper considering the conversation that we did have. Now what I can't show anybody, because it was a phone call other than me signing a sworn affidavit under perjury if I'm lying about it is the actual conversation I had with the manager.

So the manager called me up. I thought he was going to ask me about if I had any questions about the agenda the next day, because City Manager Dodge and I usually speak on Tuesdays. It's been a thing for years. We all had our way of reaching out to the manager so we don't inundate them with things. I usually have that conversation, if I have any questions, with the manager on Tuesdays.

The manager said that two of my colleagues have an issue with the town hall being close to the election and if I would move it. That was the direct question I was asked. My response was, I can't do that. I have issues. Obviously, the manager is aware of the yards being torn up two weeks prior to that.

He says, do you have any availability at the March? I said, no. He says, well, I don't want to blindside you, but one of your colleagues may bring it up at the meeting tomorrow night. That was the extent of the conversation. And I will put that in a sworn affidavit.

Not What we heard over the phone was not the conversation I had with the manager. Now, as a direct result of the conversation we had two weeks ago, after the meeting, I had a lengthy conversation with assistant city manager Jonathan Bonilla, in which I broke down every single category in the flyer and how it was going to be presented. The next day, I receive a phone call from Mr. Bonilla informing me that the manager will not allow me to have use of any city facility and no staff support. So this is what we know.

We know that it was the oh, and asked, well, what am I going to do now? What's my decision? Frankly, I told him, I said, I don't know what I'm going to do. I have information that I need to get out to the residents. I need information back from them so I can do my job.

That evening, the flyer that was sent out by staff was on the electronic board for our Taste the Pines event. The entire night, it was on the digital boards. As a matter of fact, they were there until the following week. As a matter of fact, the social media posts that staff put out, I have no control over the social media. They write whatever script it is.

They put that out. And it remained on the feed until Monday, two days before the town hall. On Sunday, I reached out to our vendor who handles all the operations here. And he was aware that chambers were canceled. I had a conversation about having a town hall outside of the building under the presumption that this is a public place.

The whole First Amendment, peacefully assemble, write the petition to your government, and have a conversation with constituents in which I was elected to serve them. Turns out you need to have a lease agreement because we gave up our management rights to the entire complex out front here. So I asked a vendor to not treat me any different than anyone else. I was aware that Rabbi Mordecai had a menorah lighting for $50 so that there was use of a public restroom December. I have never inquired about any services from our vendor prior to a week ago Sunday.

So I was provided a proposal for $1,400 So for clarification purposes, I asked the vendor how much time does that what space does it include? How much time does it include? And I asked for a public fee schedule because the last thing that I'm ever going to be accused of is doing something that the public wouldn't have themselves. I don't want to be treated any different. So now I have a potential invoice of $14.14 14, something like that, over $1,400 And we are now inside of forty eight hours because the city's social media had been running for nearly a week.

And seeing my own outreach, there were well over, I mean, there were thousands of people notified within my district of the town hall. What I wanted to avoid was what actually happened on Wednesday evening is people came, they pulled on the handle, and the door was locked. I did everything I possibly could because I was told by administration I have no support. I cannot have any assets, period.

So I said, Okay,

how are we going to make this work? So I went on my own social media. I made an announcement that the town hall unfortunately is not going to happen inside chambers. The reasons why, we'll deal with it later. This will be tonight.

And so there was some outreach from residents. A couple definitions viewpoint discrimination. Viewpoint discrimination is when a space is generally available for officials for public use, but a manager denies access because of the official's political views, message, or disagreement with staff policies. Content based restrictions this is where access is denied based on the subject matter rather than neutral rules like scheduling and capacity. It could also maybe consider a content based restriction on speech.

Prior restraint occurs if a manager prevents speech before it occurs. And it could potentially be a form of prior restraint, though the term is more commonly used as press related context. Then we have abuse of administrative authority, which could be considered administration overreach, obstruction of official duties. And I'm wrapping up, Mayor. The limited public forum analysis would be that most city buildings will be considered a limited public forum.

The city can impose neutral rules. However, we know that there isn't any written policy prior to tonight's discussion. We also know clearly that there's been cases in which I've disagreed with the administration. All of these things in the appearance of thirteen days before an election and all that nonsense, because that had nothing to do with people's yards being torn up, the folks who we represent were unable to exercise their First Amendment rights of free speech and to petition their government and to seek communications with their direct elected official. Now we have a memo that doesn't state fact that is a clear overreach.

And I have concerns about why it is being put in a public forum like this because February 2, February 3, February 4, February 5, February 6, February 12. At no point did the manager ever ask me for clarification. Perhaps it's because one of my constituents met the manager three weeks before this meeting was scheduled at a local business and asked the manager, Mr. Manager, what is happening in the front yards? And the manager asked my constituent, have you spoken to your district commissioner about it?

Mr. Dodge, I have done the most transparent process there is. Everything was included. And for whatever perspective or whatever the legal term may be on how you see this, sir, the phone call that you made to me on the seventeenth could not be clearer that you made it political. At no point did the constituent who reached out to you while you were at a local business eating asking you about yards being torn up, the email that I memorialized on the fifth indicating that I've been working with FPL so we don't have another Walter C.

Young crisis of government doing things and putting it all in our lap. I tried to do everything I could to bring in information. And I must tell you, FPL did an amazing job. They wanted to talk for an hour. I told them they had five minutes. They pared that thing down so that it was small enough for us to email people. And you know what I learned from that project? I didn't know until the presentation came out that it went beyond District 2. It's actually out West. It started out West before it came East.

And at no point were we even notified of that. That is a failure to communicate what's happening within our city. So when I look at the draft, what I see immediately jumping at me is the following. A year ago, we had a education Commissioner,

if I could. You asked for ten minutes. I was fine. I wrap We got a full meeting.

You can't have a filibuster. It's my last It's not filibuster. Can't filibuster truth.

Absolutely. Go right ahead.

So when I see that staff is only allowed to present for us, I can't help but recall asking the manager a year ago, this time a year ago, will you please put the prices of projects in the slides so people can decide whether or not they want to vote for a bond? I was told We're getting off topic now. We're not getting off topic. I had an item in January a year ago asking us, the five of us, to approve social media posts and information and flyers about the bond. I did not receive a second.

When I see a draft that basically says, trust me, it raises concerns when an elected official can't perform a job because the doors were locked. And with that, I yield back. Okay.

Thank you very much for your explanation. I'm going to say this as directly but as kindly as I can. I don't believe a word you said. I believe that the city manager felt uncomfortable about it. I think that it had an appearance of politics.

Your flyer mentioned utilities, which everyone knows is water and trash service and sewage. You are now trying to manufacture that into this FP and L issue, this gas installation issue, which wasn't on your extensive list of things to be discussed at this town hall meeting, which had every appearance of being citywide just before an election. You have caused this commission to put forward a charter revision to keep commissioners from interfering in elections. And the people in this city adopted that charter change. And you have also generated a, I think, sizably very effective way of manufacturing fault on someone else for the actions that you take, not just in your official capacity, but in your private life which spill over here.

I don't believe a word you just said. I believe what the city manager did was appropriate. He felt uncomfortable. He reached out to you to discuss it in his quintessentially gentlemanly way, and you said no. And then when we were about to discuss it, because commissioner, Rodriguez had a a family emergency and the vice mayor had the flu and was on the phone, you got up and left, keeping us from having a quorum.

And by the way, I think that's a censurable offense. And then what were we left with but the city manager's concern? And he made a decision that until we could give him some guidance that there would be no further town hall meetings. And Mr. Manager, I know that that was a very difficult decision for you to make. And I'm extraordinarily proud that you made it because you protected the best interests of the city. You had a concern. So I listened very carefully to everything that you said. You asked for ten minutes. You went on for about twenty.

I listened to everything that you said. And I don't believe a word that you said. I think that you have woven this once again into it's you, Danis, or it's the manager, or it's someone else, when in fact, it was you. And that's the way I see it. Vice mayor?

Again, I support Manager Dodge. I thank him. He never doesn't answer my call. Same thing with Christina Golding, Mike Sam. I think our police chief, Sorry, I didn't see you earlier. Our fire chief, whenever I need something, a clarification or anything else, I call them or email them and they respond. I think you handled it as best you could. Mr. Manager, I commend you. I know it's not easy serving in this role. And to our legal team as well, thank you for your to the clerk. I'm sorry, man. I forgot to mention you. To our clerk as well, I understand the pressures that you all have running a city as large as ours. So I appreciate your service. Thank you.

Commissioner Good.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And Commissioner Schwartz, thank you for your explanation. I do want to say that I was here at the full scale of the conversation at our last meeting.

And I do want to say that this may have been nipped in the bud at the last meeting had it been clear that you were talking about a district town hall. But the conversation was all about a citywide town hall not at any time. Because I was listening for those words that, no, this is not a citywide. This was district only. And that never came up.

And the entire conversation was all about citywide. So now tonight, we're hearing that it is a misunderstanding. So, Okay, it's a misunderstanding. And I think what we find is a reason to make better understanding out of uncertain conversation. So Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion to accept Exhibit two as a baseline policy for us moving forward regarding town hall and district hall meetings.

I'll second.

Second. Second by the vice mayor. And second, seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Is there any further discussion on this item? Okay. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? It passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Now we have a member of the public that wishes to Mr.

Mayor, just really quickly, if I get it the record, we will

bring back a resolution as your suggestion and that of the colleagues on the dais, which will embrace the items that have been approved by motion. We'll take it back for consideration.

Thank you very much. Our next meeting, Yes, that fine. Thank you so very much. Lisa, Wolfe, you are recognized. I'm sorry to make you wait.

There's a button there that says speak. You are on.

There you go. Do I need to state my address?

Yes, you do.

Okay. Lisa Wolf. My address is 530 Northwest 205th Avenue, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33029. I live in the Chapel Point neighborhood.

Welcome.

Thank you. I'm here today because I wrote it down because I don't like public speaking. I came here today to share my concerns regarding the traffic in my community because of the Somerset Academy, specifically at 208th And Johnson And Rose Price Park. Unfortunately, it's not just about traffic. It's about safety. This morning, when I was out for a jog, getting my exercise, while taking my typical route, which is a direct path from my community, Chapel Point, then crossing to the parking lot to reach the pedestrian entryway to the walking path, I was struck by a vehicle.

You Okay?

Yes. It's luckily just my hand.

Thank God.

Yeah. Thank you. The car was blocking the entryway to the walking path to drop off their child, which a lot of people do. They use Rose Price Park to go in and out quickly, to not have to stay in the lines for Somerset Academy. So constantly, I'm on the lookout. I'm paying attention. I crossed in front on purpose to go directly to the walking path. I've had to ask people before, please don't block the walking path. But she started to go right as I almost got across from her. I literally was at the very end of her car.

So luckily, she just hit my arm, and I hit my hand on her hood. Sorry. I'm just a little nervous. So I'm very grateful and lucky that it wasn't worse. But what I'm here for today is that I've seen other unsafe incidences constantly. They don't stop at the crosswalks when I'm crossing between my community or crossing back across. Many people are parking on the swales. I saw someone just yesterday completely stop in the middle of the street and put on their hazards to pick up a kid from a bus. I don't know if it was Somerset Academy bus or a different bus, but it was a bus dropping off on February. I'm simply asking of you to please enforce some additional safety to stop, drop off, and pick up at Rose Price Park as an immediate step, including areas surrounding the school.

Then I would appreciate some coordination with the school to remind the parents of being respectful and not create an unsafe environment in our local community. My daughter rides her bike to school every day. And luckily, Mr. Hernandez, I brought that up last year, there's more crossing guards now. But that's a concern I have every day when she leaves the house, that she's unsafe crossing with her bike.

For the hopeful future fixing the traffic issue for the flow to be more manageable for the school and the community, in theory, the need for unsafe drop off and pickup behavior if the traffic were to be better in the area. The current traffic and drop off situation at Johnson 208th, including Rose Price, has has become a significant safety hazard for my Chapel Point neighborhood. I appreciate your consideration to look into more permanent traffic enforcement and flow. I'm very lucky to have sustained very minor injuries today, but it can easily have been much worse. And as I reminded the person who hit me, it could have been their child. So thank you.

I want to thank you for coming forward. I'm extraordinarily sorry that the incident occurred. And I know that there are chief I think Assistant Chief Barnes is over the SROs and over that area. And he will want to speak to you. He's sitting in the back. And if you have some time I know your daughter has school tomorrow. But if you have some time, please chat directly with the assistant chief. We take these things very seriously. And vice mayor, I want to thank you for bringing Mrs. Wolf forward and telling her to come here to speak to us.

We like hearing from well, we don't like this story, but we like hearing from residents. We want you to come in and feel like we're listening to you, and we are listening to you. So Vice Mayor, did you have anything else?

I wanted to thank you for emailing me today. I did mention in my response back, so I contacted obviously our and Chief Barnes, could you go like this? So he's the one that the mayor is referring to. But the information was shared with both Pembroke Pines police, but also with Somerset, with their COO. So I reached out to him because I said, this isn't the first time I need your help.

And they are a great partner of the So city of Pembroke I probably should get back to you tomorrow when the Somerset folks also speak. But to the mayor's point, do recommend that you meet with Assistant Chief Barnes. My daughter goes where your daughter goes. Although I don't go that far west to the Somerset campus, I how backed up it can be. And it can create unfortunate incidents like this. So thank you for coming forward, though.

Thank you. I appreciate

it. Please feel better. And thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay. Today's consent agenda consists of items one through five. What is your pleasure?

I'd like to pull two d.

Two b. D. D as in dog? D as in David?

Yes.

Anyone else? Any from the public? Can I have a motion, please? So moved. Is there a second?

Second.

There's a motion and a second. Any discussion from the day? Seeing none, any from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. The consent agenda is passed unanimously except for item two d. Commissioner Rodriguez, you are recognized.

Item I have to read it, right?

Yes, Commissioner, please.

Item D will expire with known renewal terms available. Therefore, no commission action is required as it is represented for notification purposes only pursuant section 35.29 f of the city's procurement code d, Power Washing and More LLC, DBA Green Earth Citywide Pressure Washing Non Renewal.

Commissioner Rodriguez, you're recognized.

I'm bringing this up because the vendor reached out to me with interest in doing a renewal of this without going out to bid. I, with simply my viewpoint, mentioned that I've been trying to push the city to go out to more bids and therefore couldn't agree to have a conversation necessarily on that. But he explained that the reason for the interest in going out to renewal is how well he has been performing in the services of the city of the power washing where needed and directed by city staff. From his telling, city staff has been, and those who overlook his services, have been really pleasantly pleased by his services, as well as he's completed those services in an advanced time than the usual schedule. I wanted to understand, because we've been talking about bids and contracts, a little bit more maybe your perspectives on, for situations like this where someone has been with the city, has no complaints from residents, from staff, things like that, would there be an idea to alter the bid at some point?

And maybe that can come when the bid actually comes to us, because this is just a notification that there's no renewal and the contract doesn't end until, I think, September or October, from what I understand. But in a contract such as this one, do we consider performance and the rates that have been given? Because while I am an advocate for going out to bid the majority of the time, there are some exceptions to be made Or for bids to be altered so that we can actually take into consideration those vendors that have been doing well by the city and have provided a more efficient service because they've been here and they've known how to do it. Not necessarily a proponent of that on those way bigger items because we see a lot the scale is very different from a $300,000 contract. But I wanted to hear your perspectives on that to see if there was any interest.

And if so, if we can be notified or at least flagged by staff when this will be coming back for the bid and see where we can kind of find a middle ground. Because I'm not Okay with it simply just being renewed. It's not my preference. But I want to understand from your perspective as well.

So let's get the facts first. Mr. Manager or Mr. Gomes, as the manager decides, what is the status of this contract? What does it call for?

The contract has no renewal provision. And if you remember, the commission established a policy that if there's a no renewal, we go back out for bid. And we're just following that practice.

And how long was the contract duration?

Believe Mark could probably tell how long it was. I don't recall if it was five years or what.

Good evening, everyone. Mark Gomes, assistant city manager. This agreement was a five year agreement.

And it never had any renewals in it?

No. It does not allow for renewals.

Following up on what Commissioner Badri was asking, what factors are brought into consideration when deciding to enter into a contract? Which one of them is offered a renewal opportunity and which are not. How does that decision get made in our award winning procurement month purchasing?

It's actually a pop quiz. Great question. So in the past, used to work it out with the departments and make a recommendation to the city commission on what requirements we would need in the bid package. However, as you may recall, in August, we did a couple of workshops in last year together. But one of our workshops was regarding contract lengths. And in there,

we identified different types of contracts and appropriate time for those with their renewal terms. And when a contract is over and let's say the incumbent contractor wishes to apply again And they have performed well. Are they given points for that performance that other vendors would not get because they were not contractors? I mean, does the tie go to the runner? Do they get any sort of advantage?

It's baseball. Yeah, it's

a baseball. Mike and I are in this debate about what the greatest game is. He says it's basketball, and I say it's baseball. I would have time to talk about it, but basketball has a clock and baseball doesn't, except for pitches. But what advantages does a contractor get for having performed well GREENE: when they want to reapply? Great question. So one of

the things we have different types of solicitations that we put out there. Certain ones are when we're defining something for a specific purpose, like a construction project where we have set plans, 100% design plans, we're bidding it out on something called the IFB. So those projects, we're looking at the lowest priced vendor, but that provides the best value. So we're going to do the reference checks. We're going to look at past performance.

But once that vendor is a qualified vendor that could perform the services, we're going to award that lowest priced vendor and protect the taxpayers' funds. However, different types of projects where it's a proposal, it's not a specific type of service. It's more of there's different means and methods to provide a service to us. We'll put out something called the RFP. And they'll have different criteria that the city commission will approve in those advertisements, which could be previous experience, firms approach and understanding of the work, and different things like that. So we take that into consideration as well where we give them points. And we'd have an evaluation committee approved by the city manager score all those vendors.

And what's the value of this contract in dollars?

Great question.

About $300,000

A year?

Yes. And he can check, but that's what I spoke to Jonathan.

So it's about 1,500,000.0 for the five years? Mhmm.

This sounds about right. I could definitely look it.

I can tell you this much. I am so delighted that the sidewalks in our city are clean. I remember when people were threatening to take this out of the budget, but we had the filthiest mold filled, slippery, fall down on your behind sidewalks. And now there isn't a sidewalk in the city that's like that. And frankly, I think that's the least we could do is make sure that when somebody goes out to take a walk that they're not slipping and sliding all over the place in mud or slime.

And they have been doing a good job. What I'm hearing now is something of a paradox. On the one hand, we all sort of agreed that we were going to contract out. If we don't contract out, we may not get the best price. Sometimes we contract out and we get the worst price, which is why I've always supported applying some business judgment to these things.

Commissioner Rodriguez is particularly impressed with this vendor. She has a right to be impressed with the vendor. The vendor does a great job. Under the rules, what are we supposed to be doing?

So first of all, the first question was the amount of contract. The first year was $330,000 and it went up by 4% each year. So it's approximately $1,700,000 contract. In regards to what we're supposed to do, based on commission's previous direction, when a contract ends, we're supposed to be bidding it out. And that's the general process.

Could we then, for this one, when it's going to be bid out, was the intention to do an IFB or an RFP?

Yeah, services like this would be an IFB.

So that's taking into consideration price and quality or no?

That would be taking consideration price. So the lowest price

then Just price.

But we'd make sure that the firm is

That the quality is there, but price is a determining factor. Is our leniency is not the word. What is our power to change that into an RFP where an evaluation committee might take a look at it?

Looking at the procurement process, I don't think it would be appropriate to do an RFP or RFQ. In general, you do an RFQ when you're looking for just the most highly qualified firm. And then you're negotiating with that firm for the pricing. A service like this, you won't want to do that. In addition, RFP, the criteria for establishing that, I think it just makes sense logically. I think you'd be best to look for the lowest price vendor that could provide the services that the city needs.

And then when do in that case, because from my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong because this was obviously information from the vendor, and I didn't have an opportunity to talk to you. But there is a full year timeline for these objectives to be done of pressure cleaning all the parts that he needs to pressure clean. However, this vendor does it under the amount of time because he's had obviously the experience of being in the city. Is that taken into consideration?

So generally, I'm not sure that the previous vendor prior to this vendor being award had an issue with that. The contract is an annual contract. And the Public Services Department could probably address it better. But I don't believe they say, hey, you have to drag out the process. There are certain things that need to be done at a certain time. And they'll get those locations pressure cleaned at that time.

Okay. So I don't have an

option, I guess, is what

you're saying? Or is it up to our discretion to be able to change what IFB entails or no?

As a procurement professional, I would recommend that we stick to the IFB course. I think it's the most appropriate for this type of service.

Okay. And when these bid specs come back to us, we can have a further discussion on this then?

As always, when an item falls in front of the city commission, you have the opportunity to discuss the project.

Okay. Those were my thoughts. I don't know if anybody else had anything else.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, I'd just like to add. So I hear my colleague and the IFB and the RFP, I certainly have a perspective on that as well. And the way that my colleague is speaking is that maybe there needs to be a little bit more information on making that determination on whether it's an IFP or an RFP. And so rather than doing this in a typical time frame, I heard you say October is a dead date for this termination date?

That's what I understood.

Looking at the agenda item, I believe the contract ends in September.

Okay, September So

if we do what you normally would do, we would probably not see this until we have no time to really evaluate whether it should be an RFP. So I would make a recommendation that this bid package comes before us. It doesn't need to be advertised because we get an opportunity to review and comment before you go out to advertisement, that you do that in a bit more of an advance, like at least ninety days in advance of when you would anticipate this going out for advertising. Can you do that?

This project should be simple to draft a new solicitation for this. I would have to get with the Public Services Department to see if there's any major changes to the procurement. But we should be able to get it turned around fairly quick. In addition

I think that gives everybody a little bit more comfort.

Yeah. Addition, as done in the past, if we need more time for the approving of the project, the city manager has the discretion to approve the contract extension for six months.

I only would add this. Where a contractor has shown that they are doing very, very well and where a market analysis, which you conduct all the time, indicates that the monetary interests of the taxpayer are protected. I do not have a problem where a contractor is evaluated outstandingly in offering them a renewal opportunity as a reward for work well done. I do not have that problem. Whether this commission has that problem, I'm not going press that question today.

But

it could be a good government addition to the procurement code and a great incentive, I think, to vendors to perform. But what I am a little uncomfortable doing is picking and choosing who we keep and who we don't keep when there isn't a renewal available. Because that and I'm not suggesting that that's what's being done. I'm if we were to go down a path like that, I think it would be followed by discomfort of various flavors.

I think what I was trying to get out, if I may, is understanding obviously when each of these kinds of different contracts come into play. And I do feel slightly uncomfortable saying, hey, this was great. Let's not go out to bid because that has been a topic of discussion here on the commission. We had a workshop about it, etcetera. What I do want to be able to do with the transparency of a bid process to also congratulate and reward those vendors that do exceptional work.

Because there's obviously things we hear complaints about. There's things that are a little bit more subjective, like whether a vendor does good is kind of subjective to what they're doing. And we can all assume that it's pretty easy to see if the sidewalks are actually cleaned or not by pressure washing. And so then within that, how can we find a balance between being strict on going out to bed every single time and then coming across some of these scenarios? Because what I don't appreciate and what has happened in the past is when we are threatened by the vendors to say, and we had it where you're standing here, that a vendor said, well, if I don't get it, I'm going to bid a lot higher.

And I'm going to walk out if I don't get the thing, which that's not appropriate either. But when a vendor comes in good faith to say, hey, even if I have to go out to bid, I want to make sure that we're doing a fair price, things like that. I do a really good job. We do have to find some, in my perspective, some kind of balance between rewarding that and also sticking to our guns about being a little bit more strict on the bidding process. So that's more or less what I wanted to bring

Do we have consensus to sort of approach this in the following manner? To follow the suggestion of commissioner Goode, to ask the department to look at some performance based renewal possibilities. I mean, in front of us right now that we can see the public can see it as well is the comp track performance report card that staff gave them. These guys got a 93. Let me tell you.

They don't give many 90 three's. They just don't. They're very discriminating when it comes to these report cards. And I think that this goes a long way toward supporting the importance of Commissioner Rodriguez's observation regarding this vendor. This is an outstanding vendor.

And to be able to also evaluate the pricing across all of the other cities

as well. I that's think what that has thought about be

part of it. So part of it would be the performance, right? And then another part of it would be the pricing. And then another part of it would be the what am I missing? The pricing and the performance. It's really those two. Maybe the reward would be, you know what? You're doing so good a job. We're going to reward you with a renewal. And contract amendment, Commissioner Good, comes to us for approval.

So it would have to come to us with that in mind, which is, hey, this was reasoned. It was based on performance evaluations, and it was based a market study on price. And the renewal would be the renewal terms. And that would come to us as a contract amendment. Can we just form consensus to begin a process like that? Not to agree, but just begin, and then they would bring it back to us. Is there a consensus for that?

Mayor, I'm open to anything that can make us more efficient. But I'd like to weigh in specifically on this.

Okay. But let me just ask my question, and then you can weigh in. Do we have consensus to sort of move in that direction with the ninety days? They'll come back to us with a new they'll accelerate the submission of their item to us and that they would also begin exploring this other new concept that we've sort of talked about? Vice mayor,

you I

would appreciate that. No, I'm not. I appreciate what the comments have been. To me, this is picking winners and losers. I have been an advocate for competitive bidding. I mentioned that in my Sun Sentinel interview. I'm not going to change now. And I was contacted by the vendor as well. And what I said to that person privately, I'm saying here, I support competitive bidding. So I'm not going to change my position. I appreciate everyone's perspective. If you have to take a vote and it's four-one, that's fine. I'm not supporting the change.

So Mr. Mayor, I think what I was trying to get to is, you're right, we need to bring this if this item is worthy of a look of the type of competitive process that we're doing, then it certainly needs to be brought forward. Because here we have the procurement director saying that this is an IFB, which is price only. And then we're talking about performance, which is particularly included in the RFP evaluation, because that's what you do in an RFP.

Which both are competitive bidding processes,

is my understanding. So I think that we can move in a direction, at least to get this item brought before us early. Because like I said, if we just left it alone, the IFP would have been before us with just enough time to bid it and to award it. And I was asking that we move this much further up in the schedule so that we get a review. So if we have comments, such as what we're speaking about today, that we can then incorporate it in the process going forward. And it could be as simple as going from an IFP to an RFP process, or it could be something in between.

They're both competitive processes. Yes.

Because I agree on that point, Commissioner Hernandez. I also very much spoke to the vendor and said, want to go out to bid as I have been advocating here. But there's different types of bids that we use

to get that result. Okay. Commissioner Schwartz.

I haven't spoken to the vendor. Me neither. Me neither. I wasn't prepared to speak on something that was not being renewed. However, now that it's been brought up, I was here in 2021 when this contract was awarded under a bid protest.

Part of that bid protest involved a staff member that's no longer working for the city of Pembroke Pines and that there were questions about the scoring. I'm somewhat limited to what I can say about it because there's still some other folks looking at that scenario.

Was it an IFP at that point?

It was an IFP. Yeah. So for tonight's purpose, I would ask the clerk through the manager to provide the full context of that bid, of the testimony so my colleagues have an opportunity to digest that video. Again, the staff member who was a part of that process is no longer here in this organization. And I'm thankful for that.

We also have, if we're going to look at procurement, I believe the cancellation for convenience clause is something that may well, certainly, we have the heavy hand as a city. We cancel for convenience. But the cancellation for convenience exposes the city for a vendor who gets canceled for something unrelated to their actual job function. And if we're going to do a review of procurement, I think cancellation for convenience with the guidance of our city attorney to define what cancellation for convenience is, should be, best practices, what other cities do. And that the cancellation for convenience is not, I guess, having more people involved other than the current structure that we have.

A cancellation for convenience can have abuse.

And I'm not comfortable speaking about anything more on this. Well, maybe you shouldn't then and have the conversation with the city manager. You're bringing up some issues that sound serious. They're very serious. Well, then have your conversation with the city manager and with the city attorney because I was here, and I'm just not following what you're saying. But I should follow it. So why don't you have your discussion, and then we'll go from there. Anything further on this item? Okay. It's been moved and seconded, correct? All those in favor, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? It'll go four to one. And thank you, vice mayor, for your vote. And we are on

Mr. Mayor, you will. Yes. For the benefit of the clerk, can you clarify what the motion is so we can get into the record?

The motion is to approve a solicitation which will come to us what is it, ninety days? Ninety days from now. And then, Okay, the next item is ordinance, reports oh, do you yes, reports of the league. Anything, Commissioner Rodriguez?

Last time, I was just going to report that we had had a meeting, the general meeting for League of Cities with county commissioner why am I spacing out his name? Former Parkland mayor. Oh, Udine? Eudine. Sorry.

Udine. Sorry, Udine. He came and spoke to the elected officials in the room about simply some of the aspects of the inner workings between each of the municipal governments how that interconnects to the county and what that relationship looks like. It was really good conversation. He is term limited and will be out of office, I believe, no, next year?

Or 2028. But Something like either way, the conversation was really interesting because he gave a lot of insight into previously having been a mayor and then a county commissioner and the inner workings of kind of those relationships. Tomorrow we have our directors luncheon over at Cooper City. So I'll be attending that. And I will also be attending the congressional meeting for the National League of Cities in Washington, DC.

Wonderful.

March. We have a commission meeting, so I'll have a report about how that went that same day. I hope it gets warmer.

March of DC comes in like a lion, goes out like a lamp.

But that's it from the league.

Okay. Anything else? Anything from the MPO? Okay. Mr. Dodge, do you have anything else?

No, mayor, I do not.

Mr. City Attorney, do you have anything else?

No, mayor, but thank you for the opportunity.

Okay. There being no further business before the commission, we are adjourned.