City Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome everyone. We could all find our seats. Thank you very much. Welcome everyone. I hope you're doing well on this somewhat rainy day in South Florida.

What happened to the sun today? I don't know. But it's a great day where we will be swearing in two newly elected, re elected commissioners. How about that? And let me just take a moment to announce a couple of the people here who have played a role in being friends to the city and also the success of the city.

We'll begin with our former mayor, Frank Ortiz. Frank, we're honored to have you here again. And his lovely wife Barbara. Barbara, thank you for coming. First lady of Pembroke Pines, Lisa Castillo is here.

Let's thank her because she allows me to come out and play. At And my home, my title is commissioner of sanitation. I get all the mail that says occupant, but she is the driving force and the source of our family. And I'm thankful for you to be here, Lisa. Thank you so very much.

We also have two neighbors, friends, Cooper City. Cooper City is one of the few cities that we don't sue. And so it's always a pleasure to have them here. Jason Smith, commissioner, thank you so very much for being here. And our former commissioner friend from Cooper City, Max Bolcini, is also here.

Max? Mercedes Woodall is the commissioner of the South Broward Drainage District, and she keeps a sign dry no matter how much water comes our way, and we're thankful to her. And it's about this time that I usually ask, did I miss any elected officials sitting in the oh. Robin. Oh, Robin Bartleman.

I did not recognize you without your superhero outfit. Robin Bartleman is doing the impossible in Tallahassee to represent this city and to do it well. And we thank you, Robin, as always for being here. You also see my good friend Patty Archer, is the president of the Miramar Pembroke Pines Chamber of Commerce. That chamber of commerce is so outstanding it needed two city names. And we've been sharing that for how long? How long has the chamber been around?

Fifty seven years

of

great representation of all of our businesses in both cities. And we thank them very, very much. A little sad news. Julie Likosky, who was here for forty years and was our commission aide for forty years, succumbed to her cancer and passed away. She had just retired And she didn't want to retire.

But her kids and her grandkids said, grandma, we need you home. And so she stopped working just shortly. And it's a sad, sad, sad thing. And we're very sorry that we

don't have

her smiling face and her wonderful laugh. But she's here in spirit. And that's what happens in a city. People will come. People will go. But the city moves on. And speaking of moving on, we have a little bit of business to do before we can have the oaths of office, which will be administered. And after that, we have cake. I see some young people in the back. You guys like cake or no? No cake for you? Oh, love cake. Okay. Well, there's plenty of cake. And we're going to serve the cake.

I'm going to ask you to try to keep the cake off the floor. But other than that, you're all good. Have as much cake as you want. And once the cake is finished, or once you're finished with the cake to be more precise, we're going to come back here and we're going to have our regular scheduled city commission meeting. Sound good? All right. Mister clerk, would you please call the roll?

Commissioner Good. I'm here. Vice mayor Hernandez? Present. Commissioner Rodriguez?

Here.

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

Thank you very, very much. The first item is a resolution. Mister city attorney, will you read, please?

Thank you, mayor and commission. With, both honor, privilege, and grace, I read the motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty six r dash zero five, which is a resolution of the city commission of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida declaring the results of the general election held on 03/10/2026, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for an effective date on the floor for consideration, twenty twenty six r zero five, Mr. Mayor. Mayor.

Mayor. Mayor. Mayor. Mayor. Second by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion? Mayor. Any from the public? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Anything else to the attorney?

Thank you, mayor. For the record, that permanent number for those who choose to know is 3943 for the public record, 3943. Thank you, mayor.

I I'm almost positive I had a phone number

that ended 3943.

I'm not I'm not exactly sure. Ladies and gentlemen, the oath of office for Commissioner District 1, the City Of Pembroke Pines to Thomas Goode, Jr. Will now be made.

It's the right one.

It works. So

before I give the oath of office to Tom, I'd just like to say some brief words to all of you that are here present. Service has always been a part of Tom's life, first as a Navy veteran and then as a devoted public servant. And Tom, we know firsthand your caring heart. For the past eight years, you have served all the residents of District 1 with great passion and integrity. You have become the voice for the voiceless, devoting your efforts to making a difference in the lives of so many people.

You lead with kindness by putting others first in everything that you do. And it's not about titles or recognition, but about making a difference in the lives of the residents that you serve. I know you will continue to lead with a caring heart for the betterment of the community and the city as a whole.

And I

am so proud of you. Your family is proud of you. And I'm honored to swear you in as the City Of Pembroke Pines District 1 city commissioner. So Tom, raise your right hand. Repeat. I, Thomas Goode

I, Thomas Goode

do solemnly swear affirm

do solemnly swear

that I will support protect and defend

Protect and defend.

The constitution The constitution. And government And government. Of The United States

Of The United States.

And the state of Florida

And the state of Florida.

And the charter and ordinances of the city of Pembroke Pines that I am duly qualified to hold office hold office under the constitution

under the constitution

of the state

the state

and that I will well faithfully perform faithfully all the duties of the office

the duties of the office

of of the the city city commissioner commissioner Of the the city city commissioner commissioner commissioner. One District 1. On which I am now

On which I am now

about to enter. So help me, god.

About to enter. So help

god. Congratulations.

Well, thank you everybody. I really am a little bit speechless in regards to all of you who have came out tonight. I mean, I'm looking at a lot of faces, and I'm recognizing almost every one of you for having some part in my campaign. Before I say a few words, I would like to at least acknowledge my opponent, Dennis Hynes, who is in the audience today, sir. And thank you for being here and sharing this moment with us.

He ran a very hard race and very diligent. And so again, I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. So I just want to say good evening, Pembroke Pines. Good So tonight, I'm standing here with a full heart. And not because of a result, but because of the people who made this moment possible. The city has a way of showing up for one another. And over these past months, I have seen the very best of who we are. I've walked through neighborhoods where folks welcomed me into their homes like they were greeting family.

I met parents juggling two jobs, and they still found a way to reach out and share what they hoped the city can be for their children. I've listened to seniors who remember when the city was just a handful of streets and who still believe in its promise. Every one of these conversations stayed with me. They reminded me why this city is worth fighting for. To my campaign team, Patty Goode, Miss Amy Rose.

And mister Michael Kaplan. You all were the soul of this effort. You organized. You strategized. You lifted me up on days when the road felt steep. You gave your time, your talent, and your belief. You turned hope into momentum. You turned momentum into community. And you turned community into tonight. Thank you.

And to the many family members, friends, and volunteers, you know who you are. You're the ones who knocked on the doors in the heat and the rain. You made calls after long days. You stood at early voting sites with sunburned face and tired smiles. You are the heartbeat of this story.

And you didn't do it for recognition. You did it because you loved this city. To my colleagues, the elected officials, and organizations who stood with me, thank you for lending me your voice, your guidance, and your trust. Your support wasn't about politics. It was about believing in a shared vision for Pembroke Pines.

I am grateful for your partnership and your faith in what we can build together. And of course, to our multicultural and immigrant families, to our LGBTQ neighbors, to residents living with disabilities, you bring courage, color, and depth to our city's story. You remind us that belonging is not a gift. It is a right. And to our veterans and military families, your service and sacrifice anchors our values, and your loyalty is not taken lightly, at least not by me.

To our seniors, the storytellers, the wisdom keepers, and especially those on the Holly Brook Woman's Brigade, Thank you. Thank you for building the foundation that we stand on. And to our young people, your dreams are the compass that should guide every decision we make from this day going forward. And for those who supported someone else, I hear you. I respect you.

And I will work just as hard for you as for anyone who has placed their trust in me. The city belongs to all of us, not just to those who agree with us. Tonight is not the end of a campaign. It is the continuation of a promise to listen more than I speak, to lead with humility, and to build a city where every family feels safe, every senior feels valued, every child feels hopeful, and every neighbor feels seen. Pembroke Pines, thank you for believing in what we can build together.

And as the mayor would say, now let's get to work. Thank you all. I'm not done yet. As you know, I couldn't do this without my 20 fourseven support system, right? So I am going to recognize former school board member Patricia Good.

And I got to tell you, we've come a long way. I can remember the very first time when Patty was elected as a school board member, and I got to swear her in. And I introduced her then as my wide eyed, brown eyed girl. And I call her that because when I met her, her eyes were wide and she has such uncertainty but such excitement And she was ready for anything. And the years have passed.

And now those wide brown eyes. You're ruining the moment. But I will tell you that her eyes today are full of wisdom and great respect and passion. And she is willing to share everything. So for my wife, who is definitely my support system 20 fourseven, I only wish to give her I, again, profess my love to my love.

Thank you, everybody.

Thank you very much, commissioner, and welcome back. Done. Well done. Representative Robin Bartleman will now administer the oath of office to the District Four Commissioner Michael Hernandez.

So I'm really honored to do this for my friends. Michael, when I look at him let me just give him a hug I see the future. I see the future of Pembroke Pines. And I see just let's get the whole family up. Brian, Chris.

This is the future of Pembroke Pines. This is the future of Pembroke Pines. Over a decade ago when I met him, I had no idea he'd be running for office. But now that he has, I expect a very long career from you in public service because you are amazing. From tackling tough issues like SROs to knocking on doors.

I have represented Century Village for over twenty years now. And I can tell you that Todos los Residentes in Century Village, When I knock on doors and I go to Century Village, every single one of them know and love Michael because he's a commissioner, but he's a public servant. They know him because they know that they can call his office. They can call him personally on his cell. They can get in touch with him, and he's going to solve whatever issue or problem they have.

And that's what being an elected official is about. I mean, of course, it's creating ordinances and balancing a budget. But you want to know that someone is listening to you and that they're there to act for you and advocate for you and help you with any problems you have. And that's what you've done as an elected official. I hear it when I knock on doors, when I'm out in the community. He's always available. And what a brave man. I mean, thought our mayor was brave. Discuss. But he's right there on Nextdoor and every social media answering the questions, taking the hits that they need to be taken, all the things you need to do to be an effective elected official.

He's not afraid to stand up for what's right. And he's not afraid to stand up oh, that was weird. Weirder. He's not afraid to stand up what's for reward.

There's a soccer player leaning on the lights with

Oh, let's not call her out. She's totally embarrassed now. Don't worry, it's okay. It added real drama to this. He's not afraid to stand up for what's right and you know that he's always going to stand behind you and your families And he always has an open door. And that's what I love about him. And in terms of Tallahassee, he's such an outstanding partner for me. This whole commission is. But I can call him and say, what do you think about this? And what about that? And how is that going to impact Pembroke Pines? And what's going to happen? And so I have to say, I have seen you grow in this role. And you're amazing. And your community loves you.

I was in Century Village today. And just they love you because they know you have their backs. And if they're in trouble or something's going to happen, you are only a phone call away. And that is what people expect from elected officials, and that is what you are. So it is an honor to swear you in. And also, Alyssa is really the city commissioner, if you do not know. And she is my boss. I mean, you were out putting mulch at Chapel Trail, weren't you? And so was the whole family when we were doing a beautification project at Chapel Tale. That's what you get with this family.

It's a family effort. Okay, so are you ready to be sworn in? Okay, ready? Okay, here's the oath of office. I, Michael A.

Hernandez, do solemnly swear that I will support, protect and defend the constitution and government of The United States and the state of Florida and the charter and ordinances of the city of Pembroke Pines that I am duly qualified to hold office under the constitution of the state and that I will well and faithfully perform all the duties of the office of city commissioner District 4 on which I am now about to enter. So help me God. Thank you. You're not just getting Michael, you're getting the entire family by the way. They are all amazing.

So here you go. And I feel a Disney trip in their future.

Since I have to follow Commissioner Tom Good, I'm buying my wife dinner, but I did not bring her a bouquet of roses, man. I just lost 10 points. The Disney trip couldn't with this. No more. So I, last time I spoke, I forgot to thank as many people as I possibly could.

So I brought notes. I did want to start off by saying this is basically my third election in twenty two months. Yes, you could fact check me. There was an appointment process in May 2024 and Commissioner Castillo became Angelo Castillo, the mayor. And then there was a November, which was the first time in history that we had that kind of an election, a municipal election on a presidential ballot.

And then, like I said, sixteen months ago, see you all in about a year and a half because we're doing it again. So three elections, but these three have been with me every step of the way. And I know it's easy to say, well, they're your family. Yeah, but if family vetoes running for public service, running for public office, you're not doing it. And they didn't.

My wife of I know you guys are going to send her condolences of sixteen years Had no hesitation when I said, I'm applying for the appointment twenty two months ago. My daughter wanted to be the commissioner. You will be one day. And my son was like, yeah, cool, dad. But without the three of them, life isn't worth anything without family. It really isn't. If you want your name in lights and being an elected official, yeah, cool. But it's who you go home to. It's who you do it for. To Representative Bartleman's point, it really is about service.

You don't do this for the money. You don't do it for the investment in time. It's because you love what you do. And I want to thank Representative Barteman, is my longtime friend. It's actually a lot more than a decade that we met. A decade. We're good. It's only been a decade. But thank you for swearing me in tonight. I know that she's fresh off of a very grueling legislative session.

And now your gift is you get to go back for three more because of what happened up there. I want to recognize my mother and her husband, my mother Olga, her husband George. It truly is a family affair. So my in laws, Ken and Jeanette, who are here and never cared for politics and then they met me. They're also here, my brother-in-law Brian and my beautiful godson, Luke.

And Liam is here somewhere as well. My brother who is in Cincinnati, Ohio. He's an engineer. And he said, Mike, I think I'm going to be in Canada that day, so I'm going to watch online. Dave, I know you're watching. Thank you. To all my friends and family, thank you for being here, not just tonight, but for what you've done over my forty two years, forty three, excuse me, years of life. Thank you so much. I have to thank Ryan Greenberg, which I hope you raise your hand because everyone probably knows the umbrella points. And campaign manager Jeff Garcia and Mike Worley I don't know where Mike is for helping me in this cycle.

I know I can be a lot. I know I text. I know I'll call. Lisa's laughing because she knows it's true. I'll get to you now. Thank you for your professionalism and your assistance throughout the campaign and beyond. Also deeply appreciative for this one gentleman who, years ago, I met him at a restaurant when we were watching the presidential debate in 2012. And I walked up to him and said, I think you're my commissioner. He said, oh yeah, sit down. And fourteen years later, Angelo Castillo's the mayor and has endorsed me twice.

I would not you have to be straight with people. I wouldn't have been appointed. I wouldn't have been elected once not once, but twice without Mayor Castillo's support. And of course, more importantly, without the first lady, Lisa Castillo's support. So thank you to them as well. And I want to end that paragraph with discuss. To my fellow commissioners, especially Maria Rodriguez and Commissioner Tom Good, you guys have been wonderful friends. Yeah, we don't always vote the same way on the dais. But I think we try our very, very best to, I like to tell Commissioner Good, land the plane. Where do you want me to land the plane?

Let's figure out how we can resolve issues for our 172,000 residents. No, that's not typo. We're the second largest city in Broward County. And when my friends from Miami keep telling me, oh, that little town up there no, we're 172,000. That's partially why we have so much traffic. I also want to thank everyone who supported my campaign, Congresswoman Debbie Schultz, who is in Washington, not here tonight. Nan Rich, Broward County Commissioner. I know Harrison Grant Williams, her chief of staff, is here and also representatives from there. Property appraiser Marty Kiar, the mayor already introduced Mayor Frank Ortiz. Thank you for your support as well.

IAFF, which is the International Association of Firefighters Local two thousand two hundred ninety two, who some are here. Most are on shift as they should be. The Broward AFL CIO, Broward Teachers Union, the realtors of Broward, the Hispanic vote lies us here somewhere, aye, Everyone affiliated with the Broward Democratic Party and Pembroke Pines Democrats and Lourdes Diaz. I don't have my glasses on. I know you're here because we said hello.

I see you. Thank you so much. Your support does reflect a shared belief in responsible community focused leadership. And I do want to take this one moment to say I love everything about Pembroke Pines. I know there are challenges.

But I do believe that if you live in this city, especially if you're like me and you work in Miami or in Fort Lauderdale, you found something that you truly loved about this city. That doesn't happen without the leadership I won't say how long he's been our city manager but without the leadership of our manager, Charlie Dodge, who has been very patient with me, with all the questions that I ask, and his team as well as his assistant city managers, our city attorneys, our charter school professionals. Pembroke Primes runs our own charter system. We have seven charter schools that the city oversees. Thank you all, in particular, to city attorney Sam Goren and Jay Korowitz for their support.

I mentioned IAFF two thousand two and ninety two. I want to be very, very clear. I believe that administration and labor have immensely important roles to play in the future of our city. I haven't been silent about the fact that I am concerned and I want to see improvement in the relationships. And this is no surprise.

I've spoken about it with administration. I've spoken about it with labor. This is something that, per our charter, goes through our management and our labor leadership. But I hope that over the next four years I hope it doesn't take four years we continue to mend fences and do what is possible to make sure that our city has every right to continue to be proud of our first responders, police, fire, or whichever other role you play. I understand there will not always be agreements.

I understand it's a major city. But in this next term, my hope really is that both labor and management can continue their work. I believe they're both 100% in the game to make sure that they can each express their views and come together. I hope we do that. I hope that Pembroke Pines leads the way in improving labor relations across not just our region, but across all of Broward County.

I say that because our first responders are the pride of Pembroke Pines. You see them whether it's Coffee with a Cop, as they call it, or our firefighters actually at my daughter's school at Chapel Tree Elementary when they came out and handed out the little helmets. But I want to see this relationship get even better because it affects all of us in this city. I want to also make very clear one thing. Yes, I'm a city commissioner.

But whether you are dealing with a city matter or the school board or they call you about Medicaid or Medicare or Social Security, yes, we do receive those calls. It's about service. It's about being able to respond even when it's not your government that can do the fixing, can do the addressing of the issue. I think the five of us do a good job up here of that. Unfortunately, I don't know that that's the case in other parts of the state and other parts of the country.

I want to make very clear that my hope is that we will see throughout history that Pembroke Pines led the way in active citizen engagement with their government, Much like eighteen years before Teddy Roosevelt became president of The United States, he wrote in something called the duties of American citizenship. He actually said, the welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us. It's a hundred and forty years ago. It still sounds familiar today. Or said in plain twenty first century English, we're all in this together.

Your government can only be as responsive to you as you are to us. It requires engagement. I know Robin mentioned Nextdoor. I love Nextdoor. But it requires engagement with your elected officials, and many of you do. I want your neighbors to do it too. I wanna make sure that you all feel that the five of us up here are always available, which we are. But instead of some making making complaints on social media, I hope you engage with us. Mr. Landry engages with me.

We give out our cell phone numbers. We give out our emails. We're only as good as you allow us to be. We're only going to be as responsive to your needs as you are engaging with each and every one of us. So I hope we take from this today, not just this election but into the next election, that Pembroke Pines should lead the way in citizen engagement. Believe we started that with the We Love Pembroke Pines Foundation, which is a five zero one(three). If you need more information, Christina Golding is here. But others can give you that information. It's engagement for our youth to help our city. There are so many ways that you can become involved.

And I hope each of you take that with you tonight and say, yeah, I can do something. I can take care of my neighbors. We're all in this together. We will only achieve our true status as a city if we engage with one another and if we look out for one another. It really upsets me when I watch, whether it's cable news or something else, which I don't recommend it. There's this addition by division. That's not who we are in Pembroke Pines. I've lived here eighteen years. I grew up in Miami. Fine town, but I decided to come up here.

I love this community, and I want it to continue to thrive. And the only way we will do it is helping one another. I hope we lead with collaboration, that we reject cynicism, apathy. I'd love to see more voter turnout, guys. I know what. I'm very happy to have won. I'm not very happy with the voter turnout. I hope that we reject this belief that, well, it's just it's just politics. No. It's your government.

I hope we raise our children like I'm trying to raise ours to be proud to register to vote, to cast their ballots for every single position, not just president. President's very important. Governor's important. But the government that has the biggest impact on your life is your local government. It is your city mayor. It is your city commission. And I hope that we all engage further and deeper moving forward. I've said enough. My family and I, Alyssa, Brian, Christine, we thank you for your support. We thank you for your love.

And most importantly, we thank you for welcoming us and being a part of this community. May God bless you all, the city of Pembroke Pines, the state of Florida, and The United States Of America.

Thank you, Mike, and congratulations. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest who heard about Mike swearing in, a good friend. And she's here to say hello, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services of The United States, Donna Shalala.

There's nothing better than local government. And I'm here to support my friend Mike. I'm sorry I didn't get here before. You know, they should change the name of the palmetto so you don't get blamed for it.

Madam Secretary, we suggested Pembroke Pines, but they said no.

So there's a lot of work to do. And everybody's concerned about government. But the best government is the one that's closest to the people. And the fact that you've elected outstanding people, like my good friend Mike, is important. It's important to the young people that are here because they'll see that government really can work and the public service can make a difference. So congratulations to my friend Mike and to all of you. And good luck in the future.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Now it is typical for us to do the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem before the commission starts. However, Leah Cohen is here. She's a sixth grader, a plantation resident at Seminole Middle. And she has school tomorrow. So we're going to do that now. I'm going to ask all of you to rise. We're going to do the pledge. And then she's going to sing the national anthem. Leah Cohen.

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.

Whenever you're ready.

Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light? What so proud they we hail at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fire? O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rockets reglare, the bones bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say does

Thank you so very, very much. Leah Leah Cohen, thank you so very, very much. That was lovely. We will be adjourning for cake, and we will be back to work in fifteen minutes. Oh, there it is.

Come everyone. Thank you very much. Welcome to the 03/18/2026 Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting. Yes? Okay. And congratulations to everyone again. Can we have a roll call, please?

Commissioner Good? Here. Vice mayor Hernandez? Here. Commissioner Rodriguez? Here. Commissioner Schwartz? Here. Mayor Castillo? Here. City manager Dodge? Here. City attorney Gore? I'm here. We have a quorum.

Thank you very, very much. Okay. Announcements of items to be pulled from the agenda? No items, mayor. Okay. We're gonna do these proclamations very, very quickly. And then we're gonna pull number five and fourteen out of order because there are people here to speak about five and fourteen. And they need to get to school tomorrow. But let me just get these proclamations out of the way. And we will move on.

Thank you very much. Congratulations,

everyone.

Okay. First item is Greek American Heritage Month. Is someone here to pick this up? They're still having

They might still be with me. Okay.

Whereas Greek Americans have made significant contributions to the cultural, economic, educational, and civic life of our community and our nation, enriching our society through their dedication, democratic principles, public services, and the arts. And whereas the city of Pembroke Pines is proud to present this proclamation to Tamir Altawali, owner of Sufrat Mediterranean Grill located in Pembroke Pines in honor of Greek American Heritage Month, and in recognition of Soufrott Mediterranean Grill if you haven't been there, it's outstanding food for its contributions to our local business community and for celebrating Greek culture through its cuisine and community engagement. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, along with the city commissioner, to proclaim the month of March 2026 as Greek American Heritage Month. Congratulations, and thank you very much.

Okay.

And this is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines declaring colorectal cancer awareness month, whereas colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in The United States among men and women combined, and approximately one hundred and fifty four thousand two hundred and seventy four new cases and two thousand nine hundred deaths no, fifty two thousand nine hundred deaths projected in 2025. It is increasingly affecting younger individuals and is now the leading cause of cancer death for men and women 50. And whereas colorectal cancer is one of the few cancers that can be prevented through timely screening, yet one of the three eligible Americans is not up to date on recommended screenings despite early detection dramatically improving outcomes with a ninety one percent, five year survival rate when detected at stage one compared to sixteen percent when detected at stage five. Now, therefore, I'm Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines. On behalf of the city commission, do hereby proclaim March 2026, colorectal cancer awareness month in the city of Pembroke Pines.

Get checked. Thank you very, very much. So yesterday was Saint Patrick's Day. This is Irish American Heritage Month. Whereas for generations, Americans have enshrined The United States with their deep rooted traditions, unwavering resilience, and significant contributions to all aspects of American life.

And whereas millions of Irish Americans came to The United States seeking freedom and opportunity, overcoming hardship and adversity to build strong communities and shape a future of our nature of our nation. And whereas Irish Americans have played a vital role in our country's history serving as leaders in government, business, education, services, the arts, the armed forces, and embodying a spirit of perseverance and dedication. And whereas the rich culture and heritage of the Irish people, including music, literature, dance, folklore, continues to inspire and unite people of all backgrounds, fostering a deep appreciation for their lasting legacy. And whereas each March, we celebrate Irish American Heritage Month coinciding with Saint Patrick's Day to honor the profound influence of Irish Americans and their contributions to our communities. Now therefore, I Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, together with the city commission, do hereby proclaim the month of '20 March 2026, Irish American Heritage Month.

And we have some gentlemen here who are going to accept this great award. And we want to thank you. Bigora, come on up. Thank you so very much. Thank you so very much. So words. An Irishman always has words. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

And it's time for Irish exit.

Slainte, that's a toast, means to your health. Many Irish people say that quite a bit. Thank you, mister mayor. Thank you very, very much. God bless the Irish. Thank you. Oh, a photo.

Mayor, the people from Sufra are here.

Oh, the people from Sufra are here. Come on up. Where are they? So front, the the food is delicious. I've

community. Thank you, everyone.

Thank you so very, very much. Thank you. Okay. National Athletic Training Month, whereas the Athletic Trainers Association of Florida, founded in 1983, is committed to the education of its members in the advancement of elite athletic training profession to enhance health care for the populations they serve, and whereas athletic trainers are highly qualified multi skilled health care professionals who specialize in injury prevention, risk management, emergency and acute care, clinical diagnosis, therapeutic intervention, and rehabilitation, and serve in the professional collegiate and secondary schools, hospitals, clinics, public safety agencies, and the United States military. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, together with the city commission, do hereby proclaim the month of March 2026, National Athletic Training Month.

Thank you so very, very much for everything that you do and for keeping us in shape.

Absolutely. Here we go.

Alrighty. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm happy to be here on behalf of Athletic Trainers Association of Florida. While president Pradeep could not be here today, our association represents over 3,000 certified and licensed athletic trainers within the state. Athletic trainers are often the first and sometimes only medical professionals athletes see at the secondary school level. However, you can see athletic trainers at high school athletics, college, the professional level, serving industrial workers, serving artists, and much more. Thank you for your time and acknowledgement of athletic training. Thank you so much.

Alright. The last presentation is to the city's finance department of the government finance officers association certificate of achievement award for excellence in financial reporting and the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended September 2024. This is the twenty third consecutive year that the city of Pembroke Pines has earned this prestigious award. The certificate of achievement is the highest form of recognition in governmental accounting and financial reporting, and its attainment represents a significant accomplishment by a government and its management. Thank you so much for everything you do, for keeping the money in order.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you, commission, for all your support, Mr. Dodge. And I really do have one of the best teams. So thank you to every single member of the finance department and all their hard work that they do behind the scenes. A special thanks to Wilbert on this particular award, as well as Jaibelis, who's not here today. But thank you, everyone. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you so very, very much. Thank you.

Okay.

Alright. Now I have items at the request of the public. And a bunch of them are about Pembroke Shores Park. I have Francisco Maestre. Maestre.

Maestre. Tatijuana Espinal. Yvette Cordola. Noah Gruulian, Mark Magnon, Chris Pazos, Bernie Montero, the principal at Somerset Academy, and Neil Charlie as well. We have an item regarding a budget board from Scar Barnett.

And what I wanna say to the people that have signed up, you will have an opportunity to speak if you want it. However, it's in conjunction with an item. So if you don't mind, we'd like to read the item into the into into the record. It will require a motion and a second, and then there'll be some discussion. And everybody that wants to continue to to speak on it will be heard. But let's do it together with the item because I think it'll be faster that way. Okay? Is that fair? Okay. Miss city attorney, we're going to go straight to item number Five.

Five. Thank very read it into the record, please.

With your permission, mayor, this is a motion to approve the facility use and improvements agreement with Somerset Academy for a ten year period, allowing Somerset to construct capital improvements to Field Number 7 at Pembroke Shores Park, including the installation of an artificial turf field and providing for an effective date under item number 520Five-two197 for the record. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you very much. Can I have a motion to entertain? I move it. Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second? Seconded by commissioner Rodriguez. Does anyone have anything to say on this item?

If I may, mayor.

Commissioner Schwartz, you're recognized. Thank you.

Mayor, you had mentioned that there's some folks on my commission item at the end of the agenda, which is fine. It has nothing to do with item number five. Let me first put this out on the table. A few days before I received the agenda for tonight, I placed an item regarding a study that the University of Florida had done on artificial turf. I placed that item into queue.

It got printed out like it normally would. Then a few days later, I received the agenda that has your item on it. I had no idea your item was even going to be on it. Staff had never spoken to me about it in advance. I spoke with some folks within Somerset who reached out to me to learn that this process had been going on for three years.

I had never heard about it. So I want to address item five separate from my item at the end of the agenda. Which we'll do next. Which I just want the folks in the room no, it's absolutely separate. City attorney.

I want you to pull up page 11 of 23 of the agreement for Somerset. And while you're doing that, let give a shout out to Somerset Academy. After Hurricane Dorian demolished the Bahamian people, the Pembroke Pines Police Department, through their community affairs, came to me to deliver toys to The Bahamas that were donated by the children at Somerset. One of the most proudest moments I've ever had to be able to do that. I coached at Pembroke Shores long before my kids were even out of diapers.

And I spent at least a decade on Field 7 as a coach, watched my son play, watched my son win a championship on it. And Pembroke Shores Park is also extremely special to me, So much so that I've asked over the years to have the East Side of the city look just as good as Pembroke Shores Park. And that's still a goal of mine. Are you ready, city attorney?

Actually, the clerk is trying to pick up the other. What paragraph are you am I, Mr. Mayor? What section, please?

It's page 11 of 23. It's going to be sections 11.6.3 through 11.6.14. And through the city manager to Ms. Golding, I'm not sure if this review is falling under your purview or under procurement from Mr. Gomes, but it's in relation to liability insurance.

I don't believe that this item was on the Monday night memo, but proceed.

Let me know when you're ready, city attorney. I've read as much as I can from the screen. I'm happy to digress. So colleagues, if we take a look at page 11.65, professional liability. Arizona Missions Insurance, disagreement says that the organization does not have to carry any. Under 11.6.5

I'm sorry. What was your point?

Didn't hear it. Do you have it in front of you, sir? I'm looking at it. Okay. 11.6.5?

The box that struck says no. That's correct.

GREGORY Yes. Professional liability, errors and omissions insurance is not required. 11.6.6, environmental pollution liability insurance is not required. Under 11.6.14, which really jumped at me, there is not an ability to hold a tournament in this agreement. I want to make sure that Somerset has the ability to host tournaments.

That's the whole point of having the enhancement of the park. I don't want to have them short of every opportunity that every other club in the city has, which

is the ability to have tournaments. Mr. Dodge, is Ms. Goulding available to answer?

Christine is available. However, this document and the insurance requirements were reviewed by our HR. And they recommended this. There was no issues raised by Somerset that this was a problem. But go ahead, Christina.

Well, specifically for elevensixteenfourteen for insurance hosted tournament coverage within limits of no less than 1,000,000 per occurrence. Coverage must be included for both participants inspected and I can't can't hear hear you, Commissioner. I'm sorry. I'll try to speak a little louder. And basically, it's saying that no insurance is required. Yet earlier in the document, it says that the organization shall hold the city harmless. So how is the organization going to be protected if they're not required DELL: to have insurance?

Well, let's do your questions one at a time. The first had to do with tournaments. Did Somerset ask for tournaments?

No, sir.

Okay. So the next question is about the insurance.

So the question is, if Somerset is going to have a major investment and programming on field seven and WPPO wants to have something on their field, how is Somerset protected? How is Somerset protected if another organization is on their field, if we have an insurance requirement that's not required to cover people? It's not their field.

It's our field. So I'm sorry, Commissioner. Can you try me again, Sure.

Earlier in the document, it says that any organization shall hold the city harmless. Indemnification clause, which means that anyone who gets hurt on the field, they can't come after the city. By putting it onto the organization, whether it be WPPO or Somerset, it was just odd to see these boxes checked off as a no. If we can move this item tonight, but I'd like to give everyone an opportunity to look at this because it's a ten year agreement. And I want to make sure that we can move forward by protecting everyone.

We know that the players have to have a specific athletic shoe to play on that field. We know that not all children are going to have that athletic shoe, which creates a liability. I want to make sure that Somerset or WPP or anyone else is going to be covered. When there's an item that says that you don't have to cover it, it doesn't exclude you from getting sued. So I want to find a way to protect Somerset from exposure. So how do we go about doing that?

So Mr. Dodge is correct. Will say that the risk department reviewed this. However, the two boxes that you're talking about are not related to if somebody gets injured. That's covered under the general liability policy that they're required to carry. And then when this field is built, it is going to be given to the city. It becomes the city's asset. And then our agreement with Somerset just becomes like any other facility use agreement that we have, similar to the one that we have with West Pines Optimist. So they become a user of the city's asset. And the policies that we have that they checked off cover if there is an accident, if somebody gets hurt. It's the city that is the one that's going to maintain this field.

Okay. On that point, because I want to move on. So this is basically a bridge. We have some ground maintenance crews that deal with Bermuda turf. Some do it well and some don't.

Is staff prepared maybe this is to the city manager is staff prepared to have certified personnel to be able to maintain artificial turf within the standards so that this asset doesn't get degraded in any way? Remember, I played in that park for ten years. I know how grounds crews can sometimes fall a little short on performance. I have in the audience tonight our softball folks. And we had to redo a field because we didn't have sprinklers running right at Fletcher.

Things happen. What guarantees does Somerset have that their $1,500,000 investment is going to be protected by the city through certified professionals overseeing this asset. Outside of just boilerplate language, I don't see anything where there's a firm commitment to Somerset that we're going to do our part. And if we fail to do our part, what can Somerset do to claim back any type of damage that the city may cause?

So fair question. Two things. Right now, currently, the parks maintenance contractor that we have does maintain artificial turf. They maintain the high school. They also maintain all of the turf that we have in the elementary school and middle schools. That's part of their contract. Second thing, this field is going to take eighteen to twenty four months to build. We've already notified the commission that we are going to be working on a new agreement for parks maintenance.

Slow down. Say again. You notified whom?

We've notified the commission.

When?

Via the contract database. A couple of I months don't recall, Commissioner. It was sometime after Christmas that the contract with CGA expires.

GREGORY DELL: Oh, that one. Yes.

That's the one I'm talking about. Yes. That contract expires. We're working on the RFP, so we will be going out to bid. And we will make sure that this new field is included and reiterated because it is slightly different than the artificial turf at the elementary school. So that will be incorporated.

I want to ensure that we have certified professionals overseeing an asset like this. This is a huge investment that Somerset is making. I want to protect their interests.

As do I.

Okay. Finally, yeah. So basically, that's what item five was for me. I also want to ensure the Florida DEP is currently reviewing some draft language with respect to artificial turf and boundary. There are two things that the Florida DEP is looking at.

One is residential and one is commercial. Let me define commercial, public space. So if it's not your backyard and anyone can go into it, that's commercial space. The current language that's in draft and the city attorney can verify this, if I'm being questioned, is that there's a 100 foot boundary next to a waterway. And Field 7 backs up to an estuary and backs up the Lido Lake.

I want to make sure that Somerset's investment is protected, that they're able to move forward without getting into a process where there's deep commitments and financial dollars put in, only to have other agencies make decisions. So according to the draft language, the city of Pembroke Pines will have zero jurisdiction over the installation process, over the permitting process. Because if you have less than one acre, cities can't do anything. Not just Pembroke Pines, but all of us. That's what the state law changed.

So there will be limited review from our side, which means that if Somerset is relying upon our expert building department to review everything to make sure everything is correct, we may not be in that position to protect Somerset in accordance with the current rules that are under negotiation.

Am thankful have to raise a point of because none of this was in the Monday night memo. The city attorney, are you aware of this draft language from DEP about this matter?

If I may respond, mayor, the rule that the commissioner is referring to is 60 two-308.100 reference to synthetic turf. The FDEP is in the process under state statute in rulemaking, which is a process that you're all familiar with, which is not your process. It's a statewide process. And there's language which defines synthetic turf and is still a process that's not finalized.

Okay. And based on the draft that you've seen, is there anything there that causes you worry that the Somerset investment might somehow become a boondoggle because of this rulemaking that's going on. Do you see any direct threat to the use of athletic fields coming out of this DEP draft?

GREGORY Let me respond, Mayor. The quick answer is no. Under the proposal, we just looked at the revisions as of yesterday, which really were just revised again. There will be state preemption. But that's what happens with regard to this particular item. There's nothing which is incompatible thus far about the city's ability to engage in the contract with Somerset and for Somerset to engage in a contract back with us. And to the extent possible, there's no internal or external conflicts I can read. There are some limitations with regard to single family residential and certainly properties of an acre or less, which I referred to. This property would not fall into that category.

Okay. So the discussion you keep referring to the Monday memo. Let me be clear. I advised the city manager that I was speaking with counsel for Somerset. And we have been sharing information, Mr. Dickerson, for almost a week everything that I have, they have so that we can come to this meeting. Again, the agenda hit my desk 05:00 on Thursday. I wasn't prepared to have that conversation. Mr. Dickerson and I worked over the weekend to go ahead and try to get as much answered as possible to give Somerset enough advance notice to bring some information and working with the city attorney's office to ensure that there's not going to be an issue.

As far as the agreement goes tonight, we can move forward with that tonight. It's an eighteen to twenty four month process. I just want to have on the record that everyone is clear that there are some moving parts outside of our control that needs to be looked at because there are things that we like to do as cities. And then Tallahassee says, no more. I don't want that to be the process. Do I anticipate it? The city attorney can't say that it is. I can't say it is. Today, that doesn't appear to be an issue. It doesn't mean that when the DEP makes a decision that we're not going to run into an issue at large.

So with that being said, I would like Somerset and see Mr. Dickerson there, nice and quiet. But he knows that we've already spoken about it. So on the record, I'd ask Mr. Dickerson to reach out to the drainage district, South Florida Water Management District, all the environmental people, because I want to protect Somerset. That is my ultimate goal here. It's a huge investment. I want to thank them for making the investment into this community. You are the fabric of Pembroke Pines. And I want to make sure that nobody gets hurt in a financial sense or in a delayed sense.

Again, separate from my other item, but I think Mr. Dickerson and I, in the last ninety six hours, have worked extremely hard to get to this point. And I want to thank the conversation I had with Julio. He and I had the conversation yesterday. And I am comfortable moving forward tonight supporting the agreement.

I just want to make sure that there is a follow-up somehow between administration and Somerset watching all this stuff happening up in Tallahassee so that we don't have kids who are disappointed thinking they're getting something and it might be pulled back. I just don't want to see that happen. We not in the business of doing that, making promises to people that we can't keep. So with that being said, mayor, that's all the comments I have. And I'm happy to support the item tonight. Thank you, sir.

Ed based on my conversations with Mr. Dickerson and with our own city attorney that that's not even a prospect that they consider viable.

Mr. Mayor, just to quickly if I may, quickly for the record, there's language that you asked me to look at, which is in the proposed rule that specifically says the following. And this is in the revision. These standards, which are the ones that are being promulgated by DEP, our state friends in Tallahassee, These standards do not modify the property rights of any entity, including any fee simple interests or any less than fee interests, such as an easement or rights of way. Somerset has some protections here. I know that their counsel is an extremely intelligent, thoughtful lawyer. He's looked at the same provision I have. If there was something incompatible with the contractual obligations, this rule would have an effect on it. It does not and will not. Contractual relationship, which affects the property, is protected by the specific proposed rule. Thank you, mayor.

Thank you. That was

my impression as well. Does anyone else have anything to say?

Briefly, mayor. I certainly won't take that long. I want to thank Mr. Dickerson, Doctor. Montero, former mayor Julio Robaina, who's also like Mr. Mestre, Frankie Mestre, residents of not only the city of Pembroke Pines, but District 4, for your belief in the city of Pembroke Pines. I've only been here twenty two months. Nothing in this agenda item is a surprise to me. I certainly haven't been here fourteen years like Commissioner Schwartz has. I went through this agenda item, and I've been working very closely with Ms.

Golding for less than two years, but really since we started moving the ball forward. So I did ask in the Monday night memo the timeline, eighteen, twenty four months. If Somerset and the city of Pembroke Pines present an agenda item, I think it's Okay to assume that they're both in agreement with the item. Because Somerset wouldn't be coming here with about there's about 40 of you for an item to say, we oppose it. I don't think they would bring their principal. I don't think they bring Mr. Mestre. I don't think I would have received a call from Mayor Rubaina about this item. So I don't know what all that was about. But I thank you, Ms.

Goulding, for your support, for answering every single one of my questions on this.

To Doctor.

Montero, Mr. Mestre, all of you at Somerset, we do love you very much. That's one item I could agree on with Commissioner Schwartz. We love you very much. Thank you for your investment in our city. Mayor, I know you have some public comment. I'd like to move the item forward and actually vote on it because I know they've been here through two swearing speeches. I think you may have gotten some cake. I'm not sure. The chocolate was amazing. But I don't think you anticipated being here that long. So at the appropriate time, mayor, I'd like to move this thing, get it voted and approved.

Okay. And I agree. And before I ask if anyone signed up to speak wants to speak, let me just say I am thrilled that this is coming in for a decision today. I feel very good that it's going to pass. And I think that you all are going to have a great field at long last. It's going to be a beautiful field. It's going to be a field that will last for many, many years. You'll have great play there. I wish you well on it. It will be safe.

It will be environmentally safe. It will be safe to play on. You'll have a lot of fun there. It'll last for a long time. You will spend next to nothing maintaining it. And the number of rainouts that you'll have to endure will virtually disappear if you have a little bit of time to wait it out. I can't tell you how many times I was disappointed growing up in New York as a high school and a college player. And I'd look out the window. Beautiful day. And on Thursday, when I had my game, it was And just around game time, it would stop raining.

But we couldn't play on that field because it was a mud pit. You're not going to have that. If it stops raining before your game, play ball. Because it's going to take twenty minutes for that field to drain. And you're out there and you're playing. And I just think that's fantastic.

I think the mayor wants to throw out the first pitch. I think that's

what he's getting at. However that works out, I'm just very, very pleased that you're going to have a safe, beautiful, environmentally safe surface to play on. It's a great investment for you. It's a great investment for the city. And I support it 150%. Any other comment on this?

I just wanted to say thank you to the Somerset family for investing in Pembroke Pines. I know you guys have campuses and plenty of other things to invest in. So I do appreciate that you're investing in this and not selfishly just taking it for yourself, but also sharing it with the rest of our Pembroke Pines Community. So thank you.

Anything else? Now does anyone wish to speak before we vote to approve this item? Mr. Montero, please come forward. Doctor. Montero, your name and your position on the record, please. There's a button there that says speak, if you could just press it. Yes, sir, you are on.

I'm on. Thank you. Doctor. Bernardo Montero, proud principal of Somerset Academy Charter Middle High North Campus, closing out my twenty fourth year I at want to thank the commission. I want to thank Mayor Castillo, Vice Mayor Hernandez, city manager Dodge, and the commissioners for this opportunity.

I couldn't be more proud of our school, our student athletes, and the fact that we're investing in the city to bring a new adventure to our athletic program, which has been suffering for a long, long time. As long as I've been there, they've never had the joy of having a home base, a home field to play on. It's gonna be a field of dreams. I know that our coaches, our community, our parents, our students behind me could not be more excited to be able to enjoy this opportunity. I really sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind words and your support.

And this is going to be a legacy, a partnership that's going to continue. We're very thankful to the city of Pembroke Pines, the police department, the firefighters, all the people that serve. We've always felt the love and the support. So this is another example of that. And thank you very much from the bottom of my

Thank you.

Okay

then. Anything else, commissioners? If not, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Congratulations. You have a field. Now item 14 also involves synthetic fields. And I invite you to stay. Commissioner, item 14.

Give me one second here. Discussion of possible actions to direct the city attorney's office to draft and adopt a resolution accepting the findings within the Martin County webinar on the ecosystem impacts of artificial turf presented by Marco Chevian and Jason Cruz from the University of Florida and to transmit the webinar contents with resolution to the City of Pembroke Pines Environmental Board. In the item itself online, if you were to click on the link in the back up, you will see the YouTube video of the webinar. I want to thank Mary Stevens, a citizen who serves on our environmental board, brought to the commission's attention that Martin County was leading the charge for the University of Florida to present findings of artificial turf and its impacts on the environment with studies coming out of the state of California. I am not going to get into the nitty gritty of those details.

But what I did do in order to assist the clerk is it's a fifty eight minute video. I have the transcript from the webinar. And this is through YouTube. If we could pass this down and to include it in the minutes for the next meeting.

The

first half of the webinar was focused primarily on how they went about measuring temperature and the impacts it has on player safety along with the overall urban impact. So let me put this in context. We have high humidity in Florida. California has a mix. California has deserts.

We don't have deserts. But what we do have are temperatures similar, let's just say 90 degrees in July. I think we can agree to that. And I think we can also agree that our heat index reported by NBC six and our wonderful news stations have said that we've hit triple digits somewhere in July and August. Now, the vice mayor pointed out that I've been here for fourteen years as elected, but thirty seven years as a resident.

And when I first moved here, there was a blinking light on 184th and there was no guardrail on Flamingo Road to protect drivers from going into the canal. So when I told people I lived in Pembroke Pines, people would say, where is that? And I used to have to say West Of Hollywood. Now when you take a look at the Weather Channel, NBC six, Local ten, they have Pembroke Pines as the hottest city in Broward County every day. So our economic and planning department, they do a fantastic job along with our environmental board with the hopes of increasing our shade coefficient.

So people, please don't cut trees down on Saturdays. It's not helping anybody. But in the webinar, it shows thermal imaging and temperature and how if four neighbors get together and artificially turf their backyard, what is going to happen to the immediate area, which is going to create more heat. So more heat creates your air conditioner to run more because now you have a hotter temperature around your house. So with respect to athletic fields.

What they found is in California is they actually have to put sprinklers on the artificial turf in order to cool them down for the players to play. Especially, if you didn't know, the heat, the highest temperature is 3PM every day on earth in your local wherever you're at, whether it's here in California or in Paris. At 03:00 local time, that's when you have the highest heat because the sun's been beating on the concrete, been beating on the metal, been beating on natural turf. And it creates the hottest temperature, like a pizza stone in the oven. So what they found was anywhere between 50 to 70 degrees hotter on artificial turf versus natural turf.

The webinar spoke about professional associations that are concerned about injuries. But they were more focused on how water runoff commissioner Good impacts everything within the whole ecosystem, the microbes that would naturally be formed in soil, the pockets of drainage that would normally happen. In the webinar, it say that a large rug, like for a football field or a baseball diamond, is going to be deeper than the six inches that you would find in a residential home. It will be two feet, subcompacted with sand, gravel, and then the rug on top. The reason why they have to go deeper is because it's so large, they don't want to have deflections and hills and stuff like that.

So they have to fortify it more. What they found in those cases is that runoff was impacted. Then the webinar mentioned microplastics. And we know that we've been discussing PFAS and what are we going do to get rid of it. So I found the webinar to be extremely educational and enlightening for me.

And I want to thank Mary Stevens from the environmental board for advising all of us of the opportunity to participate and to watch it. So when it was sent to us, I sent an email to the city administration requesting that it be recorded and be disseminated to the city commission. And I want to thank the administration for disseminating the information to the city commission. I hope all of you had time to watch it. For me, there is more information that needs to be collected. What they did point out, the University of Florida and they have some really smart people. You went to the University of Florida, didn't you, Tom? Commissioner Good? You're a gator? Yeah.

So they have some really smart people that go to UF, Okay? They said in the webinar that the state of Florida doesn't want to invest the money in research. They also indicated that from a recycling standpoint, there's not one opportunity in the entire state of Florida to recycle old artificial turf. There's not one place you can take it. It has to be landfilled.

And these are the things that Mary Stevens and other people who have come to me concerned about the environment, they asked me to bring it to us so can ask the I use the word resolution. I don't know if that's the right word or not. I basically want the webinar to be transmitted back to the environmental board so that they can deliberate amongst the citizens to advise us how do we want to move forward. We know that the state if you want to I shouldn't disclose. If you want to put a rug in your backyard, the city can't stop you from doing that.

However, if you want to be a good neighbor and protect the environment and try to lower the heat all around us, there are natural turf ways of doing that. And that was the purpose of my item. And again, having it being on the same agenda as Somerset, I was like, oh, man, this is not a good thing. But it's totally separate. And I do know that there are some members of the environmental board who are really anxious to have that discussion, to sit down with administration, with our parks master plan and things like that, to see how we can be a more environmentally and cooler city.

I love Pembroke Pines. We're the second largest. But I love to see that weather bug, the temperature, to come down a little bit. I don't want to be first in that category. With that being said, I yield. Thank you.

Thank you very much, commissioner. I very, very much appreciate your words. I watched the webinar. And both of the PhDs who were the presenters during that webinar began their discussions saying, we do not have the data to make any findings. They provided information that attempted to compare the use of artificial turf without naming what type of turf it was.

They didn't describe the filler. They didn't describe what type of material they were using. And they tried contrast and compare conditions in a desert area to conditions in an Everglades area. And those are two completely different conditions. But what we can agree on is regardless of what materials are used and our assistant city manager has been talking about materials that do not bleed off PFAS or these other things.

And that because it has come a long way since I was a ball player on artificial turf fields where a ground ball would bounce over your head. This is a totally different material and a totally different era that we're in. And the filler has a lot to do with the heat index. And by and large, what the city is talking about is installing these on soccer fields. And during the hottest months of the year, we don't play soccer.

So the leagues are closed during what is it? July and August? July. So we don't even play soccer in the city during the hottest times of the year. But if the fields needed to be wetted down, they could be wetted down.

They're constantly rained on. They have their own drainage systems. They have their own substrate. It's a science now in terms of how it's going on. And there has been no evidence whatsoever, although there's been a lot of hype, there's been no evidence produced whatsoever that there is an environmental risk associated with the use of high quality artificial turf on soccer fields.

As to what someone does in their home, that's a question of the state building code, as you correctly pointed out. And that's going to have to sort itself out. But here's what we will not have which does cause environmental impact. These fields will not require fertilizers which contain high nitrogen which is bad for our water supply. These fields will not need pesticides which are constantly a problem in the environment.

They don't need that kind of stuff. Now I went back and I took a look. And all of us, all of these votes were adopted unanimously. On May 1533, we had installation of artificial turf fields at the charter school. That field is still there. It's still doing fine. It does operate year round. And no one's fainting on the field or complaining about its heat. They just use it. And it's still in great shape all these years later.

What is that? Years later, it's still in great shape. We also included it in all of our charter schools. A unanimous vote. In fact, you made the motion, and I made the second, to direct administration to go out to bid and to install it, and that's been done. Then there was another one on November 1933 for the Central Campus.

You mentioned mentioned Commissioner Seippel asked for that. I had brought it up for the East Campus. Collegially, we extended it to the Central Campus. Looking at the vote total. I have a memory of an elephant. And that's the reason why I included the transcript of the webinar, because the webinar

says I was very careful not to interrupt you.

So I just want a point of clarification.

I was very careful not to interrupt you. Next, you spoke about the safety of these fields in terms of the players. This is a serious concern that has been raised without any justification whatsoever. There is no data, none that exists that shows that artificial turf fields are any less or more dangerous than synthetic turf fields.

And we know that the NFL Players Association has asked the NFL to get rid of artificial turf.

But we're not talking about the NFL. We're talking about youth soccer.

Okay. And you and I survived asbestos. It doesn't mean that we don't after a fourteen year

period Commissioner, you're interrupt you're you're you're now you're you're now filibustering.

I'm not filibustering.

Listen listen to what the facts are. Okay? Because I I didn't go into webinars that start with, what I'm about to present to you has no data. That's not where I went. I went to

It's Martin County.

Listen carefully.

It's Martin County.

I don't care whether it's Martin County or Orange County or Hillsborough County. They had no data. Okay. Here's where I went. When it comes to safety, I think when you want to find someone pretty much independent who sort of takes care of independently telling you what's safety, I think Sanjay Gupta, who is a neurosurgeon, is a pretty good source.

And he's got a great team of people who do research for him, actual research. Here's what his answer was when asked. Doctor Gupta, are fields made of grass any less safe than fields made of turf? Here's what he said. This is one of the most common types of questions that we get because there's a lot of turf out there.

There's tens of thousands of turf fields now, artificial turf fields now. Here's the bottom line. If you look at games specifically on turf versus grass and we're talking about youth soccer here you don't really see a significant difference in terms of injury rates, which was important to know because there's a lot of data out there over the decades. Where it got a little bit more interesting though is when you look at injury rates from everyday practices. And what you found there interestingly was that there were higher rates of injury on grass versus turf, which I think surprised a lot of people who were conducting these studies.

But the reason seems to be the maintenance of the surface. So with grass, harder to maintain. You may have divots. You may have pooling of water. So with youth soccer, that's the thing you really have to pay attention to more than anything else. Whether it's turf or grass, what is the overall quality of the surface? Surface. I think that makes a lot of sense.

When did he make that quote?

We can provide that. I was going to show the video.

I mean, I'm telling you.

We can

provide I was going to show the video. But the lawyers said that YouTube would pick it up as something that was GREGORY Copywritten. Copywritten, and we would have a problem. So I was forced to read this transcript, which I asked the city attorney to prepare.

GREGORY Well, can do this? Because you can go to the YouTube video and see when it was published. And we'll have an idea of when it was done. Can someone at least do

that? DELL: Just put it in I think there is my email, which is a public record to you sharing the link. Let's share the link. You can all see it yourselves. In fact, you can just Google Doctor. Sanjay Gupta on artificial turf fields. And it should come up. The bottom line here is we have spent an inordinate amount of time. Here's where it's at. These kids are sick and tired of playing on mud and slipping around on mud and falling down.

They're sick and tired of rain outs in our incredibly rainy weather. And while some people, however well intentioned, have these concerns about young people playing on fields, they're not athletes. And they're not the ones that are asking for these turf fields. There are tens of thousands of them throughout The United States. And there will be more.

And all of this stuff about they're going to pollute the land and they're unsafe data that supports any of those conclusions. So if you can find actual data, that's fine. My second point is we don't need resolutions in order to communicate with our advisory boards. Any commissioner, any member of that board can just share the link and ask them to watch it.

Well, again We don't need a resolution to communicate I with our advisory preface. I said I wrote resolution. I don't know what the appropriate term would be. If it's transmit, I just want give them an assignment to go ahead and take a look at it and have a discussion.

I'm not going to assign anything to them. The whole point of having an advisory board is that they get to independently decide Mr.

Mayor, bottom line is congratulations, Somerset. This has nothing to do with you. And while I certainly appreciate you all being here, I know that it's late. I just want to let you know we supported you. It was five nothing. And this discussion, while I agree with the mayor, and I appreciate that the commissioner has a newfound this newfound concern about synthetic turf, you have your field. I don't want you all to be confused. The vote was five nothing. You have your field. We're working on West Pine Soccer Park.

That was also approved. So I know there was concerns expressed to me while I was eating a really big piece of chocolate cake. This has nothing to do with you either. So just letting you know, we're working on your field too.

Thank you. We're moving forward. We already took that vote. So if the environmental board wants to study it some more and they want to see this webinar or some other webinar, that's what they're in the business of doing is deciding what it is that they take a look at. And they need no help on that from us. So if you have a motion to make, go ahead and make it. Otherwise, we're moving on to the next item. Okay, back to consent.

Well, have I may. Go right ahead. So what I like to do, I've been asking for collegial work. Mr. Dodge, what assistant city manager or liaison is assigned to the environmental board? Are they here tonight? Any liaison? No, they're not here this evening. That would be which assistant city manager is the liaison for the environmental board?

That's Mark Gomes. He's not here this evening.

Oh, Okay. I missed Mark this evening. Mr. Dodge, do you have any objection? Because I certainly don't want to go to the environmental board and go, look, the mayor doesn't want to do it as a group, so I'm here.

I'm not going down that not going down that I'm road. Me.

Asking if the city manager would

be open. Excuse me. I have made it very, very clear that it has never been the pattern or practice of this commission to communicate with any advisory board by resolution or to give them assignments of this kind. They know that this webinar exists because one of their members brought it to your attention. If they want to take a look at it, of course they're free to take a look at it. No one here is going to stop them from taking a look at anything they want to see.

Could you just suggest your appointees to look at it, if that's what you want?

I'm sorry? Mary Stevens is not my appointee commissioner.

You suggest any of your appointees on Of a course, of I the video. If they'd like to share it with their boards at home.

On your appointees.

Well, who's appointee is she? Is she yours, Mike? She might be mine.

She was yours, and I maintained her in the seat.

Okay. As far as I'm concerned, if wants to bring this to the environmental board, let her. I think that's fine.

That's what I wanted to hear. Thank you. That's what I wanted to hear. But support

I just don't think that needs to be said. You've been here a long time. You should know. If she wants to bring this to her board, she's free to do that.

Okay. And we also

ask It's nothing them to provide do with what I want or don't want. Is there anything else? Do you have a motion on your item? We have to move along.

No, I think you've been clear.

Thanks. Scott Barnett, you're the next speaker. And you wanted to speak to us on the budget board. Your name and address for the record, please.

Thank you, Mayor. Scott Barnett, nineteen thousand three and forty six Southwest Fifth Street. I come to you I was asked to come here as a representative of the Budget Advisory Board with some discussions we've been having. First of all, I do want to say congratulations, Commissioner Good and Vice Mayor Hernandez. And obviously, I know there is a video that came out today showing kind of what the city provides and the threat of future legislation.

We've had some really in-depth discussions on our advisory board with all of the assistant city managers and especially with Mr. Dodge. I want to thank Mr. Dodge. There has not been any question that he has not answered to the fullest. What I do come here is in a form of encouragement. I'll be brief. Essentially, one of the things we've asked the city to do with the proposed legislation in regard to homestead property taxes is we've asked the city to look at a best case and worst case scenarios. We've done some of those exercises to understand the effects that this could have. We also wanted to commend and approve of the video being created.

But what I want to simply do here tonight is just ask the commission and the city to amplify the message just beyond, even if it's just the video. I feel like I'm preaching to the choir here. Obviously, everybody on this commission knows what's at stake. And they know this intimately. But there's a lot of people out there, there's misinformation out there about the city services that are essential to the city. And I feel like everybody in the city of lives in their own bubble. There are concerns for seniors. There's concerns for families. There's concerns traffic. But we need to have a better shared understanding of what those services are that our government provides to us.

And we want to make sure that everybody understands that there is no waste. There's no bloat. There's no extra expenses. The city is run efficiently and in a lean way. Thank you, Mayor Castillo, when you first started this as commissioner four years ago.

Thank you, vice mayor, for supporting and putting me on the Budget Advisory Board. We just want to make sure that, and the reason that I'm here now before some of that legislation gets on the books, it's my understanding from legal, and thank you, the city attorney, Mr. Morgan as well, that there is a small window of opportunity here for the city to actively be involved. There are limitations of what the city can do in terms of promoting these kind of things. But it's my understanding that there's a short window here to really be active and to make people more aware of all of the city services that are here and that we enjoy to maintain our quality of life.

So it's just encouragement to the video is great. Let's get it out there. But also, let's look for other opportunities to really get the message out there so that we don't lose the pleasure of living in the city. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I have a short comment, if I may. I usually go to your meetings and then I've had a couple calls go late. So I've been watching online. But I think one thing that, if I may suggest, would be really good to see, how would you and your board, like as residents, to see this be proposed throughout social media. Obviously, was a really good video.

And thank you to our communications department for putting that out. But it is a little bit longer and sometimes not as digestible as some social media stuff. How would you and your colleagues on the board like to see that maybe you do a little survey with them and see how would them and their families like to get this information? And we'd be happy to take any use you guys as kind of like a test group and see if there's an option for us to, like you said, put some resources behind it to get it out there. Because we do have, like you mentioned, a very limited time.

The moment the special session closes for that, we cannot spend any taxpayer funds. We can educate people, but it's a tricky subject. So what's the best way for you all to get this information, email blasts, text messages, that kind of stuff, so that we can then take that into consideration? Because I think it is crucial that we inform our residents. And not all of them are on YouTube. So you guys are a good group of a diverse population and representative of our city. So to kind of put that in your agenda in the future.

Yeah, I'll definitely take that back to the virus bird. Also, thank you for your work with League of Cities, because I know this is also being discussed everywhere. And again, it's kind of like we're just preaching to the choir, and everybody in leadership is discussing these items. But I think the regular Joe on the street is less aware of what's at stake. And I know that there are limitations of what the city can do in terms of communication and what kinds of communication.

But as individuals on the board Right. Neighbors, you guys don't have Right. Limitations

on So take that back to the board. And maybe it's, you know, one of the things that we've been doing is we've been going department by department, that was started by Mr. Castillo, to look at all the various departments and understand how they all work. And maybe, obviously the video that came out is great And there's a lot of bullet point items in there. But maybe it's also worth kind of sectioning things out to get more information about each individual area service department to express that. But I'll definitely talk with our board and have a discussion about that. So thank you.

I just want to thank you for coming forward. And I also want to thank you for chairing the Citizens Budget Council. It was a smart move on our part to create this. And I wish we had done it sooner citywide, not just because it's the right thing to do to involve citizens in a direct review of the city's spending and budgeting practices. But also, it's a sign of confidence that a city chooses not to do that lacks.

I've been here now. It's starting twenty three years. And I am very impressed. Just today, the budget staff received for the twenty third year in a row the excellence in budgeting award. That's not something that you get on the back of a cereal box. You've got to earn that. And I believe in complete transparency when it comes to the city's funds. And you all are taking a look at it. It adds an additional layer to the city's internal control structure. I think it's terrific.

And you all are coming along very, very well. You're building up momentum based on your understanding, which is growing every month of a very complex organization. Remember, Pines is a complex organization. But there are folks out there who believe that if the property taxes, which in Pembroke Pines amounts to about $100,000,000 a year, Ms. Dodge, more or less?

$100,000,000 property tax? That everything will be okay. And I'm here to tell you that almost immediately we will not be able to make payroll place. Almost immediately, the rescue portion of the budget will be frozen.

Mayor, can you bring us up to date on the current, as of today, where Tallahassee is standing with respect?

I can't. Right now, I can't because it's very

close. No. Whether the session closed out, there's going to be a special session.

GREGORY All right. So they're calling for a special session.

GREGORY We

don't know whether or not it's to happen or not. It hasn't been called for yet. No one in the Senate wants to do it. The people GREGORY in the House are showing signs, though no one's admitting it on the record, that it was passed simply to assuage the governor. And everyone knows that this is a thing that can't work. I don't know.

So what we know thank you for clarifying what I had read. The House passed, the Senate doesn't have an appetite. There's a special session. Okay, you called a special session. If the two chambers are in the same position, there is no referendum in November. So my question is this. The timing of the video, I thought it was well done. Thought it was unique in the sense that it drew your attention. It was different from what we've ever put out before. I thought the information 100,000,000, 50,000,000.

I thought that message was extremely clear. There was some nuance that I wasn't in love with. But Okay, we put the messaging out. My question is, do we want to spend any additional money if we don't have the special session. I guess what I'm asking is at what point would a social media campaign be prudent?

My opinion, if a special session is called, that's when you go into action. If the special session is not called, we could probably focus on other things knowing that if the governor calls a special session, you move it forward. I know that Senator Sharif has been an extremely good communicator with us and Chevron Jones, Senator Jones, letting us know what the pulse of the Senate is. So it takes two chambers to make it work. I don't know Mr.

Barnett, your group was entrenched in session. Now they're out of session. And your next meeting is going to be when? Scheduled?

In a few weeks' time.

Okay. So hopefully by then we're going to know whether or not they're going back to Tallahassee. I think it's prudent for the budget board again, we're not directing the budget board, but I can imagine there would probably be a topic of there's going to be a special session. Let's talk about it. And I think that would be the appropriate time.

There is the possibility we haven't as the five of us, we have a ballot initiative that we could place on the ballot in November. And the five of us have discussed ways of educating the public on the important things of the things that we may need to ask the electorate to vote for. If the messaging is, say no to something that doesn't exist, it is now going to conflict with things that we do need. That is not

the message. I am concerned That's not the message.

GREGORY I am concerned that if we put something out that right now is dead in the water, not going to happen GREGORY We don't know that. GREGORY GREGORY We don't know that. So why put something out?

GREGORY Because the time to be If educated is always now. GREGORY

it's education, then we should be talking about how we can educate the public on public safety and how we can go about getting that done.

That sounds good. Mr. Dodge, Commissioner Schwartz wants to have more video Yeah, on public

more discussion on that. More discussion with specific items on how we get things done that people can get behind. Okay. So those are the education. And you know what? When those things happen, they happen at town halls when you're them, able to have that discussion. Ask folks, what do you think about the possibility of? But some of us don't have that option when the doors get locked. And I'll leave it there.

Well, the doors get locked because we have to create rules now. And that's also

on today's It's interesting when you create the problem so you can claim the solution there. That's very, very funny.

If I can Okay. One last thing. I be remiss if I didn't thank also Ms. Chung, Ms. White, also Ms. Graham, who are there every meeting. And their staff are there late at night with us. And I want to show them appreciation. But I do want to say that every meeting, they are in tune with every single thing that's going on with possible legislation. And to address Mr. Schwartz, I understand your concern. But I liken it the same way that we do capital improvements in the city. There's always a design plan that needs to be brought to the fore. And this is the time DELL: to do it right now. Whether it's going to pass, whether it's not going

to pass, there's nothing wrong with having a plan

in It advance. Could

happen next year.

GREGORY Because this is just a way for, I believe, we need to be proactive as a city to get out ahead of it and to have a plan before it's too late.

GREGORY That's right.

Thank you very much.

If I may add last thing, it's not about framing or suggesting to residents where they should put their vote on a ballot if this comes in the future. It's simply about education regarding our budget, which is what we've been trying to do with this Budget Advisory Board for a really long time. It's not to persuade. It's not to say yes, vote here, vote no there. That is up to every single individual. Agree. Thank you.

Yeah, we do not have a political directive at the board.

You. I need to finish. Yeah. It is critical because our residents, when this whole thing came up about property taxes, it is eye opening just how little people know about where their taxes go. We should be obvious because the moment that we're not obvious about where your taxes go, that's when the apathy comes into our residents. And they say, well, why do I even pay taxes? There's still potholes. But when we put out signs, when we have some of our trucks that are out there doing the work get branded and people know, hey, Pembroke Pines is working for us, that grows the community. And that grows the appreciation for the community. So it's not about persuading anybody.

It's not ever too late or too early to do that persuasion in the sense of just educating people about where they are. And that was the point of the advisory board. And if we put money behind some kind of educational purpose, which I've always been adamant about that we do because people don't know enough about local government. Earlier, Vice Mayor Hernandez mentioned about the pitiful turnout for these elections. We have March elections, and people don't know that we have these elections.

Maybe we can consider changing them. But until we do, we have to educate people. And if they at the very least know, hey, these five people up here are deciding where our taxes go and so do our department, they have a bigger voice to actually say, hey, maybe I should show up to a city hall. Maybe I should vote against this thing. Maybe I should do this.

So this isn't a conversation regarding anything specific that is coming out of the legislature. This is a conversation about our duty to educate every single one of our residents about where the taxes go. And we are doing a disservice to our constituents if we say, actually, we're not going to worry about that until the special session comes. Because there's plenty of other special sessions too. Just because Ron DeSantis is leaving in November doesn't mean that this isn't going to be happening in the future.

And whether it happens, doesn't happen, people need to be aware about where their taxes go. And that education needs to be happening now. I don't understand why it hasn't been happening, but it needs to happen now. And if it's the directive of the board from you all or an advisory board to us, or if it's one of us bringing that up, that's the education we need to be doing regardless of what Tallahassee decides to do. Thank

you, Luigi. Thank you very much.

Thank you very, very much. Ms. Greenberg, did you have something to add?

And then

we're going to move on.

New mic. Ryan Greenberg, 19485 Southwest 67th Street in our wonderful city Pembroke Pines.

Yes, ma'am.

I agree wholeheartedly with my commissioner, Rodriguez. We need to educate the public now. I posted the city's video on We Love Pembroke Pines. And people do not understand where our tax dollars go. They think it's flying up into the air just to be spent.

And we have to make sure there's a pothole project, and that's x amount of dollars so that our cars aren't destroyed on the road. Road widening. Anything thirty seconds, keep it small so that people's attention span don't go to the next video. We need to focus on educating the public in Pembroke Pines on where our dollars go Because the fraud, waste, and abuse that's being said out there that our cities are just wasting our tax dollars is not true. And we need to combat that. Thank you.

Thank you very, very much. Okay, the consent agenda consists now of items one, two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. What's your pleasure?

Motion to approve consent agenda.

There's a motion to approve the consent agenda. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion? Any from the public? All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. City attorney resolutions.

Thank you, mayor, if you will. Next up, mayor and commission, is item number 11. It is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty six R-one 103, which is a resolution of the City Commission of the City Of Pembroke Pines, Florida, approving the potable water and wastewater services agreement with Bergeron Southwest Ranchers US twenty seven LLC and Bergeron US twenty seven LLC, authorizing the city manager to execute the potable water and wastewater services agreement with Bergeron Southwest Ranchers US twenty seven LLC and Bergeron US twenty seven LLC, providing for a recordation, providing for conflict severability, and providing for an effective date number 11 on the floor, which is proposed resolution twenty twenty six R03, mayor.

I motion to approve.

It's moved by the vice mayor. Who's the second? Second. Seconded by commissioner Good. Any discussion? Any from the public? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Item 12.

For the record, mayor and commission, that's 3,944. 394. 4 is the permanent number. Number 12, mayor, if I may? Yep. Thank you. This is motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty six R04, which is also a resolution of the city commission of the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida, approving the town hall meeting request commission policy attached here to exhibit A related to town hall meeting requests by elected officials, providing for conflict severability, providing for ineffective data. For the record, that is on the record item 12, which is twenty twenty six R-four proposed form. Thank you,

ma'am. Thank you. Moved by Commissioner Schwartz. Who's the second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion? Any from the public? Hearing none, all those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Thank you. 3,945

for the record, Mayor.

That's the permanent number on Regular agenda.

Thank you. Next, bring it up, Mayor. Yes. Yes, number 13 for discussion with the mayor and commission and the city administrations. Discussion of possible action regarding the sale of Pines Place Towers, the backup of which is included in your green book and online for public consumption. 13 on the record, mayor. Thank you.

Mr. Dodge? Yes, mayor and commission. As you know, the purchase sale agreement we had with Hayden Glades was rescinded by them due to the fact they had some issues with obtaining financing for the purchase of this senior housing. When we started this process a few years ago, there was another offer that was made to the city.

It was not as high as the number that we were negotiating with Hayden Glade. So at this point, that company has contacted me. And they are once again interested in the project at the same amount, actually a little bit more than what Hayden Glades was offering. It was 90,250,000. What I would recommend to you this evening is to allow me the opportunity to negotiate with that company.

And once we conclude that, to bring back a recommendation to the commission. I don't believe this process will take as long in that the company has been following the process all along. And I believe the terms that were in Hayden Glades that this commission approved, they're pretty much in sync with that. But I need to get assurance this time that that company has the financial resources to do it and we don't waste several months negotiating the terms of the lease and they're unable to obtain financing. So with that, my recommendation would be to allow me to negotiate with them and bring back

a recommendation to you soon. So let me sort of begin our discussion about this. And I think that we should sort of discuss it very carefully. Hayden Glade is a fine company that we went a long way to help, even so far as getting legislation passed in Tallahassee. I personally went up to Tallahassee to press that need.

And the legislature approved that the governor signed it. And even though Hayden Blade won't be the beneficiary of that work because they can't get the financing that they wanted, it enhances the deal of Pines Place. Mr. City Attorney, does it not?

Absolutely, Mr. Mayor does. So

the options are to accept yet another unsolicited proposal or to go to bid with it. If you go to bid with it and you don't get the number, we will have regrets. The amount that's on the table is exactly what we said we wanted to get before, which is probably at the higher end of what's possible. Mr. Dodge, do you agree with that?

Yes, I would. So

this is one of those cases where rules don't actually solve the problem for you. You have to use business judgment. And I will support what this commission decides to do. If you choose to say, mister Dodge, we appreciate your recommendation, but we wanna go to RFP, and we end up with a number that's less than 90, well, that's on us. Or you proceed with the number that we had all felt comfortable with before with a company that in what mister Dodge promises will be a narrowed negotiation time because the issues have largely been beat up to solution with our first attempt.

And we'll know the answer to that. So it's really a business judgment. And I don't think that there are any wrong answers, except if we end up with a bid that's substantially lower than what we have in front of us. That could be embarrassing. So it's really up to you all where it is that you want to go. And I think the transaction is important to the city. However, how we get there is up to your business judge.

I have a comment.

Yes.

Commissioner? Obviously, it being such a large sale, we're going to take some time, go over contracts, things like that. I'm Okay with starting that process now. But I would like to have a little bit more information about what that company is, how they make their money. Will they continue to follow the same agreements that we had with Hidden Glade regarding not raising the rent for our tenants because that's the last thing we do.

We still want to keep this affordable. So I'd like to know when we could get the name for this company as well as kind of any background information. When we got the name for Hidden Glade, I looked into kind of their business practices. Most of these companies obviously make their money available to them by providing tax deductions to the companies that finance these items. So just would like a little bit more information and background on the company. We obviously had months and months and months to get to know Hidden Glade. And I'd like as much information considering that the hope is that this would be in a speedier timeline.

The mayor is indisposed. So who else would like to speak?

Vice mayor, if I may. Hayden Glade is a fine company. It was a complicated transaction. I was with them 100%. Mr. Dodge, the feeling I get is twofold. We need money for public safety. We need money for parks and rec. We need to keep rents affordable. We need to improve the asset that we have.

The timing of going under contract to allow the commission to review what Commissioner Rodriguez is mentioning of who it is, how long they've been in business, what's their business track record, And their speed of closing is going to be very important to me. The speed of closing needs to be before we have our budget workshop let me strike that. Before we have a millage discussion in June, I'm looking at a sixty day closing. If they're able to put something like that together, great. Otherwise, we don't make it in next year's fiscal budget.

And given the discussion that we've been having about potential catastrophic tax reduction, we have an asset that we have to do one of two things. It either goes to private sale or we have to make an investment in that asset. Either way, it needs to be in next fiscal year's budget and we have to act on that. I'm thankful that someone was looking at this process and they see a potential investment in our community. I'm thankful for that.

Looking back at the Hidden Glade situation, I don't think any of us saw that financing was going to be an issue this late in the game. And when the memo came out in early February, my heart broke because of the amount of work and time and effort that every single one of us put in and the commitments that we made to those people who live there for it to be up in the arrogant. So can you give us a sense, Mr. Dodge, the speed at which we can see this potential opportunity? Do you have an idea?

Will it be March 31? Will it be April 15?

Well, first, commissioner, if I may. I believe within the next thirty days, we can bring back to you, especially the questions that Commissioner Rodriguez had, actually what that deal is. Real estate transactions are complicated at times. And I cannot guarantee you that that information and we would have a closing prior to the end of this fiscal year. It would be great.

I think the company is aggressive. We'll move forward with it. But first, I need to provide to you an actual agreement that you would be able to sign off on. And then they go through their due diligence. And based upon that, then we decide on the closing.

I think the city attorney may have a better timeline for how much that may take. Regarding the budget and next year, I don't think whether we do it prior to the adoption of the budget. These dollars that we receive would not be allocated for operating ever. So it wouldn't have an effect on the millage or anything else. The dollars that we have remaining are capital dollars that could be programmed any time after the fiscal year.

So my goal is within the next thirty days or so, or maybe in the next two commission meetings if possible, to bring you an agreement for purchase from this company.

Would the information in front of us be robust enough let me ask it in a better way. Will it require a workshop for us to have a discussion prior to the commission meeting? And I don't want to I want to be able to have us this is a $90,000,000 deal. And I want to make sure that we have the appropriate time without the pressure of 27 other items on the

agenda. Commissioner, my report, I have a series of dates that I'm going to ask you for workshops for different items. But the item we bring back to you in thirty days would be pretty conclusive as to what the deal is. I'm telling you at this point, from the way I understand it, it would be very, very similar to what the Hayden Glades offered regarding caps on rents, 80% AMI. All of the things that were in that, this company has been watching.

And they understand from the conversations that the commission has had that they know what the commission is looking for. So I believe thirty days you'll have that information.

Well, that's good news. Anyone else? Yes.

Commissioner Good. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I'll just say, yeah, I'm not opposed to, you know, taking a look and see what this other offer may be. I know that they were very aggressive even while we were in in in this process with Hayden Glades.

You know, they were certainly pinging a lot. And I do agree that, you know, it was it was a good deal, a lot of things. We did a lot to really make this work for Hayden Glades, as the mayor said, even to the point where, you know, we've even spent a lot of time and money dealing with legislative action that benefits everything. And as he says, it makes it even more attractive. Right?

Probably for other places even outside of Pembroke Pines. But, you know, again, you know, I don't want to get overly money is important, but also the improvements to terms of the deal was important too because these people were going to get improvements to their to their living conditions as well. And mister manager, you know, we've had a brief conversation about this. You know, I did express my concerns about, you know, some of these, particular rents and how much they would be paying going for the next, what, fifty years or so. I can't recall how long the term of that contract would be.

So yeah, let's take a look. I'm not afraid of doing a bid either because, again, of course, we can get less, but we can also get more. And if we don't get more, we can always reject the bids and deal with it later again. But I do think it's worthwhile. I ask, too, that I am not left out of the loop until the very end.

This is a very huge impact to my district. I spent a lot of time talking with people in regards to when they were going through the Hayden Glades, and finally things seemed to be calm. But I will tell you another round of this is not going to be like everything is Okay and like we're continuing on with Hayden Glade's going to reset. Nobody's going have these questions all over again. So I would like to be a little bit more informed about as you progress.

I mean, yes, maybe you don't need to tell me all the details of the terms, but I do need to know enough that if I'm if I'm gonna be in in an opposition to it, I need to let you know in advance before you, commit and bring it before the commission here. And at the same time, I trust that you're going to do what's in the best interest of the city. So those are my comments there, Mr. Mayor. So I will be watching this very closely. It is a very huge impact to my community.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Vice mayor.

I'm going to be in line with Commissioner Good. He's the district commissioner. I just point of clarification, do we have to make a motion here?

No. This the is direction to the

If that was required, I was going to say make the motion. But I'm in line with Commissioner Good. He is the district commissioner. I spoke with city manager Dodge extensively on it. And I have confidence that if you have something in front of you yes, we need details. But if you have it in front of you, this is something that is critical to the city's finances moving forward, What we would use that windfall, I guess you could say, for, including potentially debt reduction, etcetera, is very important to the future of Pembroke Pines. So I agree with you.

I think we have a consensus here, Mr. Dodge. I would simply add to the list that the residents that are accepted into any vacancies there be super prioritized by being Pembroke Pines residents or having connections to Pembroke Pines. I think it's very, very important, frankly, for every city to work with housing providers who, to the extent that the city is the sponsor of the project or involved in the project, that benefits our own people. I just think that that's good public policy, whether it's Pembroke Pines or any other city.

And so Hayden Glane was all on board with that, where they had a vacancy that they would call community services and that they would take the next person on the waiting list and offer them a unit. And that that person was not only criminal background checked and financial background checked, but they're from Pembroke Pines, or they have a connection directly to Pembroke Pines. Or they're potentially a police officer recruit. We have to really thank the chief for all of the hiring that they've done. They took us out of a horrible situation where we had all these vacancies.

Vacancies happen all the time. And it is a tool that he's not required to use. But I want it to be a tool that's in his tool belt that if it takes bringing on a high quality recruit that an affordable unit comes with it, I think that's great. And also good for the housing complex. The same thing goes to the fire department.

And other employees of difficult to hire but essential to have nature. So I think we have a consensus. Do you have any other questions of us that we didn't answer? No, mayor. I I think you have leave to go

your position, and I'll provide you with updates as we move forward.

Thank you very much. Okay. The next item is reports of the league and MPO representatives. Commissioner Rodriguez.

General membership meeting is tomorrow at the same place that Dania Hotel that they always do it at. I was actually in DC this morning and a little earlier in the month for the National League of Cities congressional conference, where it's similar to some of the other league events, but this one specifically focuses on everything going on on the federal level rather than statewide. I put together some conference notes that I'm going to share with you, as well as some of the presentations and flyers that I received. But in the essence of time, I just want to go over some of the the two core items that were brought up that were of interest to this body. They talked a lot about the Basics Act, which is a I'll read just briefly.

Basics Act reflects how federal programs can be more responsive to the priority needs of each region and district regarding transportation. So the bill would target bridge funding based on condition and ownership, strengthen flexible formula programs for local and regional project delivery, direct safety dollars at high risk roads, support both metropolitan and rural transportation planning capacity, reinforce accountability in locally driven projects. I think the main key in all of this is the fact that the goal is to bring the infrastructure funds down to the local level. A lot of what we see is from the federal, down to the state, to then to the MPOs, and then to us. And some of what they're looking at and this is a bipartisan issue as well that they are looking to directly give the funding to those who manage the roads, the infrastructure, the bridges, and whatnot.

So they had some really good explanations about all of this. And they have a one pager that I will also share with you all. Unfortunately, the day that they were going out to The Hill was today. And I couldn't make it because I had

to come back

here, make it on time. But I've set up a request for meeting with our congressional representative to make sure that she also knows about all of this, even though there were others from the Broward delegation who met with her office at The Hill today, as well with our state senators and other representatives, and were able to give a lot of this information. So I don't think it's anything new to her, but definitely something that we can advocate. It'd be great if she heard from all of us, I'd be happy to send over the information. The other thing that I thought was interesting and I will share these notes as well is the conversation about PFAS.

PFAS and PFAS filtration. And I'll send this to Mr. Welch as well. It kind of piggybacked off of what the US Conference of Mayors talked about in regards to the question that we all had, where do these filtration systems go? Because that's kind of the question that we all have.

One session explained to us that most likely they would be going into hazardous waste landfills. And the issue with that is a law called CERCLA, which is the federal law that deals with hazardous waste sites, especially when they're abandoned or need cleanup. So basically, under CERCLA, the polluter pays. So if we are contributing to these landfills and then they are deemed that they need closure, they need management, they need all that other stuff, we are then on the hook for that. So some of the advocacy groups and I'll get Mr.

Tim Welch the information as well about the advocacy groups that are working on this, because that's really important to be able to support them. Their goal is to turn an exemption for CERCLA for the PFAS to the actual pollutants, which are the people who create PFAS. Because then we are kind of double paying in the sense of not only are we paying for the filtration of the PFAS, but then, god forbid, we have to pay for one of these sites that needs to be closed down. So they talked about that, which was really important and I think kind of a little eye opening to everybody there. Because now it's like, wow, we're paying for somebody else's mistake twice.

So I think we can all learn a little bit more about this and then be able to, either with our lobbyists, federal and state, to be able to kind of push that idea forward because I think it is really important, especially if at the federal level they're making us go through this. From the EPA, they obviously didn't have really much any guidance regarding the PFAS and everything going on. They had a representative there that mentioned that they were going to be coming back to give some kind of guidance specifically to the permitting for these treatment plants and if those filtrations change any of that. There was also a session that I attended regarding communications and ADA compliance within our websites. I believe by later this year, our website, if not already, needs to be completely ADA compliant, including our PDF documents.

And I know that we're talking about a website refresh. But I think it's really important for us to keep that in mind, keep those guidelines in mind. There's a couple of tools and resources that they sent over that are free for us to use or for whoever manages our websites to be able to use, because a lot of cities were getting sued, actually. Because if you go on there by actually only five claimants or sewers, whatever the name is, that go through municipal municipal and government websites and kind of say, hey, this is an ADA compliant, and then would send the federal government a claim and say, they're doing wrong against me. And then people have had to settle.

So unfortunately, that's something that we have to consider. I'm sure our website and I hope is ADA compliant. And at least in the website refresh, we can get that done by 2027. There is also another session and I'll wrap up with this regarding tax incentives that we can use to incentivize more development in the cities with I forget what they're called opportunity zones as well. And so I will get that information because I was on the plane doing this.

So there's a couple of things that they're changing for opportunity zone designations. And whether they apply to us or not, there's other parts of the new laws coming into place that would allow us to work with some organizations. I asked how Live Local Act kind of plays into that, because sometimes there's a couple other states that have similar laws to Live Local. And some of the answers were that these could be some types of the incentives that we use to be able to give these developers a chance to work with us rather than go to the live local route. So I have a bunch of things to share.

I'll have them put in your desk. We're emailed to you. And then we can pick and choose what we want to dive into in the future. But it was a really useful conference, especially because we usually go to the state ones, or we go at these general meetings that are hyper localized. And these are obviously larger ideas that we need to also be following. And I'm hoping to also send this to our federal lobbyists as well.

Thank you, Commissioner. Excellent report. Much appreciated. Commissioner Good on the MPO.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So probably only two things worth noting. One was we did have a little bit of a discussion for surtax and whether the surtax dollars can be leveraged for bond issues. So again, in attorney language, they bring more questions than answers.

But I do believe that what's clear is that the surtax dollars bonding using surtax dollars is not spoken to in any of the agreements. And it can only be applied to repair and maintenance projects. That means if we have capital projects, those dollars cannot be used for bonding. But if we have overlays and other things of that nature, then it seems like that those funds can be bonded. However, every year, you have to ask for the funding to be provided that would repay the bond.

So I know that our attorney's office is working with the surtax attorney, Nathaniel

What's the GLitsburg.

GLitsburg, yeah. Deputy County Attorney. Yeah, I've dealt with him on other matters as well, too. But again, it all is going to come down to a bond counsel issue, really. That's what it comes down to.

So that's about where that goes, which is at least I've got some answers, but I still have questions. The only other thing that came up of interest is there was a project that seemed to have gotten pulled. And it was actually a mass transit project that goes along '27, which was building a rail line out on '27. And what they were going to do is they were going to do a PD and E, which means that we're basically going to study the feasibility of doing something like that. So they nixed it.

That's out totally. And matter of fact, a question about that project is that if the counties, the three counties, let's say, wanted to continue doing that project, looking at the feasibility, then the three counties would have to pay for the PD and E, which is tens of millions of dollars. But Mr. Manager, I ask that maybe there's a little bit more follow-up. I seem to have the way I've understood what was very important in that conversation about the PD and E is that in the future, all PD and Es would have to be paid by the benefiting agency.

So that means if we were going to get a project like many of the projects have been brought before us, the PD and E is the first step of any of those projects that are funded from federal or state money. And that means that if we don't do a PD and E, if we don't pay for it, that means we won't ever get the project. So I'd for a little bit more clarification on that for other projects as well because it seemed the way I understood that conversation was going forward, DOT is going to require PDEs to be paid for by the benefiting agencies. And that could be pretty dramatic for us. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That's my

I forgot one thing. I don't know if I mentioned it during our last meeting. I forgot when this meeting was. But the directors meeting I think I haven't mentioned it. The directors meeting, the last one that we had for the League of Cities, was a conversation with one of the city managers from Hollywood who was taking the lead in the discussions with the school board.

I believe the manager should have this presentation, because it was also for or Mr. Bonilla has it. If you could share that to the rest of us. They just went through the presentation kind of where negotiations are at. Seems like we're stalled. They're not doing very good in the negotiations. I spoke to the chief about it as well. So if we can get the fellow commissioners up to date on that, I'd appreciate it. If you need it to be bumped, I was about to send it to you as well. But that's something that we need to consider.

Obviously, they're taking the lead, they're taking a strong lead that we should be paid in full, especially considering in the case that or at least ramping up to that. In the case that in the future we may be in a more difficult financial situation is the urge that the school board pays in full as a ramp up period. But there's a couple different dynamics going on there. So I suggest that you guys look at the presentation, and it gives some of the breakdowns between each of the cities and how everyone's kind of corresponding to it as well. So important part, didn't want to miss it. So I apologize for not bringing it up earlier.

Thank you very much. Reports of the city manager?

Yes, mayor. There's three different workshops that I'd like to get established. On March 31, we have a regular commission meeting. I would suggest, recommend at 4PM that day to have a workshop on the building department bid spec review. Okay. If that is okay with everybody?

What date was that?

March 31 is our meeting, regular commission meeting. Yes, it is a Tuesday. And if we can meet at 04:00 to review the billing department bid specs. Okay. Right.

On That's at 04:00?

04:00.

Also, the state of the city will be on the thirty first.

That would be

at your regular meeting there. Right.

Can we Then Sorry April to interrupt. The state of the city, I think, is really, really, really, really GREGORY

can't hear you.

GREGORY The state of the city is really important. And last year, I don't believe I saw it on the agenda, but I don't believe it was kind of promoted as something going on in the city as an event. And I think we need to do that because it's, like we mentioned earlier, the education of how the city is doing as well.

Yep. I agree. On April 22, I'm asking if you are available. It's a Wednesday evening at 06:00 to have the budget visioning retreat.

The twenty second, right?

April 22, so Wednesday evening. I can't commit just yet. If it's Okay, can I let you know on the thirty first?

I can't hear you, commissioner.

I can let you know on the thirty first. I can certainly work towards being available on the twenty second, but I can't commit tonight for the twenty second. I'll know by the thirty first, by our next meeting, if you're Okay with that.

I still didn't hear you. You cannot make that night?

He's not sure yet. He'll tell you on the thirty first.

Okay. Then the last workshop,

April 22, I'm not here.

GREGORY DELL: Then we can't have it. GREGORY DELL: Okay.

I'll pick some other dates then.

Just want to put on the record, on the twenty third, I'm going to go see Bruce Springsteen. I GREGORY I

said the twenty second.

GREGORY Yeah, know. But in the event that we can't do the twenty second and you're doing the twenty third, I'm going to go see the boss. So I won't be available.

I'll check with everybody else on the thirty first. And the last workshop would be the last Wednesday of the month, April 29 at 06:00, to talk about municipal solid waste sustainable efforts. That's fine. April 29 is the last Wednesday of the month. Is everybody Okay with that date? Yep. Okay.

I can

we'll revisit the budget visioning one.

Thank you very much. That's all

I have here. I don't

know why you can't hear me. For the twenty second and twenty ninth, I can let you know on the thirty first.

The twenty second is off.

Is off. Two previous I'm still

going to let you know on the thirty first. Yeah. I will work

DELL: towards

that for the twenty ninth. But I'll let you know in two weeks.

On the thirty first, I'll try to find you with another date for the one that's not available on the twenty second. Okay.

April 29, it's the same thing. I can't commit until the thirty first. Yes. Thank you.

And until then, we'll be dancing in the door.

I knew you were going to come up with a joke.

That's it, mayor.

Okay. City attorney. Mr.

Mayor and Commission, given your consensus this evening, will coordinate with Mr. Dodge and others in the professional staff to begin working on the Pines Place transaction with promptness and with full advice and consent and direction from you all. We have a lot of documentation in hand from the last transaction. We welcome the exchange with the new sub sub lessees of the property. We'd certainly coordinate back with you promptly. Thank you for that opportunity, Mayor. Appreciate it.

Yes, sir. Thank you. All right. Commissioner Schwartz, we have item 15.

Discussion, possible action to have the city attorney and appropriate city staff evaluate the regulation of livestock and farm animals for the purposes of protecting the public against negative environmental and health impacts while protecting the livestock and farm animals from inhumane living conditions. If I may ask, through the same manager, have Mr. Mike Stam come down to shed some light on our land code. What is this issue? We recently had at a Board of Adjustment hearing the community raising concerns about horses and the byproduct that horses leave and the impacts on neighbors, the animals, and the environment.

And Mr. Stam and I had a discussion about our code being somewhat silent on protecting I don't want to take away from Mr. Stamm. But mayor, we have in our code roughly 35,000 or 36,000 square feet is required for an animal. But then you have the house. And then you have the barn. And you start adding other things to the property. And you no longer have grazing for animals.

All right. But I'm trying to catch up. Sure. Because there was no real backup here. So is there a case before

No. The Board of Justice? It's been settled. The case had to do with a structure in which they dispensed of the item.

Of the MINOR? Are we talking about manure? We are. Okay. And is this happening in District 3 where there's a ranch area?

There's only Or District 4? There's only one section, and that's Durango And Trails?

No. You can have a horse in District 4.

I wasn't aware of that.

Yeah. Some of those properties are big enough for us. So this is in Durango in the trails?

Well, was from a discussion of an item in Durango. Mr. Chairman, thank you for being here.

And it's because the manure is doing what? GREGORY Okay. So there was testimony.

There was testimony Mr. Chairman, jump in because you were the one who ran it. There was testimony that there was unprocessed horse manure being spread on property that did not belong to the horse's property for the purposes of fertilization. There was testimony regarding the concerns about manure running off into our waterways. There were concerns about the condition of the animal.

Mr. Stamm, the title of the land development code, and if you can help me it's getting kind of late. You can help It's silent.

Horse poop.

Can we It's silent.

Talk about that. That's it.