City Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting of 03/21/2026. It's great to see you all. Thank you so much for joining us today.

And

Mr. Clerk, if you could please call the roll.

Commissioner Good?

Just give him a second. He's here. Continue with the roll.

Vice Mayor Hernandez? Here. 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

so very, very much. And today, we will have the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem performed and led by Gabriela Perez Ortega. She's 17 years old. She attends the College Academy at Broward College. She's a city resident in the city of Pembroke Pines since the day she was born.

And she's currently Miss Broward County Teen America and the former Miss Pembroke Pines 2024. Ladies and gentlemen, Gabriela Perez Ortega. Whenever you're ready, you can lead us in the pledge. 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.

Gabriela Perez Ortega, age 17, Thank you so very much. That was absolutely beautiful. Thank you. Mr. City Clerk, are the slides ready? Thank you. Thank you very, very much, and welcome, Mr. Vice Mayor, members of the city commission, Mr. Dodge, Mr. Goran, Mr.

Fernandez, outstanding staff, ladies and gentlemen, Pembroke Piners. The state of Pembroke Pines is strong. We remain the second most populated city in Broward County and the eleventh largest in Florida. We remain a highly respected community in which to live, raise a family, retire, do business, or recreate. We remain a highly diverse economic engine while retaining a decidedly suburban lifestyle.

We have the benefit of a city hall filled with outstanding and highly respected public servants, experts in their fields who keep us moving forward and keep our city moving forward. We remain a low tax city known for outstanding municipal services. We remain a forward real estate market with high demand for homeownership and commercial activity. And we remain the city that cares, can, and does, an unofficial motto that drives all we do. Now we've heard the claim that the bond issue, which did not pass last March, should hang around the city's neck like a political burden.

But I'm here to tell you that it will not. I don't see it that way. Our residents don't buy it either. They're a smart group of people. They love our city, and they know that doing nothing to improve our infrastructure was no solution to our city's problems.

They wanted progress but simply felt they could not finance it last March like they had in years past, and we respect that. But let me address this point more thoroughly and directly. Long before I became mayor, this city commission knew that our infrastructure was aging and our needs were growing in the areas of roads, drainage, park, traffic, and more. Years had passed before those investments had been made, and they were necessary. The city needed an injection of capital investment to offset the deterioration that age and constant use bring.

It was an urgent need that waited too long. A reinvigorated infrastructure program was needed to restore our community standards. We, this, your city commission, did not fall short of confronting that concern with diligence and enthusiasm, as we always do what this city requires. At the same time, we face significant new challenges, uncertainties in trash and recycling, vacancies in police and fire, and a lack of a clear plan guiding our direction. Today, those police vacancies are filled, and we have a strong strategic plan.

The trash and recycling dilemma has a decidedly more acceptable direction. And a series of charter and ordinance reforms made over the last year and a half have made our city safer, stronger, and more focused. The strategic plan that led to the bond program was years in the making. It was advanced because it was the right solution. It is still an outstanding plan.

But in this city, voters have the final say. And when they said they just weren't comfortable at the time, we listened. We didn't dwell. We didn't pout. We didn't point fingers. We improvised. We adapted, and we overcame. We prioritized, and we moved forward, delivering the most critical improvements needed without raising taxes. I supported that plan then and stand behind it now. And I wanna commend my colleagues on the city commission for doing the same.

We are moving forward better than ever because the leadership we're applying is second to none. This isn't about looking back. This is about what you do next. And what we've done is keep moving forward. We've engaged our residents. We're communicating with them better than we ever had before. And we've strengthened our vision and continue to deliver results because real leadership isn't saying no. It's not being a naysayer. It's not inventing excuses. It's not about playing politics.

It's about delivering results and getting the job done. Real leadership isn't just saying no. It's getting the job done. And that's who we are in Pembroke Pines. We move forward.

And so I'm very happy to say that over the next three years, the city will rehabilitate all of our parks, complete our road and traffic easement projects, and address flooding to the extent possible. We shall restore recycling while upholding our objection to incinerating trash. We will address housing affordability together with our private sector partners and improve our communications with those we care for most, our taxpayers. And we will do it all without a tax increase. It won't be as much as we want it to do, but it won't build a new public safety complex.

It won't advance the economic development agenda as we had planned to do. But we will find other ways. We cannot do this alone, but we will still move the city forward and overcome those important challenges. Some $66,000,000 in much needed capital infusion will address the bulk of what our city needs, reinvigorating Pembroke Pines for decades to come, protecting our values, and upholding the community standards, the standards that have earned the respect and admiration of millions. I'm proud of this commission.

We respected the will of our voters and never lost momentum. Because in the end, victories only belong to those who solve problems. And that's who we are. We are a problem solving community. Pembroke Pines doesn't stand still. We step up and we get the job done. We listen. We learn. We lead. And we do it together as a community, as a family.

And we will keep building this great city in ways that not only meets its challenges but rises above them. Over the course of 2025, in our great police department and I want to thank them for everything that they do The crime rate in Pembroke Pines was reduced by 33%. Amazing things you can do when you're fully staffed. And I want to thank them for everything that they do. Community patrols increased by 15%.

Traffic enforcement and education efforts increased by 14%. Code compliance, voluntary compliance rate, 80%. They go out. They see a problem. They talk to the homeowner.

80% of them resolve it themselves right away without any need for any administrative or legal action of any kind. And the police department even hired a comfort canine named Jellybean who proudly joined our police and city family. Thank you so much for everything that you do in the police department. Our fire rescue department continued providing firefighters with top tier equipment and quality training to ensure readiness, safety, and success. They were awarded gold recognition for Water Smart Community by the Florida Department of Health.

They received the PedReady Gold tier designation from the state of Florida for pediatric emergency readiness. They launched the first learn to swim program for children at risk, delivering over 300 free lessons to more than 60 kids in partnership with the YMCA. They partnered with Pines Charter Schools to offer emergency medical responder training for students. They established a fire cadet program for local high schools. They are students to develop firefighting training skills and explore fire service careers.

They maintain property fire loss per capita well below the national average with response times ranking among the best regionally and nationally. They achieved 100% fire code compliance in all reported fire hazards, total public education, and outreach of over 15,000 individuals, and also completed a total of over 11,000 fire and life safety inspections. In the Fire Prevention Bureau, they conducted over 11,000 inspections of annual fire safety inspections, 5,500, and of building pre inspections, 1,600. I want to thank you all in the fire department for your leadership and for keeping us safe. In the Pembroke Pines charter schools, the high school graduation rate for twenty four to twenty five school year that's 2024 through 2025 school year was one hundred percent.

Exceeding the school district's graduation rate by 8.6 percentage points and the state's graduation rate by 7.8 percentage points. Also, 96.5 of our three seventy seven educators were rated highly effective any wonder on their teacher evaluations reflecting the exceptional quality of instruction across our schools. In the Planning and Economic Development Department, two ten residential certifications of occupancy were issued. The department has assisted in the permitting and support of the state of the art waste management recycling facility, which is the largest such facility for recycling in the state of Florida. There has been a growth in health care with permitting and construction of three new freestanding emergency rooms in Pembroke Pines that will expand health care in the community.

HCA, FSER operations, Baptist FSER under construction, and Memorial Manor FSER under construction. They assisted in the design, permitting, and inspection of the Flamingo Road Greenway, a project that we are working together with our friends in Broward County. And we have in the audience today County Commissioner Nan Rich and our good friend County Commissioner Alexandra Davis. And I want to thank both of you for your leadership. As well as permitting the waste management recycling facility micro habitat project, which included a collaboration effort involving waste management, Tandem Global, and local schools who planned nearly seven fifty native shrubs.

They planted them. Wildflowers, grasses, and trees in the area of the new waste management recycling South Florida. Just because they take trash doesn't mean they can't look beautiful. And the result of the microhabitat is expected to help create a biodiverse ecosystem, providing a habitat for local wildlife and supporting the region's natural biodiversity. In building permits, by the numbers, since January 25, 80% of all plan reviews for permits have been completed within five business days or less.

40% of them were completed in one business day. The number of permits issued during that time was 10,254. They conducted over 52,000 inspections. And the number of commercial reroofs were two ninety five and a long list of other achievements within the permitting group. And we thank them all for their hard work.

In zoning, five fifty certificates of use were issued. Common building permits processed during the period were over 2,300 residential reroofs, 2,300 residential windows and door permits, three zero seven commercial reroofs. Collaborated with Broward County and the South Florida Community Land Trust to preserve affordable rental units within the city with the acquisition of the Casa Apartments, another partnership that we did together with our friends in Broward County, assisting the completion and occupancy of three major affordable housing developments Southwest Hammocks, Southport, Pembroke Tower, and Douglas Towers 4 And 6, which resulted in the creation of 600 new affordable units within our city. In information technology, in a continuing effort to improve efficiency, streamline work flows, and enhance service delivery, our IT staff made strategic enhancements to the Tyler technology system across finance, utilities, EnerGov, asset management, and HR payroll. I know some of you don't know these acronyms, but they're incredibly important to the operations of our city.

And they continued to make great improvements. Municipal security enhancements were also made to strengthen safety, reliability, and operational consistency across city facilities And to improve and ensure information access for residents and staff, improvements were made to the city's GIS data accuracy and asset mapping systems and the public facing applications. In the area of utilities, the city continued to complete significant water and infrastructure upgrades to the city's Biscayne aquifer wells and wastewater lift stations, as well as replaced 596 water services and meters in the Cedarwoods community to improve service and and greater reliability to our residents. A plan of action was initiated and begun to remove PFAS from our water in ways that will meet the EPA deadline of 04/26/2029, and not a nickel more was requested from any Pembroke Pines taxpayer. The Public Services Department infrastructure projects included the painting and reroofing and construction on various city buildings, irrigation control upgrades, landscaping at the five city charter school campuses, as well as the installation of digital monument signs at various locations, which will enhance communications.

And the city's branding were all completed. They installed new traffic signs on Palm Avenue and Southwest 7th Street, Commissioner Goode, and completed the design of the seepage pump station, which will assist with the drainage of Northwest 172nd Avenue and North of Pines Boulevard, Commissioner Rodriguez and Vice Mayor Hernandez. Milling and resurfacing projects completed during fiscal year twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six at the following communities Towngate neighborhood, Honeywoods, Chapel Lake Estates, Pembroke Lake Section 2, Pembroke Lakes Section 6, and Walden Lake is almost finished. Successfully transitioned to digital permits fully implementing the EnerGov and the engineering division, which makes them incredibly much more efficient. They are now tracking all permits and associated costs within the online system, which has improved organization and operational efficiency.

In community services, grant funds received by the Florida Department of Transportation from the Federal Transit Administration through section fifty three ten program provided the city of Pembroke Pines with five new buses for senior transportation, improving mobility for seniors and individuals with disabilities by removing barriers to transportation service and expanding transportation options. The 5,310 grant enabled the city to contribute only 10% of the cost of this new equipment. Senior transportation provided 21,000 trips for fiscal year 'twenty four-'twenty five. The Carl Schechter Southwest Focal Point Community Center continues to add events, activities, and classes that mirror the diversity of our community, increasing our knowledge and understanding of one another and creating new experiences and relationships. If you go to the Southwest focal point and ask them, what is your biggest challenge?

They will tell you the building is not big enough to deal with all of the people that want to attend. The center has successfully completed a comprehensive and competitive bid process and has been awarded and you can't park there for another six years contract at the Area Agency of Broward County, maintaining its status as a focal point center, one of only five such centers in all of Broward County. At the Howard c Forman Human Services Campus, Southwest Hammocks developed in collaboration with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a behavioral health coalition footprint to success clubhouse. And South Florida Wellness Network opened a privately funded apartment complex housing over 100 adults living with mental health challenges, providing them with support, counseling, advocacy, and more. As the renovation continues on building that will provide 25,000 square feet of new space to the city to house the utilities department and other city services, and this project is expected to end at the conclusion of 2026.

City of Pembroke Pines hosted a free food event in cooperation with Broward County Commissioner Alexandra Davis. Thank you so much. And in partnership with Farm Share at the Howard Forman campus. And there wasn't a thing left over. The city of Pembroke Pines welcomed the Memorial Hospital adult primary care mobile clinic and the Joe DiMaggio children's mobile clinic to Pines Place Apartment Complex, improving the service mix at that outstanding location.

In human resources, they fully automated our recruiting process, moving to a competitively paperless system that has made hiring faster, more efficient, and environmentally responsible, and focused on current employees by organizing social gatherings, including our very first Thanksgiving employee luncheon to foster camaraderie and boost morale. We also rolled out the comprehensive employee training workshops that have equipped our team with new skills and leadership tools. In our outstanding finance department, they successfully refunded the 2015 general obligation bond resulting in an estimated net present value savings of approximately $3,500,000 and annual cash flow savings of $400,000 a year, developed and implemented annual operating and capital budgets that consistently align city needs with available revenue streams, maintained a balanced budget without increasing the operation millage rate for five consecutive years. And we also want to thank our city's Citizens Budget Commission. And our chair, Scott Barnett, is here.

Thank you for all that you do. We are only too happy to allow you all to see every nickel that comes into the city and that gets spent for the city by the city. City earned certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting and the distinguished budget presentation award from the governor finances association for fiscal twenty twenty four. This is the twenty third consecutive year that the Pembroke Pines Budget and Finance Division earned that prestigious award. Our city clerk issued more than 3,000 passport applications, which were processed providing residents with convenient local access to essential federal services, saving them valuable time, successfully supported the city commission meetings through efficient agenda preparation, documentation, and follow-up.

Their work is easy to overlook, yet it is so essential that we could not meet without them. And we thank you, mister Fernandez, and your staff for the amazing good work that you do. Recreation and cultural arts, the Dream Park Community Center and Passive Park at the William b Armstrong Dream Park was opened. Thank you, commissioner, Rodriguez, for your leadership in bringing this delayed project to fruition. The project transformed the former hockey rink complex into a vibrant community destination designed around resident feedback and evolving recreational needs.

The city commission moved forward with strategic initiatives, approving over $5,000,000 in year one in park renovations improvements and $4,100,000 in roadway and infrastructure improvements. Eight of the 10 playgrounds replaced have already been ordered. And as part of the city's new public art initiatives, traffic signal boxes throughout the city are wrapped with artwork featuring past winners of the Pembroke Pines Art Festival poster contest. We don't just give them a certificate. We take their art and we wrap those ugly boxes on the street with it.

And what a great idea that was. The city's youth advisory board, because young people matter also, hosted its first student led event at the Career Fair and Life Skills event, welcoming nearly over 100 high school students and seniors and featuring 15 businesses. The procurement and sustainability department of the city of Pembroke Pines received national recognition by being awarded the prestigious achievement in excellence in procurement award from the National Procurement Institute. The city's procurement code had some changes, including the adjustment of procurement thresholds, expanding processes, and updating procurement language. We now have a state of the art procurement policy in the law that will allow us to move faster, quicker, and more efficiently.

In addition to updating the city's sanitation and solid waste website, a Find My Trash bulk pickup day apparently this is a big deal. When's my bulk pickup day section was created for residents to submit service requests, compliments, or complaints regarding waste collection services. We thank you so very much for everything that you do. The We Love Pembroke Pines Foundation. This past year, the city launched a We Love Pembroke Pines Foundation, a 501c3, to provide humanitarian support and community driven initiatives and expand opportunities for residents to play a more active role in enhancing our city.

The foundation is focused on building meaningful partnerships and creating new ways for residents, students, and local organizations to contribute to community improvement efforts. While it's still in its nascent stage, student volunteers will be supporting a variety of initiatives together with adults, including food drives, kindness campaigns, and city events such as the annual five ks race, helping to foster growth and growing a culture of service and giving back and civic pride among all Pembroke Pines residents. The foundation also hosted its first fundraising event, Masters in the Pines Golf Tournament, which I assisted with, which raised approximately $66,000 in its first golf tournament for this important cause. The success of the event demonstrated strong early support from sponsors, residents, and community partners and helped establish a solid foundation for the future. You will be hearing much more about the We Love Pembroke Pines Foundation in days to come.

We are lucky people living in a tropical paradise surrounded by nature, accompanied by a beautiful, diverse, and hard working citizenry. We enjoy great schools, parks, amenities of every kind. And despite our challenges and our constant thriving for better, it is the acknowledgment that we are very lucky people to call Pembroke Pines our home. Many millions of Americans, I'm telling you, just ask them, would gladly trade places with any one of you if they could. As your mayor, and on behalf of the city commission, which joins me in this sentiment, please take a moment every day to appreciate how fortunate we truly are for the frame within which the life we all enjoy and our families enjoy take place.

Pembroke Pines. We are truly very lucky people to have found our way here. And our future is secure. It remains ever promising, riding alongside the uplifting power of positive thinking and humble gratitude. When my wife and I brought our young family to Pembroke Pines thirty years ago, the truth is we could have lived anywhere.

I'm glad that our choice fell to this beautiful city. I'm thankful that we chose Pembroke Pines. I'm proud of it, and I wouldn't live nowhere else. God bless all of you, and God bless our troops. That is the state of the city speech for 2026.

Thank you. Okay. I have a couple of presentations. And then we're going to go directly to item 11 because we have some people here that need to do this and get going. And let me recognize state representative Robin Barderman, who is our always friend. And she does a great, great job. And also Lisa Castillo, my wife, the First Lady of Pembroke Pines. She hates it when I call her that. But that's what she is. Yes, sir.

Felicia Robinson, state representative for Pembroke Pines. Thank you so much. We're honored to have you here, as always. Okay. And now we're going to do presentations.

And this one will be to Kerry Ann Brown, are you here, recognizing the Guardian ad litem program. Thank you very much. Guardian ad litem. Thank you so much for being with us today. Mr.

Rich, if I might, I know how important Guardian ad Leiden is to you. Could you come and help me read this? This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Child Abuse Prevention and Volunteer Appreciation Month.

Whereas April is recognized nationally as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and National Volunteer Week is observed annually during the month of April. And whereas the Florida Guardian Ad litem Program provides legal representation for abused, abandoned, and neglected children in dependency court proceedings throughout the state of Florida. And whereas the Florida Guardian Ad litem Office utilizes a multidisciplinary team approach, including attorneys, child welfare professionals, and trained volunteers to advocate for the best interests of children. And whereas the Florida Guardian Adlytem Program, Circuit 17, serving Broward County, is supported by dedicated volunteers who help improve outcomes for children and strengthen the community.

Thank you, senator Rich. Now therefore, I am Angelo Castillo, mayor of the greatest city in the world, the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, the city that cares, can, and does, together with the city commission, to hereby proclaim April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention and Volunteer Appreciation Month in the city of Pembroke Pines, asking all residents to be encouraged and to learn more about how they can help our children. Thank you so much for all you do.

Good evening, everyone. And for those of you at home that are actually listening, I just want to share with you that we could not do this work without our volunteers. So we're also celebrating our volunteers, that volunteer with us. And I won't go into a long spiel because I will if you let me. But just remember that our children, our youth, they need us who are

in

dependency. So we represent children that have been abused, abandoned, or neglected in court and in the community. And we're always looking for volunteers. So if you're an attorney, there is pro bono opportunities available. There is volunteering.

And there is also mentoring, where you can mentor a youth that is actually preparing to move into adulthood. So if you're interested, and I'm gonna do a shameless, it's www.guardianadlytem.org. If you're interested, and I do hope you are, there are so many amazing men and women in the city of Pembroke Pines that are representing our children here in Broward County. So thank you, www.guardunitlightum.org.

I just

want to thank you for including me up here. We're going be doing this at the county commission meeting, I am, because this is my favorite program. We started this program back in 1980 in Miami Dade. And Broward came right along at that time. But there was not a statewide office of the Guardian ad litem program until I was fortunate enough to be in the legislature, be in the House, on the House side at that time.

And they actually did. Actually, more importantly, we worked together. Just remember this, that then we worked together, all of us, for what was in the best interests of children. And I will never forget walking back from the Governor's Mansion with the first day of session. The governor always does a breakfast, or used to anyway. And Jeb Bush was the governor. And he was walking back with me. And he said, so what are you working on? So I said, I'm working on a bill for the Guardian ad litem program. So he said, I love the Guardian ad litem program.

I said, well, then maybe you can help me. And because some people wanted it to be an attorney ad litem program. And as wonderful as attorneys are, I will just stand by always that volunteer guardians ad litem are the best when it comes to working with children. And we are the only ones that represent the best interests of the child in the court. And that bill passed. And we have now a statewide office.

Thank you so very, very much. Thank you all. You want to take a photo? Okay, what district is it? Commissioner Rodriguez, will you join us for the Natalie Belmonte District three award?

Fred's family. Oh, she went to the restaurant. Okay. Well, I just want to thank Broward County for all the work that they do with the Guardian ad Blitem program, because it's really, really so very, very important. And we thank you, Senator Rich, for being with us here today. You ready? Okay.

Come on down. So mayor, happy to be here today with the District 3 winner of the Natalie Belmonte Great Yard Awards, Antonio and Christine Perez. They are in the Pembroke Lakes community. And they just got an amazing, amazing yard. And I'm really happy to announce their winning of our award this month.

What a beautiful yard.

I just want to say blue is my favorite color. And if I owned a home, I own an apartment. If I owned a home, it'd probably be painted in that same blue color. This is beautiful. So who does the work? Any of you two? They help sometimes. They help? That's Well, because you guys are such great helpers, there's a little bit of money for you guys to help mom and dad pick out some flowers, maybe some soil, something like that for you guys to be able to do. And we always ask, what's your secret?

Yeah.

We work together in the garden. So I think it's just kind of having a vision and wanting to make something beautiful and then planning it out. Amazing. Congratulations, you guys. Thanks for keeping Pembroke Pines beautiful.

So, Mayor, as usual

Beautiful yards.

Next month, we'll be here

with our District 4 winner.

And yeah, just take a look at that yard. It's great.

Okay. Thank you so very, very much. We have one item at the request of the public. Yes, I do. But first, I'm going to do this appointment. I wish to announce the appointment of Rebecca Stanton Reinstein as a regular member of the Education Advisory Board. She's currently serving as an alternate member. We had a resignation. And it's very sad, a wonderful, wonderful person. But Rebecca is there who has been an alternate for some time. And she's here. And if she could come forward and

say

hello and accept the appointment, that would be great. Your name for the record, ma'am.

Yes, Rebecca Staton Reinstein. I want

to thank you for everything that you do for the Education Advisory Board. What has your experience been with this board so far?

Well, it's really quite interesting. We're each assigned to some schools. We work with the principals of those schools to help plug them into all the many services and things that are available to them. And we do several projects during the year. One is the STEM project, which is especially interesting to me because I started life as a scientist.

They bring in the children, and they do projects. It's not one of those things where they listen to lectures. They go around at each table and do projects and figure out things. And it's just so much fun. And what's more fascinating is to watch the kids and their parents and their interactions.

And the looks on their faces when they solve the puzzle or they build something is great. And the other thing that we do are the reading days. And each year, we're assigned to different levels of reading. And we bring in a book, read it to the kids, or more realistically, kind of talk it through and get the kids involved and so forth. And that's always a lot of fun. Michael and I both ended up at the same school one year. I just can't begin to tell you how much fun it really is.

Know. Know. I you've been a lifelong educator. We're honored to have you as a regular member of the Education Advisory Board now. And we just want to thank you for everything that you do. And thank you very much.

And thank you for the opportunity. Thank you.

All right, we have one Can we get one picture I'm going get a picture with you.

Thank you so much. All right. Thank you.

Okay.

We have one speaker for public comments signed up. And that is Claudio Loveris. Please come forward. If we could have your name and address for the record, you will have three minutes. Mr. Loveris, welcome.

Mayor, my name is Claudio Loveris. I live at 5401 Southwest 1 99th Avenue in Durango Estates.

Welcome.

Mayor Castillo, with your permission, I would like some clarification in regards to the previous commission meeting. Let me put on my glasses.

It's okay. I'll give you a couple more seconds.

Then I will give a prepared statement. Commissioner Schwartz, at the last meeting, you made comments regarding a dilapidated horse, an illegal structure, manure going into the canal, and a retired police officer doing all of these things. Who were you referring to when you made those comments?

We don't you're entitled to ask that question. You're entitled to make a comment. But we don't interact. This is your opportunity to speak. You can certainly ask commissioner that question at another time.

Okay. Thank you.

Mayor Castillo.

Yes, sir.

I am compelled to address several statements made in regards to me during the March 18 commission meeting, statements that were inaccurate, unsupported by any investigation, and damaging to my character and reputation as a longtime member of this community. To clarify, Commissioner Schwartz implied that my horse is being deprived of adequate grazing, space, and nutrition. The statement that horses require 35,000 square feet of grazing applies only where grazing is the sole source of nutrition. Grazing is not required for domesticated horses receiving balanced commercial feed. My horse is fed, supplemented, and cared for according to modern equine veterinary standards.

Commissioner Schwartz, you stated that you've been around horses all your life, that your mother had a horse, but she got rid of it when you were still in diapers. You obviously have no idea in regards to basic equine care and nutrition. Furthermore, the statement made by Director Stamm indicating that my barn is at 25 feet from the property line is incorrect. My barn is actually 30 feet from the property line. The comments made regarding unprocessed manure ending

up

in the canal were deceptively false. None of the manure produced by my horse ends up in the canal. All of the manure is removed from my property. Commissioner Schwartz stated publicly that my horse would never have been there if not for the illegal structure and that I am effectively breaking the law. I constructed a pole barn and have complied fully with the city's requirements.

Commissioner Schwartz further stated that it blew his mind that a retired police officer would engage in this situation, implying wrongdoing and criminal intent. This characterization is both inaccurate and inappropriate given the facts. I have followed all procedures required by the city and have cooperated fully throughout the process. My concern is that these statements made publicly without investigation are now part of the permanent record. The effect has been the weaponization of the commission's platform against a private citizen without due diligence.

When I was told I needed to watch my back, that they were coming after me and my horse, I didn't believe it, but here we are. Commissioner Schwartz, you undermined my commissioner to bring these false allegations against me. It is quite obvious as to why you would do such a thing. I cannot accept these unfounded public statements that damage my reputation and misrepresent the care of my animals. There's a famous quote that states, if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it. I expect a public correction and apology from Commissioner Schwartz. Thank you.

First of all, thank you for coming forward. The matter came forward as a commission item. And testimony was provided. The staff was directed to look into the matter generally. This was not aimed at any one particular homeowner.

And I just want you to know that we are here in a very respectful way to represent every homeowner, including and maybe today, especially you. I don't want you to feel that this was some sort of thing that was aimed directly at you. I hope it wasn't that. I know I did not engage nor anyone else engage in that discussion in that manner. My strongest suggestion, because we don't really get involved in back and forth here on live TV when we have a full agenda and everything, is for you and Commissioner Schwartz to get together and speak to one another and see if you can iron it out.

But I do want you to know that the direction was given to staff to look at the matter generally. They're not even sure cities have jurisdiction in this area. But because it was brought to the commission, we agreed to allow staff to take a look at it. So I hope that satisfies you because no tried to aim this directly. However, it may have come off.

I am the only retired police officer I understand, sir. That owns a horse

That's in this city. For you and Commissioner Schwartz to talk about it another time. But I want to tell you that I very much respect and thank you for your service. I have passed by your home many times, though you may not have seen me. Although you're a cop, you probably know that I've been there. And I want you to know that we value you, and we value you as a citizen in the city. And the review that staff conducts will be nothing more than capable of making you proud of the fair way that they proceed. I guarantee that.

Thank you, mayor. I did feel like I was being targeted at the commission

You Commissioner Schwartz at another time should get together and talk about that, Okay? Thank you very much.

Mayor, I'd like to add, because he is my constituent in District 3, and very few of I think, if any, of these situations that we're talking about would be in District 4 or District 3. The conversation that we had about horse poop or manure, whichever way you want to say it, I ended up looking into it a bit further. And through the Solid Waste Law Authority, first Mr. Oliveros received a letter about the water samples. And I'll provide that as well to Mike Stamm.

And information from the South Broward Drainage District in that if anyone is to regulate what they do on the horse manure, it's through the Broward Drainage System, especially if the concern is the impact on our water. So there's some guidelines that they have online. I actually visit Mr. Alvarez's property. And to my though untrained eye, it looks like he's following all of these simple guidelines that are here.

The horse indeed does not look dilapidated. It's very cute. I got to feed it carrots. And I just thank Mr. Levais for bringing attention to this matter, because I don't want any of our residents to feel specially called out for, especially when someone has not visited the property and when it's a home in somebody else's district. I'd hope that the same respect is given in other matters as well.

Thank you very, very much for that. And with that, we will be moving on, commissioners, with your Okay to item 11, which the audience members asked me to move out of order. So Vice Mayor Hernandez, you are recognized on item 11.

GREGORY Commission item number two, discussion and possible action to move all future Pembroke Pines elections from March to November and possibly directing the city attorney and city administration to prepare appropriate legislation to accomplish this directive.

Commissioner, vice mayor, you are recognized.

I actually like to call up Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich, if possible. Commissioner Rich. Or should I call you senator because you retain that title?

There's a button there that says talk, if you could just press. Harrison, can you go?

You're on. Great. Thank you. Yeah, tell you, I called Commissioner Hernandez the minute I saw his op ed piece, which I cut out, because it was so excellent.

Save it.

GREGORY And I will. I will. And because it reminded me of my interest in this bill, thanks to Mayor Hirsch, Eric Hirsch I remember. Many years ago, one of the first things that he asked me to do when I went to the legislature was to allow this to happen. And he gave pretty much the same points that Commissioner Hernandez has put in his op ed piece.

But Weston did find that voters didn't first of all, there is no question that more people vote when it's in November, And that also there's a little fallacy to something that's going around that says that people will not go all the way down the ballot, which actually was disproven in Weston. People did go all the way down the ballot. And the turnout was so tiny over all those years as compared to what happens in a November election. So there was no bill specifically passed then. But a couple of years later, there was the opportunity for cities to be able to do this.

And Weston did it and has been very happy that they did. So I just really wanted to thank him. And in his article, he talks about the cost. We're all facing ad valorem issues, whether we we don't know what it's going to be. We're trying to use our money, as you said eloquently in your state of the city speech, things that are important to the people in our communities.

The affordability issue, which I'm proud to say we're working a lot with you on with affordable housing. So I just think that there's a better way to spend the money. And it is documented in here that the election cost March 26 $147,000 I mean, that is just outrageous compared to what it costs on a normal election. So I just would urge you to support it. And I don't know if you're going I think you're proposing to go to the voters, right, on this?

I am, but you're stealing my thunder.

Oh, Okay. Fine. Fine. Okay. No, because I'm just saying because I had read something, and I recalled it, that on some occasions, you don't have to go. You can go right from here.

GREGORY Yeah. Don't want be the city of Miami. I don't want to do that.

Exactly. So I like what you're doing, and I'm just here to support you.

Thank Thank you, you, Senator Rich.

GREGORY Senator Rich, I apologize.

GREGORY Vice mayor.

In my reinstallation about two weeks ago, I mentioned that in sixteen months, I've been on two different ballots, November 2024 and March 2026. I reviewed a lot of data, which is in that Sun Sentinel piece. I spoke to Supervisor Joe Scott, our supervisor of elections, Mary Hall, who is, I guess, chief operations officer, to verify the information. And here's the bottom line. I understand that even proposing a change, which, spoiler alert, nothing gets done tonight either way because we would have to actually go through a legislative process up here that could result and I'll let Mr.

Goran explain it but it would result in multiple votes here and then going to the supervisor for legal sufficiency and then putting it on a November 2026 ballot. But why is it that I am proposing this? My understanding, according to Manager Dodge and our city attorney, Sam Goran, who collectively have about ninety years experience within the city of Pembroke Pines alone.

Close to 100.

I didn't want to go there. But yes, you're still very young, guys. It's just a collective number. I saw the differences between the two election cycles. And part of what I mentioned in my reinstallation was the need to have more civic engagement. But let's just start with plain numbers. In 2024, again, first election according to city manager Dodge and city attorney Goran that we have in the city of Pembroke Pines where you're electing a municipal officer in our sixty six year history. They say it. I believe them. In that election, we had roughly 30,000 registered voters in District 4.

Remember, I am not speaking about the entire city of Pembroke Pines. I'm referring to my district because I was the only district on the ballot in that special election. Roughly 30,000, 20,141 actually cast a ballot in the commission seat. Just the commission seat. About 3,500 more cast a ballot for president Of The United States and other offices. To senator Rich's point, do I like being at the bottom of the ballot? I don't. I don't like a 15% attrition rate. But it was about 67 of the registered voters in District 4 who cast a ballot in my race. More than 70 eventually cast for president.

Again, this is specific to District 4. The cost was basically $1 per voter. It was a little bit under $21,000 I verified this with our clerk, Gabriel Fernandez, and with the supervisor of elections. Not that I'm fact checking you. I just went and checked the numbers that you received.

That is accurate. When you fast forward to March, when Commissioner Good and I were on the ballot, Districts 1 And 4 are on a ballot in 2026 and again in '30. The mayor Districts 2 And 3 are in '28 and in '32. We paid $147,400 for both elections, roughly $73,000 plus for MyRace and for Commissioner Goods. My race had about 9% turnout, 2,815.

I said it on reinstallation. I am very happy I earned 76% of the vote. I'm not complaining about that. But I actually wouldn't have minded winning by less if you had more participation. I think it's important. And I appreciate Steve and Rebecca and Century Village's support. But you know what I heard in Century Village? Mike, if you don't send me a text or an email, I forget there's an election. You're the only thing on the ballot. There's no other election on the ballot.

State representative Robin Bartleman isn't on the ballot. Neither was Nan Rich, just as we did in 2024, where, yes, you were voting for president. You were voting in the village. You were voting for Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, County Commissioner Nan Rich, either Robin Bartleman or Felicia Robinson from depending upon the side of the village that you're on, important races that lead to more voter engagement. Those are facts.

Those are numbers that I was provided. Now, today, 33,000 voters roughly in District 4 are registered to participate. That's where you get the 9% participation rate now. I don't think it's an issue with our supervisor of elections. I think they did advertise. I think our city was legally sufficient in advertising. And I know I spent a lot of my campaign money making sure that voters knew there actually is an election on March 10. Oh, by the way, there's no early voting. You can only vote in person on election day. Here are your options when you're voting by mail.

All of these factors really led me to conclude that this is something that, again, I want to propose that my colleagues consider. If you were coming out here tonight and thinking, it's over. There's going to be a vote. It's done. That's not how it works.

To Commissioner Rich excuse me, Senator Rich's point, when you look at these election cycles, historically, Broward cities have been in March until the last eight years. Fort Lauderdale, which is the county seat and most populous city, they moved through a charter change. Hollywood, which is basically bordering Commissioner Goods Eastern District, also moved their elections to November. I'm told Deerfield Beach is also considering that. Now what would be the vehicle for it?

I mentioned my friends, and they are my friends in the city of Miami. They decided to do it differently. Harrison's smiling because he knows what I'm saying. They decided, I believe it was last year, hey, you know, there's this legal provision buried deep inside of something that allows us to move the election without going to the voters. No. The state attorney general got involved, took him to court. A judge said no. And the third I think it's the third DCA out of Unincorporated Day in Miami on appeal said, you can't do that. I wouldn't even want to explore it for two reasons. Number one, what I just mentioned.

Number two, voters should have a say. If they say, we don't want to move it, Okay. This is their city. You don't move it. But if they do, and based on my conversations, again, not in one cycle, in two cycles, November '4 and March '6, not one person and Rebecca and Steve saw me out there, plus my other five precincts, plus the International Association of Firefighters and their representatives that were out at those polls for me not one said, man, I really love voting in March.

Not one. Mr. Smith knows that to be the case. In fact, many asked about why is it that Pembroke Pines is still one of only three cities right now that consistently vote in March. Others, depending upon their cycle, they have a hybrid.

If they have a charter amendment, they may go to November. If they have a city election, they may be in March. And every one of them is considering moving for one reason. The supervisor of elections put out a memo, which was provided to me both by supervisor and our our clerk, Fernandez, saying that beginning in November 2026, candidate only municipal elections would not incur a cost. Candidate only.

If you're talking about charter amendments or other ballot items, different story. So it's a cost savings for our city, but most importantly, it's just common sense. That if we truly want to continue to engage with our voters and make sure that they feel, like I said in our workshop, which was not here tonight. It was in the room over there. We were discussing something completely unrelated.

Pembroke Pines is the second most populous city in Broward County, but it still has that bedroom community feel. Neighbors still look out for one another. I think a big part of it I'm going to pat ourselves, the five of us on the back up here is truly because so many of us do a great job at representing our city and making you feel like you could call Commissioner Good or Mayor Castillo on their cell phone or any one of the five of us. I believe strongly that based on this information, based on the experiences that we've had over this last sixteen month cycle, it's important to look at it. It's important to see it.

Now, we also have to say very clearly, to avoid my friends in the city of Miami's example, we have to be straight with voters. If we were to put this on the ballot and we verified it, Clerk Fernandez, it costs the city of Pembroke Pines money, roughly $2.79 a voter, meaning we'd be paying probably $340,000 for that. Those are facts. You won't hear me obscure the fact. Number two, voters would have to accept that five of us up here, all five, would have eight months added to their terms because you wouldn't have the mayor in Districts 2 And 3 on the ballot in March 2028.

You've had it in November. And Commissioner Good and I would go from March '30, which seems like fifty years from now, to November 2013. I really can't believe I'm talking about it after we just won an election. We're talking about the next one. I brought it up tonight. And I appreciate that our city attorneys, both Sam Gorn and Jacob Horowitz, and I went back and forth to discuss it, Manager Dodge, our clerk Fernandez, and others. I really appreciate that. You gave me the opportunity, but more importantly, you gave me the information. And also to Supervisor Scott. I know he's not here.

He and I have been messaging tonight. I appreciate very much the information that he passed on. That's why I brought it here. I appreciate that Senator Rich is here and Representative Bartleman. I'd love to collect the thoughts of my colleagues because I think it's important for democracy. I think it's incredibly important that, for example, in a November election, you will have more opportunities to engage. I know Ms. Patty Good was out at the polls with me in November, and it's not really that cold in November in South Florida. It was in the high 80s. Thank you, Patty, for being there and helping me.

But it was a tough time. I understand that it requires a deeper commitment for candidates. I understand and appreciate that this is something that my colleagues and I would have to take votes on. And I'm happy to have the discussion because I think it's so important for our city to join the majority of other cities in Broward County, but in particular, the larger municipalities with more voters, with higher numbers of residents, and by the way, continued growth. Because we're not experiencing a population decline in Pembroke Pines.

We're still increasing ever so slightly. Same thing with the city of Fort Lauderdale, who also, as I mentioned, moved their elections. Mayor, I don't have much more to add. I'd like to just have a conversation with each of you. I know this hit the agenda last week.

And I know that we can't speak about it privately. It's all in the sunshine. So I really would appreciate the opportunity to hear from my colleagues on this. Again, I thank you, Senator Rich and Harrison Grant Williams, for being here, Representative Bartleman, and so many others. I must say, Andy Mattis, the president of the Broward AFL CIO, emailed me on behalf of the 90,000 union members represented by the Broward County AFL CIO.

We fully support your efforts to move municipal elections from March to November. We believe this change will maximize voter turnout, which is the strength of our democracy. In addition, this is a good use of taxpayer dollars. I've also included in our packet an email from Denise Worland, Plantation Council member who very active in the leadership of the Broward League of Cities, but also yet another elected official who participated in moving Plantation's elections to a November ballot. No matter which form of government you have, Plantation is a strong executive form of government, a strong mayor, which is basically in charge of the day to day.

We don't have that in Pembroke Pines. But it doesn't matter. The turnout is something that we continuously have to look at. The lower the turnout, in my view, the less engagement you will have with the broader electorate. You represent the 91% of registered voters in my district that didn't participate in March.

I still represent them. Whatever the percentage was in Commissioner Good's district that didn't turn out, and I understand you're never going to get 100% participation. But to go from 9% or 8%, whatever it was, to 65% plus, or in a midterm cycle, anywhere from 55% to 65 turnout because midterm is what we're looking at now in November. That is not a presidential cycle. You probably won't have 65% to 70% like a president, but you'll have 10 times the amount than you did just now. You'll have probably close to 60% in the midterms. I think this is important for the future of the city of Pembroke Pines. Mr. Mayor, I'm yielding back for you to guide the discussion.

Thank you very much, Vice Mayor, for your eloquence, and Senator Rich, for your kind words. I just want to say that this is a commission item. And so a motion is not required at this time for us to have a discussion. So we can have the discussion. And if in the fullness of that a motion has to be made, then a second would be needed and a vote would be taken. If you don't mind, I'm just going to say a few words about this. And then we'll open it up. Look, for the longest time, I resisted this.

Sorry.

I know. And I'll tell you why it is. It was I had a thorn in my mind about the partisanship. You see, we in Florida have a law that city commissioners run nonpartisan. So when we run for office, we don't run-in primaries in, say, the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or this party or that party.

We run-in the Pembroke Pines Party. And everyone gets to participate in that election. In fact, I never actually read the statute. But I'm advised that you really should stay away from telling people what even are. It's a weird sort of thing, though that I've been here for thirty years and feel fully, fully Floridian.

In New York, there wasn't any such thing. They would have called such a law milk toast. You either say who you are and you operate that way or you don't. But to try and pretend to be some sort of political Switzerland, particularly anywhere in The United States, is really sort of almost comical. And yet that

is the law. But when you

run-in a partisan election, there are coattails and entrapments and all kinds of things that are partisan, which is sort of against the grain of what we as non elected officials do. I don't know why that's the law in Florida. It just is. And so the history was that March is for nonpartisan elections because most people got that this was a problem. And then November and August were generally your primary and your general elections.

And so we didn't change. But then something else happened. The preference primary for president moved coterminous to our March election. And that changed everything. Because now three of us were running in that thing with early voting and all kinds of partisans on the ballot.

And two, we're running in what became these increasingly sleepy races where fewer and fewer and fewer people turned out. But forget about how it applies to us. The people want their elections in November. I think they could probably tolerate if there was a really, really good reason for a March election. But they want to do it in November.

And the numbers have changed. And the world has changed. And we must change with it. And while I still have misgivings about being a nonpartisan because we're sort of labeled that by this frankly hard to understand state law, We belong on the ballot with the other officials that people want to elect in November. The time has come for this.

And so I've come to see it differently. When I speak to people in the community, they tell me that that's necessary. It will save us money. I have a comment to make about this. And first and foremost, I want Nand to ask your forgiveness because this is in no way, shape, or form aimed at the county who I love and once served. Is that enough of a buildup? Okay. We pay county taxes. The fact that we pay for any elections is mind boggling to me. I do not understand that.

I just I can't compute it. It doesn't make any sense to me. Put it in the county taxes. Why should we have to pay another office whose job it is to run our elections to do their job? That's what we pay county taxes for.

So the fact that we put a one question item on a ballot that already exists, that we should pay $350,000 first of all, I don't even know how they calculate that. And second of all, what's the big deal? They're doing the election anyway. It's where getting cities it just doesn't make any sense to me. But now if you end up putting it on two: what's the cost if you put it on nothing? SPEAKER Zero. Zero. So you go from March I may not have explained this correctly. So if you go from March at three hundred what was it?

The March election this March cycle, according to what the supervisor quoted was for both Commissioner Good and I, dollars 147,400 divided by two, but roughly 73,000

It's change. Crazy. We have to pay all this money in order to ask our people a question when you can ask it in November and

it's

free. Not only that, but you get sixty, seventy, sometimes depending on the candidates, 80% turnout compared to 6%, 7%, 9%. And hope is I did because I really feel that it is the duty of every registered voter to vote in every election. Guess what? Just because your grandmother has wheels doesn't make her a wagon.

They don't want to come out and do it. They want to vote once a year. So I think that if the motion is made, we should put this in front of the people and explain to them that we're making the change because it saves money and it advances democracy. And that's my view of it. Commission?

So I'll go. So yeah, this is a great conversation. I recall when I was serving the South Broward Drainage Board.

This is his item, you can

Okay. So what was interesting is that I ran on presidential cycles. And I probably had a minimum of 30,000 plus votes on each election that I went through. And then when I was elected to the city of Pembroke Pines, those numbers did drop dramatically in terms of turnout. So I don't disagree with any comment that has been made so far at this point.

I will say I do, however, have an opposing view on this nevertheless. So let's talk about historically why is it that we have March races. And it's been around for a while, obviously, because we had to convert from a March to a November race. But the primary reason was because we wanted to prevent the national political issues from dominating the local races. Because when it becomes a presidential race, it's the president's race.

It's not a city of Pembroke Pines or Deerfield Beach or whoever's race. It's a presidential race. And so we sort of get a little lost in what happens at the national level. And, yeah, so the mayor did speak at length on the issue about being nonpartisan. I could tell you that, to me, that's actually pretty important when you are a commissioner for a local municipality.

When I go and I campaign, I will tell you, there are people that say, are you a Republican or a Democrat? And I have to tell them. I'm not allowed to tell you. But what's really more important is that in a march race, it's a lot easier to convince somebody that I'm there to serve them because of them, not because of any other reason other than they are a citizen of this city. And I am there representing them with full force and faith.

And so I don't have to get through all of the national politics or some of the other issues in able to convince somebody that I'm not there representing anybody but them. And then you have other issues that we just saw recently. Let's talk about Boca Raton for a minute. They had a March race. It allowed the voters to actually get focused on their local issue, which was, what, development.

And that issue was front foremost in that city. It doesn't happen every cycle. But when it does happen, they focused on that one item. And you know what they did? They changed their entire commission on that election because their voice was and their vote was, we don't want this particular thing to take place in our local environment in our city.

And they didn't have any distraction. And they got a relatively pretty good turnout. So the people there were focused and wasn't interrupted in terms of what they wanted to do. So again, like I say, when I campaign, I campaign on local governments. I don't campaign on party politics. And so this all just comes down to, again, I understand and I respect and get it. But to me, this is just it's either money or control of local politics. Which do you prefer? And I'm preferring control of local politics. Thank you.

Mr. Schwartz.

Thank you, vice mayor, for bringing this forward. I think it warrants the conversation. For me, the District 2 race has always fell since I've been here has always fallen on the presidential preference primary. There was a point in time where it took District 43 election cycles to total one of mine. And before Commissioner Good was here, District 1 had a turnout that was very concerning where it was one community decided the whole thing, like one part of the district decided the whole thing.

I've been advocating for democracy for over twenty years. I was on the other side of this fence. And I participated in helping candidates get elected for office those who ran for city, those who ran for state, those who ran for president. And each one of those campaigns were different. To local engagement?

By all means, was the most fun. Because the national stuff, they just give you a list and this is what you say. The presidential preference elections up until this last one in 2024, since I've been a resident of this city, has always increased in turnout. But at the national level, when some people say everyone cheats and this is no good and I've got to sue this one and that one, people get turned off by that. What we didn't hear yet is what happens if you don't belong to either major party?

Who do you belong to? In local politics, they don't care. However, there is a machine that prints out cards and they give you a list of candidates that this is on this list, this is on that list. And you walk in blind and you fill out the bubbles. And I think all of us can agree, all of us in this room can agree, that we've probably filled out a bubble for a judge and we don't know if they won or lost.

Because we didn't know anything about the judge. We did some name recognition, maybe cool sounding name, maybe a different name. And that's why we selected it because some folks go in, you have to fill out the ballot from top to bottom. Fill it out. Well, if you do that, there are consequences to local issues.

So part of our role is to make sure that changes to our charter are, one, necessary, two, are well vetted, and three are in the best interest of the public. Our residents and this happened back in 02/2012, where the city commission had to move its elections from March to January. And in 2008, Vice Mayor Bill Armstrong had to agree to shorten up his term in order to be placed on that ballot. In 2012, the cycle was for that Districts 23, and the mayor's position, it was only a three day difference. It went from January 28 to January 31.

But then in 2016, something changed. The Democratic Party says you can't hold an election in Florida until after Iowa and some other states, and we're going to take away your delegates if you do. So the election that was held for February was moved to 2016 in March, which meant that once again, the city commission had to pass an ordinance to extend the terms of those serving in this case, I was impacted by an additional six weeks. I was uncomfortable with six weeks. Now we're talking about eight months.

That wasn't contemplated by the voters. You might as well call it a five year term if you're going to call it eight months long. That was not contemplated in 2024.

Point of clarification. Don't think I could have been much clear. So please don't mischaracterize what I said. Voters would have the say if they vote no to moving elections, which we could listen to either Jacob Horowitz or Sam Warren because you have a 75 word limit that you have to put that kind of agenda item that kind of item on a ballot, they would have the say.

What did I say that

It wasn't contemplated by voters is what you said. Of course not. It's never been contemplated because it's never been put on a ballot. If you put it on a ballot, they contemplated it.

I want to reclaim my time. Clarification.

Allow me No, it is clarification.

I'll decide that.

The mayor decided. There

is he clarification. Asked he offered you a clarification. You may not like his clarification, but he offered it.

Go ahead.

All right, so continuing. Will November elections dilute local issues under national and state races? Will it increase or decrease participation in local governance? Does it benefit certain candidates or incumbents? Would certainly Vice Mayor, listen. I would certainly support bringing this to the voters. I'll say it again. I support I welcome it. Okay, listen. I will support bringing this to the voters after we have more public workshops, data, and community input. Could

I answer that? Because Let I actually

him finish.

To date, from this crow's nest over here, there hasn't been a public outcry to move Districts 2 And 3 in the mayor's race to November. I can understand Districts 1 And 4 needing more participation.

No, that's inaccurate. I've had the highest number of participation in any district race.

Hold on one second. Hold on.

Okay. So I'm certainly in favor of responsible governance. Currently, we have an unequal balance when district commissioners are elected. When the mayor is elected, there's just an imbalance. And this imbalance will not cure turnout.

It will not cure turnout. If all of us ran in the presidential and not in mid year, then everything is equal. An election in 2028 for all of us in November means that everyone is participating in the largest turnout. We've already identified that governor's races, mid year races, has a downturn by 50% of what turnout would be. If you have 70% or 80% in the presidential and only 35% to 40% in a midyear, we're not achieving equality across the board for all of our citizenry.

Why do you say that?

Based on data, mayor, so for example, one of my elections required three of District 4 to add up that total. Just one election.

That certainly wasn't true in 2024. I had almost Well, 20000 no. 2024

was certainly an anomaly. So in When In 08/12, and '16

Okay. In the We run-in staggered terms, correct? GREGORY Right.

We do

So currently. There are about as many people voting in midterm elections as people who vote in the presidential race.

GREGORY Not

true, sir.

GREGORY How far off is it? About 50%. There's usually about 30

Is it 6%? And that's what you get

in It's a much larger for example.

GREGORY So this is about as good as you can get if what your goal is I just want to clarify because I don't want there to be any confusion. Going in November sounds to me and we can have staff run these numbers. Well, would It sounds to me as close as one can get to raising the number of people that cast a vote in the election.

I'm just about done here. Okay.

All right.

Our city has always supported grassroots campaigns. And these grassroots campaigns are generally inexpensive to run. You grab your clipboard. You go knock on the doors. Grassroots campaign. A November cycle explodes the amount of doors that need to be reached. Why do you say that? Data. We have the data of It's still

the same number of voters no matter when it I don't understand your point.

I'm

trying to get it's the same number of registered voters for every election.

Mayor, you and I have shared the same campaign manager who happens to be here this evening. We talk about data. We know who generally who's going to show up in March, who's going to show up in August, and who's going to show up in November. We know this. We know this. So it's not an illusion. So how do

you correct that unless you go I'm trying to get to what you're saying.

I'm wrapping it up. If you just give me a moment, because I want to get back to Commissioner Good's local issue. And I think we can solve it there. But campaigns just become expensive. So for a grassroots individual, it's difficult.

It invites a lot of special interests and dollars into a race that, quite frankly, doesn't need that kind of pressure. Moving elections to November risks shifting our nonpartisan local races into a more broader partisan environment where local issues get lost, as Commissioner Good said. I do believe, vice mayor, that we owe our residents more discussion. This would include data driven, embedded information to be shared with our four major condos and no less than one outreach event for each commission district. A comparison of the last twenty eight years of election cycles and I know that's a big tall order, but here's the reason why I'm saying '28.

Because we had the lowest mayoral turnout in twenty eight years in 2024. I hope it's an anomaly, but

it

was the lowest mayoral election since 1996. Hollywood and Hollywood does border district too they have had 10,000 votes. In 2024, 10,000 votes for the race. In 2016, Presidential District 2, I had 7,500 total votes. Does that 2,500 vote difference in March focused on local issues in March stretch all the way to November for an additional 2,500 votes participating?

Same number of voters, but that's who voted in Hollywood. 10,000 versus 7,500 on my side of the fence. I think changes of this magnitude should be driven by clear public benefit. And I believe there should be a discussion about tying into the local issues for Districts 1 And 4 and have everybody run-in the presidential primary in March. All five seats? All five.

Could I just I do have to clarify. Turnout I don't know where you're getting your numbers. It's a real search. The turnout in Broward County in twenty twenty two November cycle was 49%. The turnout in November 2024 was 65%. You said there was a 50% difference. I'm not

Well, seeing Okay.

Let's do it.

5065%, right? How do you get to yeah, 49%

I'm not here for algebra or is math. '25 You said something, and it's inaccurate. So I am clarifying it.

It's 40% to 60% bias.

Okay. All right. All right.

Again, this is the reason why we need the data

And I can appreciate, because I said from the very beginning, there's no action tonight. We are not saying, let's go have an ordinance I am

open to continue the discussion to move the item forward.

I am. I am as well. But I want you to understand what I will eventually bring because I have a weekly meeting, whether it's in Century Village or somewhere else in my community. What I would like to eventually bring before the days is, in fact, to meet the deadline. You guys can vote it up or down. What is that deadline? The deadline is just before Labor Day, according to Supervisor Joe Scott to get anything on the November ballot. There was some confusion. Someone had mentioned June.

No, August.

I spoke directly to Supervisor Scott, who I believe is either watching or will be briefed on this. He said, just before Labor Day, as long as you have it's legally sufficient reviewed by your attorneys, we can put it on the ballot for November 2026. So I want to be clear on that. I welcome that. I wanna be very clear, commissioner Schwartz. No one here was saying, let's vote tonight. That's not

what I was doing. No.

I never said that either.

So what I do think is we could have the public input. But look, again, the numbers are pretty clear. November 2024, almost 21,000 voters in District 4 voted for city commission for my race, just mine. Sixteen months later same two names on the ballot, by the way. I had the same competitor.

You know her well. 2,815, 9%. I don't think it's a good use of our taxpayer dollars to pay $53,000 more per race in perpetuity because it's going to continue happening. And by the way, here's the worst part. We're victims of our own success in Pembroke Pines because the supervisor charges I know you're questioning, Mayor. I understand your frustration. But we do pay for these elections. The supervisor, according to the memo that he gave our clerk, charges $2.79 per registered voter. Therefore, every time we register a new voter and God bless us all, I want more registered voters. But every single time we register voters, it's not your fault, Senator Rich. This is under the supervisor.

He's completely blameless.

Every time you register new voters, it's actually going to cost the city of Pembroke Pines or any city more based on his formula. So Mr. Schwartz, I absolutely agree with you on the public input. I just wanted to correct the numbers because you cannot look at 20,141 voters. Sixteen months later, 2,815. I'm the only one in this city who's ever been on a November ballot. I know that experience uniquely. I can tell you, I think this city needs Actually,

Commissioner Good's been on

GREGORY In the city of Pembroke Pines.

GREGORY Representing the city of Pembroke Pines for the Water District. I stood by

Sir, you're playing semantics. I understand it is a different government. He was on a November ballot in a different government. I am referring to the government that you are a representative of along with me. Historically, I'm the only one to sit for a November ballot.

All right. Commissioner Schwartz, are you done with your comments? Sure. Okay. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Thank you. Like we did in the workshop. I agree with some of the points. However, I come to different conclusions on them. So I'll kind of go through my list. Potholes are nonpartisan. That's what the League of Cities says all the time. And we have little stickers about it and all that stuff. And I think whether we have elections in March or we have elections in November, that stays true. Because the issues that people are talking to you about ideally, while they may bring up, hey, what party this?

Do you affiliate with that? Blah, blah, blah. Our job as candidates, and anybody's job, anybody who's run for office, their job as candidates is to inform the residents of what they're going to be voting for. If someone chooses to bypass that information and still vote for you because of your perceived party. That's up to them. But it's your job as a candidate to make sure that you are letting them know exactly what the local issues are. I ran in 2024. And for me, while it was nonpartisan, it was still partisan because of the presidential primary. Both parties were out there. Everyone was doing their thing.

There was the little rack cards of this. There was the little rack cards for all the other parties. But I made sure you can exploit it if you want. But I made sure to say, hey, these are the issues that I'm focused on. Sure, it gives us space to do it in November.

But truthfully, we are so divided in our politics that even in March, people are asking you those questions. It's not that you get them asked any less for a March race than a November race. It may be that you're not just reaching out to the same amount of people. The other point and I wanted clarification on the cost breakdown. I understand we have to pay a fee mostly to change it, but then it's free after that.

I'm probably going to defer to Mr. Goran. But just to reiterate what was explained to me by the supervisor was if you are placing on the November ballot a charter amendment, which this would have to be a charter amendment to the charter of the city of Pembroke Pines, we would pay a fee of $2.79 I hope there's a mail in rebate, per registered voter in the city of Pembroke Pines you like that one, Tom? That would equal roughly 3 and $45,000 However, according to the memo that was sent by the supervisor to all 31 Broward County cities and I know the clerk has that memo any candidate only municipal election November 2026 and moving forward, would not Manager Dodge, you also read this, so you chime in or Attorney Goran would not incur a cost as opposed to if we do have to put a charter amendment moving forward. We still would have to pay for that.

That was the interpretation that I received from the supervisor. Candidates, you on the ballot in District 3 in November '28 would not, according to the supervisor, incur a cost for the city of Pembroke Pines.

But

I don't want to speak. Maybe if the manager

That's correct.

That's in

the communication. That's correct.

Other part is and maybe I should have started with this I've always agreed that we should move it to the November ballot. I appreciate Vice Mayor Hernandez bringing it to the dais. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it a couple of times here

on You did mention it.

I have mentioned it a couple of times here on this dais because it always kind of blew my mind how little the turnout was. And yes, the concept of us who gets reached out to? Yes, I understand the grassroots campaign. I ran a grassroots campaign. But what I did during my campaign was not just reach out to two out of the two primary voters and I work in campaigns, so it's a little jargony.

But two out of the two of the primary voters for that presidential election, I also added a whole barrage of other people and a whole barrage of other newly registered voters, making sure that was hitting younger families as well, anybody registered under the age of 40, anybody newly registered. I did the effort and the work into making sure more than those who typically voted in that election were aware of the election that was happening in March 2024, at least for my district. I did that because as a younger candidate, I knew that I wanted to represent young families and the generations of kids that grew up with me. And excluding them from that and only appealing the two that are the two primary voters was not in my wheelhouse, nor did I want to simply appeal to them. Granted, that's where the mailers went.

That's where the text messages went. But it's up to you as the candidate and your team to decide who you're appealing to. And yes, it's also congruent to the amount of funding that you have and all of that stuff. And it's probably a lot cheaper. And I know it's a lot cheaper to run a March election.

But it's not impossible to do the same thing if you have enough tenacity in November. Because I have faith that whether it would have been a March race, I would have ran an even stronger race during November knowing that the obstacles were stacked against you a little bit more as a newer candidate into a space like this. And I think that's it makes it a little bit harder. But if you are meant to be in this spot, you work that much harder to get to that position. And I think reaching out I'm small margin, 54 votes but I think reaching out to those families and making sure that I was reaching out beyond these two out of two to these other people, that that's what got me across the finish line.

And I think that's what we should all be doing. And it's an act of public service to not just educate the people who you are appealing to in a voting in an election than it is to appeal to the broader scale. Last summer, just as an example, Rebecca Thompson and I ran a fellowship where we went out no election, obviously, last summer and we knocked on doors. And we did all registered voters, whatever partisanship, whatever it was. And we knocked on the door not to ask for votes, but to offer the kind of services that each of our offices provided.

And that's the kind of work that if you're looking to be in office or you're already in office, whether it's March or November, that's the kind of work you should be doing. And it just comes down to the candidate. Whether it's easier in March, sure. But if it's your job as a candidate to inform all people whether you do it in either of those months, I think it's up to the candidate. There was a commentary on the Boca Race.

You can look at it in whichever way you want for Boca. But from my perspective, a very loud minority in the city got what they wanted, which was no development. And that times happens. Grassroots works in both ways. Maybe it helps a younger candidate get across the finish line a little bit easier.

But grassroots and dealing with a smaller voter base also means that those loud minority that kind of show up a little bit more consistently and do all these things have a louder voice than everybody else. Because I'm sure that there's plenty of young families in Boca that maybe were looking towards purchasing more homes, living in apartment complexes, in leasing apartments, and doing all of that that might have come with that development project. But because they weren't reached out to in these March elections, maybe they had no clue that that was an option. And that loud minority was able to persuade just the voters that they needed in that space and not do a well rounded reach out. And I know because I've spoken to some of the people who were left on that commission.

And that's the way that they explained it to me as well. And so that grassroots concept does work both ways. It can give the minority that can just be extra loud. And sometimes we kind of see that here on the dais, whomever comes and talks and talks and more, whatever. And then we don't see the families that are actually not here at commission meetings because they are at the soccer park or at dance lessons and all those things.

So comment on that. I looked it up. This is nationwide, so it might not be exactly for the city of Pembroke Pines, but 60% national turnout for presidential and 40% in midterms. So while it is a decrease, it's not as much as mentioned earlier. And while there would still be some of us that have just generically higher turnaround rates because we fall within presidential years than with midterm years, it is so much better than what we have now.

And I don't think that having us all on one ballot is good for the continuity of the city. That's like the number one reason you don't all kind of come out. And I don't know if any city, but I would doubt that any city does that because that institutional knowledge needs to be maintained at least by someone. I know that I've learned a lot from what the three of you who have been here before me were able to contribute. And imagine if you I mean, it would have been at least one of you been here had someone else not gotten into the race or whatever.

So I don't agree with that point. And while I do feel uncomfortable with adding the eight months, the point of putting it on a ballot is for the residents to weigh that risk and weigh that option for themselves. I guess those are my comments. But I wanted to thank you for bringing the topic up. And if we vote today or another day, I think, like I've always mentioned in the past, I think it democratizes our city. And whether we have to work a little bit harder to convince people that it's nonpartisan and that there are different types of issues that they're voting for, it is a positive for the city as a whole.

Mayor, if I could. I did also I actually owe Commissioner Rodriguez an apology because this was something she brought up in 2024. We didn't place it on the ballot, but she did. And actually, was it early I forgot when, commissioner, but you did bring it up on this dais. So it's not something that I just created. I actually may have used a cheat sheet based on what you had said back then. So I did want to mention that. Also, a point of clarification, because the city of Hollywood was mentioned. The city of Hollywood's mayoral race had 58,364 voters.

Not mayoral. The district.

Hollywood mayor at large. District, I'll send it to you.

Thank you.

The other point is that in March 2024, when commissioners Schwartz, Rodriguez, and Mayor Castillo were elected, there was only a Republican primary. The Democrats canceled their primary because Joe Biden was running for reelection. And for whatever reason, the Florida Democratic Party decided we're not having a primary. So you want to talk about a decline in voter turnout, it's because Democrats weren't out. And not to get too partisan, but if you look at voter registration in Broward County and in the city of Pembroke Pines, the vast majority of voters are registered Democrats.

And now that you mentioned that, vice mayor, this is going to be weighed in by the voters of our city, whether or

not Well,

not yet.

Well, I mean, we're going towards putting it on the ballot. After we have these conversations. But it's not going to surprise me when residents throughout our city go, listen, we like our garbage to be nonpartisan. We like our potholes to be nonpartisan. We want to be able to elect people who will represent our interests.

And when you have a political party having a majority of an electorate and you have a collapse of independence, an increase of independence pulling from both sides, it can become hyper partisan. I am open to having those conversations, but I'm not going to be surprised when we hear it throughout the city. And then once we get that information from our residents, then we can come back and we can talk about it and see the path forward.

So I'm going to turn to

the

mayor on this. I did just to make a clear point. In November, I was consistently asked which political party you are. And my response was Pembroke Pines.

That's a good answer.

And in March 2026, was at Ulysses lives in Century Village. He knows. I was asked and I said Pembroke Pines. I can't go into details based on state law what my party is. But guess what? I happened to work for the last mayor of Miami Dade County as his chief spokesman, chief communications officer, and senior adviser. He was a Republican in Miami Dade County that won 60 five-thirty five for Hillary Clinton in November 2016. Guess who won that race? My former boss. Everyone knew he was a Republican in a nonpartisan race.

It's the person. I really reject the whole partisan thing. If I broke down the amount of support I received in Century Village, I probably have the same amount of support from Republicans as I do Democrats and NPAs. Because you are right, Commissioner Schwartz. Garbage is nonpartisan. Funding our firefighters and police officers is nonpartisan. Making sure that we have a city that operates as efficiently as we do thank you, Manager Dodge is nonpartisan. So I just reject the partisan discussion. Yeah.

We have a full agenda here. And I really, really enjoy this discussion. I have a question and a comment, and then we'll look to see what next steps we're going to take. Mr. Goren.

Yes, sir. So the comment was made about the extension of the terms. And my understanding is that by Florida law, no city commission can, by vote, diminish the length of a term to which one is duly elected. However, if they change the election date in a manner that requires that commissioner to continue serving, that may, under state law, be done. Did I understand that correctly? Can I give

you the short answer first? Answer is yes. It's more difficult legally to reduce a term than it is to extend a term, particularly when there's a legal

basis So it's not to do that anyone here has the slightest interest, frankly least of all me, because I frankly could care less when I wrote. I really can't. And that's not a boastful statement. It's just the way I feel about it. It's really not about me. For me, it's about getting more people to the ballot when we have the event called an election. That's what it is to me. And so that's the first point that I want to make. The second point that I want to make is, look, the world spins and it changes. And we must change with it.

Otherwise, we are left behind. The notion of everyone running together at the same time, there's a reason which our forefathers created a staggered term. And Commissioner Rodriguez laid it out very eloquently. Staggered terms exist in every legislature going back to the Greeks for that very reason. It's so that there's someone there who knows where the bathrooms are.

It's so someone is there that knows what the history was. And that as the newer folks join on board, we're not all discovering things. If we didn't have staggered terms during World War II, we might be having this conversation in Germany. You have to have folks who were there before so that they can mentor the new folks that can come on, at least from the perspective of so this is

how that gets accomplished, mayor, if I may. Because we appointed a charter review commission. The charter review commission looked at staggered terms. They looked at when elections would be held. They looked at those things.

They gave us a report on it. This was By your honor. GREGORY with the imbalance between two and three and one and four, it puts the mayor's seat in a particularly advantageous position for the southern half of the city for and I'm not casting any dispersions of any of us. I'm just saying this is what was discussed during the charter review is that one in four can run for mayor. And then there's a one in four district race that gets filled months later.

In two and three, in the mayor's position, you either run for reelection or you run for the mayor and win or go home. That's just the way that works. So one thing that we may want to consider doing if we're going to move to November is to go ahead and pull the mayor out of cycle or somehow align the commission districts.

A point of clarification that I think you need to understand. That's no longer the case because Commissioner Rodriguez and I proposed a charter amendment that on the same ballot that the bond was voted down 60 five-thirty five gained 69% of the vote requiring an appointment, no longer giving the discretion to the city commission that it once had. It is a requirement, which to your point means someone would be in that seat. And Supervisor Scott, I sat in the courtroom. Took him to court.

He was very clear. As long as I'm supervisor of elections of Broward County There will be no elections for municipal elections in August as it used to be the case. So it would immediately go

to November. And that's what caused you to vote for our first ever November city election. But now you're arguing against November. So it's kind of hard to I was asking you and interrupting you before because it was kind of hard to follow your logic. Because you were part of the vote that created a November election for which

If I may, with all due respect

I don't want to go back in history. I

have to reclaim my time. But had you agreed to resign, we

could have filled GREGORY Guys, hold on. Don't want to go back

to that. GREGORY DELL: We're not going back to that.

Until you can talk about

history, All that's fine. That was explained incredibly well by the city attorney Hold SUSAN Hold on. On. All of that was explained by the city attorney. It was done absolutely perfectly by state law. I know that you don't care for the decisions that were made. Careful, they

mayor. Careful. Careful about what? Careful. Don't

GREGORY You didn't care for Let's how the decision was made. GREGORY keep the forum.

I'm asking you to just focus. Okay.

So can I reclaim my time

real quick? This even is what's important. I'm

sure what he's talking about.

Commissioner Schwartz made a comment about GREGORY past elections for District 4 and a resignation of running for mayor. What I am saying is that has completely changed because of our charter amendment.

That's correct.

So it is an erroneous statement that I have to provide clarification for.

So having said that, I have some people from the public that wish to speak. And then we'll see what motions come.

GREGORY One second. I have sorry to interrupt. You can start coming up. I just have two quick comments. Back on the note of special interests, it's just as easy to impose special interests in a March race.

It's actually probably cheaper for the special interest to come into a March race than it would Yes, be a November course. Second point is when we are working off of the presidential primary, have to remember that it's a closed primary. And people with non party affiliation, NPAs, typically don't come out, nor are they reached out to by either party to come out and participate in those. When we're saying we want to make this as nonpartisan as possible, it actually makes a little bit more sense on the November side because NPAs come and vote in November. They typically do not come and vote in the March election.

I have come to see it the same way, commissioner. Thank you. We have some members of the public that wish to speak. Steve, your name and address for the record. There's a button there that says speak if you could push it. You see it?

See it? You're on.

My name is Steve Reinstein. My name is Steve Reinstein. My address is 13100 Southwest 11th Court, Pembroke Pines, Florida, 33027. Yes, sir. I just want to share I don't speak very long, I'm a little nervous. Don't

Don't be nervous. You're among friends.

I just want to share my ideas. I respect first of all, I agree that elections should be in November. Let me tell you very simply why. And I respect everybody on the board listening to all this. It's fantastic. I'm a news junkie. I'm very interested in this stuff. But let me tell you why people don't vote except in November. Because if you think about this, when we were all in the seventh grade, what did we learn? Elections are the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

That's when elections are. And many people I speak to, and I've gotten 100 postcards, I've gotten all kinds of information. And there's an election. Yeah, yeah, an election for what? People just don't they know elections are in November. And all the numbers and all the statistics are true. But the reason people don't you need to think about why people don't vote, not the numbers. All the information you're sharing is what they do. But you need to find out why they do it. And I think it's because that's what we learned in the seventh grade. Thank you.

Much appreciated. Does anyone else wish to be heard? Scott? Your name and address for the record, please.

Scott Barnett, 1900346 Southwest 5th Street. Well, guess the genie is out of the bottle now at this point. One of the problems I've had, especially with the previous commission before your term, mayor, was the sense of overreach from something that Commissioner Rodriguez was alluding to in an earlier topic. For some reason, we have these situations where you have commissioners from certain districts wanting with intent interest in items that are happening in other districts. There's nothing wrong with them having interest in it But to take a vanguard point of action for something happening in another district just doesn't make sense to me.

The other thing is know, last I remember in 2023 when we had that, you know, special conversation and by Commissioner Seippel supported by Mr. Schwartz where we were going to there was going to be discussion of moving elections to moving it up to January, during March. I'm sorry?

Are you talking about the election qualifying period?

Yeah. You know, and you know

Yeah, in my election.

Yes, your election. You know, the problem we had was that this was being decided by the dais and it wasn't being decided by the people. Now, we also were talking about, at that same time, well, let's move our District four special appointment election to August. And that was something that I think everybody was in favor of doing. But it was Joe Scott, the supervisor of elections, who issued a memo at that time about the fact that he didn't want to do that. I called Joe Scott. I'm a regular resident. And I didn't call him in any capacity except being a resident. I was upset with what he was doing. And I had a frank and long conversation with Mr.

Scott about that. And while I was upset that Mr. Scott was making a decision for us, for our city, again, I thought that was overreached by the supervisor himself, he explained to me that his priority when he was running for his position was to have elections during higher voter turnout. And so I was satisfied with that answer. And now, after hearing all these discussions, I think it's a valid point because I don't know the numbers. But in this previous election we just had in District 4, I think it was about 2,300 votes.

2,815 as opposed to 20,141 sixteen And months

Commissioner Rodriguez is making great points tonight, by the way. She talked about a loud minority. She makes

great points every night.

The bond referendum was in March, wasn't it? And again, I felt like personally, my opinion I felt like that was affected by a loud minority that was able to take control of that, whereby maybe there would have been a difference with that vote if something like that was on a ballot where there was higher voter turnout.

We'll never know.

We'll never know. But that being said, the genie's out of the bottle now. And now I know, Mr. Goode, Commissioner Goode, you were in opposition for partisan terms. But now the genie's out of the bottle, now it's kind of like we have to take it

to the

people and allow them to vote in it because otherwise you would be preventing the people from doing just that. What we need to do is put these decisions back into the voters' hands. We need to have government, especially in the atmosphere we're in right now, government needs to come back into the voters' hands to ultimately make these decisions. And if this is something that we've never done in this city, then the time is now to do it. I hope that a motion is made. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. So what we have heard is that there are three that would be willing to move to November elections and one that sees the value of both sides and one who's opposed. Mayor, are you not listening? I guess I tried. Well, I want

you to listen. I said I am open to moving this item forward tonight and have public How do you turn that

into I misunderstood.

Commissioner Schorz, I understood.

Said a lot of things. I understood you. Okay. So one way to do that would be to move for a ballot question with public input. You can do both or some other motion. This is your item, so I'll give you the first crack at making a motion.

Well, Mr. Goran, what I would like to do is operate on parallel tracks because I actually do

Oh, by the way, excuse me. I'm so sorry. The comment was made about the Charter Review Board. The Charter Review Board is created what is it? Every ten years, Sam? 10.

10? I think it is 10.

I think it used to be five. I think it's ten now, right? Okay, five or ten. I'm not sure. But this board has absolute authority to put any item regarding the charter. And we've done that before. So there's nothing improper about this commission deciding to place an item before the people about its own charter, whether we send it to a charter board or not. Go right ahead, Vice Mayor. I'm sorry.

I would like to move on parallel tracks if possible because I agree with, surprisingly, with everyone up here. I actually would like to see and I don't know how you can legally do this. I'd like to see what an ordinance would look like, because my understanding of the process to place a charter amendment Sam, interrupt me and tell me that But I'm my understanding is, in order to place a charter amendment on the November ballot, we would need to have an ordinance With a ballot question a ballot question, first reading, second reading. Correct. Of course, coordination with the supervisor. Today is

March 31. So long as he if I may respond quickly, mayor. So if I may, to the vice mayor. So long as the ordinance, if adopted by the commission, is timely filed with the supervisor of elections, and he would accept it for the purpose of placing an on a ballot, which would then occur thereafter.

Mr. Goran, here's what I'd like to do. And you have to help me, as I say to Commissioner Good, help me land the plane here. I would like to direct administration, being particularly city attorney Goran or whomever you deem

GORDON It would be

GORDON Speak with the supervisor of elections and his general counsel and return on April 15, I believe, our next meeting

with

draft language of what an ordinance and ballot language could look like could. Simultaneously, to Commissioner Schwartz's point, and I believe Commissioner Rodriguez and others regarding public input, I'd like to coordinate or direct administration to coordinate with representatives of the Supervisor of Elections Office to meet with us here on April 15, whether it's a supervisor or someone else from his office, to explain not only the supervisor's position as to why, to Mr. Barnett's point, why he's encouraging cities to move to November and to reiterate and confirm what I said and what's in the memo that candidate only elections on November ballots for municipalities would incur no cost. How do I put that all those wonderful thoughts into something that I can motion and then ask for a second? And I'll give you a second because I know that was a lot.

While Sam processes, I have a we're to do this quickly. Have a point of clarification. When we are talking about public outreach, I think a small caveat would be that we aren't allowed to use taxpayer funds in order to talk about

After a ballot question.

After a ballot question.

We can call town hall meetings before. Public forums.

Public forums before. So we Yes. We would

have GREGORY This to would be a contemplated action that has not yet taken place.

GREGORY That's correct.

GREGORY And we are allowed to call town hall meetings to discuss contemplated actions.

And then when we do if we put it on the ballot similarly to the bond, we still went out and talked to people with the measure of not swaying them in any direction, but explaining to them. So I'd like us to keep that in mind when contemplating the public outreach versus when the ballot question comes to be official.

I also think that if there's an interest here for a fairly modest amount of money, we can also survey all registered voters in the city to see whether they have an interest in November elections over March elections. We could certainly do that. I throw that out as a possibility in case anyone wants to bite on

I'm absolutely fine with that. But I don't necessarily want that to be a part of the motion. I do want what Commissioner Rodriguez has said somehow incorporated. Look, at the end of the day, April 15 is a public meeting here at the city commission. And if we're inviting the supervisor of elections or his representative here, the public also will be here. I'm not disqualifying the opportunity for a future town hall meeting. But I would like within sixteen days, April 15, to have us here already for our regular commission meeting have a representative of the supervisor's office. And yes, of course, like we always do, invite the public. Each of us can we have the abilities to call town halls in our districts. That's fine.

As long as the manager has money for Well, but the public commission meeting that I'm referring to on the fifteenth isn't a budget item. That's why I want to separate. I don't want to incorporate a survey and then the town halls. That's not what I'm doing. What I would like and I think I've given you a little bit of time. What I'd like is to separate those. Maybe on the fifteenth, we discuss allocating some budget for a survey. That's fine. Okay. Or calling individual town halls, whatever it may be. But I don't want to get there. I want to go step one. Okay.

Sam, you want to take a crack at

the suggested motion, please? If I'm hearing the vice mayor correctly, what the vice mayor is suggesting is a motion to direct the city attorney's office to draft an ordinance to change the election date under state law from the current March period to November, which would be by ordinance, and to allow for a first reading on the April 15. But simultaneously, with the legislation being prepared by our office, we need to verify for you that you will get ballot access and when the deadline would be, whether it's June or it's September or it's August, to secure and to perfect ballot access in November for the November ballot. And then any peripheral issues that you choose to do regarding education or information would simultaneous with the process I just described. So a motion to draft, get it back to the commission for review.

It'll be an ordinance. It's a public hearing for the purpose of discussion and would not be adopted until you had a second and final public hearing.

Does that satisfy you, Vice Mayor?

You can hold. I want to ask your opinion and that of all of our colleagues before I make a motion. And you were the last to speak, Commissioner Rodriguez.

I agree.

You agree? Fine. Mr. Weismar, if

I can help you with one little nuance. You can delay or you can control when the second and final public hearing is coming.

That's what I wanted to

So you're not barred. You're not required to have it within. You're required by law to have it within ten days if you're going to adopt it. But if you would like to secure a delay, so to speak, you can actually schedule or set the second hearing, final hearing, at a later time.

Yeah. And I think that's an elegant way to approach this because

GREGORY It leaves you time.

GREGORY assuming that the votes are there to pass it on first reading, we now have a reason to call town hall meetings. And then we can talk about whether they should I mean, it sounds to me like these should be citywide town hall meetings. But that's really up to the commission to decide that.

GREGORY And I agree. I just don't want to mix that with what I'm doing.

So I what think the city attorney has suggested is an elegant way to proceed right now to put the issue at issue, which is to ask him to draft the language on first reading.

Okay. But I don't remember everything he said. And I'm supposed to motion that.

I can try again.

I'm sorry, Sam. Could you Could

you try again? Yes.

Yeah. Am I going to have to repeat it word for word?

No, no. I've got the theory of it down. And then the clerk and I can coordinate together. Okay.

So I motion that.

Well, I've heard that said before.

Second.

There's been a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Mr. Mayor? Yes,

sir. Man,

you good? Listen, listen, I appreciate all the dialogue and everything. I just want to make something very clear once more. I do not disagree with any of the comments that are made in regards to moving to November. I clearly understand. I do have a different point of view, but that does not put me into opposition. I will say that I am in full support of a ballot question going before the public, as I always have. So please don't misinterpret. You did not hurt

my feelings.

GREGORY No. I didn't intend to. And I don't think you took it that way. I just, like I say, though, but I have to be able to speak my personal point of view, which I shared it. But again, I do understand. And I am willing to support. So let's just cut the chase and get it done.

Thank you very, very much.

Mr. Mayor, one quick comment, if I may.

My choice of words is not exactly correct. I wouldn't be delaying the second reading. You would be deferring it.

That's fine. You and those words. I appreciate it. Any further discussions? Okay. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously. So we will look forward to seeing that on the agenda in April 15. Thank you very much. Let's zip back to the consent agenda. Commissioners, today's consent agenda consists of items one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. What is your pleasure?

I'll move it, but I think we should wait for Commissioner Rodriguez.

Let's take a three minute recess, please. Let's come back to order. Okay. The motion was made by the vice mayor to adopt the consent agenda. Is there a second?

Second by commissioner Good. Any discussion? Any from the public? Seeing none, items one through eight, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Report to the league and MPO representatives. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Thank you. I had Ms. Udanis print out some of the material, not for Tom because he was there at the dignity training. But if you look, I think it's on your desk, slash dais, at the training that they recently had for the dignity index, it was actually very, very, very, very interesting. I wish all of you could have made it, but I understand our schedules are a little tricky sometimes.

So that's why I wanted to bring this back. Tom and I were there, and it was super interesting. It obviously relates a lot to elected officials talking, keeping decorum. And what they talk about basically is going from dignity and keeping everybody in the conversation above bar. And the other end of the scale is contempt contempt for the other person that you're talking to or the other group of people.

I included a couple more than what was given to us as part of the information. And there is a QR code at the bottom of that first document at dignity.us. They have really good videos, trainings, topics. But basically, what they taught us is that in a scale from content to dignity, there's about eight steps. And they talk through each of those eight ways of talking to other people.

There's also a part that says building skills for dignified disagreement. Obviously, as elected officials and here on the DS, we disagree all of the time on a whole host of issues. And I hope that we're able to read through this. I really wish you guys were at the training, maybe. If there's any kind of interest, I think the league should be doing this every year because it was so interesting.

And we can all attend in the future. But in the very least, take a look at this. I hope that we can all consider keeping respect and dignity for everybody on the dais and every part of the conversation that we have tonight and all future nights that we're on these days, or talking online, or anything of that sort. So take a look. And then Denise Horland, president of the League of Cities, can have some more information if you guys would like.

But the website itself does have a ton of information. So that's a little bit of what the league did. I have to double check. Oh, Thursday, we have the directors meeting. I have to double check the location, but it should be on your calendar. Or I guess it's not on your calendar. I'm going

I believe it's Deerfield.

Deerfield. So I'll be in Deerfield, I'll come and report back on that as well. And then keep a lookout on the general meetings because, as a reminder, we do have two tickets. And it doesn't necessarily have to be the person appointed to the League of Cities to be able to go. So first two to hop on the train for the general should be able to go.

Thank you very much. Well said. Commissioner Good, anything new from

the MPO? No, Mr. Mayor. Already gave you the report at the last minute. Thank

you. Thank you very much. Reports of the city manager and city attorney. City manager?

Yes, Mayor. At the last commission meeting, April 22, we were talking about a budget visioning retreat. Commissioner Rodriguez wasn't available, and I believe Commissioner Schwartz wasn't sure. So we need to pick another date. And April 29, we have a workshop on municipal solid waste. Commissioner Schwartz was supposed to let us know if he's available

that night.

Yeah, I'm available. Okay, good.

So that one's set.

There's We got people 04:00, 05:00. What time are looking?

We have 06:00. But you can change it anytime you want. It doesn't matter.

How long do you need? That one's going to take a

little bit of time, at least almost as much as we did tonight for at least two, two and a

half hours. So is anyone opposed to having it a little bit earlier so we're not going for the bag chips and all that stuff?

We can do it at 04:00.

If we do four, at least maybe we can actually have a real meal at the at the end of the night.

You didn't like the same?

Wait. No. It's fine. I'm just saying, but it's now almost, you know, 09:30.

So I'm sorry. Don't mean

interrupt this. Which which date is it again? The twenty ninth. The twenty ninth.

You were okay, but I don't know. We said 06:00 at that time.

Okay. As long as it's not the twenty third, April. Yeah.

April 29.

Okay.

Twenty ninth at 04:00.

Would you like o'clock is fine with me. Okay. Yes. Bruce Springsteen at twenty third.

04:00 on the twenty ninth?

Okay. Yeah, we're talking trash. Are Are we going to have

when can we expect to have information prior to the meeting? We're going to try

to get it

to you at least over a week ahead of time because it's an awful lot.

No way to get at least partial? If you got something partial now, we

can start getting it? We have some that's completed. We can give you our weight figure get because I'm It really spells it all out. Sure. Yeah.

Okay. Any

Okay. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Okay?

Now we need to set a date, mayor, for a budget visioning retreat. If you can't do it in April, we could move that to the May. Why can't we do it the same night, the twenty ninth? Oh, that's that would be too much,

I believe. What what do you mean?

You mean if we start at four and put them both on? It's Okay

if that's what you want. What mean by me?

So basically, because usually that's a full day thing, the budget. Well,

there's not a whole lot to vision about. But we're going to give you an outline of what we

project. You give us an outline of the budget. And how can you vision with what they're thinking about doing?

GREGORY I know. That's the whole issue. If whatever you add, you have to take it from someplace else.

But it'll give us at least an introduction to the budget. And if there are any really, really pressing issues, we can bring it up.

Okay. So we're going to change that one to April 22, add it onto the twenty ninth. Why not?

Mr. Dodge, is there a way that you can send us the visioning PowerPoint or whatever? I mean,

Well, I don't we'll send what it will be. We're calling it visioning. We always have. But it's really the outline of where we are with the proposed budget for twenty six-twenty seven.

What time did we do the visioning last year?

I honestly don't recall.

I think it was a little bit earlier. I remember it being more like the strategic plan one where it was kind of like morning to afternoon, if I'm not mistaken.

Well, we've done all day,

but I

don't think we need that.

And I understand the concept administration might not I mean, they're kind of stuck on what they're bringing forward. But I don't want to be rushed. I mean, we had two and a half hours in the other one, And I felt I was a little bit rushed, and that was just one topic.

So I don't necessarily That's on me. I'm going to try and manage the time a little better

It's so that it's evenly not the distribution. I don't want to have to cut anybody off for me to get my points across. I think we should all get our points across for whatever long time it takes. I propose starting earlier on the twenty ninth if we're going to do both garbage, recycling, and divisioning. I'm free that whole day. Mike,

if you give me two seconds.

Hold on.

How much time do you need Mr. Dodge to make your presentation?

On garbage? No, on the visioning. Okay.

I don't need that much time. It's how much time you need in asking your questions. It's really going

to be a pre budget peak. So

if we divide an hour by five, that's 12 a pop, right? And then then more than twelve minutes. Just saying, the presentation that the manager is going to make, do you think we can get it done in ninety minutes? For the

The presentation? Solid waste, no. No, no, no. You're visioning. Oh, I could probably give you the outline of the budget probably in thirty minutes. But it's how much time each commissioner wants to either have questions regarding it or if there's anything they would like to

If we were to get the presentation on what you had planned on the twenty second, and then we can have the conversation between the twenty second and give 20 you at

least a week It's on the

a solid week of about a couple weeks. On the amount of stuff, I guess.

GREGORY All right. I think it's sounding to me like we can meet at four, bang out the budget in an hour, and then stay a couple hours for the solid waste discussion.

We're going to have sandwich dinners, but that's fine with me if we start

before. Okay. More sandwiches. Is everybody Okay with that?

Well, we could do something different if you'd like.

Right. We'll talk about the meal plan later. But let's just get the hours in there. Just get the hours in there. That work? Does that work? I'm hearing consent. All right. So we're going to do GREGORY

Yes, on the caveat that if we talk visioning, whether it's whatever And I will be better

about making sure everybody has enough time. Okay. All right. Thank you.

All right. So it's set for April 29. Yes.

Send out a Send out a

visioning and solid waste.

Send out an email. Okay.

Okay.

What else?

That's it, mayor.

GREGORY City attorney. Thank you,

mayor and commission. I need your advice under state law. There's a pending lawsuit, which I'd like to refer you to in the public record. It is the case of the Florida State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police, Inc, a Florida not for profit corporation, and several individual folks, Joel Charisma and Scott Kushai, as plaintiffs versus the city of Pembroke Pines and Jose Vargas in his official capacity. Cases pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Case reference for the public record is case number 25CB-sixty1620EA. I need your advice, along with Special Counsel Chris Stearns, for a shade meeting to be scheduled for April 15 at the conclusion of the regular meeting when Mr. Stearns is available, which would include myself, Mr. Stearns, potentially Jacob Horowitz, city manager Dodge, the mayor and commission, and the court reporter so that I can seek your advice under the statute that references 286.011 subsection eight. We have a public meeting, which is a sunshine meeting. That's a shade meeting. It must begin in the public. It would then conduct itself into the shade and would conclude in public. I need your advice on certain conditions There and matters

will be a court reporter in the room with us?

Clearly by state law. That's correct.

Okay. Can I have a motion for a shade meeting per the city attorney

Thank you, Mr? Misher.

I'll move it.

Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously.

Thank you, mayor and commissioner. I'll coordinate with our city clerk tomorrow to coordinate the appropriate notices required by state law. And the meeting will be conducted on the April 15 with your guidance and direction. I'm grateful. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Anything further from the city attorney?

No, sir. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. The next item is item number nine. Commissioner Schwartz, you are recognized.

Thank you, mayor. Colleagues, back in Q4 last year, we had a discussion about employee ethics and training. You asked me to get with administration. Mr. Rothstein, I believe, is on the phone. I apologize for the late hour, Mr. Rothstein. Basically, what we're looking to do I say we. The discussion that we had was biannual training, which is every two years to include new employees beginning in 2026, all virtual online. Mr. Rothstein is on the phone if you have any questions.

Yeah. So the recall way it, we had a consensus that you were going to meet with staff and come back with specific proposal on ethics training.

And that's what I thought this was. Yeah, the discussion was to have staff drive it. And we had that discussion. Mr. Rothstein is on the phone.

Okay, Mr. Rothstein? Mr. Mayor, before he speaks, I think it's important. I didn't realize he spoke to Mr. Osteen, but he certainly can speak. But as far as ethics for city employees, we've had a policy. And any employee that's hired signs that policy on ethics. And it's quite detailed in the handbook for the employees to read. I don't think there's anything else you can add to that.

And I know I believe what you're looking for is the ethics on how employees conduct themselves, either with gifts or providing favors to anyone. But it's been outlined in those career rules and regulations since 1979 and it's been amended from thereon. To do training, you would simply, I assume, just repeat the redundancy of what's in that policy that we already have.

Mayor, I had requested that information from Manager Dodge. I certainly appreciate any colleague up here, anyone trying to add ethics training to any employee in the municipality that does not already receive it or know of what the ethical code is, not only for Pembroke Pines municipal employees, but Broward County. I just think this is redundant and not necessary. So I'm stating that as a fact because they already undergo that training. So I don't want to add yet another burden on municipal employees who already receive the training.

So for that reason, I'm not going to be supportive of adding anything, any additional trainings to our municipal employees. Wanted