City Commission - Regular Meeting

And we have a big night ahead of us. And let's start off with roll call. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the

roll? Commissioner Good?

He is here. He'll be right back.

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 very much. Today, leading us in the pledge and singing the national anthem, we have Elizabeth Nasser, who is an assistant vice president at Baptist Hospital. She is a Pembroke Pines resident and an autism advocate whose company has provided the city of Pembroke Pines with $15,000 to do the autism initiative that we're going to be talking about tonight. There's going to be a presentation and a discussion about that. And I really, really want to thank her for being present with us today.

And if you would please come forward, lead us in the pledge, and then the national anthem, please rise.

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.

Oh, say, can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight. O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that a flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave? O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Thank you so much, Elizabeth Nasser. That was beautiful. Commissioners, I'd like to remind you that supervisor of elections Scott will be on the phone at exactly 07:30 as staff. And I thank them for making that arrangement. So at 07:30, when we're prompted, we will interrupt business he's out of town and make sure that we do item 12 without objection. Let's go to announcement of items to be pulled from the agenda. Mr. Clerk, is there any items? No items, mayor. Thank you very much.

We'll go straight to presentations. Now we have it. Ladies and gentlemen, we have greatness in the room. Greatness in the room. Pembroke Pines Charter High School basketball team state champions.

Wow. Who would have sunk a small school in Staten Island, jeez. In Pembroke Pines. And here you are. Seeing you takes me back to my high school days. Could you all please come and join me? And where's Mr. Baer? I know I saw him. Come on.

All right. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Pembroke Pines Charter High School basketball team. Whereas the Pembroke Pines Charter High School boys basketball team achieved outstanding success by winning the class 5A state championship on 03/13/2026 with a hard fought 52 to 48 victory over Fleming Island at the University of North Florida. And whereas head coach Dave Rocha was honored by the Sun Sentinel as coach of the year, a prestigious recognition highlighting his exceptional leadership, dedication, and impact on student athletes both on and off the court. Whereas under his leadership, along with a dedicated coaching staff, the Jaguars have established a culture of sustained excellence, earning three state championships over a remarkable six year span.

And whereas the team's success is rooted not only in athletic talent, but also in steadfast commitment to academic achievement, discipline, teamwork, and character, reflecting the values upheld by Pembroke Pines Charter High School, one of the top rated charter schools in Broward County and the state of Florida, the best high school in The United States, if not the world, if not the universe. And whereas the Jaguars demonstrated resilience, unity, and one more mentality through their twenty two and six season, finishing strong with seven consecutive victories and showcasing a selfless team first approach that inspired the entire Pembroke Pines community. And whereas Pembroke Pines charter high school basketball assistant coaches are Mike Diaz, Kelsey Wilkinson, Paul Brown, Caleb McLaughlin, Michael Opalka, and Kenneth Trueblood. And whereas the Pembroke Pines high school basketball team is as follows Anthony Walcott, Roman Hughes, Robert Bouchard, Andre Daniels, Adam Starr, Jacob Trenchfield, Alex Vardakis, Nahim Nassi, Zacharias Dawson, Isaiah Jenkins, Adon Hollingshead, and Elijah Mobley. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, the greatest city in the world, together with the city commission, do hereby recognize and congratulate the Pembroke Pines Charter High School boys basketball team for their state championship victory in Florida and commend the players, coaches, families, and school community for their dedication, perseverance, commitment to excellence, and bringing pride to the honor of the city of Pembroke Pines.

We are so proud of it. To speak? Somebody's got to step up. Who's the team captain? I

guess they defaulted to me. I want to thank the mayor. And he mentioned, who would have thought that back in nineteen ninety nine, two thousand, that little Pembroke Pines would create this academic village, this tremendous academic structure, and as he said, the greatest city in the world, along with the greatest high school in the universe. I heard that one too. It doesn't happen just by chance.

We had city manager Charlie Dodge, who's still here with us. I think him and I are probably in the same decade of worth and have been around for quite a while. But it's an amazing organization, team effort. I want to thank the parents, all of you, for making your contributions, bringing your children, trusting us here at Pembroke Pines Charter to help not only develop them as athletes, but really, we look to build strong relationships as fathers, husbands, brothers and sisters, community members. And so thank all of you, and particularly the support we got from the city of Pembroke Pines, Commissioner Diaz, who was at many of our games.

Mayor Castillo stopped coming because we lost the first game that he came to. No, he did return. But we're very thankful for everybody's participation. And of course, at the head of all of this is Mr. Mayor, Mr. Baer, our principal. Thank you very much, Mr. Baer.

Commissioner Hernandez, you did a great job. Would you like to come down and say a few words? Vice mayor Hernandez. He was at every game.

He was at every game. I think besides our guys winning a state championship, a miracle was that I got this baseball loving mayor to admit I think I like basketball. And you're right, coach. He was at the first game. The result wasn't what we wanted. But then he came back and we won. Best part is I grew up in Miami and I played basketball in high school. I loved beating Belen by like 40 points to make it to the state championship. That was ugly in a good way. I did want to, because Coach had mentioned a couple of points that I wanted to put out there.

This is, yes, the third state championship in six years in life or in sports. Being successful 50% of the time when you set out for a goal, that's almost unprecedented. So that's a tribute to Coach Rocco, which I know likes to stay back in the shadows and not really talk as much. But it's a tribute to him, his coaching staff, your athletic director, Principal Baer, and everyone else. I think we should also acknowledge the fact that I wasn't around in 1999, but Charlie Dodge had the idea, let's create a high school.

Let's create an entire school system. So we should also not ingest, recognize Manager Dodge, which also doesn't like to be recognized. But I'm saying it anyways, buddy. This championship, I would have been there, but I had this little thing called reelection. So I couldn't. But this championship was special in that the game was played in Jacksonville, basically a home game for our opponents. There were about 5,000 fans, most of them theirs because they were coming from twenty to thirty minutes away. They played Jacksonville, Fleming Island, I believe it was. Who cares? We beat them.

It's great. But the Jaguars led by one with fifty five seconds remaining before securing the victory on free throws. Never let anyone tell you free throws don't matter. 50 two-forty eight was the final score. The Miami I'm not supposed to talk about the coach very much, but the Miami Herald has again picked coach Dave Rocha as the Broward County Coach of the Year.

Our Jaguars have been in the regional championship, which is also very difficult to do, seven consecutive years. Since some of these guys were in middle school, they've been making it to regional championships. And they've advanced to the state championship four times in those years. 75% of those four state championships they brought home. So during the seven year span, six Jaguars have been Players of the Year in Broward County, Dallas Graziani. I left my glasses. I apologize. Colby King, Jeff Sprouts, Jeremy Elisi. Okay. Josh Harris and this year, Zach Dawson, which has mad skills.

And the best part is he's a junior, so you got one more year to go. During that seven year span, and this is really important, over 20, over 20 Pines Jaguars have received financial aid with a college scholarship to play college basketball. And during that seven year span, we have also had four of those 20 players have played in the March Madness tournament. You know that thing that your office probably creates a pool for that you decide who out of those 64 or 65 teams are going to We make don't, but everyone else does. And it's March Madness to have four of those players in March Madness is a testament to their leadership.

This year, four Jaguars received all county recognition. If you could just raise your hands when I call you. Anthony Walcock, Robert. Robert Gershaw Jr. He's really tall. Alex, and I'm sorry, Vardakis. There you go. Sorry. And Zach Dawson. I usually read better guys.

I'm sorry. I don't have my glasses. I will say I walked in with Principal Baer in September. I was attending a football game because we have that unique feature in Pembroke Pines that we're a city commission, but we're also a charter school system. And I believe Mr. Dodge has confirmed we're the largest municipally operated charter school system, at least in the state of Florida, potentially in the country. We have to fact check the national part, but definitely in the state of Florida. So I said, I love sports. I want to go to a football game. I texted principal there. But to get to the field, I had to walk through the gym. Now, I don't look like it anymore. I'm 43. But basketball was my life. I played basketball in high school.

I was on scholarship in high school in a smaller school in Miami, Westminster Christian. In the event, any of you from down there, that's where I played. I absolutely loved playing basketball. I'm just five'eleven and couldn't shoot too much from the outside, so my career ended after my senior season. But I walked through that gym and a part of me felt like, man, I'm 17 again. I'm 16. I love this. I wanted to play. And I kept in touch with Mike and Coach Rocha and Principal Bear. And I said, every time that I can go, I'm going to go. And I'm going to drag the mayor with me. And so it was an amazing. He did enjoy it, although he was asking me, where's the pitcher on

the call?

But I love baseball too, guys. Don't get me wrong. Just a basketball player. But I want to congratulate you all. I don't remember it was a long time ago. It's really hard to do what you do your students, your sons, your athletes. Sometimes we forget how hard it is to be a young person. I really admire all of you. I wish you the best over summer break. That I know some of your seniors are moving on, you're going to do very well.

I follow your Instagram. I see their progress. But I look forward to those of you that are coming back and those of you who are done still coming to those games and sitting in the corner and cheering. And really, you are, to the mayor's point, he said this once, you're the pride of Pembroke Pines. You're the pride of our city. Thank you. God bless you. Enjoy your proclamation. And I think we should invite the entire commission downright for the photo. And to the parents, thank you for coming on a Wednesday night to our city commission.

Good evening, everyone. Thank you, mayor. My name is Christina Golding, and I'm one of the assistant city managers here in Pembroke Pines. Tonight, we're here to recognize the city of Pembroke Pines as an autism friendly city. I'm going to introduce Sue Lepprey here in a minute. But before I do it, I just want to go over a little bit how we got here. In May, a member from our Diversity and Heritage Board, Irving McKenzie I don't know if Mr. McKenzie is here today. There he is. Yay.

He came to me with the idea. He said, Christina, we don't do anything for autism awareness. And I said, I got this. I got on the phone with my really good friend, Isela, and we had a brief conversation. And that turned into her reaching out to Vice Mayor Hernandez saying, we should have Pembroke Pines as an autism friendly city. The vice mayor brought this to the commission in August, and the commission said, let's get it done. And so me and my staff, we got to work. The first thing we did was said, we do a lot in our city already, and let's start pooling our resources and figuring out what we're already doing. So I'm going to read so I don't forget. We offer inclusive recreation and cultural arts programs and camps along with adaptive programming through our partnership with the YMCA.

We support education and early intervention through programs like our FSU Charters Elementary School Center for Children with Autism. We've created sensory friendly experiences, such as Sensory Saturdays at the Frank Art Gallery, and introduced resources like our Comfort Canine Jelly Bean, who provides emotional support during times of stress. Our fire department is trained and equipped with sensory kits in every rescue unit to better assist individuals with autism. And we continue to build inclusive community connections through programs like our Illuminate Heart initiative at the Southwest Focal Point Senior Center. So we wanted to build on that, and we wanted to do more.

So we got together, my staff, members from CARD, Isella, and we said, what else can we do? Since August, we have trained over 100 city employees in autism awareness and sensory considerations, ensuring that our staff are better equipped to serve all of our residents. We've partnered with Baptist Health, who generously donated $15,000 to support an initiative of communication boards in 12 playgrounds. And we brought the replica over here for everyone to see. And their donation, we stretched it because I'm good at spending money and being frugal there.

We stretched it. And we also introduced quiet zones in our city events. These are low stimulation areas designed to give individuals a place to step away from the noise and the crowds. And our first Quiet Zone will be implemented at Pines Day next weekend. In addition, we've developed social stories for many of our larger events.

These are simple step by step guides that help individuals understand what to expect, reduce anxiety, and making experiences more accessible. We even created a social story for attending our event today. And we're also finalizing plans for a new inclusive playground at Silver Lakes North Park. It's going to be building on the success of the playground that we have over at Memorial Park right now. These spaces are designed so children of all abilities can play together.

And finally, we brought all of these resources together and the centralized website that we created, making it easier for our residents and families to access information and support. And MerriWalt today is a milestone for us. This is not the end or the finish line. We will continue to work and are committed to growing and improving resources we provide to our residents. So I personally want to thank my city staff who jumped in headfirst and said, we can do this together.

The city employees that took part in the training, CARD for their endless support, Isella for your constant pushing and asking and always being there, and Mr. McKenzie for the spark. Thank you very, very much. And so with that, I'm going to hand it over to Sue Lepprie from CARD who is going to give us the designation.

Thank

you so much, Christina, and to the mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, and the entire city of Pembroke Pines. This is possible because of the spark. It's truly an honor to be here today representing the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. It's been eleven years working at CARD under the direct supervision of Louis Grana and Doctor. Carol Zengari with help from Doctor. Michael Alessandria at This designation is much more than a title. It reflects the genuine care and commitment of this city. Excuse me if get teary eyed because it is. It is. And it's staff creating a community where individuals with autism and their families truly feel seen.

They feel valued. They feel supported. It's incredibly exciting to see this kind of heart and intention behind everything that we built. What's most meaningful is that this is just the beginning. As Pembroke Pines continues to lead the way in reimagining what truly inclusive spaces and experiences can look like. On behalf of CARD, I'm truly proud to recognize the city of Pembroke Pines as an autism friendly city. Congratulations.

Thank you for having us.

Thank so very, much. Vice mayor, if you will help me. I'm gonna get his glasses over here so No, I left them. Oh, you left them at home? Well, you're going have to struggle through this one because these are very small print. Of course, I'm only 25 years old. But this is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines Florida Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month. Can you make out the first couple of words? Now he's just mocking me.

Whereas autism spectrum disorder, ASD, is a developmental and neurological condition that affects how individuals perceive the world and interact with others, with roughly one in thirty four to one in fifty nine children affected nationally. And whereas autism is a spectrum, meaning experiences vary widely that's very important and with proper education, support, and opportunities, individuals with autism could lead meaningful, productive lives and reach their full potential. I'll just repeat it for emphasis, meaningful, productive lives and reach their full potential.

That was very good, by the way and where it is essential to move beyond awareness and actively champion acceptance, recognizing the unique strengths and contributions of individuals with autism while working to remove barriers to education, employment, and full community participation. Whereas during the month of April, we honored the dedication of families, caregivers, educators, and health care professionals who support individuals on the spectrum. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, together with the city commission, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month in the city of Pembroke Pines. And I encourage all residents to learn more about autism and promote inclusion, understanding, and support throughout our community. Thank you so very, very much.

We should have the commission down here.

Will you join us, please? Yeah.

I'm also going to take a point of personal privilege because although she retired from the school board, board member Patty Good when she served the Broward County Public School District was an activist for students with autism. Do you think maybe you could join us up here? Okay. I did not and again, I apologize. Doctor.

Mirage is here from our FSU charter school campus. Could you stand up very quickly? And any students that are from our FSU campus or employees, I did want to recognize you all. So thank you for being here. I wanted to mention because some folks ask me, what does this mean?

And I know Ms. Christina Golding, our assistant city manager, mentioned it. Yes, it's an incredible moment to recognized as an autism friendly partner through CARD, which is a center for autism and related disabilities at the University of Miami. But it's a meaningful milestone. The designation reflects something that we've been intentionally as a city working towards. It's creating a community where all and we have 172,000 residents feel welcome, supported, and included. It's not just a designation. It's also a down payment. It's a commitment that we're making to all of our residents. What the designation means, our staff is being trained, as Ms.

Golding mentioned, to better understand and support individuals with autism and related disabilities. We're looking at our programs, facilities, and services through a more inclusive lens. It's about improving everyday interactions, whether that's at a park, a program, or a city facility. We also have all this information on our website. Inclusion isn't just a goal.

It's a responsibility of all governments everywhere. Families should feel confident that their city, the city of Pembroke Pines, which as this gentleman to my left says, the city that can, cares, and does, understands their needs and is working to support them. When we create spaces that are more accessible and welcoming, it benefits the entire community. Continued enhancements to our parks programs and public spaces to better serve individuals with autism and related disabilities, more opportunities for engagement participation, and a city that continues to actively listen. Our partnership with CARD has been an incredible partnership so far in guiding us through the process.

Their expertise and we want to thank you for that helps ensure we're not just well intentioned, we're effective. And we'll continue to build on it. As Ms. Golding said, this is step one. It's a comma, not a period, so to speak. It's a long term process of continuous improvement. So we're committed to continuing this work, expanding our efforts. We want Pembroke Pines to be a model for an inclusive community. Our goal is simple. Every resident should feel seen, supported, and able to fully participate.

I have to call out in a very positive way, who is not only a great friend but an advocate, somebody that helps me and my family. And also, I received a phone call, which I texted you about today. I was on radio in Miami and I was asked about this. I never knew how many folks would engage, but apparently I started receiving text messages including from elected officials. I did want to recognize Miami Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado who's an autism advocate.

She texted me and said, you need to call me. And I said, I'm on the radio right now. She said, well, hang up when you're done And and call she has offered to support the city of Pembroke Pines however possible. I'm trying to see Miami folks driving to Broward is like driving to Canada. So I'm trying to figure out when she can come up to a commission meeting where she can speak with all of us. But I wanted to thank, yes, Christina Golding and her entire team. Hizelaheim for the fact that she called me and said, I need to talk to you. I thought it was an emergency. And she said, no. This is something we need to do.

We're the second largest, second most populous city in Broward. We need to do this. So I thank you for your friendship, for your guidance. To all the experts in our city, including Doctor. Mirage, including our city manager who, along with his team, this is not something new. We have been taking steps this entire process, not just now but since before. I thank you all for your commitment to all of this. And maybe it's controversial. I am on the autism spectrum. I'm a 43 year old adult.

I've struggled with it my entire life. I'm diagnosed. It is incredibly challenging at times. But I guess it means that anybody can do anything. Because there were periods of time when I was a young boy and we didn't really know about this I don't want to say how old I am, but several decades ago where I could not continue reading. I got up and walked around when the teachers told me, you're not supposed to do that. You are supposed to sit down. I was distracted. And sometimes you just felt like you're different. But I learned later on that you experience the world differently.

And there's a whole host of advantages with that and untapped potential. So it just so happened that Hesella reached out to me. But my colleagues, the mayor, supported it in a five-zero vote. Assistant manager at Golding took it on. She didn't push it to the side. She championed it. And I appreciate it. I want to thank you all for coming. And let's just keep it going. Thank you. God bless you.

Thank you very much, Vice President. Okay. Now we have Arbor Day. Arbor Day people here? Come on up.

So the participating schools are Pembroke Pines Elementary, Chapel Trail Elementary, Pasadena Lakes Elementary, Pembroke Pines Charter School East Campus, FSU Charter Elementary, Pines Lakes Elementary School, Pembroke Pines Charter School, and West Campus. Okay, so I want you to all stand over here and show awards, Okay? Because this is the Arbor Day poster contest winners for 2026. How's that? And we've got Kelvin Rubiniz and Lucia Hernandez Sanchez and Amanda Pacheco and Stella Fernandez and Savannah Descharnis and Santiago Gallo and Isadora Noisy and Kaya Lewis and Kalani Calzadia and Reysek Blanco and Sofia Aguilar and Jada Watson and Zuri Baptiste Ramirez and Eva Spector and Serena Caldera, Krista Natino, Sadie Pino, and Jacqueline Manrique.

And they have created great art, which is in the lobby of City Center. You should all go see it. It's absolutely beautiful. And we're so very, very proud of you. Okay?

So we're going to take a photo. Okay. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. I got two left. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, Child Abuse Prevention Month. Whereas Florida's bright future depends on the healthy development and well-being of its children, an adverse childhood experiences, including abuse and neglect, can be severe and long lasting consequences for children, families, and societies as a whole. And whereas every child has the right to a safe, healthy, and happy childhood where they are supported in achieving their educational and developmental milestones.

And research shows that parents and caregivers with strong support systems, access to resources, are more resilient and better equipped to provide safe, nurturing environments. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, together with the city commission to hereby proclaim April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in the city of Pembroke Pines, I encourage all residents to join in their effort to support the well-being of all of our children and their families. Who's receiving this? Please. Congratulations. Please say a few words.

Oh, absolutely. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of Children's Services Council of Broward County, thank you for this proclamation recognizing April as child abuse prevention month. We are honored to stand in the protection against Broward children. So thank you so much.

Thank you, mayor, vice mayor, and city commission, city administration, attorney, and city clerk. On behalf of Environmental Advisory Board, as a chair, I'm happy to receive this proclamation from the mayor. As April is also the volunteer month, so I request all of you, please do volunteer. We need a lot of volunteers. And we are having Water Matters Day, Earth Day. April is a wonderful month. So thank you, mayor, for recognizing this proclamation. Thank you so

very much for everything you do. Thank you. Okay. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, declaring Muslim American Heritage Month, whereas freedom of religion is a cherished right and a fundamental principle upon which the laws and the ethics of The United States are based. And whereas the city of Pembroke Pines, enriched by the remarkable diversity of its residents, takes great pride in supporting individual religious freedoms.

And it's strengthened by the many varied cultured traditions of its diverse population, including those of Muslim Americans. And whereas the history of Islam in The United States dates back to before the nation's founding, including enslaved Africans who brought their Muslim faith to The Americas. And today, millions of Muslim Americans, both immigrant and native born, represent diverse backgrounds and make meaningful contributions to civic life, education, health care, business, public service, and charitable efforts. And whereas Broward County is home to residents representing more than 200 countries and speaking over 180 languages, Muslim American families, students, professionals, faith leaders, and organizations such as Jamat Muqaddin under the leadership of Azim Unus are an integral part of this vibrant and growing community. And whereas Muslim Americans in our community strive to promote peace, understanding, cooperation, and mutual respect.

Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, together with the city commission, do hereby proclaim April 2026 is Muslim American Heritage Month in the city of Pembroke Pines, and proudly recognize Jamatu Mulkadin for their contributions to our community, encouraging all residents to celebrate the rich heritage, culture, and achievements of Muslim Americans, and to continue fostering a spirit of inclusion, unity, and respect throughout our city. And with us today is our good friend Azim. Would you please come forward? Thank

you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, commissioners and all the support staff on behalf of Jamatul Mutakin and the entire Muslim community that resides in the city of Pembroke Wines, I want to extend our sincerest appreciation to you. You all, this city has been very good to us. We appreciate the contributions, the cooperation we have had over the several years that we have established our organization in this city.

Jamatul Mutakin was established in 1997. You were there. And I can remember when we had one way in, one way two lanes going east and west. It was a hassle. I can remember the time when we had to go through on paved road and the city has stood up, delivered for us.

Today, we have an excellent environment in which we practice our religion, and our people are exceedingly grateful. And we are exceedingly thankful to you and the entire commissioner and the support staff. Thank you.

Thank you so very much for everything you do to make Pembroke Pines a better place. Yes, sir. Okay. And that concludes presentations for today.

Mayor, if we can do a moment of silence first before we get started.

Please, go right ahead.

A moment of silence for I'll try to get through this. Vice Mayor Nancy Mater, tragically passed away on 04/01/2026, leaving behind a legacy of service, compassion, leadership, and purpose. Nancy made history as the first black and Haitian American female commissioner elected to Coral Springs, first elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024. Nancy's life was defined by her passion for public service, environmental stewardship, inclusion, and advocacy for others. Her professional and personal mission was rooted in making sure people felt seen, heard, and valued.

She believed deeply in creating community where everyone had a seat at the table and where every voice mattered. Those who wish to honor Nancy's memory are encouraged to do so by embodying the values she lived every day champion sustainability, lead with inclusion, serve with compassion, and always make room for others to have a seat at the table. That is so her legacy will continue to live on. And on a personal note, Nancy was a really good friend. And I know a lot of us knew her, met her, and were encouraged by everything that she did, whether it was for the environment, whether it was simply supporting other people.

I know that I'm sitting on this day. It's because of her. Because she took us young elected officials under her wing. And she genuinely gave so much of herself to all of us and to champion younger voices in city commissions such as this one. And I'm just going to miss her a lot. So a moment of silence for Nancy.

Thank you.

Commissioner, I want to thank you for bringing that item forward. It was a horrible tragedy in our community and a young, beautiful, dedicated public servant. She will be greatly missed, but she will always be remembered. And may light eternal shine upon her always. She inspired a lot of people.

And I know that she inspired you. And I want to thank you very much for bringing the item forward. The next item is a motion to approve the appointment of the next vice mayor. And Vice Mayor Hernandez, I see your hand up to make a motion. However, I just want to say first how very thankful I am to you, sir, for the year of hard work that you've provided us.

You got tossed into this thing early in your tenure as an elected official. And you rose to the challenge tremendously. You keep a lot of plates spinning in the air, not just at home, but at your business. And here at the city, you didn't miss a beat. You had to go through two elections. But yet, you did as good a job as anyone ever has as vice mayor. And I personally thank you for it. I know that the entire city commission does as well. I will recognize you now for a motion.

And I appreciate the opportunity to have served. I was very young in my service. And I learned a great deal about this role. And that is why not only its purpose as sitting to the right of the mayor, but also there are additional responsibilities added to it. It would be my honor to move that commissioner, Tom Good, be appointed vice mayor for this coming period.

Is there a second? I'll second the motion. Any discussion?

Commissioner Gruber. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I am truly humbled and thankful for the nomination. And I want you to know, all of you, that I will perform with all proper diligence in this role should that be what everybody decides to do.

Thank you very much.

Before we move on, before we make that vote, I'd like to make a comment and possibly a substitute motion. So what's been weighing heavy on me is over the last several weeks, we've been having that conversation about moving our elections from March to November. And in contemplation of that, I've been thinking about, well, what does that mean for the vice mayor's situation as well, too? Because that seems like something that needs to be addressed as well. And maybe Mr. Attorney could maybe weigh in a little bit on what is the intention of the chart I believe it's in the charter for the vice mayor. Is that correct?

Answer is that Selection? To the extent that there is a requirement in the charter to have a vice mayor, the answer is yes. And the charter speaks to the when part, which is now, which is this meeting in April. The code, however, has some specifics with regard to, I'll call it, a preference of succession. But it's not a legal requirement. I'd be happy to give you some guidance if you would give me a moment of time to do so.

GREGORY Well, it seems like the intention of the selection of the vice mayor was to be in alignment with the election cycles. And in the absence of addressing that, it seems like we might be a little bit out of sorts. And I think personally, and I'm going to ask my colleagues in thought about us changing from a March to a November, I really believe the sentiment is going to be such that we're going to probably move to a November election. And that means that we're probably going to also need to have a charter amendment as well that addresses our selection of the vice mayor. And in consideration of that, I want to say that our vice at some point, somebody is going to have to have an extended period of time in the vice mayor role if we're going to make this change.

Personally, that's exactly how I see it. At some point, how do you go from a March to a November election or selection for a vice mayor unless somebody picks up that gap? And I got to say that the vice mayor has been doing a damn good job since he's been in this role. And he's brought a lot of good things to this commission that we have had an opportunity to engage and deliver to our residents. And at some point, somebody's going to have to make that extension.

And I think that maybe we should consider extending Vice Mayor Hernandez's role as vice mayor until November. And at the same time, also incorporate the language necessary in order to have the vice mayor selection in November. And so now is a good time as any in order to do that. And if the item doesn't pass in November, which I highly doubt it's not going to pass. I believe that it is.

But then we can make a determination what we're going to do then. But at this point right now, I think the best choice is to allow for an extension to November or through November or whatever that charter language may read where we make the selection of the vice mayor at that time because it just seems to be the most appropriate thing to do. And so what I'd like to do is I'd like to make a substitute motion to allow the Vice Hernandez continue this role through November so we can get past the charter question that's going to be presented, as well as creating new charter language. But we can talk about that at a later time because that's in the agenda tonight. So for right now, my recommendation Are you

willing to continue your service?

GREGORY Yeah. Mean, it wasn't on my bingo card. I appreciate it. But I kind of wanted it to be you. But Okay.

GREGORY No. But I think at some point, we're going to have to move this.

GREGORY I recommend, would if I could they can't

hear you. You've to speak into that. I'm sorry. I would only recommend, if you could, to do it until the first meeting in January because it would be difficult to do it before then. Then we get into the holidays. Then there might be a charter question. So if we're going to extend the current vice mayor, I would say through January. However, I also wanted to point a couple of things out. So there's three options that I see. One, in addition to your substitute motion, which is very thoughtful.

One is that there's always a vice mayor designate. And in the absence of the vice mayor, the vice mayor designate becomes the vice mayor. So in the event that there was a charter change and you just never know what voters are going to do they may very well decide, you know what? We're all in favor of November elections, but we want you to continue selecting vice mayor in April. I mean, they might very well do that.

So we just don't know how that necessarily is going to come out. But I would say to do it through January because then at that point you have the possibility to you have a little bit of cushion so that we can think through and implement any particular charter change that they might have. April was not picked out of a hat. April was picked because we had the elections in March. So that would be my recommendation.

So Mr. Mayor, I would certainly accept that as I understand because we haven't made the substitute motion yet. Either way, to me, what will happen is that we need to get charter language in same time that we are

pushing We can

talk about that tonight. And so I can make a substitute motion, say, January. But that language in the charter amendment will probably truly determine when that election will be.

That's

fair. So that would be my substitute motion is to allow Vice Mayor Hernandez continuing this role through January at such time as we go through our charter amendment with the ballot question.

Mr. Mayor. Is

there a second to Hold that substitute on.

Let me

get the motion second. Is there a second to this? I'll second it. Okay. Sam?

Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Commission. Just to respond to Commissioner Good. In the proposed charter amendment language, which you'll get to under item number 12, we have expressly made provision changing section 3.06 of the charter regarding the vice mayor, rightfully so given the commissioner's recognition of that, such that the city commission at the first regularly scheduled meeting in now says April, would now say December of each year shall elect that by majority vote the vice mayor, etcetera, so that the end result is it would correlate with what the commissioner is now speaking to. That's yet to come. It's on the agenda for consideration. It will be on the ballot theoretically if you approve it. And it's approved by you, Amadeus, that's a second reading, to go on the ballot in November '26 to become effective in '28.

So that will be part of the ballot language?

It is in the ballot. It's in the ballot language now. But commission could It's accurate in his analysis that there's

alignment But I still think that the mayor's suggestion about holding it through January at least is relevant in the event that, as he said, that what if people say, no, we don't want you to stay until April? It would give us a little bit of time to work You through have that

bit of time to work through

that But if the charter is approved, then that's going to be the firm date that should override this.

So it's the first meeting in January. Okay? Any further discussion?

Yes.

Yes.

Could we consider shortening a vice mayor's term in that case, appointing someone today and then doing after the charter, changing it to January? Because I think it's more fair for someone to have the opportunity of eight months than to give, while the vice mayor has been doing a good job, than give them twenty months of vice mayorship.

Yes, we can address all those things. We can. Don't see And in fact, have.

But then I couldn't support that substitute motion about when we would change it. Because I think in that motion, it mentions the change happening in January.

Well, I'm saying that the change in January, in the event that the public does not approve the selection of the vice mayor in December, and they prefer to hold it as it is today. I really believe that in my heart, just talking to people, even this dais, that people are going to want to vote in November. And we need to align our selection of the vice mayor at the time. Just like we're doing now, we do March, we pick somebody in April. And then what's going happen is we're going have November and then December.

If that changes in November, who's to not tell us that we can then do that change from the person of today in January or in December or whatever the chartered language?

The point is, is at some point, somebody is going to have to either give up something or take more. Because in order to be

in And I recommend someone give up some time than to take more time. Because I understand that that's not the notion that we have for when we change the elections. But I think it's maybe more noble to take less time off than to add more time to a vice mayorship.

The way is to abandon the substitute motion. We go back to the alternate motion that was originally made. Main motion, mayor. The main motion, yeah. No, not the main motion. The alternate motion that was made.

I mean, can continue with this with commissioner's good motion. I would just vote no on that one.

What do want to do, commissioner?

Well, I made the substitute motion and the second. Let's just move through with this

close this. So we have

a substitute motion and a second. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay. That motion passes three to two. Vice mayor, you're still on the hook?

I appreciate it. Thank you.

We're going to adjourn briefly so that they can change the nameplates. And Commissioner Rodriguez and Schwartz, you need to switch seats. Okay, so we're going to adjourn for two minutes. And staff will Is supervisor Scott on the line? Mister supervisor, you can hear me?

I am here. Yes, sir.

Hold on one second. We're almost back in session. Good to see you.

Good to you, Andrew.

And thank you for joining us.

Absolutely. We're

back on the record in one minute.

It's a nice hotel room there, a supervisor.

Yes. So I'm actually in Ohio. My son is competing with Marjorie Stoneman Douglas indoor percussion in a national competition this week.

My my my brother's in Cincinnati.

Oh, cool.

You and Jay have to switch. No, you have to switch because you are next in the queue and the person in that seat goes here. Yeah, you're next in the queue under the ordinance. You're after Jay. No, you're after her.

Yes. Okay, we are back in session. Mr. City Clerk, Mr. Attorney, we can dispense with roll call

or Yes, only taken a brief recess. With your permission, mayor, item 12 is the item under consideration, which is the amendment to adjourn.

Hold on one second. Mr. Supervisor, with your indulgence, I need three more minutes. Kevin Deutsch, are you here? We must do a request at the items at the request of the public. And I had one item submitted. Mr. Kevin Deutsch, your name and address for the record, please? Oh, hold on. There's a button there that says talk. There we go.

Can you hear me?

You can pull it down a

little bit. Okay. Kevin Deutsch, 2546 Camelot Court, Hollywood, Florida. I'm here to talk to you today about adopting the IHRA definition. Hold

Hold on one second. You have three minutes. Go right ahead.

Here to

talk to you today about adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism into city law.

We've done that.

You've done it already?

Yes,

sir. My work here is done.

We adopted it by resolution some months ago.

Oh, that's amazing.

I didn't attended know the Mayor's Against Antisemitism Conference, I believe it was, in California in Los Angeles. And we came back with it. We adopted it.

Okay. Then I want to talk a little bit about just speaking out against bigotry.

If Go

that's Okay with you. Okay. So we're living now in what a lot of people call the anti Zionist era. This is an era that began on 10/07/2023. A question facing us as a society is how we respond to this era of insidious and lethal Jew hatred. We all understand antisemitism. We know what it looks like when Jews are singled out and demonized, denied equal rights. But we need to start speaking out as a society against anti Zionist bigotry, which operates as a corollary to anti Semitism, and in many ways, is even more dangerous because it disguises itself as social justice. Anti Zionism is not criticism of Israel. Criticism targets factual policies and actions.

Anti Zionism targets the existence of the world's only Jewish state. It uses libels like genocide, colonizer, and apartheid to demonize Jews, single us out for discrimination, subjugation, exclusion, and violence. It's a hate movement. And at its core, it's an eliminationist ideology that seeks to dismantle Israel and purge Jews who support it from public life. It has its own libels and tropes, organizing principles, academic frameworks that seek to rationalize it, its own imagery and slogans and propaganda that have penetrated the mainstream.

The core accusations, colonizer libel, erases history, erases Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral lands. The apartheid, genocide libels, these are not analysis. These are weaponized libels. The purpose of them is to push Jews outside the boundaries of moral society, create a social permission structure where hatred and violence against us feels justified. This is what happens when an illuminationist ideology teaches that Jews represent something so evil that violence begins to feel righteous.

We are seeing the consequences of this in real time. Last year, Yaron Leshinsky and Sarah Milgram were murdered in cold blood outside the Jewish Museum in DC. An 82 year old woman named Karen Diamond was set on fire by a killer in Colorado. Both the killers of these three people all shouted, free Palestine, said they did this for Gaza. This is a coordinated assault on Jewish life. It's not social justice. It's genocidal hatred dressed up as activism, and I'm calling on all of us to speak out against anti Zionist bigotry, reach out our hands to everyone who wants to support the Palestinians, but also speak out against this form of Jew hatred. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I very much appreciate your coming forward. It was our honor to adopt the language as policy here in Pembroke Pines. Okay, Mississippi attorney, we are on item 12. Thank you, mayor

and commission, if you will. Item 12 is a motion to pass proposed ordinance number twenty twenty six-two on first reading, which is an ordinance of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, submitting to referendum amendments to the charter of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, amending Article I entitled Creation and Powers, and in particular, amending Section 1.1 under definitions to change municipal general elections definition to the city election held in November of even numbered years. Amending Article III entitled legislature, and in particular, amending section 3.02 references the commission members. Section 3.05 references the mayor to change the election date in the city to occur in November of even numbered years. Amending Article III entitled Legislature, section 3.06 referencing the vice mayor to change the date for the city's vice mayor to be elected annually by the city commission at the first meeting in December pursuant to Chapter 70 five-three 50 of the laws of Florida as amended and providing for extensions in the current terms for the mayor and commissioners in Districts 2 And 3 to extend until the November and for commissioners in Districts 1 And 4 to extend until the November pursuant to section five, chapter 70 five-three 50 of the laws of Florida as amended, providing that this ordinance, when adopted, shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida on the November 2026 general election ballot.

And it shall become effective as provided for by law, providing for the advertising of the referendum election in accordance with the code of ordinances and the charter of the city of Pembroke Pines, as well as the state of Florida election code, Providing for a codification, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date, item number 12, referencing ordinance proposed 2026 dash o two is on the floor for consideration, mayor and commission. Thank you.

Thank you very much. It's moved by the vice mayor, second by Commissioner Rodriguez. Is there and we also have Supervisor of Election Scott on the phone. I'm going to start the questions, I might. Supervisor Scott, you and I had spoken previously that the deadline for submission of items was 2026 to make it onto the ballot this is non candidate to make it onto the ballot in November. Is that still the time frame?

Yes. Early August is is is perfectly fine.

See, I'll So

I know that our well, we officially asked for it during qualifying, but, you know, but, obviously, for the cities, we we always do everything we can to to try to accommodate. So if you guys

are giving it to us a little bit

later, we'll we'll get it on there.

Thank you. Because we have some additional items that we're gonna be discussing later in the meeting that we won't need you for, sir, but that might accompany this item as well. And so having that early August deadline, did you have a specific date in mind in early August for this?

So we put together the the fall we start putting together the fall ballot as soon as the primary is over. So the primary is August 18. So, really, after as soon as August 18 passes and we know the outcome of the primaries, that's when we start building the general election ballot.

So we should consider August 18 as our deadline? Sure. Okay. I'll tell you why I'm bringing this up for the record. And city attorney, you correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes, sir.

We will be very strategic when we bring second reading of this because the commission wanted to have town hall meetings with residents to explain to them why it is that we think it's good policy in Pembroke Pines to move elections from March to November, why it is that the law requires us to extend the terms of the current elected officials because what the law says and city attorney, if I get this wrong, tell me.

I will.

But what the law says is that you can extend an elected official's term, but you may not cut it short without cause. And this dais does not have the authority to do that under any circumstance. So it would be those events that you would expect suspension, death, removal from office, resignation, those kinds of events. But if, as I understand the statute and again, city attorney jump in if I get this wrong cities are allowed to move their elections. But if moving the elections means that an elected official's term has to be extended because it can't be cut short, then that's what has to happen.

Is that correct?

May I ask you Yes. The short answer is yes. The better answer that compounds the yes is the fact that the ordinance as provided creates that situation where each commission that would otherwise be affected by the election would each be given the eight month bump. It's not being taken away from anybody or compromised. The end result is that the staggering event that's in the charter now would be continued. It follows both the state statute that I know Mr. Scott is well familiar with as well as a special act. And it would be submitted to referendum for the voters to make the ultimate decision. So the answer is still yes.

Okay. Those were basically my questions. Supervisor Scott, I did have one additional question. In your billing to us and I understand that there is a state law city attorney that allows the supervisor to bill cities for elections.

There is a provision of law that allows a supervisor to do so.

So my only question to you was, I can understand why calculating the cost based on the total number of registered voters would be a good planning sort of earmark for your office. But we don't actually get billed for the election until after the election is completed. And by that time, you know how many people actually voted. And because, as I understand it, the ballots are actually printed as the voter reports into the polling location, there are no pre printed ballots. As somebody comes in, it comes out of the printer.

And it's provided to them in a folder. And they can go and vote. So you will know exactly how many people actually cast the election. And I ask this question because it's entirely predictable that not every, although very many more, voters will cast a vote in a November election. I think it's probable that not every registered voter in Pembroke Pines will cast a vote.

But under the formula that, as I understand it, that you've provided, we would have to pay even for the registered voters that didn't cast an election. Why do you bill quite that way? Why don't you just bill for the number of people that actually vote?

If we did do it that way, the number would have to be much higher. So, you know, we we do have planning considerations. On election day, the practice has been in the past to actually preprint for election day during early voting. We do the on demand printing when we have you know, in the past, it's been '22, and now we're getting up to about 30 early voting sites. But when we do have the 300 different sites on election day, then we don't do ballot on demand.

Of course, that's a possibility for March in a way that we could possibly try to find some cost savings on those March elections. You know, it's and and there's a possibility, obviously, that we can, you know, look at different ways of doing it. But the to answer your question, we we do plan based on not to say that we print a ballot for everybody because we know that, especially in March, the turnout might be about 10%. So you're so you're correct. We don't operate under the impression that everybody's going to show up, and that is figured into how much the cost is.

At the end of the day, it's an estimate for the March elections because for March, there's no funding coming from the county. The the March elections are fully funded by the cities that are participating, so it is our actual cost at the end of the day. And the the quote that we give you is an estimate of what it's gonna cost, and we use the number of registered voters in the city to make that estimate.

So are you saying and I appreciate your statement. Are you saying that the number that we get is a planning number, but after the election, you will actually do a true up with what your actual cost was and then give us that bill? Is that how it works?

That's how the March elections work. Yes.

How about November elections?

No. In November elections no. The the true up part doesn't apply. We'll we'll charge the estimate. So the the two so if you're doing a ballot referendum, it's $2.90 per voter, And then there's a 15% if other pages. So depending on how many questions you're asking. Right? So if it adds multiple pages because you're asking multiple questions, there's a 15¢ per page per voter additional. But, otherwise, it's gonna be $2.90 per registered voter for questions. And then for candidates, we're no charge for candidates. So So if you're only doing candidates, there's no charge. If you're doing a referendum question, it's a $2.90 per registered voter.

So I understand that. Let me ask you now about the pages. So as we vote, there are items in a certain sequence that you all very ably determine how the ballot is constructed. And the bottom ballot question, I mean, of these is individual. So if our first question is the bottom of page three and our second question is on the top of page four.

Are we now paying for the additional page? Or is there an ability for you to put all of Pembroke Pines's business on one page and that we would only pay for an additional page if we consumed it. How would that work? Because we don't have any control over the sequencing of how the questions are presented to the voter. Is it your anticipation that we get a page worth of ballot questions?

Yeah. So let me explain it a different a little bit different perspective on this. Okay? The purpose for that 15% surcharge is really to cover adding more materials, adding more pages to the ballot. Right? So the whole principle behind that is if you were to put, say, 20 questions on the ballot, we have to add, like, three or four more pages, you know, that we need to be able to cover that cost. In the scenario that you just gave, we probably would not charge the the additional 15¢ in that particular scenario.

Okay. So because it's possible that we might have two, possibly three tops, four questions on this ballot for I don't know how many this commission will vote to do. But it may be more than one. May be more than It will not be 20. But I just want to because it's an additional expense of zero one five dollars per page.

So I just want to make sure that govern ourselves appropriately. Because $0.15 doesn't sound like much until you start multiplying it by 100,000 votes or something along those lines. And then it becomes a little bit more of a serious consideration. So we shouldn't be hung up on the additional page charge?

I wouldn't. So the history behind that and where that came from was that a few cycles back, you know, there was a flat charge, and you could put as much as you wanted. And there was a a circumstance where, you know, basically, a city put so many on there that they're actually ended up having to be a retrofit a retrofit to the equipment that cost a lot of money in order to accommodate all the questions that a particular city wanted to put on the ballot. So there's some history behind why, you know, why we have this surcharge there if needed, you know, you know, in order to have a way to basically charge a little bit extra if we have to accommodate a really long ballot for a particular city.

Those were my questions. Vice mayor, do you have any?

You kind of took all of them. Only concern, and I'm very transparent when I brought the original motion, is the cost of adding a charter amendment to the November ballot, which based on an email that was forwarded to me, it was based on the cost. And I'm hearing there's a new memo out on the cost adjustment. If I remember correctly, it was $2.79 Mr. Supervisor per registered voter in the city. But there's another memo that was forwarded to the commission that it's $2.9 or $2.91 That's effective January 2027, correct?

That's correct. Yes, you are correct. So the price increase to $2.9 does take effect 01/01/2027. That's correct.

Yeah. On the one hand, this is just a general comment. I'm very happy that there are so many registered voters in the city of Pembroke Pines. My concern though is the one time fee to place this charter amendment on the ballot for the November midterm election. I think, again, to reiterate, it's definitely worth democracy.

It's definitely worth putting this to the voters. I know there are other cities, not in Broward, but that there are others that have either contemplated or just put a voting an election date change amongst the commission, which I don't agree with. If there's a change in an election, I believe the voters of the city should be the ones that decide. Or the county, whatever jurisdiction we're referring to, should be the ones that decide. So I hope there's a mail in rebate supervisor or something that could eventually bring down that cost for a November charter amendment. But I appreciate you zooming in from Ohio and answering our questions personally. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Mayor.

Okay. Mr. City Attorney, before I go to Commissioner Good, my understanding was and this doesn't occur to me it didn't occur to me to this moment the combination of moving the election date and changing the procedure for the election of the vice mayor, that doesn't constitute a violation of the single item rule?

It is not. Okay. Not in this instance. We actually looked at that issue to make sure that it didn't. But the vice mayor issue is inextricably tied to the mayor in the charter. It must be addressed.

You'll forgive my asking the question. I should have known better.

It's a fair question. I'm glad you did ask it.

Thank you very much. Vice mayor. Commissioner Good. Okay. Commissioner Rodriguez. No problem. Commissioner Schwartz. Nothing at this time. Okay. City attorney, do you have any questions for Supervisor Scott?

No, but I'm grateful for the confirmation that the date of delivery from our city to the supervisor, Mr. Scott, would be on August 18 or before. And that is the deadline date. And the cost on the per voter basis as of the moment is $2.79, correct, Mr. Scott?

GREGORY Correct, Mr. Goran. That's right.

GREGORY That's for the November election. Thank you and for your staff's assistance to us, including your legal counsel, for their predicate conversation with us, which we're very grateful for hearing from. Thank you very much.

Mr. Dodge, any questions or comments?

No, Mayor.

Mr. Fernandez, any questions or comments?

No, Mayor.

Okay. Thank you very much.

The motion has been made and seconded. Mayor. Yes, I didn't have any questions for the supervisor. But I would like to weigh in on the item itself.

Go right ahead. Thank you, colleagues. I want to thank the supervisor for his time. Certainly, we had a robust discussion to bring this forward. I want to thank the city attorney's office for the amount of work that it took to get this thing into less than 75 words.

But I want to be clear with my support of this item tonight. My support for this item tonight should not be used going out to the public that we're unanimously advocating. My support for this tonight is to allow public feedback, which is completely different from a first reading to a second reading. No one talked about advocacy. We talked about a town hall meeting. GREGORY Actually, talked about a public forum, not a town hall. With discussions The attorney, is there

a difference between a public forum and a town hall meeting?

GREGORY If I may respond there, the language in the state election code under 106.313 speaks of public forums. And that's interpreted in many ways. But a public forum can be looked at as any gathering at which there is a public

available But for all to purposes here in Pembroke Pines, is there a distinction? Is there any meaningful distinction between the two? I just want to get the nomenclature right so that there's no confusion about possibly conflicting terms. If I may respond, a

town hall meeting could well become a could be a forum as otherwise defined by the statute.

GREGORY Okay. Does anybody on the commission disagree that the town hall meeting should serve the purpose of the statutory forum? Let's clear this up right now. I do not. Commissioner Good, do you have a problem with it? Commissioner Rodriguez, do you have a problem? Vice mayor, do you have a problem? Commissioner Schwartz, do you have a problem with

that? Not with the language. So then that's settled. Please continue. Okay.

So I'm just drawing from what occurred during the bond education events that happened. I to just make sure that our vote here is to, while it's first reading for the purposes of getting the second reading ready to go, my support for this item is to support the public's input and to have a minimum of one town hall per district, one in each of our major I'm sorry, one of the condos in each district separate from each district. We're talking about eight meetings. And if the mayor feels an additional one citywide is necessary, that you have the right to call that. I want to make sure that we reach They will Commissioner,

of these will be citywide town hall meetings, that the commission will decide where the locations for them will be. They will all be citywide town hall meetings. If there's ever been an item that is truly citywide, it is this one.

Okay. I want to ensure that for the purposes of public access and driving and being able I mean, the supervisor of elections is gone now. I'm still waiting to get his commitment to make sure that Colony Point and Park Place don't have to walk on sidewalks to go vote.

You were given an opportunity to speak and to ask questions, and you passed on.

No, I didn't pass on. This wasn't the appropriate time to speak on

it. Okay. Well, then you shouldn't bring it up. This is not the appropriate time to bring that up. You had the opportunity to speak on it, please let's stick

with the item. So I'll make a motion that we hold no less than one citywide town hall within each commission district.

Is there a second to that? That dies for lack of a second.

Second. So I'm sorry.

Commissioner Rodriguez. Commissioner Rodriguez.

So

mayor is emphatic that these are going to be called citywide meetings, citywide town halls. I want to ensure that the residents of District 3 don't have to travel any further Well, than that sense.

We will multiple citywide town hall meetings.

That's what we The need assumption would be that the location would be in each district, which is what we do for all the other things that we So work I second it, but it's also obvious because that's what we tend to do in the past.

That's right. I'd like to make the motion to have one in each district.

They will be citywide town hall meetings,

one in each district. There's a motion and second. I'd like to have a vote. Call the question, please.

I will call the question when I'm clear on the motion. These are citywide town hall meetings.

They're not districtwide town hall meetings. The locations within

But the your second is for citywide town hall meetings in each district. Is So

that I amend the motion to be the location for within each district. But they are all in theory, they might be all citywide because sometimes it's easier to drive to one location in District 3 even though you live in District 4 than for you to actually attend the District 401.

And the reason for that is very, very clear. They should be uniform in their presentation. They should not be tailored. There is nothing to tailor to the needs of a particular district here. We just passed a resolution that said just that. They should be uniform. The residents should be greeted. The city attorney should be able to present this item. There should be a question and answer opportunity for the public. And they should be uniform, except to the extent, obviously, that we don't know what the questions are going to be.

But there should even be uniformity in the questions. Because if you start deviating from the standard language, we will create our own confusion here. And that's why I think it's very, very important. And I have no problem doing citywide town hall meetings in every district. And I have no problem doing special ones for special populations like large senior citizen condos.

I don't have a problem with that. And I don't even have a problem if someone comes out of the woodwork and says, we need a special one because of a special circumstance. I held 40 meetings the last time. I hope not to do that this time. But the point is they should be citywide meetings so that we protect the uniformity of the presentations. That's the only thing I'm asking for clarity on the motion.

The only clarity is I want to protect the rights of access

Those would be protected under any circumstance.

Mayor, if I may have the floor. I didn't interrupt you. We're saying the same thing. I just want to codify in a motion. And I'm asking for you to call the question on the motion I made.

Okay. Now the motion is clear, these will be citywide town hall meetings held district in each of the districts. I understand the motion. So there's a motion and a second. Any further discussion on the motion in the second? Any from the public? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show that passes unanimously. Commissioner Schwartz, anything else? No, ma'am. Thank you very much. We're back to the original motion. Is there any public comment on this? I see none. On first reading, all those in favor of the item say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Now

Mr. Mayor? Yes. Just interrupt for a second if I can. Under the terms of state law, there's a second and final reading which is set for tentatively for May 20. To the extent that that date is a date that is movable, understand that you now know when the deadline for delivery of the question would be should you approve it on second reading. So this is not a delay. It's just a deferral potentially to another day.

I think May 20 is probably going to be too quick. I would ask the manager, the clerk, and the city attorney to meet to organize a presentation, which should be uniform. The manager is going to have to make some arrangements for these town hall meetings and schedule them. And I doubt that all of this can be done before May. We're probably looking at June.

The meetings will be in May, but we're probably looking at June. So obviously, if we can get a couple of these meetings and if you all are ready to make these presentations before May, all the better. I'm making myself available. I know everyone else will do the same. But I don't know that that May date will work necessarily.

Mr. May, you also have July and the August, because we don't really have to provide it until August 18

PRESENTER: Okay. In final form.

PRESENTER: I hate to do things last minute, but

PRESENTER: What's closer to the election,

I think. Without objection, I'm going to designate the city manager as the one who will decide when this item comes back to us. Okay? Without objection? I hear none. Okay. So, mister manager, you'll be charged with deciding when this comes back to us. And the item has passed unanimously. And thank you all for your cooperation.

All

right. Now we go back to the consent agenda, which consists of items. One through no, two. Oh, excuse me, two. We did one. Two through 11. What is your pleasure?

Move consent agenda. Okay.

And I'll second. That's moved by Commissioner Rodriguez, seconded by the vice mayor. Any discussion on items two through 11? Any from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Item 12.

Thank you, mayor. Item number 12 has been adopted by the commission with a deferred effective Yes, that's date correct.

That is correct.

Item 13 for the record is the following, mayor and commission. Item 13 is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty six R-six, which is a proposed resolution of the city commission of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, prohibiting the issuance of ceremonial badges to elected officials, encouraging the voluntary return of previously issued ceremonial badges, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Number 13 on the floor, Mr. Mayor.

Motion, please. So moved. Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Schwartz. Commissioner Schwartz, do you hand are you planning to hand in your badge? Let's dispense out of the item, ma'am. I'm asking you we've all voluntarily submitted the badges. The motion asks all of us to voluntarily submit the badge to administration. Will you comply?

I'll coordinate with the city administration to ensure the badge is properly documented and verified. And I want to make sure that the process is handled responsibly. Thank you, mayor.

Will you be submitting your will you be relinquishing your badge to the city manager? Mayor, I've answered your question. Okay. So I'm going to take that as a maybe. And I think that's unfortunate because this item is here simply because you misused your badge. Is there any further discussion on this item? Any from the public? Okay. All those in favor of resolution 13 indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously.

To the record,

the mayor and commission, the permanent number of item 13 is number 3946, 3946.

Item 14. Thank you, mayor

and commission. Item 14 is discussion of possible action to appoint a director, alternate, and a second alternate voting delegate to the Broward League of Cities for the twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven calendar year as required by the bylaws of the agency. Thank you, mayor.

Now currently, we have Commissioner Rodriguez and Vice Mayor Hernandez as the alternate. Is that correct? Do we have a motion to

would you like to serve again?

Yes.

So you'd be the The lead. The lead. I wanted to see if Commissioner Good would want to serve as the alternate. I know you have a lot. I get you have MPO. I'm just asking. If no So you're good no or good yes? No, I'm fine.

Would you go ahead. Okay.

So my motion If you want be the second.

The second. I'd like you to be the alternate.

Then I'll be the alternate.

Okay. So the slate for the lead will be Commissioner Rodriguez as the lead, Commissioner Good. Commissioner Good as the second. And you will be the second alternate. We're all clear?

Is there a motion? Well, I motion to appoint Commissioner Rodriguez as the lead. Right. I have to verbalize all this? Yes. Commissioner Good as the alternate. Myself as second.

That's the motion, Mr.

That's a motion by the vice mayor and seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Is there any further discussion?

I just wanted to notion there are two excused absences on here. One of them for eleven point six, I believe the mayor was in attendance. I pass it on to Commissioner Hernandez, and the mayor attended on behalf of all those.

So believe

it was in the city, if I'm not mistaken.

Was here. I And then

the twelve eleven, we had a commission meeting that evening. And the meeting was their meeting wasn't at the usual time of 12PM, but later on in the day conflicting with the times of actually arriving to the commission meeting.

Okay. Thank you very much. And you're doing a great job with them. And we know that you attended

Could I just mention that the Broward League leadership team she's too humble to say this they sing Commissioner Rodriguez's praises. She's incredibly engaged That's well they should. And an amazing representative for our city. So not that I want to embarrass you, but I publicly want to thank you for taking on an additional role that's outside of being a city commissioner. And thank you for keeping us updated of what's taking place, even when I know sometimes you've flown back in town from some trip, a business trip, just to make it in time to these league meetings. So thank you so much for your service.

Okay. Anything further? Yes. Mr. Mayor, if I may, might not be a bad idea to just maybe somehow get the Broward League of Cities to recognize that if an alternate attends in place of the director, that it doesn't get marked as unexcused.

It would count as alternate attended. But because the mayor attended in that specific scenario, it still didn't count. But I get what

you're saying.

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah, that's really a rules issue within the league that, Commissioner, I think Commissioner Good's point is well taken that you should bring up with Mary Jo and then An unattended, an unexcused absence is a no show. And when the city is present, that should not count. And so I appreciate that. Anything further on the motion? Any from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor, aye. Aye. Thank you very much. That passes unanimously. Commissioner Good, I want to thank you for the work that you do on the MPO.

It's not on the agenda. The MPO operates by different rules. You're doing a great job there. And I really want to thank you for it and for your continuing service on the MPO. Okay. The next item is on regular agenda. No? We just did that. Reports, mayor. Reports of the city manager?

Reports I of the have no item,

Okay, reports of the league?

So unfortunately, we did the last meeting, it was the day or the day after Nancy's passing. So we held simply a moment of silence and commemorated her life and her service. So there's nothing to report on that. But I did want to bring forth, I am the league's representative on the South Florida Regional Planning Council. And it serves to bring regional issues across Miami, Broward, and Monroe Counties.

And we actually held a joint meeting with the Treasure Coast, which is the three counties to the north of us. They had some really interesting conversations there. And actually, our city attorney did a huge favor, because I was planning on doing it a little bit later. But there was conversation about a business and a company that's kind of revolutionizing a part of how they're doing composting and recycling. Seems we've to look into it a little bit more, but it seems like something we may want to look into.

And he shared that with the city manager in order to maybe have that as part of the conversation for that recycling and solid waste town hall or sorry, not town hall. Workshop. Workshop that we'll be having in the future. But that whole conferencejoint meeting is available online. And I'll share that link with the city manager in order for him to share that with all of you.

Because while it was quite long, it was separated into a couple different sections. And they were all of interest. There was actually a section on flying cars, which interesting to say the least. And I know city attorney is kind of laughing there. Interesting to say the least, I would like for us to push more on mass transportation because these flying cars only take three to four people in them. But it's something FDOT presented. And we are also in conversations of getting more information about how mass transit is working across a lot of different counties. So we'll be looking into that in one of the upcoming joint meetings as well. So I'll share that information with all of you.

Wonderful. Thank you very, very much. Anything else? Yes.

I don't know where best to place it, but maybe this is so one of the things that I have been engaged with is this. We all received a letter or an opinion from the city attorney regarding recently approved legislation from the state, particularly with the DEI. And that seems that it's going to create a lot of difficulty for us in terms of knowing what to do and what not to do, particularly because each and every one of us are at risk in the event that we somehow find ourselves violating the statutory language of the new law. And so the attorney very clearly made a reference in his letter that they will be thoroughly reviewing this to provide us with guidance and advisement, essentially. So I'm thankful that our attorney is going to do that for us.

However, what's interesting is that the interpretation of our attorney may be different from an interpretation of an attorney from a different city. And the concern that I've been having conversation with is, what if city A does something and then city B does not do something because that's how the attorneys made a recommendation. It seems to be then a bit of a conflict. And it may put ourselves in a little bit of a difficult situation. So here we have the Broward League of Cities.

And the fortunate thing for us is we have our attorney who supports or who's a very powerful participant within that broader league of cities from a legal perspective or advisement. I think that this may be a place where these interpretations from attorneys are done collectively and not individually. Because I would hate to be in conflict with another city and bring question about the things that we are doing or not doing as somebody else is doing or not doing. So through the league, maybe this is a good place to land this type of a directive or a direction that each we know how we all work together as cities. But I think this is important where all the attorneys are on the same page and all the attorneys are issuing the same opinions to every one of the cities that are in Broward County.

So Mr. Mayor, that was my comment that I wanted to

make. So what you're saying is something that we would well, our representatives would you and Commissioner Rodriguez would have to legislate at

the No, I think that what we would legislate is that the attorneys talk GREGORY The attorneys speak collectively and not independently provide different opinions to each city.

GREGORY Meaning all municipal.

GREGORY Well, mean, I'm going to let Sam weigh in on this in a second. But that's going to be hard to, I mean, certainly they can meet and talk. But they are all duty bound to provide their clients with their own views. And I think it's inevitable that when you look at the entire body of legal opinions on any subject, that it's hardly ever the case that

GREGORY Yeah, but this is not one where you can

afford GREGORY to have And that's why I was going to say. I think that this is heading toward an attorney general opinion so as to remove at least one of the stones in the wall of possible confusion. Oh, well, your attorney wrote that, but that's not what we meant. And so we're going to take this action or that action. I think it's appropriate for our city to do exactly that.

I happened to see the opinion that came from Broward County, from the Broward County's attorney's office. And I shared it immediately upon receiving it with the city attorney. No doubt he would have gotten it

I hadn't.

Read it. Or he

had gotten it anyhow. I'm sure he would have gotten it anyhow. His firm represents numerous cities. And he's in touch with his colleagues. And I'm hoping that they're sharing notes because that whole thing of, Patty, of keep your eye on your own paper, that really only applies in second grade.

When you carry positions of power and authority, you need to know what's on other people's paper. And you make mistakes not knowing what's on other people's paper. So everything that you said is 100000% accurate in my view. But there's a way to mitigate it. And one of the ways to mitigate it is we ask the attorney general of the state, what does this statute mean in connection with this question?

Now that's not necessarily dispositive of the question. I'm sure the city attorney will tell you. But it goes a long way toward providing a defense if later on something else is alleged. So I think it needs to go down that road because the penalties are severe. So for example, it may very well be that Hispanic History Month, let's say I don't know.

I don't want to pick one out of the sky, might not be able to be celebrated in the city of Pembroke Pines anymore because of this state statute. But one of the questions I'd want to know is whether salsa in the pines would be an appropriate event for us to hold, Mr. City Attorney?

I'm going to tell you.

I don't know. It could very well be that right. It could very well be that we start developing a sincere and genuine and committed greater interest in music. I don't know. But I need to know whether or not that is a permissible act.

So there are many questions about this. The only thing that's clear is that the federal holidays can be celebrated. That's clear.

And state holidays.

And state holidays can be clear. So I Am an American Day can celebrated along with what was the other one? Confederate

Robert E. Lee's birthday. Confederate Memorial Day, Jefferson Davis's birthday. Those are recognized state holidays, by the way.

Right. Well, we'll see you there. So anyway, those are the ones that are listed. But I need to know the answer to questions like, well, is Christina and her staff free to put on a rhythm and blues event or a reggae event or a salsa event because that's great music. Wouldn't you say?

So I don't know. Maybe the future

of how we Celebrate all of our residents.

Right. Maybe the way to go. I don't know. But I'm not suggesting we do that. I'm not suggesting we not do that. I'm just saying.

Just so long as whatever we are doing, that all the attorneys agree so we don't be fighting against each other.

There you go.

And the majority attorneys tend not to all agree.

Right. And the one with the most stars on his sleeve is the attorney general. So I think, Mr. City Attorney, that we're headed in that direction.

Mr. Mayor, when you're ready, I'm happy to respond briefly. Promise. Yeah, yeah. Okay, a couple of things, if you will. We issued an memo preemptively. This bill is not yet the law for us.

Yeah, know. It's about to be.

It's not even on the governor's desk yet. But from what our minions tell us who are in the lobbying field, it appears to be headed for his desk. That's the first thing. As if and when it does get signed, it does not become effective until January 2027. It's not a July 1 or an October 1 bill. It becomes effective in 'twenty seven. Third thing is that we issued the memo preemptively with the assistance of our office, which includes Carina Nogueira, who's in the audience this evening. And you've met her before, and Mike Cirillo and Jacob Horowitz. It was a collaborative effort because it's a confounding statute, and it's not clear. And because of that fact, Drew Myers in his office and thank you, mayor, for sharing that memo with me.

That was an internal memo not to the county commission, but only to legal staff, which is to preemptively begin looking at four issues, one of which were to do the following. They're looking at things that you're doing, doing an inventory of what's out there in their community, doing an analysis, doing

It's a

working document.

It's a working document. Ours is more to the point of specifics that we thought we needed to preemptively let you know are out there. We believe that there's potentially going to be a legal challenge on the ordinance of the statute, excuse me. But we can't guarantee that. One thing that I think that Commissioner Good is suggesting is happening now. And I appreciate his comment about it. Every month, the county attorney's office sponsors a forum. It's a dial in once a month for every city attorney in Broward County conducted by the county attorney's office directly. This bill was one of the bills discussed at the last meeting. It is a preemptive bill because the problem with it is it has some very, as the mayor and commission has indicated, some very severe consequences for those who violate including removal from office for malfeasance and for nonfeasance.

So we are looking at the matter. I will be happy to address the issue with the League of Cities through the executive director and happy also to bring up the issue that our city is preemptively concerned about the opinions that might be rendered. There's an old theory of law that says if you put five lawyers in a room, you get 10 different opinions. Regrettably, that's unfortunately the case of advocacy and understanding of how law is interpreted. But at this particular point, I'm prepared with your guidance and direction to open the door with the community of lawyers that meet every month and raise this issue as being a concern. And if there's any way to enter some type of uniform answer to the questions that you're being asked to consider, I'm happy to take that cudgel and take it with me and come back to you with a recommendation.

I appreciate that very, very much. And I also have to tell you that I'm very much aware that there are members of our state legislature, frankly both in the House and the Senate, that have a great deal of urgency that this bill be signed. But a special session has been called.

And actually pushed.

And so it could very well be that I'm not making any suggestions for or against, but it could just be that certain bills will be held for a while until, let's say, the special session concludes successfully.

On that, the Sun Sentinel's reporting that the governor has delayed the redistricting special session, which I believe was the twentieth. So pushing it. I don't see a date yet.

For special sessions, there needs to be a two week public notice. So we would know, in the very least two weeks and ahead.

GREGORY But I can tell you this much. Even with respect to certain proclamations that I signed and presented today, There will be no proclamations that this mayor presents after this bill is signed that isn't reviewed by our city attorney, which isn't currently the procedure and has never been the procedure in Pembroke Pines. I've gotten last minute requests for all different kinds of proclamations. And mostly, I've made like my predecessors have done, I've made those decisions on my own. But this bill gets signed.

Every single one of them goes through a signature ladder before it gets to me. Because I have to make sure that there isn't a misstep. We will follow the law. So these are potentially very, very different days. And we're just one person scribble away from that happening

in

the beginning of the year. So point very well taken, Commissioner Good. Anything else on that item? Okay. Let's move on now to the city attorney's report.

Yes, mayor, if you will. Just a quick predicate. At the end of the regular meeting, I will announce the premise and the predicate legally to get into the shade for a pending federal court lawsuit. I will not do it now, but at the end of the regular agenda, where I will read into the records certain information. Our court reporter may want to start getting set up. Sir, find your way. Come on, get a good seat. Plenty available tonight. You might want to get yourself set up. Thank you, mayor, for that opportunity so that when you are able, mayor, we can begin the I

think it would be most helpful if we turn to item 15 in our agenda books. This is here for us to review the series of ballot questions that were on the March 2025, was it, ballot and to discuss whether, in addition to the item that we just entertained about moving elections, there was any pleasure to move any of these other items. Certainly the first one had to do with acting city manager and ballot question four was city manager and what the total no, actually question number three. So one in three, the only difference really is the acting. And I don't really understand why these can't be one item, Mr.

City Attorney.

We consider that when we drafted them for the mayor and commission. Were separate items in the charter, regrettable.

Really don't understand why they can't be the same item. They had similar voting records, but not identical. But do we want to, I guess, entertain the threefive versus fourfive question again? Sometimes you place the item on the ballot and people understand it better later on. If we choose to pick any of these items, they will have to be part of our town hall, citywide town hall meetings.

So this would be the time for the commission to decide whether there are any other items that should be put on. One suggestion might be that ballot question one and ballot question three be combined into one item and we give it another try? So moved. Is there a second?

I'll second it to start the process. I've got to be honest. There's a lot to chew on after the agenda that we've had. But if you're referring to one, two, and No, one and three.

No, just one and three. One One This is the threefive versus the fourfive.

Okay. I'm going to second it to check the process and see how it goes.

Okay. Now this would have to come back to us. It's not like

I know

exactly why I'm seconding it.

This would be a motion to draft or direct the city attorney

to

would

be a motion to

the ordinances.

And to bring it back. I'm going to support it because I'd like to see what the combination of one and three looks like. Does anybody have any objection to that? I'm not hearing any. So the city attorney, the direction is Mayor. Yes.

We can't read your thoughts. Give the commission an opportunity to

Does hear your anyone have any objection? And you were quiet. Would you like to speak? I'll recognize you.

Thank you, mayor.

This discussion came up under new business at the last meeting, dovetailed with the November discussion about changing our election cycle. There were comments. I listened that night. I rewatched it and listened again to make sure that I heard it correctly. The will of the people shouldn't be questioned, regardless of how many people participate in the process.

Commissioner, no one's questioning the will of the people.

If I may have the You either floor sir.

No, sir. You need to stay on the item that's in front of us. We're not here to be preached to about the will of the people. The question before us, the motion before us, is combining three and one and bringing it back to us in the form of a ballot question. That's what's in front of us. We're not here to be

preached to by anybody. JOSHUA Mayor, democracy has

disappeared. JOSHUA Again, you're preaching again. If you cannot respond to items one and three that are before us, I have to move along. Commissioner, you just absorbed way too much of our time. Please confine your comments to the motion that's being made. Thank you. Okay. Anything else? Okay. There's a motion and a second to combine questions one and three and bring it back to us on language. Is there any comments from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye. Any opposed? No. Show it passes four to one.

Now, are there any other questions that you all are interested in looking at?

Yes.

Yes, go right ahead, commissioner.

Not specifically ballot question eight, but I would like us to explore the idea of putting on the ballot a bond for our police department let me finish our joint first responders

Public Safety Complex. Because

I'm afraid that while we've been super, super lucky and this is one of my top priorities against bad hurricanes, that building is not hurricane rated. And when people ask me in the past why I was voting yes for the bond, My main priority is that building. I want, in the case of the worst emergency possible, our first responders to be able to respond in the best capabilities. And they need a building that will allow them to do that, as well as simply giving them space and a dignified place to work out of.

Mr. Dodge, when are you going to be ready to talk to us about what the projected costs are? I know that you've gone out to RFP. When will you be ready to have that conversation with us?

We had our meeting actually today with the architects doing the design. I believe we'll have that information come back by is it May 20? May 20. So twelve, which will be on the May 20 item where we will know to the best estimate of what that building would cost.

Is there a way to do that before? Because it really we shouldn't have separate town hall meetings. The town hall meetings, the citywide town hall meetings should cover everything that we're contemplating to put on the charter in front of people. So is there any way that

We have a follow-up meeting with them. We'll ask them. But we've made some major revisions to what we did before to save money. And they have to go back in and redo their calculations. And I can share that with you but I don't know if they can give us a pretty solid number before May 12.

All right. So we're on the clock to have the discussion as to whether or not we want to proceed with that on a ballot question or not. So commissioner, I guess that's the best answer we can provide at this point. I am also curious to

see It's what that really only about three weeks from

I understand. But we're on the clock.

Yeah. Am Okay with the town halls being a little bit later considering earlier it was mentioned that we don't have to turn in the questions until August 18. Ideally, yes. We get through everything even before early ballots go out to the public. But I have confidence in our staff to be able to make that work if we want this to be considered as part of those town hall conversations. I would really like for it to

be If

you can come back to us at the earliest possible moment. We will. You for sure. Point well taken, commissioner. Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor. Any other items on this?

Mr. Mayor, if I may? Yes. If it be the wish of the commission to direct our office to draft that particular resolution it's a resolution. It's not an ordinance, by the way. It's a bond resolution that you were listening to last time. It's one reading. It's a resolution. If you give me the direction and the manager, we can coordinate with our bond counselor to begin preparing the resolution with blanks and bring it to you once you get the numbers from the city manager so that we don't have to wait a week or two to get it onto the desk. We would begin to draft it sooner rather than later and then fill in some blanks that typically would be those things generated by the architects, engineers, etcetera, and the manager's ultimate professional recommendation as to what the valuation or the value should be of bond issuance.

Does anybody have any objection to that?

No. Do we have to make a motion? Because I'd be happy

to No.

We can do it by consensus. Does anybody have any We

will begin to prepare that by Hearing none. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you all very much. You're welcome. You're you.

Okay. Thank you. All right. So that wraps up this side. Now we get to hold on one second.

I think there's only one item left. Hold on. That's right. Okay. Anything else, Mr. City Attorney? No. But at the end

of the regular meeting, Mayor, I will announce the predicate for the shaving.

Yes, Thank you. Yes, And we will.

Thank you, Mayor.

Okay, item 16. Commissioner Schwartz, you are recognized.

A discussion of possible action to direct city administration to provide virtual online biannual ethics training to the city workforce and new hires beginning in 2026 using the staff research in the attached backup. Mr. Rothstein had provided that to me. I forward it to the administration. It's in the back of Mr. Rothstein's here to answer any questions if asked.

Mr. Rothstein, you can forward, please.

Dineros Sign.

Okay. Just a couple of technical things. So in Commissioner Schwartz's written agenda request form, he talks about biannual ethics training, would be twice a year.

No, every two years, sir.

Every other year.

Every other

year? Biannual? Every other year, employees would go through the training, if that's what the commission decides.

I think if you look it up, biannual says It's twice a year. It's

When we certify so

every other year, is this what The

attachment states every other year for new hires. Okay.

All right. Well, that's a little confusing. But Okay. What's in the employee handbook now with respect to ethical responsibilities of employees? And because commissioner's motion is for all employees, however, all employees are not similarly situated with respect to ethics.

I'm all for ethical training. I'm not against ethical training if it's needed. I'm not against it if people are unaware of what their ethical responsibilities are. But an employee who works in parks and is working on is a grounds crew person has a different ethical responsibility than a permitting inspector or an attorney on Sam's staff. Indeed, there is a difference in Pembroke Pines between though we treat them all as part of the Pembroke Pines staff family, many of our employees don't even work directly for the city of Pembroke Pines.

They work for a vendor. We use them. So what orientation, what preparation to comply with the state's and to what extent it applies the county's ethical requirements do we expose our employees and our extended employees to?

The first question about what we already have in our employee handbook. We have a code of ethics, and every new employee signs the handbook that they've read and understand or have asked questions. There is no state law that I'm aware of in speaking with counsel that requires ethics training. We do have it in our employee handbook. And you are correct. Each department is slightly different. Police is different than others. Fire is different, etcetera.

So it would be hard to imagine one video that would cover all of these different jobs. The ethics training that we go through every year, which is four hours, is tailored to elected officials. And what we have to deal with them, we're by law required to comply with that. And we do. But once it gets to staff, you have to sort of tailor the presentation to what their job is, right?

GREGORY D. Correct. It would be a basic if the commission wants us to put something in place, would be a very basic, basic code of ethics.

So can you envision one video or virtual online ethics training through the entire city workforce?

Again, we could do it. It would just be very basic. It's not going to be specific to each department or each function. It would be very, very basic.

Would it be in similar everyone signs a handbook, correct?

Every city employee signs a handbook. Handbook.

Only when they get hired, correct?

That's correct.

So this, in some terms, would be simply what is covered in that handbook in a video refreshed on an every other year basis.

It would basically be a refresh of what's in the handbook.

In the handbook. And that's why the handbook is signed by everyone, it does apply to everybody, even though they do different things, because it is very general is my assumption.

That's correct. And it's already on this city's internet site, so employees can look at the handbook anytime.

GREGORY Okay.

GREGORY I may, through the city manager to the city clerk,

can we just pull up the outline that Mr. Rothstein and his

I'm crew put not there yet. Just give me a second.

Just to frame the discussions. I appreciate that.

Fact, that's helpful. Going to the notes, Mr. Rothstein, offer employees ethics training no 63, yes 37 based on the survey of eight Broward County cities. Which eight cities did you survey? I'm sorry. Could you repeat that? On the bottom, see the bottom notes? Yes. It says a survey of eight Broward County cities resulted in the following findings. What were those cities?

Sure. We surveyed Miramar, Sunrise, Coral GREGORY Springs Miramar. GREGORY Sunrise, Coral Springs, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale, Plantation. Yeah. Davey. Davey. And Deerfield Beach. And Deerfield.

Okay. And 63% do not do it and 37% do do it?

That's correct.

Which are the ones that do it?

Let's see. Miramar has training, Sunrise, and Coral Springs. And Coral Springs.

And those happened to be the three where we had some pretty serious charges,

right? There's been issues in some of the cities.

And then the frequency is once per year is 33% and every other year is 67%. What does that mean?

One city does the training once a year. Two cities do it every other year. And which is the city that does it every year? City that does it every year is Myanmar. Okay.

And do we have access to what they do, actually?

We could do a request for their program, yes.

Have you looked at what they actually do?

No. We just did a survey to present to the commission so you could see what other cities are doing.

Okay. Commissioner Schwartz, did you take a look at any of the ethical trainings for any of these eight cities?

Mr. Rothstein and I had discussions about the work product in hopes that the commission would reach out to the Monday night memo to ask questions to give staff the opportunity to respond.

I'm sorry, sir. That wasn't my question. My question is, you view any of these because I have not. Did you view any of these trainings? Not specifically

with respect to your question, though. I haven't. But what I do have is based upon the five modules that were provided, a framework that could be molded by this commission as a collegial body to enhance refreshers or how we deem fit. Clearly, we're not alone. I'm disappointed in the we only have this city to run.

It would be great to have more cities on board. But certainly, the we're first one in the pool. So Mr. Rothstein and I, we've had over several weeks now various discussions about the type of online, how similar it is to things that we're already doing. And so I just felt this was just a natural fit and not really a burden going every other year.

I understand. So Mr. Rothstein, these module suggestions came from you?

Yes, correct.

Okay. I see no harm in any of this. I don't know about the frequency. I don't know whether it needs to be yearly. Tend to think that in a city like ours, once every two years, I see no harm in it.

However, this is the fourth time that Commissioner Schwartz has brought the item to us. And we have a rule here that you can't bring the same item more than once No, sir. To a vote. And we haven't had a vote on it. But this is the fourth time that and I'm glad that we finally have a work product that we can look at

GREGORY so that

we can bring this to a vote.

GREGORY Mayor, just for a refresh, I brought the item as a commission item in quarter four of last year. I was given a task to work with administration. I brought it forward two weeks ago. It was deferred

Well, it was deferred

because we didn't have the outline. This is the first time I've seen this outline.

Mayor, it deferred two weeks ago for personal reasons that goes beyond the status here. So I brought it back. And Mr. Rothstein has now provided the framework. And so this is where we are. It's not four times. It's actually the first time that we're actually weighing in on whether or not this is going to be an up or down vote, sir.

Okay. My point was that we asked for this we could have saved a lot of time. This was the outline that we should have seen the second time it was brought. But Okay, any discussion on Yes, the Commissioner Rodriguez.

Module two, is that specifically mentioned in the handbook?

I'm sorry?

Module two, is that mentioned in the handbook? Disclosure requirements?

Yes. A module that we think is very important to have because it's very important about the open government laws and the sunshine laws.

But what staff would be where is the relevancy Public

records. Public records is part of that. So staff needs to understand GREGORY

But public records? But what about Sunshine? Excuse me? What about Sunshine? Who falls under the Sunshine? Believe it's just us and I don't believe our advisory

that's board. In the handbook because it is not addressed for employees. Sunshine is only relevant to elected officials.

Exactly. And advisory boards, but that's not within this. So I would We could take that out. I don't think it's necessary. Form one, who fills out form one?

Mr. Mayor, the commissioner, if I can. I'm sorry to interrupt you. But understand that even employees can be conduits to violate the law. And I say that only because the law says that. I need to put that in the record to make sure it's clear. Yes, they're not the primary targets, but they can be the conduits.

Okay. Who fills out Form I?

I actually fill out Form I. Anybody who's on a committee, say, the pension board for those types of committees has to fill out a Form I.

That's really limited when you're talking about employees. It's usually mandated.

And they are trained in that when they or they obviously have to do it. It's by law that they have to do

the The form city clerk is really good about getting those out to everybody?

So I don't know. I don't understand why we would have training for employees about a form that only a couple of us need to sign.

Yeah, it wouldn't be training them how to fill it out. It's just to let people know that if you serve on those type of committees, you have to do that form.

But you would be told if you served on that committee that you had to do it anyways, correct?

That's correct. But you're correct, Commission. It's very limited to those employees that are

if signing we're already telling the people who need to be told about that form, I don't think it's necessary for all the employees to also participate in a module about that.

JOSHUA If I may and we certainly don't debate each other, but vice mayor, if I may I believe there's a benefit of educating the workforce on what the roles of the Form I sunshine conduits and that sort of thing and how it applies.

Sunshine conduits, I get. But I don't know why a staff member would need to know that Pepito is signing a form one. Pepito needs to do the form one anyways.

GREGORY DELL: Well, we disagree. I think if everyone knows who's responsible for what, it does raise the bar of if considering serving on a board, if there's there's many different ways. Would

But that's in a job description.

They're not allowed

to serve on boards unless we appoint.

GREGORY But that's within I get what you're saying. But if you're looking for let's say someone's looking to become the city clerk, my assumption is they would look at the job description and you'd find out there. It's not just for anybody. You guys can keep it in. I I don't think it serves a purpose, to be completely honest.

So again, we could modify this. This is just a template. I was asked to put a template together if possible.

Would we get the final version of it to vote on that?

Yes. If you move forward with it?

I would hope not. To go online?

I think we should delegate this to the city attorney.

Don't want

to be in a position where if somebody violates ethics and it's because of a commission approved training program for staff, we don't sit in judgment of training programs for staff. Those are

done by professional staff. And I have been speaking to at least

I'm not

interested in providing people with a defense.

Okay. So then for you to take into consideration that if not everybody needs to do a whole module on what one form is that one person needs to sign, I guess take that into consideration, I would hope.

GREGORY That's a very valid point.

GREGORY But can we just get a point of clarification? Because this module that you're speaking to, is that module two?

Yeah. Yeah.

I think your mistake was putting in an example of form one. The issue is really open government laws, which is sunshine and public records. Has nothing to do with form one. Form one also, too. I think you have a check mark if you took your ethics course class, your four hours ethics. Think on your form one, you have to check it off now. Is that where they put it at now? Yeah. Yeah, I think so, too. I think you used a bad example here. I think the module is very relevant because people do need to be reminded about sunshine and public records laws. I mean, somebody comes and asks you for public records, you've got to So give them I mean, the module is fine.

Again, it will be finalized in concert with the city attorney. And we will have a final template. This is the initial template that we put together. And we will have something in the next week or two will get signed off.

I guess. Okay. And then the scenarios to illustrate examples, would it be specific to each space or just general guidelines that fall within the general handbook?

More general guidelines. I

guess that's the end of my questions.

Any other questions?