City Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Pembroke Pines City Commission meeting of 12/11/2025. Allow me to wish everyone an outstanding holiday season as we all get ready, however it is that you celebrate. Please enjoy it with your family in happiness and prosperity. And let's all wish happiness and prosperity to the Westborough Bobcat football team who's going to be playing for this. What about that?

It's the first time. The first of many, no doubt. But it's the first time for that team. And it just goes to show you. Look, people in Pembroke Pines are special. We jump higher. We run faster. There's just something about the city. Don't you agree, Christian? It's just incredible. And it just makes me so very, very proud. So happy holidays to everyone. All the best to our Bobcat team. And Mr. Clerk, would you please call the roll for tonight's meeting?

Commissioner Good. I am here.

Vice mayor Hernandez? Vice mayor will be here at eight. He's got a family obligation. He asked me to let you guys know. Thank

you. Commissioner Rodriguez? Here. Commissioner Schwartz?

Here.

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

Thank you so very much. Today, to lead us in the pledge of allegiance, we have an outstanding individual, Valerie Bookman, is an eighth grader at Silver Trail Moto. And she's not only going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, but she's going to sing the national anthem for us. So if you would all stand and please remain standing. Valerie?

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

Whenever you're ready. Oh,

say can you see by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars

And the rockets' raglan, the mobs bursting in air, gave proof through the night

Thank you, everybody.

Valerie Bookman, eighth grade. Wow, is that something? I'm telling you, kids in Pembroke Pines could do anything. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have the distinguishing honor today to welcome the mayor of Broward County, our good friend Mark Bogan. And he has a presentation for us. Mayor, we're honored to have you. The podium is yours. There's a button there that says speak.

Mayor, before I start, you said that you run faster. I'm in the north part of the county in Coral Springs. And I'd like to challenge you to a race because I think we can be we can whip you in a race. So we'll have to get that down.

Good. I'll bring my bike, and you run. You

know, as I said to you earlier, I didn't know anything south of Broward Boulevard. Civilization. But I guess there is. So all right. In all seriousness, let me just start off by saying

This is a great way to start a discussion. Absolutely. No, thank you very much. And I just want to before you begin, I just want to thank you for everything that you do that goes unnoticed, but I notice it, in terms of leading this county, this very, very special place. We always hear about people complaining that any one of us should be thanking our lucky stars that we live in this county because there are millions of people that would trade places with any one of us, if only they could, to live here. And a big part of that is the leadership you provide in Broward County, sir. And I just want to thank you.

GREGORY Thank you, sir. All right. So let me just start out by saying what happened at our last meeting, then I'll get into a story. At our last meeting, an individual who played Major League Baseball for seventeen years, He kept in great shape for his lifetime in baseball. He's 60 years old or 60 years old. He played for the Dodgers. He played for the Yankees, second base. And his name was Steve Sachs. And if you know Steve, Steve does kickboxing. He does martial arts. And if you met him today, he is in great shape. And he came to Broward County going through Florida. And we told him to take what we're going to talk about today is this test that's not given anywhere in the country preventatively except in Broward County. We call it the heart test. He went.

He said, Mark, I'm in great shape. I work out. I eat healthy. I have no symptoms. I feel great.

He took the test and said thank you to our commissioners because they found four of his arteries were 95% to 99% blocked. He went back to California where he lives, had a quadruple bypass, came to our commission, thanked us for saving his life. And so that's what I want to take three to four minutes today just to talk to you about what we're doing and why everybody in this room could either themselves or somebody in their family or someone they care about, this can save their life. So let me just start by saying, as of today, we scanned 7,000 people in Broward County, all who have no symptoms, all who feel great. And out of seven thousand, over four thousand of them needed either open heart surgery, stents, or medication because they had no idea that their arteries were blocked.

So it started twenty something years ago. My mom, millions of people, she was 73. She traveled. She got around. She did what anybody could need to do. And then one day, boom, died of a heart attack. And I went because that happened to me I went to a Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, one of the best hospitals in the world, and said, do I have to worry? Now that my mom died of a heart attack, do I have to worry? And the chief cardiologist said to me, look, if there's a test that could have saved your mom, doctors are not giving it preventatively. So we do mammograms for women.

We do colonoscopies for everybody else preventatively. But the leading cause of death, if you add up all the cancer deaths brain cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer every cancer death added up, what's the leading cause of death? Heart attacks. And after heart attacks, one in every two people will get cancer. So he showed me the test in Mayo Clinic of the type. It's a scan. It takes fifteen minutes. It's a fifteen minute scan. All the major hospitals here have it. But doctors are not prescribing it preventively.

Fast forward, I became an elected official, became commissioner of Broward County. I got $10,000,000 set aside. We're now doing it for free for Broward residents. And as of this date, seven thousand people have gone through it, all feeling great, no symptoms. And over fifty seven percent of those people needed medical attention. An additional five percent had clear arteries, but they found lung cancer or they found AFib. They found something else wrong. So we've actually helped up to sixty one percent, sixty two percent of individuals. We're saving this test saves lives. And so I play baseball once a year with the Dodgers at spring training.

I go every January in their fantasy camp. I'm active. I feel good. I went and had a test. They told me I had I had a 70% blockage in my widowmaker three years ago. And so they went for a stent up my wrist. I was awake, put a stent in, was painless. And hopefully, I'm better. I have no problem, hopefully. And so all I could do is want you as commissioners and this community to know about it. We're going to start publicizing it more. It's starting again up at the Cleveland Clinic. We're focusing all of this now at one hospital, Cleveland Clinic. People next week can go to takehearttest.com and sign up and get the test. If there's a problem, they can call me.

We'll make sure they get in. Everyone on this dais and everybody here, either if you're over the age of 45, if you have parents or somebody that you know should take the test, could save their lives. And so that's what I'm here talking about. It's been going on for two years. That's kind of it.

You know, this is so astounding. I don't want to skip over it because we're being televised right now. And I know a lot of people watch. So if you're interested in taking this important test, what do you do? And is it paid for? Does the insurance have to pay for it? Is there an out of pocket cost? How does it work?

Until the money runs out, Broward County is put up we still have money. We're paying for it, so it's free. The Florida Panthers have now donated money as well. So we're calling it the Broward County Florida Panthers Heart Preventive Test. We're seeking other ways of raising money for it. But right now, it's free. There's no cost. Insurance doesn't pay for it. They don't need insurance because we, the county, will pay for it. And it's going to be ready to go starting next week, again, at Cleveland Clinic. So if somebody wants to take the test, they would just go to take hearttest.com. If there's a problem, all they got to do is look me up, Mark Bogan, Broward County. Call my office, and we'll make sure that they get in.

GREGORY D. Mayor, I saw that on the county Facebook or yours I'm not sure which you had done a short video on this that provided the link in the website and everything else. Could you provide that to us? Mr. Dodge, I would love to see this shared on the city's social media and on our TV station as well. And I want to thank you, sir, for everything

It's you're a passion of mine because when you really can see that people could have died because of it, now they're taking this test. So I urge you guys to really promote it and to take it and get there. And it's painless, doesn't hurt, and it could just do wonders for everybody. Commissioners?

Commissioner Goode? Yes. Mr. Mayor, thank you. Mayor Brogan, I got to say, you you shared a lot of great stuff with us. But what's important to me is that you took the effort to create a program that saves lives, real lives. You took the time to get it funded so it's at no cost to everybody. And you put a lot of information out there that everybody can access. But what's most important to me right now is that you could have easily had your aides come out here. You could have easily had that video the mayor is talking about shown here. But here you are in person and showing us that you're touchable. And I just got to say I really appreciate that you certainly.

This is my passion. If you want to talk about a hole in the street or some fake picture I'm going send my aid. I'm sorry. But if you want to talk about this, because this is it doesn't get anything more. What you guys do for communities, I mean, there's a million issues homelessness food insecurity and home affordability go on, all these big issues. But to me, when you're talking about actually being able to save a life and save lives, it doesn't get better than that. And so there's something out there for the leading cause of death that people should take advantage of before the money runs out.

So anyway, I'm 7,001. Please. Right.

Well, thank you Commissioner Schwartz? Mayor Bogan, I remember when you first got elected. And you have not stopped serving the public. There's something special about public service when you're able to help those and you don't know their names. How many lives have you saved because of this program? You've impacted sixty two percent of those and their families. You've given them more time with their loved ones. We're only here for a short visit. And I to thank you for your efforts. I want to thank your colleagues for supporting your initiative.

Right. By the way, if the Broward commissioners didn't support this or fund this, it would be nothing.

It's a What I would love to be able to do, 7,000 now and a million. And we need to put up on the tilt board and get with the Broward League of Cities and see what we can do as a county, the One Broward initiative. And I would be the first one to say to Mr. Dodge, let's find some funds. What I'm saying is the county is doing its part.

It's showing leadership. And now we have the other 30 towns and cities that could put their hand in their pocket and do the right thing for everyone because we're all in this thing together. And here's the other thing, too, mayor. Creating awareness I believe is going to have the medical community start writing these scripts. I think that is certainly a hope that we can see. And again, as I mentioned to you, the national media picked up on this story. I want this to go huge. There's too many people who have no idea that they are really a widowmaker away from not being with their families. So thank you again, mayor.

So let me just tell you, mayor, the reason I haven't been here earlier was when I presented this program to the county commissioners, a lot of people are like, what is he talking about? I mean, this is not being done anywhere. Bogan doesn't know what he's talking about. And remember, I got this from Mayo Clinic in Rochester. And unfortunately, I'm wondering why don't doctors use this as a preventative.

They will use it if you have chest pain and stuff, but as a preventative. Because doctors I've been told many cardiologists make their money doing stress tests in their office. And that for the American College of Cardiology and cardiologists have never wanted to explore, hey, there might be a better, more technologically advanced test that could see the arteries versus when you're on a treadmill and it talks about blood flow. It's a better test. And I've had cardiologists criticize this for whatever reason, but we've proven it now. That's why I'm here today. I'm going to go around. We've proven that this test has saved lives. And thank you for

your

comments And hope we can get this message out.

CHRISTINE Commissioner Rodriguez?

I just wanted to say thank you for the presentation and for your comments. I was actually working at the county commission while you were trying to get this done. And I remember you got a little bit of some pushback, you fought, and you fought, and you fought for this project to be funded by the county. So I just want to thank you and say that we appreciate all the work that you did to do this. Because some might have thought, does government need to be a part of this health care decision, in a sense? And I think it is really important for us to think outside of the box and come up with ideas that do help all of our residents.

And if you guys don't take it within the next three months, I'm going to be on your you know what. I'm telling you, you guys better be you're too young.

I am too.

But you got

to be over 45. But seriously, you need to take this test. And if you don't, you're going to hear from me.

Thank you so right, very take

care guys.

Thank you, mayor. I told you he was a great guy. Thank you so very much. So Alan Schneider is here to talk to us about the Miramar Pembroke Pines Rotary Club. And at this time, I would like to call him up to speak.

This is still on speaker.

Yes, you're on.

You can hear me Okay. Okay, thank you very much, mayor and city commissioners. Appreciate the opportunity to speak. And also, appreciate you moving me up because I have to go down to Coconut Grove to take care of my grandkids tonight. But that's a whole other story. So thank you for moving me up. I'm Alan Snyder. I'm on the board of directors of the Rotary Club of Miramar Pines. I'm joined by Jose Alvarado, who's the president of our club as well. A few weeks ago, I reached out to Mayor Castillo requesting that he appoint a Pembroke Pines elected city official replacement for our Rotary Club.

Iris Seippel was the representative for seven years, and she was a wonderful partner. We helped her with a lot of initiatives that she initiated for the city. She helped us with a lot of fundraisers and projects that we did. And I can talk about that later. And the mayor had some suggestions about, instead of an individual, he had a suggestion of maybe doing it on a rotating system, which I'll get to.

But before I do, I want to give you a brief background about Rotary and our club, just as some background to put some context into this. Most of you know about Rotary, but we are the world's largest service organization. We're in over 200 countries. We have 1,300,000 members and over 40,000 individual clubs. Rotary International mostly focuses on global projects.

There's seven major initiatives. I won't go through them all, but they deal with health, education, peace building, environment, etcetera. And we as a club also get involved with those. And most of our projects align with those initiatives. The rotary motto is service above self.

And as far as our own clubs initiatives, they include our signature program, which is called Food for Thought. It used to be called Pack a Sack when we were managing it, but it started growing and growing. We partnered with the New Horizons Methodist Church now, and we're serving over 300 meals a week to kids who are typically food deprived, who typically only eat meals at their schools. And on weekends when they come, there isn't any food in their household. And that's been a very successful program.

And just last night, we partnered with Cassandra Castillo, who she originally said she was your niece, but she then said she wasn't really related.

Sure if

you go far. She

wasn't related to you.

DAY: Far back way back, weirdly related, but I'm not aware of it.

JAMES But anyhow, we partnered with Cassandra. She coordinated this with the police department. And we partnered with Target. And we had approximately 20 students, low income students. And we honored them with $100 gift card for each student. And there were over 20 police officers there. They took each of the kids. And the police officer went with the kid and their parents. And they went to the toy section, to the clothing section, etcetera. And they could spend up to $100 And it was a magnificent event, wonderful.

But it's the type of thing that we get involved with giving back to the community. And we used to be two separate clubs, Miramar and Pembroke Pines. But in 2007, we merged. And one of the commissioners I think it was Commissioner Good was a member at that time. And I think you were probably involved in the coordination of the two clubs. That was before my time. But thank you very much for your service. And the commissioner of goods certainly knows what the rotary is all about. We are a five zero one(three) nonprofit organization, and we are nonpolitical. So why am I here?

The reason is that your representatives can help us, we can help you. The representative in Miramar is Commissioner Coburn. I think she's Vice Mayor Coburn right now. And she has been wonderful. And we've done several projects with her. We partnered with Waste Pro in doing a backpack presentation for back to school. We've done book giveaways. And they, in turn, supported with some of our fundraisers like a karaoke event that we had. And it was two months ago, they surprised us. They invited us to the commissioners meeting.

And they presented us with a $5,000 award or donation that came from the city because we've been contributing and partnering with them for five years. And they just gave that to us to help support our initiatives. And we're continuing to partner with them. And as I said, Iris Seippel was very, very good. And she helped coordinate things like Breakfast with Santa program, for example, and coordinated with Pines Charter School so we could use their cafeteria.

She got Holly to get involved. She was absolutely wonderful. She coordinated with the food service so that when they had breakfast with Santa, they provided all the food for that. And they the custodial staff help set up, etcetera. And that's what we would like out of a partnership.

So the conversation that we had was and of course, this is up to the city commission. We agreed that the vice mayor every year, because the position rotates, would be the delegate to the Miramar Pembroke Pines Chamber of Commerce. And the vice mayor designate would be the alternate. And if the commission is willing, we can add that responsibility to the vice mayor position. Unless anyone has an objection, that's certainly one way to handle it.

But we're a little shortchanged. Right now, commissioner, vice mayor I wouldn't want to do this in his absence. So we will take this up. And I just want to thank you for everything that you guys do. I was made an honorary member. Your records may not show that. In 2004. Oh, didn't know that. On my election.

I didn't know that.

I still have the coin at home. And it's terrific. And in addition to that, I'll be happy to come and see you guys once a year and give you an update on city matters, if you'll invite.

Right. And you had mentioned that. And we're going to work with Karen. We had no openings, sorry, for the end of this year. But we'll get you in early next year.

Happy to work around your schedule.

Yeah. And the last thing I just want to mention is that, although we meet twice a month, but I think Yvette Cobrin comes to like three or four meetings a year, mostly when she has something that she needs from us or we are doing with her. So it's not a major commitment, but it's just the contact that we have a go to person. Absolutely. And that's great. And yes, loved your, everyone loved your idea of rotating because it makes sense because we need Well, to deal with different

the reason I like it is it gives everybody a chance to have that exposure. And I think that's important. Exactly. So thank you so very much. And thank you for everything that you all do to help make Pembroke Pines a better place. And happy holidays.

Okay. Thank you. Okay.

So we have presentations. And the first one twelve U PLO Bulldogs, Red Day. Wow. Let's turn this around. All right.

Which one of you is the catcher? Come here. Right here. You're going to help me read this, all right? See, because you're the catcher, so you call the signs, right? Okay, you're going to help me read this. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida.

Youth sports play a Vital role. Vital role in the building's character. Leadership, teamwork, and community spirit among young athletes And. And. Where's the third baseman?

And whereas?

Whereas the 13 new PLO bulldogs under the leadership of head coach Chris Bronner and assistant coach Alex Fonseca and Jamie Lopez. Demonstrated. Demonstrated acceptance, dedication, discipline, and sportsmanship throughout their season and Where's

the center fielder? Okay. Whereas the team achieved an impressive forty nine and fourteen season. Is that right? Yeah. Record. Record and went? Undefeated

undefeated to win the prestigious Cooperstown Dreams Park Summer Tournament competing against 104 teams from across the nation. One of only 14 teams crowned champion out of over 1,400 people who compete annually.

And whereas the following players contributed to this extraordinary accomplishment through their talent and teamwork, achieving a 149 hits, 65 home runs, and 65 strikeouts during their 10 game undefeated run at Cooperstown. Tyler Bronner, Matthew Rodriguez, Luis Ramirez, William Bubba Gethhouse, Alexis Fonseca Junior, Matthew Barrios, Arish Sahid, Ari Colton, Jayil Marmol, Anthony Santa Benes, Jamie Lopez, Matthew Escalona. Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, on behalf of the city commission, do hereby proclaim 12/11/2025 as twelve U PLO Bulldogs Red Day in the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida in honor of their outstanding season and championship achievement and in celebration of their dedication, sportsmanship, and representation of excellence in youth athletics. Guys, congratulations.

Let's take a photo.

Coach, a couple words.

Just want to thank you for having us out here. Fantastic. Recognize these boys and all the hard work they've done. And it was a really great moment to represent the city of Pembroke Pines. And make no mistake, the teams from Coral Springs do not belong in the same field as us, sir.

I'm glad

Bogan's gone. Guys, you make us proud. Congratulations and thank you very much. We gave you a job while you were away. All right.

This is a city of this is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines for Rick Case Bikes Day for Kids. Whereas bikes for kids program was founded in 1982 by Rita and Rick Case in partnership with the local boys and girls clubs to distribute new and pre owned bicycles during the holiday season to children whose holidays might otherwise be less bright. And whereas the program not only provides much appreciated gifts to deserving children, but also teaches young people the meaningful lesson of generosity and joy of giving. And whereas since its inception, more than 125,000 bicycles have been donated through the program in Atlanta and South Florida, reflecting the extraordinary legacy and kindness and community support. And whereas this remarkable effort driven by the Case family, dedicated volunteers, and generous donors continues to uplift thousands of children each year and exemplifies the spirit of service celebrated by the city of Pembroke Pines.

Now therefore, I, Angelo Castillo, mayor of Pembroke Pines, the greatest city in the world, the city that cares, can, and does, on behalf of the city commission to hereby proclaim 12/11/2025 as Rick Case Bikes Day for kids in the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, and commend the Case family and all participants for their unselfish dedication to this program, encouraging our residents to support this outstanding project in every possible way. Thank you so very much.

So, I mean, most of you guys are probably driving rate case cars as it is. But if you're not, we're here. At the end of the day, we have a company model. Our customers are friends. Our employees are family. Our communities are home. And we not only just put that as our motto, but we live it. You know, we volunteer and sponsor a lot of the junior achievements, Broward County Centers. And, you know, this is just another way that we want to give back to the community that takes care of us. So at the end of the day, we're all in it together, like you said earlier. So thank you for everything. We appreciate you.

Thank you

so very much. Happy holidays. Okay. This is a 2025 Achievement in Excellence in Procurement Award. At this time, I would like to invite our assistant city manager and director of procurement and sustainability, Mark Gomes, along with his exceptional team, to join me at the podium.

This is the team. When Pembroke Pines need it, they get it for us. It is once again with great pride that we gather to recognize a remarkable accomplishment by our city's procurement department. This year, the city of Pembroke Pines has been awarded the twenty twenty five achievement in excellence in procurement award from the National Procurement Institute Inc, a distinction that reflects the highest standards in public procurement. This award is earned only by organizations that demonstrate true excellence in the areas of e procurement, innovation, professionalism, productivity, and leadership.

It is not a simple recognition. It is a validation of an organization's unwavering commitment to the best practices and continuous improvement. For 2025, there were 216 successful applicants, including 85 cities, 48 counties, 23 special districts, 26 school districts, 15 higher education agencies, and seven states, as well as other entities across The United States and Canada. Pembroke Pines stands proudly among them. This is an elite group.

Not only does this item place our city among top performing procurement organizations, but it also reinforces the importance of responsible stewardship in public resources. The standards set by the AEP program push agencies to improve year after year to redefine their processes, embrace innovation, leverage technology, and lead with transparency and professionalism. Our procurement department continues to lead by example, ensuring that every dollar is spent wisely, every process is accountable, and every effort is made to support the residents and businesses of Pembroke Pines. Their work directly strengthens our operational efficiency, sustainability, and overall service to the community. Tonight, we not only congratulate them on earning this prestigious award once again, we celebrate the dedication and teamwork and commitment behind it.

To Mark and the entire procurement sustainability team, thank you for representing our city with excellence, integrity, and innovation. Congratulations on this outstanding achievement. And thank you for your continued service to the city of Pembroke Pines.

I just want to say thank you, everyone. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, commission, for all the support. Thank you, city manager Dodge, for giving me the opportunity to lead the team. And most importantly, I would like to thank our team. As you know, we could not do it without them. This is an amazing team of procurement specialists, including our fleet division as well, and our sustainability team. As you know, when it comes to procurement, there's a lot of things that make a city run. Whether it's procuring the services for the roads that we drive on, whether it's the commission chambers that we're in today, whether it's the band equipment at the charter schools, there's a lot of vital important things that we do. And I would like to thank them for all the hard work they do every day to make that happen. Thank you all.

Thank you very, very much. You guys are great. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you for everything you do. Okay.

Next. We have the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Postal Service. Is anyone here to pick that up? Please come forward. No matter rain or sleet or this or that, you're there.

Two fifty years. Wow. You don't look a day over This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Postal Service. Whereas 2025 marks the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the US Postal Service established one year before the founding of the nation, so that we can mail the Declaration of Independence, And later, enshrined in the US Constitution, serving as one of America's most enduring public institutions. And whereas throughout our nation's history, the US Postal Service has played a vital role in connecting communities, supporting the development of transportation and commerce, and fulfilling its universal service obligation to provide equal and affordable service to all residents no matter who they are or where they live.

Whereas the postal service operating without taxpayer funding and powered by its own revenue serves more than a hundred and sixty nine nine million addresses, six and often seven days a week, anchoring 1,300,000,000,000.0 mailing and packaging industry that a million dollar trillion dollar packaging and mailing industry that supports millions of jobs while remaining one of the nation's largest employers of veterans. And whereas the USPS continues to be an essential public service by ensuring secure communications, financial transactions, mail order medications, mail in voting, e commerce delivery, and fair union supporting employment that reflects the diversity of our nation. Now therefore, I am Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, along with the city commission, do hereby recognize the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the United States Postal Service, commend the dedication of the nation's postal workers, affirm support for the USPS vital public mission as established by the Postal Reorganization Act, and express our commitment to a strong, accessible, and thriving postal service for generations to come. Congratulations.

On behalf of Broward County Area Local, I want to thank you for taking out the time to present us with this proclamation and acknowledging the work that we do. As the vice president of Broward County Area Local, I'm twenty four hours a day trying to make sure we can, you know, get more workers, better staff, stop the overworking so we can provide better service to the community. So thank you so much for still utilizing the postal service.

And thank you for everything that you do. Thank you.

Okay. Now we have Girl Scouts. They here? Okay. So what's your name?

My name is Sophia.

Hi, Sophia. What's

your name? Sophia.

And what's your last name?

Garcia.

And your last name is not Garcia. Destana. Destana. All right. Thin mints are my favorite.

They're actually my weakness. So if you knock on my door, that's it. Hint hint. This is a proclamation of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida. Pembroke Pines Girl Scouts, Sofia Garcia and Sofia Pestana, project earns prestigious silver award.

Whereas the city of Pembroke Pines proudly recognizes cadet level girl scouts Sofia Garcia and Sofia Pastrana of troop one four zero zero five whose dedication to ocean conservation and environmental education earned them a prestigious silver award from the girl scouts of Southeast Florida and the highest honor attained by girl scout cadets in sixth through eighth grade. Commissioner Rodriguez, will you join me, please? And whereas driven by a shared passion for protecting marine ecosystems, Garcia and Pestana created the project saving corals is the morals, partnering with Miami water keeper and former science engagement coordinator Nadine Nagel to study the alarming decline of coral reefs due to global warming and pollution and to educate the public about coral bleaching. And whereas

the Girl Scouts expanded their educational outreach by developing a YouTube channel, oh, fancy, featuring informative videos and presentations about Coral Reef Health and hosted an in person event that engaged more than 30 attendees and inspired over 300 online viewers to take meaningful steps in support of marine conservation. Anduerios Garcia and Pestana were recognized among 74 outstanding young leaders at the seventh annual Silver Awards Showcase, collectively contributing more than 4,100 service hours. So do you guys sleep? Or you just do service hours all day long. Towards projects addressing environmental sustainability, mental health awareness, food insecurity, care for aging populations, and support for veterans, demonstrating true leadership, compassion, and community impact.

Now

therefore, I'm Angelo Castillo, mayor of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, at the request of commissioner Thomas Good, do hereby congratulate Sofia Garcia and Sofia Pastana for earning the prestigious girls Girl Scout Silver Award and commend their exceptional commitment to environmental stewardship, community education, and the values of leadership and service that strengthen our community and inspire future generations. Commissioner, will you join us, please? And you each get one. That's pretty special. I mean, wow.

I'm so impressed. So how old can I ask how old are you?

I'm 14 years old. 15.

14 and 15 years old, and you're already taking care of the oceans, and you're taking I'm telling you, kids in Pembroke Pines are special. I keep telling you, there's nothing they can't do. We're so incredibly proud of you both. Thank you so very much, and congratulations. And don't forget Thin Mints.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Now we have the Natalie Belmonte Award for which district? District 3. District 3.

So mayor, as we do every month, once a month, we bring the breast and the bite as the best yards in our city. District 3 is winter for November. They're in Pembroke Falls. And I mean, the pictures stand for themselves. It's an amazing yard. And we're extremely proud to recognize the family.

Wow. That's beautiful. Congratulations. So what's your secret?

It's a refuge against my day job sitting on my butt being an office guy. So you get some self satisfaction when you can see what you're able to do with your hands and make things look a little bit better.

That's fantastic. You have a $50 gift certificate. Do you get that or does she? Okay.

But it's good to know that it's good. SPEAKER Thank you very much. It's just good to know that you take the time to go out into the neighborhood. We talked to I think it was Julieta who came to my house or And called on your I asked her, how do you do this? Is it we drive around. We spend some time and get out into the neighborhood. Great to see that you're out

there.

Speaking of driving around, this is our friend from Code Compliance. Let me tell you, when he comes down the block, now he doesn't always get a friendly hello. But let me tell you something. They care about our city. And they take the time to notice things, like how beautiful your house is. What'd you think when you saw his house?

Great house. Great work. I see how you're relaxing a lot doing all the flowers. Job. Enjoy the card.

And I'm

glad to advise you that all of your permits are in order. Thank you very, very much, and congratulations.

Mayor will be back in January with our next great yard for District 4 for the month of December. Mayor, there's a QR code up here. People, if you see great yards, take a picture of this QR code. Let us know. We'll come out and look. We do like driving around, but we like getting nominations just as much. So please let us know who you think the great yards are.

Thank you, Matt.

Fantastic. Thank you so much. Okay. Miss city attorney, I've been asked to take item 39 out of order as an accommodation to the applicant. Can you please read item 39 into the record?

I will be happy to, Mr. Mayor. I can get to it, if you will. Item 39 for the record is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty five R-forty six. It is a proposed resolution number twenty twenty five R-forty six, which is a resolution of the city commission of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, proving the potable or potable, as the case may be water and wastewater services agreement with the town of Southwest Ranches authorizing the city manager to execute the potable water and wastewater services agreement with the town of Southwest Ranches approving pending transfer of the potable water and wastewater services agreement providing for recordation, providing for confidence, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Number 2025 R46 on the floor for consideration. Thank you, Mayor Commission.

39.

Can we

have a motion, please?

Motion to

approve. Moved by Commissioner Goode. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by the vice mayor. Is there any discussion among the commissioners?

I have a question for the applicant's legal counsel. Okay.

Good evening. Barbara Hall for the applicant.

It's good to see you.

Good to see

you. So has the town of South Los Angeles Ranches finished their obligation by going first?

They have. Have. I received a text from the city attorney saying it was unanimously approved.

And they have a resolution and everything. I asked Ms. Hall to go ahead and get that done from the town before we took action, mayor. I'm happy to support the item.

Okay. Anyone else? I want read the following two provisions of the contract into the record because I think it's important. There's a certain history to this that I hope to leave behind us. However, the first provision is 10.7. This is additional covenants. The city's provision of water and or wastewater services to the property shall be pursuant to this agreement and shall not constitute a utility or a service area in the town of Southwest Ranches.

Agreed.

Agreed. If during the term of this agreement, the town shall modify, change, or alter the current land use and zoning for the property, Then in that event, and under the provisions of chapter 50 of the city code of Pembroke Pines, expressly prohibiting noxious uses, the city reserves onto itself and on behalf of the citizens of the city the right to implement the terms, conditions, and provisions of ordinance number 2,009 adopted by the mayor and the city commission on 09/20/2023, which if such action occurs shall be deemed a material breach of this agreement. Agreed. Okay. And and the last one is 10.9.

During the term of this agreement, the customer shall not permit the property to be used for a jail facility, immigration center, detention center for any residential purpose. Further, the customer shall not permit the property to be used or transformed into an incinerator for incinerator ancillary uses as defined by the certain declaration of restrictive covenants respectively recorded on 04/29/2024 in instrument number one hundred nineteen five four five one zero seven and on 05/06/2020 DELL: four in that instrument number 11955818 Agreed, mayor. Okay. Thank you. City attorney, anything else?

No, mayor. You've read the operative provisions that were conditions that this commission has imposed on any and all uses of this type and kind. And you have reflected upon that by your request.

Okay. Thank

you, mayor.

Anyone wish to speak on this from the public? Hearing none. All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Congratulations and Thank thank you.

Permanent number is 3935 for those who need to know. And the documents will be, when signed and finalized, will be recorded in the Broward County public records with promptness.

Thank you very much. Items at the request of the

it's May I just thank the city attorney and Paul Hernandez, who works with the city attorney, and Tim Welch, all of whom spent a good deal of time working on the agreement. And I appreciate it. Thank

you very,

very much. All my best to our neighbor. Items at the request of the public. I have two people signed up. However, I think that this is best left until the item comes up, Mr. Card and Mr. Staley, without objection. I'm going to hold on to your papers until your item is read. And I want to thank you for that. The next speaker is Toby Millman.

Good evening. Your name

and your address for the record, please.

Toby Melman, 1711 Northwest 105th Avenue, Pembroke Pines, 33026. First, I want to wish all of you a healthy, safe new year. Second of all, I am a little concerned with the speedway of Taft Street. Something has got to be done. We either need more policemen out there.

It's a raceway there. It's terrible. We've already had three kids killed. If you want more, then keep the cops away. My third thing is Florida power and light.

I can't understand how our government can lower tax taxes. And Florida Power and Light gets three raises in a year. I mean, my bill is over $200 and I don't cook. Something has got to be done. If it takes more people going to the newspapers, I will do it.

I will get a whole bunch of people. They don't call me the mouth of the South for nothing. Something has got to be done. It's only one company. And I guess they can do anything they darn well please. Not in my book. I'm too old for this. I'm on a budget. And I'm telling you, it's killing me. Have a good year, everybody.

Thank you very much. You know, I want to tell you that with respect to Taft Street, we have the deputy chief here. He's going to look into that right away. And I want to thank you for coming forward. And with respect to f p and l, while the city has nothing to do with with with how the rates are set, I wanna commend once again vice mayor Mike Hernandez.

He did he did something here in Pembroke Pines that very few cities did. We sent a resolution to the state asking them not to do this exactly for the reasons that you said, that people had difficulty affording you. And yet, they were sued. The lawsuits were settled. And these increases were approved.

Even as, just as you said, there's discussion about eliminating other revenues. But these revenues were approved. And the home insurance bills are still huge. And it does seem like there are mixed messages. But I want to thank you for coming forward.

And I want you to know that you have in the city of Pembroke Pines a commission that gives voice to the concerns that the residents have. We do what we can. And we go sometimes do things that we're told by staff who are very capable that we can't do sometimes. Because we want to give voice to the concerns of the residents in our city because we care.

GREGORY Well, getting back to the speeding, and 100 and

It's west.

It's little west. At the blinking lights giving the speed. They're not doing their job. Half of the time, they don't work. Something has got to be done to stop these people DELL: from speeding like

Well, have to tell you that I'm in that area at least three times a week. And I'm going to take another look, but I've never seen them not work. And they are proven effective in reducing speeding. They also capture information about when cars are going fast. Speeding happens to be one of those human behaviors that follow certain patterns.

And when the police can't be there because they're patrolling some other part of the city, the data tells them when they should be there. And so it's really sort of the only tool we have short of militarizing the entire city. And that data is available. It is collected. And it is collected even if there's a problem with the lights.

The data is being collected in that system. It's not just a light. There's information collection that goes into these devices. And they're used all over the world very, very effectively. Our police department believes in them. And that's good enough for me. But the police are right in the back, Toby. And I'm going to ask you, if you can, to speak to Chief Bermudez, who's sitting right in the back. And he's going to take your information. And we're going to get on it. And I want to wish you a happy holiday, you and your family. Thank you for coming. Thank

Mayor, if I may. Toby, we love you. And you're always looking out for the community. It's funny. Just last month, I was having a very similar conversation about your concerns. I will follow-up with you as always. And I'll certainly have a deeper dive in the information that the mayor had mentioned about what's available to us to keep our community safer. But just give me about a week or so, and I'll give you an update, Okay? Thanks.

Okay. Okay. God bless all of you.

Thank you very much. We have a commission audit item. However, there's no commission audit report tonight. It's a separate item, right? Okay. So there's no commission audit report. Appeals of Board of Adjustment Decisions, Eric?

Mayor, I requested by administration to pull 41 into that slot.

Yeah, we'll get there. Appeals of Board of Adjustment Decisions?

None, mayor.

Okay. Announcement of board appointments?

None, mayor.

Okay. Commissioner Schwartz, you wanted to pull which item?

I wanted to bring 41 up to the front.

We'll do 41 right away. And that is discussion. May I assist Mr. So that is the item. Correct. That's not your item. That's the item. Okay, discussion and possible action regarding retirement of commission auditor Daniel O'Keefe. Dan, will you come forward? Ladies and gentlemen, this is our commission auditor.

And we're so very, very thankful for your years of service, of devoted and dedicated and effective service, boy, have you helped this city. And from the day you got here, even to do special things like when we needed a lawyer to give us some advice, out of the blue, you found a perfect lawyer for us. I don't even know how you did it. But you came up with someone who came and opened. And through that advice, which our lawyer was helped by and others were helped by, it opened a new door of possibility to a problem that we thought the door was not just shut, but nailed shut.

In every single way that we have asked you to help us. You've been there. And you've been our commission auditor. Is it fifteen years now?

It seems that long. How long has it been? It's got to be about that long.

Yeah. It's got to be around fifteen years. And I got to tell you, I remember when because this was my item. I brought forward the item to have a commission auditor. And there were two members of the commission at that time who didn't like the idea. And it had to go on to the agenda. And sort of at the same time, there was a motion to say any ballot question that the city of Pembroke Pines puts on, it has to be costed out.

And

that's because at the time, I think the top end of engagement was $250,000 And they thought that by

well,

they possibly thought. I mean, was widely speculated that they thought that by putting the 250,000 price tag for a commission auditor on the ballot, people would vote no. And yet it passed overwhelmingly because it made common sense that in an organization as large and as complex as ours, we should have an internal auditor who is truly independent. And you were selected competitively. Lots of people wanted the engagement.

But we saw fit to let that choice fall to you. And let me tell you, what a great choice that was. And I'm very, very sorry to hear that you'll be leaving. However, I want to thank you and wish you all the very, very best.

It's my pleasure. I mean, it's been a kind of a great journey. And when we started, I had Eddie by my side and Bill Blend, who you don't know, but was also counsel with me in terms of coming up with some ideas. And we kind of took it to a point where I thought it was good. But I wanted to take it to another level.

And I think that's what happened this year with Christie Clemens and Jamie Amos and Eddie Castaneda. They're my dream team. I mean, they just did an unbelievable job this year. When Christy and I were talking about the audit plan, I said, Christy, you're going to get this done in the timeline you have laid out? And she said, yes.

I said, Okay, I hope you do it. And she exceeded my expectations. So I feel, in one respect, a little sadness because it has been fun serving the city. But I feel if you go with Christy, I'm leaving it in great hands with a great team that I think will continue to serve you for many years to come. But it has been an absolute pleasure serving this city.

Okay. Commissioners, any discussion?

On this item here, we're discussing just saying, hey, thank you very much for

your Well, we're thanking him. But he's making a recommendation, I believe, that he be succeeded as commission auditor by Christie. Is that correct?

That's correct.

It's certainly the firm's choice. And I know Mr. O'Keefe, with Stephen Lovelace, I mean, Eddie has been I mean, Dan, you've been our point person. We know that staff works with Eddie all the time. And we have generally worked with you. And we have a great team. You came here several months ago with the merger. I had the utmost confidence that if you said it was a good deal for us, then without question, it's a good deal for the community. So I'm happy to support whatever recommendation who the point person is going to be for us. And I imagine whatever the next level down working with staff may or may not change. And you'll advise if that's going to

be the case.

Yeah. The team will not change. I can tell you that right now. And of course, it's a recommendation for me. But it is your decision.

And who are you recommending specifically?

Christie Clements is who I recommend to kind of assume To serve as the commissioner. The contact role for the engagement. Now, she would have been here tonight, but she's

Yes.

She called me.

She's in Europe with

her family. GREGORY And that's on us. We had a change in our schedule. It was essential to make that change. And she had already made her plans with her family. I totally respect that. She told me that you all would be here instead. And it's totally understandable. I'll tell you that pleased as I am that the choice felt to you and thankful as I am for the service that you have provided. The choice is ours, not anyone else's.

This is a charter position. It is a charter office. And I am extremely proud and thankful that you and your former firm merged with Mazar. They're clearly an outstanding firm. However, it is my belief, unless three of you think otherwise, it is my belief that we should go out to bid.

And the reason I'm saying that is because it has to be done competitively. And we've provided an extension, which was debated here to you, only because it involved you personally. It was our confidence in you personally that caused us not to go out to bid before when your contract had in fact expired. It could entirely be possible, in my view, if the commission supports this, that your firm is once again chosen. I mean, it makes perfect sense.

But I think that from an appearance perspective and elsewhere, the choice needs to be made by the city commission, not by the firm. And so I'm not going to be making that motion, but it's up to the commission. If the commission decides that what it wants to do is accept your recommendation, I'm Okay with it. However, I think that we should go out to bid. That's my personal thought. Vice mayor? Like to thank you for

your service, Mr. O'Keefe. I will say that this is it's bittersweet because I don't want to see you go. In the year and a half that I've been here, you've always been responsive, as has your team. Mayor, I would not support at this time going out to bid. I would, however, just speaking for myself, I have great respect for Ms. Clements. However, if I have a first round draft pick, he's sitting to the left over there, Eddie. He would be my choice personally and Ms. Clements and your team backing him up if it were up to me.

It's not up to me. We have five up here. However, I'm not supportive of a procurement item at this time. I'm pleased with what we have with our auditors at this time. My only difference of opinion here is that I hate to use your first name, Eddie, but Eddie would be the designated commission auditor. That is not to show any lack of confidence in Ms. Clements at all. She is fantastic and professional. I just think that the breadth of his experience here with the city of Pembroke Pines is my preference. I have to wait to see what my colleagues say.

With that said, I congratulate all of you on great work that you've done. I will emphasize a point that I know Commissioner Good has made in a previous meeting, not today, but in a previous city commission meeting and the mayor just made now. The commission auditor reports to the city commission. And I appreciate that independence. This is not in any way disparaging. Our administration is fantastic and professional. However, the auditors report to the commission. And I appreciate the maintaining of that independence. And thank you for your hard work. I am going to listen to the rest of my colleagues. Thank you.

Commissioner Goode, if

I can just point out, too, the Forbes Mazars is happy with whatever selection you make. Okay.

Commissioner Goode.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I think probably the most important thing that I heard was your dream team, right? So who is on this team? And it's really the team because I have never dealt with your firm other than in a team format. And I've not had the pleasure of having you as the lead be the only one who has had conference with me. It's sort of like the way that we deal with our attorney. We have Mr. Goran, who is our attorney. But probably a large percentage of my conversation is with his team, so to say.

So for me, it's the team concept that's very important. And in the absence of that team, that's when I might start getting some concerns. I have to say, Mr. Mayor, I was very I've expressed my concerns about the auditor in the past. I think bringing on the additional resources was very helpful and giving me a comfort in terms of capabilities and capacity.

And so I've seen some things that I'm very, very comfortable with so far. And I made it very, very clear. I'm watching for that performance. I'm watching for the results. I'm watching for the unbiased reports of what you find provided to us.

And I'd like to see that continue. So I know that it's very important, though, that you have new people and you have historical value as well. You have Mr. Casciano, who's historical representation now that you are he is the historical representation of you now leaving. And then you have everybody else that's brand new and things like that.

So I personally would like to see that the team stays strong. To me, it's very important. And if any of that team changes, then that's when I think well, that's when I will probably, again, do a hard evaluation and then make that consideration for a rebid of the services. But right now, I think the bid is fine. I just think, though, that who you provide to us is continuing to be competent and capable and qualified and responsive. And that's what I look for. Thank you. Commissioner Rodriguez.

Thank you so much for the work that you've all put into the audits that you bring forth. I've had the pleasure of being in contact with you and your team. And it's always just a phone call away, especially when we're making really big decisions. Your audits do help in that decision making process. I do not support going out to bid for this.

I think this is a really good firm. And when we did evaluate the confirmation when you changed into that bigger firm. One of the things that brought us a lot of insight is that in a bigger firm, you have more resources. We were able to get those audits back in time, even though there was a lot of time ticking and a lot of pressure for you all to get it done. I don't believe it's in the best interest of the city to go out to bid for that at the moment.

I think in response to what Commissioner Good mentioned, if there is a change up in the team where someone who hasn't been working with the city for an extended period of time is to leave, then we can evaluate at that moment or when the contract when this current contract is over. But I think preemptively doing that doesn't bode well with me because we have a lot of things that we do need to get in through the audit in this upcoming year. And I think through these couple of months, you've been able to have some of that information be processed over to this firm. And to have to do that all over again would take some time. And I think keeping it as is would be my preference.

I would like to support Vice Mayor Hernandez's point about Eddie. However, I don't understand maybe the reason why you made that recommendation, whether it's seniority levels, policies at the firm. So if you could give a little bit more insight, then we can consider that as well.

Yeah. Reason I was recommending and again, recommending Christie was her this is what she does 20 fourseven is internal audits. This is her whole thing. Eddie and I, we did financial and compliance audits. And we did some internal audits.

So I just felt like with her vast experience, it would make sense. Now with that said, there is an advantage of Eddie being the fact that he's local. So he's actually boots on the ground, so to speak, which means that he's a few minutes away from city hall. And if something came up, he could address the situation or come to a meeting or whatever. And I get that. I think both of them are competent and capable. I love them both. I think they both are hard workers. But I do leave that decision to you. But that was my thinking, just so Thank you

you.

Mayor, with respect to the procurement, It's kind of ironic that Barbara Hall was in the room tonight because we just approved something for the town of Southwest Ranches. I was not even sworn in yet as a commissioner-elect, 01/31/2012. And I get a call from Mr. O'Keefe saying, you have a big decision to make in a week. And that was the selection of additional legal counsel.

I also remember sitting out in the audience in the early part of 2010 just as a citizen when the commission was debating whether or not there should be a charter officer to oversee and be independent of the administration. I'm personally vested in the commission auditor position because it actually defined one of the reasons why I ran. Certainly, I can't speak for any one of my colleagues. I don't know who they call. I don't know how many phone numbers they have.

Whether it's Christie, Dan, Eddie, Jamie, I call them and they pick up the phone. It doesn't go to voicemail. If I send a text after hours past seven at night, I'm getting a phone call. That's what the team concept is. And if we didn't learn anything, how many times have we asked Mr. O'Keefe, hey, do you want to do it via Zoom? It was before Zoom. It was the other company, whatever the heck that was called. He's like, no, no, no. I'll come down because you live in Orlando.

So to say that we can't work with somebody who is three hours away by car is just I just can't buy that. And I know Christy is available. I know Jamie is available. Eddie and I, we served on that procurement for a little bit of time. So I actually got to see the man actually working side by side.

So like Commissioner Did says, I'm perfectly sound with this whole team concept. But I'm also performance driven, performance metrics driven. And the people I just mentioned know that if I am dissatisfied or have some concerns, they will hear from me. And they're laughing because they know they've gotten these phone calls. So what I like about this team is there's absolutely no filter and absolutely zero, zero, zero politics.

That is critical when I evaluate an auditor. And they have shown me that they do their job. And I'm happy to support Christie. That would be my motion, mayor. So there's been a motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

A motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? Any further discussion? Any from the public? Seeing none. All those in favor, aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Thank you very much for your time. All my best to you in retirement. Stay in touch. And thank you again for everything you've done.

If I could come forward.

Yes, absolutely. Okay. Thank you so very much, all of you, and happy holidays. Okay, today's consent agenda consists of items number one through 34. What is your pleasure?

S. Mayor, I'd like to pull 34. Hold on. 34.

34, all of them? Or oh, yeah, it's just one. Okay. Good. Any others? 10. 10. Any others? Seeing none, I need a motion any from the public? Seeing none, I need a motion for items one through 34 except for ten and thirty four. Motion to approve. Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second?

Second.

Second by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion? Any from the public? Seeing none, all those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Commissioner Schwartz, you are recognized for item 10. Okay.

And I'll be going to the city attorney after we get the second on the motion. Motion to approve the charter school twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six school improvement plans for Pembroke Pines Elementary, FSU Elementary, Middle, and Academic Village charter schools, and the twenty twenty five-twenty 26 proactive discipline guides for the elementary, middle, and FSU Elementary charter schools, the twenty five-twenty six parentstudent handbooks for the elementary, middle, FSU elementary, and academic village charter schools, including the discipline matrix and the Broward County School District codes of conduct for the academic village and the Pembroke Pines charter school wellness policy for twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six.

Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez.

Thank you, mayor. So we have and I'll have the city attorney advise that we can clean it up. I want to thank the advisory boards for doing what they do. I want to thank our principals and staff for supporting them and supporting us. There's been some changes in Broward County's disciplinary policy.

And I asked Mr. Bonilla to include the code of conduct for twenty five-twenty six that was referenced by the documents that the parents had already approved on the advisory board so that we can have a comparison, making sure that everything is included. One of those on page 18, section five, it's important for students to know their rights and responsibilities, which include obeying teachers and all other school employees, obeying each rule as defined by the school and the code of conduct. Section five, page 25B4, the use of insulting, profane, or offensive language won't be tolerated. Section eight, interventions.

Most disciplinary issues should be addressed at the classroom level by teachers. Page 130, section two, profanity at the high school level has four levels of discipline that may include suspension on the very first occurrence. And finally, the promise program, which is referenced in our documents that our parents advisory board approved. But the county stopped the program in 2023. So I asked the city attorney, since we own the product, if we can go ahead and pull it out of those documents.

City attorney, please codify. I asked you that question prior to tonight's meeting. And your response was, since it's us, we can do that. And we have to do that by motion.

May I respond, Mr. Mayor? Yes. The answer is still yes. Yes. If I may quickly just elaborate just for a moment, Mr. Mayor? Yes. These are the city's charter schools. You have charters with the school district and in the FSU case with the FSU in Tallahassee.

You own the programs. It is your legal domain, as it were. And if there is a modification of whatever sort being now described in the agenda item, the commission has the inimicable right to make a decision based upon that which you have in the way of authority to make that decision on the dais this evening. If there's an error or a need for revision or clarity, you have the ultimate right and obligation, as it were, to make that change, which can be done this evening without having to send it back for further review. So,

Mayor Mac

In fact, as the governing board of the Pembroke Pines Charter School, it's the reason that this is in front of us. We get to approve these recommendations. Different school systems have different rules. So in the Broward County School System, they have direction to teachers that when they have a particular type of incident, they are to report it. There are some things that are within their purview and certain things that they are precluded from being involved in.

They need to bring those to the attention of the proper authorities within the school. However, this is the recommendation that we have from our principals. Is that correct? Is there someone from the charter schools that's here to

speak about our disciplinary part Mr. Bonilla? And, mayor, at the appropriate time, my motion would be to strike any reference to the Promise Program in our documents that have already been approved

by the advisory boards. So the promise program talk a little bit about the promise program and what it does.

Well, good evening, mayor, commissioners. Thank you for having me. Assistant city manager, assistant superintendent Jonathan Bonilla. I'll probably be asking Mr. Baier to come in. He's the expert in regards to that. But just a point of clarification. I know that our student parent handbook for Academic Village references the program. But in the reference, it says that the city of Pembroke Pines Charter High School students are not eligible for the Promise program. This program has been sunsetted as of late twenty twenty three. So therefore, we do not participate in that. But we will definitely be moving forward with striking that entire sentence from future documents as we move forward. Can you explain a little bit of Sulu?

PETER Yeah. It's something we Peter Barrett, principal of Pembroke Pines Charter High School. The Promise program was initiated by Broward County Schools. It wasn't something we ever used or was eligible for. They decided after several years of trying it, it wasn't a good thing, it's now defunct. But in our handbook, we always made the point that it wasn't something we were doing. It wasn't because we don't mind any confusion for parents who might have a student at a county school and also some in our charter school. So we just wanted to make that bright line. But they're not doing it anymore, so there's no reason for it to be in there.

So for the sake of clarity, please, or if someone from police wants to do it, describe what the Promise program is.

It was like an alternate to a suspension program that they would send kids to. And it just didn't work out in a way they intended it. We didn't believe it would work out that way to begin with, so we were happy not to participate. I think at the time we even had conversations with Pembroke Pines PD, and they agreed with us that this was not a program that they wanted to support as well. Because rather than solve a problem, they felt it was going to create more of a problem. And apparently, looks like it did. So they don't do it anymore.

Why in particular did the language remain in

I think it was just an oversight. But it wasn't a huge oversight because no matter what, if anybody came back to it and said, why don't we bring this back, it was clearly still in our handbook saying we're not doing it.

So there's no objection to the motion?

No, that's fine.

Commissioner Schwartz? That's my motion to go ahead and strike any reference to the promise program as based on testimony and city attorney.

Okay. Is there a second to the motion? Second. It's seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion on the amendment?

Any from the public? All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously.

Mr. Mayor, for the record, the word striking, although accurate, would be better said to be removed and deleted from the document.

Yes. Even better. I think that's what I said.

I think that was the intent of the motion. Thank you, Mayor. All right. So now we have a motion before us as amended. Is there any further discussion on that?

Mr. Mayor, I'd just like to make a comment. I probably should have made it just a minute ago. But in reference to the Promise program, I just want to make it clear that it's sort of a matter of opinion, whether it was successful or not. I personally have good knowledge of people who have utilized that program.

The parents had an alternative for their children. They get in a little trouble. Instead of them having a record for the rest of their life or doing something stupid, they were given an alternative to keep their record clean and allow them to be aware of what that behavior and the consequences were. And the parents I can't begin to tell you, the ones that I know that had actually had their children participate in that program couldn't be more thankful for protecting the future of their children. And so the Promise program was terminated for a particular reason.

And I don't think it was necessarily because it didn't work. I think it was for other reasons. And I just don't want the prominence program to be remembered as something that didn't work because it did work.

And yet civil citations still exist. Chief, is that correct? Youth civil citations still exist? They do. So there other alternatives for issues that might cross that line short of an actual arrest. But the motion's been made.

May I add something to it? I was just looking at something. Although that sunsetted, the parts that were working the counseling and additional services for the students did remain. So the good parts of the program remained. Parts of it were taken away.

Okay. So you had a motion as amended. Was there a motion on that?

There was a motion there.

Who made the motion? Commissioner Schwartz.

I moved in. Believe Commissioner Rodriguez

Commissioner Rodriguez is seconded. Any further discussion on the motion as amended? Any from the public? Seeing none. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Thank you very much. Item number 34.

34. Commissioner Good. And before we proceed, commissioner, if you will allow me just very, very briefly, we passed item 19 as part of regular agenda. This is a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement between the city of Pembroke Pines and the Broward Teachers Union. Pembroke Pines Charter Schools has the distinction now with that passage of having the third highest starting teacher salary in the state of Florida.

And that is a distinction that we should be very, very proud of because it's something we've worked very, very hard to do. I wish we could do even better, but the money isn't there. But we have kept true to our word that the second we could, we would reward our teachers well. And it gives me great, great pride to know that we're the third best. And hopefully, we'll be the first best someday. So thank you very much. Commissioner, I'm sorry to interrupt you. Item 34.

I think that was well said, you what just did, Mr. Mayor. Item 34 is motion to rescind the award to V Engineering Corp as approved at the 08/26/2025 meeting, and to award a contract to Acousta Tractors Incorporated to provide the construction of traffic calming measures at Pines Village in the amount not to exceed $478,006.66 utilizing pricing established by the city of Cutler Bay in the ITB number 2310 pursuant to section 35.18 dash c dash five of the city code of ordinances.

Is there a second to the item? Seconded by commissioner Schwartz. Commissioner Good, you are

recognized. Thank you, mister mayor. So, you know, this was a really difficult, decision for me to pull this item because it certainly seems to provide a benefit. But I think that a lot of things have happened. I'm going to ask my colleagues in a minute to support a motion that I'm going to make.

Mister mayor, if if we can have staff just kind of give us a quick history on how these locations in Pines Village were determined in regards to receiving the roundabouts. Certainly. Mr. Dodge?

Carl is here. There had been community meetings. And part of these were prior to the strategic plan. And some of them are included. The one modification here, of course, is the one that we're holding off on because Broward County Utilities has not completed their work. But Carl, if you could explain that, please.

Mr. Kennedy. You'll need to put the mic on, sir. Yes.

Good evening. Carl Kennedy, city engineer. Yes, Mike had in the planning department, along with the engineering, had studied the area and determined where we could possibly put roundabouts in traffic circles and road diets. We looked at a variety of different locations. And the ones that made the most sense on the roads that appear to have the most cut through traffic, those were the areas we picked. We had come up with those, I think, about four years ago.

Mike Stammis, the city manager. Commissioner Good, you may remember this. Did a survey back in that community many years ago.

Can you please make specific reference to the year? Yes, I am familiar, but DELL: my colleagues need to.

I want

to say the first survey was back in 2014, if I remember correctly. We had a bunch of community meetings back then. When we looked at the locations for the road diets and the roundabouts, we looked at a couple of things. We looked at the location of the existing driveways. We looked where we had the spacing between driveways where we could have enough room to have the road diet so that their vehicles wouldn't travel into someone's yard and driveway. The locations of the circles were some of the wider intersections that we had where we didn't have some of those driveways that expanded on their own over time over the last thirty years. So with the locations that were picked, they were strategic with both traffic and also in terms of what the existing infrastructure looked like.

So thank you. So essentially then, the community was connected with 2014. And then there were locations that were determined then. And today, we are in 2026. And so for me, I just have two issues.

And I'm not opposed to things here. I just want to be a little bit cautious about some things that I'm very familiar with. I mean, are aware I am very understanding of what the needs are in that community when it comes to traffic. I can tell you that they just recently had a meeting. And when the reference of doing a roundabout at a location, You would think everybody would jump up and down with glee, and that didn't happen.

There was some Okay, but some people are still a little bit really concerned about the entire community because we're talking about a roundabout in a single location in that community. And to my colleagues, we just recently added additional dollars to the strategic plan for traffic. And those additional dollars were specifically geared towards a traffic study for traffic calming within the communities, not on the main drags. But this is the exact kind of community that was being referenced at the meeting of where those additional dollars would be allocated to. So here it is.

We have something that occurred twelve years ago in terms of making a determination of locations. And then we got complicated with the fact that the south half of that community is currently under a Broward County construction. And that's part of what's being explained in this item. So originally, there were two roundabouts. Now it's reduced down to one because the other one is still in the area of construction by Broward County.

We have additional dollars that were established for a traffic study. And I'd like to have an opportunity to have a little bit more dialogue with staff and talk about how we can kind of merge these two because the one thing that strikes me really is the dollar value that was initially for the two roundabouts was $750,000 approximately. Of course, we couldn't get closure to that contract. So now we went out and got another contractor. And so they could only do the one, because I understand you can't do the second one while they're in construction.

But certainly sounds like a potential opportunity to work with the county to get a change order that before they repave all those roads while they're doing all that construction that you actually do the install while they're doing the construction, not wait until they're done, repave the road, and then us go and rip it back up in order to do an install. And then there's the other issue about the traffic study. And the traffic study, I honestly believe, is going to identify other locations because they're going use tools, right? They're going to use traffic counters. They're going to use other type of methodologies to identify flow of traffic, volume of traffic, speed of traffic.

And I don't know that right now is something that we should just go ahead and say, yeah, let's just hurry up and get that done. I know that I need something in that community, but it's $478,000 It almost eats up the entire amount of the $750,000 And then the question is, is money going to be available later on when the county completes their project? We haven't designated any additional dollars. These are dollars that are, I guess, currently being held. They've been held over, I'm assuming.

And there's not even enough for a second one in accordance with this price. So to my colleagues, I'd like to ask that we at least defer until I get an opportunity to speak with staff to see if there's a way that we can align the study that was done way in the past, align the study that's coming forward, because we can still do a traffic study on that half of that community that has been completed and identify what the traffic results are, what the study results are. And so maybe they might say, you'll get a better bang out of the buck by not putting a circle there, but putting a couple of these other traffic calming devices in the community at these other locations. So I mean, we're making a decision on something from 2014 that I think now we've got an opportunity to do something more current.

Mayor, if I may add.

Yeah.

You all know, we also did the transportation master plan. And these were evaluated as part of the transportation master plan and as part of that proposal also. The community had identified roads that they felt back in 2014. We had a 60% response rate during that survey. And we had to delay because we started the water sewer projects in there, which pushed us back. And then it's completely understood that dynamics change over time. But we reiterated it again when we did the transportation master plan.

What year was that?

That was 2021. 01/20

I think.

But that traffic plan did not go into the neighborhoods, though.

Well, master plan did look at remember, it was a broad view of the entire city and provided a scope. I think they used the word kit of parts in just terms of

realize that we were talking about a more in-depth Oh, absolutely. In the community, which is quite different than the master plan that

you saw. Think that what you're saying, which makes sense, is a little bit different than what I hear Commissioner Goode saying. I know that there will be a motion to defer it. At least it sounds like a motion to defer is coming. And I intend to support it.

I'm sort of hoping that this does come in for a landing because this community has been, as you know, Commissioner, complaining about speeding and traffic forever. And frankly, this day is we had something of an extended lost weekend for a number of years when it came to capital projects. And now there's a renewed effort to move forward with the basic infrastructure needs that have long been deferred. And this community is certainly one that has needed it. And I think that if what we need is a deferral in order to nail this down and get it right, I think that's fine.

I'm sort of disappointed that the opportunity didn't come up. I'm not pointing fingers or anything like that. I'm just sort of disappointed that the item came to the agenda before it was right with the district commissioner. And I'm thinking that in the future, should work a little harder to make sure that that's not the case. But that having been said, if you want to make a motion to defer, I'm certain that we can do that. When did you want to bring this back? At our next meeting, at our February meeting?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to at least have the opportunity to present this to the community because I do know that in January they will have another community meeting. And I think it's a great opportunity for staff to make that presentation to them, not just with the roundabout, but also about the study and give an opportunity for some input there.

Okay. Are you asking for what?

First week of

First First week February?

I'm just asking for a deferral for right now. Before

you make the motion, I don't want to call off debate if you go if time's certain.

GREGORY Okay. Okay. GREGORY

So I recall the roundabout in the community being discussed just before COVID In between the 2014 and the 2021, there was the Streetscape two point zero. And we were going to do landscaping. I know there was at least one of them. I thought it was on sixty eighth. I may be wrong.

And then we got whacked with COVID. And then city manager Dodge had to dip into reserves in order to have a road and bridge fund in order to balance the budget because of all the gas tax that went away because no one was driving during the pandemic. So we a tidal wave of capital road improvement that came to a grinding halt. A major project in District 2 has been swallowed up by those events. And so the roundabout was always first, and then District 2 was going to get that second project.

So when I say I've had my eye on this ball, it's because I've wanted the Pines Village to get the relief that they wanted, that they need. And the moment that this gets resolved, then I know that District two has a project that's in line based upon, mayor, when we were out at the Chapel Trail trailer years ago when Denton made the presentation. So this goes way, way, way back. So I've been anxiously waiting for the slow grind of construction to finally the flowers to come out of the ground. Now, I agree with Commissioner Goode.

It would be fiscally irresponsible for us to dig up a county project to install. But this is what happens when there's an opportunity for a district county commissioner to work with the cities that they represent so we can coordinate these things. Finally, Mr. Dodge, my colleagues should have had advance notice that this thing was coming before it even was printed or even put into the agenda box to be distributed. We've got to get better of big things like this knowing that we've been talking about it for a decade, not to blindside an elected official with an agenda and then have respond to it when residents are calling going, what's up with this?

I need to get more information. It's unfair. It's unfair to Commissioner Good. It would be unfair to any one of us if the shoe was on the other foot. So can we get better in 'twenty six and have a little bit better communication, get the district commissioner involved? Because trust me, they know what's happening within their district. I'll be happy to defer how much time you need, Commissioner Good. I'm happy to support you, knowing that get it done, because I got something coming in, too. As soon as you're done, I've got something right behind it. Thank you.

Okay. Does anyone else want to speak before commissioner makes his motion?

Hearing none. Commissioner Good. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I just want to make it clear. I'm thankful that we're trying to get projects into these communities. So please don't misunderstand the point that I'm trying to make here. I just want to try to tie in a few of these ends that might be able to make some synergies out of what the end goal is. And so, Mr. Mayor, I'd like to defer this.

And I don't want to necessarily give it a date specific only because I'd like for the community to hear it. And then I'd like to have an opportunity to speak with staff. And I'd like to know and it's going to be contingent, too, upon what have they've done with the acquisition of the vendor who's going to do the study. I don't know what that scope of work is yet, too. And I think that's very important. So I think the feedback from the community, us having a little bit more conversation with staff, and understanding what that scope of work is going to be with the study for the traffic common. So I'd just like to defer the item until those three items are at least touched on.

Is there a second to the motion? Second by the vice mayor. Any discussion on the motion is made. I have

a question for When you is the county supposed to finish up their work?

Approximately two years complete.

Two years. Okay. So would that give us enough time to go through this work? Because I agree on the point that we don't want them to repave everything and then us go in and break it apart and fix it up again. And so then would we have enough time? Obviously, let's get this in a speedy process, but I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to go in while they're working on it. Does that make sense?

Yeah. We had approached the county when they started the project, and they refused to let us piggyback on their contract to have the contractor do stuff for us. We're looking at sidewalks and the roundabouts. But we'll approach the county again.

And I think, too, that Commissioner Schwartz made a very good point about participating in this. And I don't mind having that conversation with the county commissioner to talk with the county staff, if that's helpful.

I'm sure she will be more than helpful when you contact her. Okay. Anything further on the motion?

Mr. Mayor? Yes, sir. Just a question for Commissioner Good to make sure the record is clear and reflects his intention. The main motion, which has now been offered up as a substitute by yourself and seconded, is to defer the matter for a time certain to the future based upon certain facts that you've asked to be considered by

the GREGORY As I understand the motion, the item is unchanged. He's simply deferring it.

GREGORY

Okay. So any GREGORY legal action regarding the motion to rescind is essentially stayed by the motion to defer.

Robert That's Scholl's inquiry, mayor, is there a difference in deferring versus tabling, meaning that if it in my view, if it's tabled, that means that we can bring it back. We control that bringing it back. And I think it would give Commissioner Good actually a little bit more control over the item to place it back on the agenda as is versus having to go through

whatever the steps would necessarily be in a deferral standpoint. I think placing an item on the table simply moves on without taking any action. That is not the motion that Commissioner Good has made. The motion Commissioner Good has made is to defer the item. He is not comfortable yet with a time frame. He has laid out certain assignments that he wishes to carry out before the item comes back. And it is for us to cast our vote trusting in the commissioner Sure. That he will complete those assignments and bring it back at the point that he

feels it's ready. I don't want talk in third person. Commissioner did. Would you mind providing us an update as the chain of events meet your satisfaction?

I think for the city manager to do.

I I think that because I'm gonna be working with staff, I think that's Correct. An appropriate thing for staff to continue.

Okay. Anything further on the motion to to defer?

And mayor, just if I can. Yes. With those substantive issues that commissioner Good has offered up on the record this evening, any and all action that was considered by the main motion is essentially legally stayed. And the deferral prevails as a substitute motion.

So may I ask the city manager, would you mind updating the commission at least once a month during your report to let us know where things are at with respect to where things are going? At least once a month, at your discretion, you pick the meeting. But just so that we're advised. Okay.

Thank you. Anything else? Motion's been made and seconded. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Thank you very much. That concludes the consent agenda. Item 35, second reading.

Thank you, mayor.

There are no addendums, correct, Mr. Clerk? There are no addendum items?

There was one addendum item, but it's another resolution.

I'm sorry?

It's resolution. Where is it?

It's now in the revised agenda.

It's in the revised agenda, so it's

in order.

So we haven't gotten to it yet? No. Okay, but it's in there. Okay, thank you very much. Second reading, city attorney, please.

Thank you, mayor. Number 35 on the record, if you will, is a motion to adopt proposed ordinance number 22,516 on second and final reading. Proposed ordinance number 22,516 is an ordinance of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, which amends chapter 35 of the city's code of ordinances entitled procurement, procedures, public funds providing for a comprehensive revisions to the city's procurement procedures as detailed in exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, specifically amending procurement threshold requiring commission approval, providing for codification, providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. This is a public hearing, mayor and commissioner, on the revised proposed ordinance number twenty twenty five sixteen on the floor for consideration. Thank you, mayor and commission.

Thank you very much. On second reading, a motion, please.

Motion made.

Motion is made by commissioner Rodriguez. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by the vice mayor. Any discussion on the item?

Mayor, I'd like to weigh in.

Yes, go right ahead.

I'll be brief. Speaking with residents, they watch back first reading. The threshold they believe is too high. And the splitting of bids have not been properly answered. I can't support this on second reading.

GREGORY D. Okay. I just want to say for the record that I too have spoken to residents and they have told me, thank you very much. It's long overdue about time that the city comes into a new century of doing business. And they're very, very excited that we're going to be cutting the red tape at this city hall and moving projects faster to get them the things that they need without any loss of integrity or internal control. And they're very excited about it. And so am I. Any further discussion on the item? Mr. Clerk, will you call the roll, please? Second reading.

Commissioner Rodriguez? Yes. Vice mayor Hernandez? Yes. Commissioner Schwartz? No. Commissioner Good?

Yes. Mayor Castillo?

Yes. And by your vote, this is a law. I'll be signing it, next week. Thank you very much.

Thank for

the recognition. I wanna commend the staff for your hard work and the city attorney and mister Dodge, mister Gomes, and your fine award winning staff, thank you all very, very, very much.

Mayor and commission, the permit number is 205 for

the public record. Okay. 36. We can scratch that one off. Number 36.

Check the box. 36, mayor and commissions a motion to adopt proposed ordinance number twenty twenty five-seventeen on second and final reading, which is an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, pertaining to the subject of zoning and land development, amending chapter 155 of the City of Pembroke Pines Code of Ordinances to update provisions, delete provisions that have expired, have become obsolete, have had their effect, and have served their purpose, or have been impliedly repealed or superseded, replacing incorrect cross references and citations, correcting grammatical, typographical, and like errors, removing inconsistencies, redundancies, and unnecessary repetition in this chapter, and improving the clarity of the chapter and facilitating their correct interpretations, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for codification, and finally, for an effective date. Item number 36, ordinance proposed twenty twenty five-seventeen on the floor for consideration for you, mayor and commission. Thank you, mayor.

I will move it. Moved by the vice mayor. Is there a second? Second. Second by commissioner Rodriguez. Any discussion? Any from the public? The clerk will call the roll.

Vice mayor Hernandez? Yes. Commissioner Rodriguez? Yes. Commissioner Schwartz? Yes. Commissioner Good? Yes. Mayor Castillo?

Yes. And by your vote, this is the law, and I will be signing it next week.

For the record, mayor and commission, permanent number for the public record is 2056. Mister clerk, 2056.

Thank you very much. Resolutions. Thank you,

mayor and commission. Number 37 is a resolution proposed. Motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty five R-thirty four, which is a proposed resolution of the city commission of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, proving the memorandum of agreement that's referred to as an MOA between the city and the state of Florida Department of Transportation that references the FDOT for the widening of Pembroke Road project authorizing the city manager to execute the agreement providing for conflicts, providing for severability, providing for an effective date. Item 37 on the floor, which is the proposed resolution twenty twenty five R34. Thank you, Mayor Commission.

Is a motion?

I'll make the motion.

Moved by Commissioner Rodriguez. Is there a second?

I'll second it.

Seconded by the vice mayor. Any discussion on this item? Yes. Yes. Well, I'm gonna get to you in a second.

Yes, mister mayor. I I do. I just, you know, I I know that the community is here to talk about this and I'd like to just ask the city attorney to just reiterate the concern about the ownership of the land that we have, which is the park.

Yes. May I respond, Mr. Mayor? Please. In recent meetings, Commissioner Good has asserted his concern for the quality of title of the land held and owned by city of Pembroke Pines, whatever its interest has been. And the commissioner and I have had some conversations in the recent past about that. And allow me just to elaborate for a few moments of time to clarify what that means. In the overnight Monday memo, the commissioner rightfully asked the question whether or not the city derived its title and has what is referred to as a fee simple deed. The answer is the city does not have a fee simple deed and was not conveyed this property by a fee simple deed. And for that purpose, the quality of ownership that was obtained by the city came through the dedication by Platt.

What does that mean to you all sitting on the dais? Under Florida law, if a property owner indicates by a Platt dedication the deliverance of an interest in property by the Platt as opposed to by deed, it must be accepted by the local government, which in this case was the city, and under the county charter was accepted by the county commission and approved as a plat, thereby allowing the land in question to be owned and that's just a general term but the right of ownership or the control of ownership via that method. So the consequence of which is that the city has an ownership interest, but it's not defined by a fee simple deed. It's defined by the Platt statute. Chapter 177 is in Florida statutes.

The prior city commissions accepted that back in the day. Whether Levitt Homes might have become a dissolved company does not matter because what mattered was at the time of that dedication, that property was dedicated for recreational uses. And that is a matter of public record. I can speak to the issue of the other association property, but that's not the question.

No, that's not the question The right

commission has this property and this land. He and I agree that the city did not derive its title by a fee simple deed or by a warranty deed that conveyed title.

That's correct. And so the action that we are actually looking to do tonight is to quick clean any rights that we might have to that portion of the land. Is that correct?

Generally, yes. There's a second part of it, which is either vacation or quit clean, whatever appropriate attack to take would be. But they both have the same implication here. You're right.

So basically, because our conversation was a bit more along the lines of, though we don't have the warranty deed, though there might we don't even know if there is, if it even exists, right? And the question is, if you just quit claim or vacate the dedication. And if somebody all a sudden popped up with this fee simple title, our effort would have been voided anyways because somebody actually owned the land. We would just give up the right to being able to use it for recreational facilities, right?

That is correct. Whatever right would

have We just walk away from it. We have no more responsibility

to a lawsuit.

You make no warranties. You make no representations. You make no guarantees. That is correct. So that's

the key thing that I just want to have it clearly understood, is that we are vacating a plat. Or we're quick claiming any rights to anything that we have in that special. And that's what we're doing. And I'm not speaking to any particular who is going to get it, but we're just going to walk away.

Correct. Nor could I allow anyone on the commission to make a representation that's not accurate. And that's why you raised the issue.

Okay. So I just wanted to get that clear. So Mr. Mayor, I'd like to follow-up once the public has an opportunity to speak on this here.

Okay. So I saw one gentleman raise his hand. Mr. Strayley and Mr. Card had already submitted forms. Why don't we call the gentleman first? If you can come down. And there's a button there, if you could press it, that says speak. And your name and address for the record, please.

Okay. My name is Kevin Foster. My address is 1010 Southwest 88th Way, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025.

Welcome.

Thank you. Thank you for having me. My question is this. I understand that with the widening of Pembroke Road, obviously, the road is going to be closer to the residents' houses. There's going to be more traffic, which is why you're putting up a sound wall.

I would ask that the other side of our community, which is right on Douglas, have a sound wall as well because that road is, if not as loud as Pembroke Road, but maybe even louder. We have basically the little wall that's here, the sidewalk, and a little piece of grass in Douglas Road. The other part of the equation of why I'm asking for a sound wall, if that's possible, is because, as you know, Memorial is expanding their facility right down the street, which is going to increase more traffic, more ambulances and emergency vehicles, which will ultimately increase the noise. I live right on Douglas Road, so and I've been there for ten years and it's, you know, we hear everybody speeding by. We hear all the emergency vehicles and that's only gonna get worse.

So I feel like if there's an opportunity to put the sound walls on the Pembroke Road side because of the widening, we should facilitate a study for the Douglas side as well to see if we can also have a sound wall over there as well.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Does anyone else wish to speak from the public? Is FDOT present? Thank you very much. Maybe you want to speak to this gentleman about what your wall plans are. Did you want to speak? All right. There's a button there that says speak.

Good evening. Claudia Vinits DiCalo, FDOT PM for the Pembroke Road project in regards to putting a noise wall on Douglas Road. There is a noise study that goes along with the noise wall. And we are doing that on Pembroke Road because those are the extent of the limits of our project. Beyond the extent of the limits of our project, it will be a separate project for a separate analysis that we would not be able to accommodate under this Pembroke Road project.

And I'll also note that the noise wall criteria study that gets done, this is through federal funding. So there's a lot that goes along with it. It's not just a simple perimeter wall, as there is on the South Side of Pembroke Road. So there's for a noise wall there's specific criteria.

That's the Okay.

You. Does anyone else wish to speak? Commissioner Good.

All right. So guess, Steven, are you guys going to have a comp are you guys going to speak on this item?

All right. So Steve Card, Honeywoods, 1120 Southwest 87th Avenue, Pembroke Pines, Florida 33025. Really don't have much given the topic of this tonight, now that it's just on the city park side. We really don't have much to say. I'll let the attorney kind of mimic that.

The sound wall is obviously something we're still working through. And I know that he was discussing some photographs and some terms that we're trying to get to. I want to thank Commissioner Good for coming out to the property and meeting with us and getting the police department to come out and do a and I don't remember the acronym, but a security basically evaluation and make the recommendations of where they think that wall should be placed. I think that's been resolved. I know we're going to have to have some communication going forward, and the attorney is working on that with DOT.

They just recently had a meeting. Beyond that, as long as we can keep those lines of communication open and collaboration and there's consideration given to the association, I think we're in a better place. It sounds like we're in a better place. And I appreciate the commission's giving us the time to get through the land ownership stuff and all that. Thank you.

That was our pleasure. Mr. Straley, did you have anything to add? No, sir. Thank you very much.

If I may before you leave. So what you are all in discussion with right now is essentially the project, how it fits your community, how it doesn't take away from the quality of life, the people that live along that roadway and things. And in your negotiations, I know it's all about the land and the land that's necessary. And I understand that there's potential that you might that you're even willing to give land in order to get the project to be in conformance with what your community has expressed is necessary to make it an acceptable project for them forever and ever and ever, right? So it's very important for this question so you are willing to give property at no cost or at a cost.

I'll let the attorney speak to that.

I don't believe we're at that point where we're negotiating the overall situation. So I'm not sure we're prepared to really discuss that tonight. That's obviously different than what is being brought before you at the moment. And we're in active negotiations with DOT, including a meeting we had this week.

So I Okay. So I'm getting to is there's a sense of fairness that's happening now, right? That's how it started. And then it got kind of off the rails. And now it seems that we're a little bit back there. And my interest is to keep that fairness alive.

Absolutely.

So recognizing that this land is still kind of uncertain. And I asked the attorney what is it that we're giving up a right to. And now the next question I'm going to ask the attorney, Mr. Mayor, if I may, is do we have to vacate or quit claim to DOT? Can we not vacate and quit claim to the HOA that piece of property?

That for me, Mr. Mayor? I believe so. Okay.

The answer is yes, you could, theoretically. If the commission if you vacate the roadway, if I may, Mr. Mayor, just quickly, you essentially take public action to release that property from any interest the city may have by the dedication. And then by vacation, it vests in abutting property owners, as the case may be. If you were to quitclaim the city's interest and simply convey it to the association, that's certainly legally possible to simply say whatever we have, whatever interest the city has, you have it and you can deal with it. That's also an option. It is a small parcel. It may be long, but it's not a huge piece of land. But it is a piece of land. It value.

I can't yet, sitting here, ascribe a value to it. But the city would have to consider, I would think, by the vacation or by the conveyancing by quitclaim deed that there is a sense of value that's being provided to the HOA by providing it, if that's what the commission chose to do. But it could legally be done. Okay. So in

the item, the letter we received from DOT, they're basically asking us to get into an MOU or MOA with them. And of course, if we don't do it, then they're going to litigate us in order to get us to vacate. But if we already vacate and it's no longer ours, then we are no longer a threat to a litigation. Is that correct?

That would be correct. If the city divested its ownership, whatever legal interest it had to the HOA, it would no longer have an interest. That's correct. So

I guess where I'm going to my colleagues is another element to assist the HOA to get the help they need to get closure for this project to be next to their community is to give them that land. And for them, once they get everything resolved, is then they can give that land to DOT at no cost. It would be giving land, giving you the rights to that piece of property. And then you guys would have to fight through anything that would have to be necessary. But once you get a resolution, you then can convey that land over to the DOT at no cost.

And so my interest would be to ask my colleagues for support to give the quick claim that piece of property to the HOA as opposed to DOT and let them just take that whole DOT project on.

Commissioner, we weren't aware the city had the ability and would consider divesting to us. And if that is the case, we would certainly appreciate that. And we would then have the land that I think originally came to Levitt Builders. And then we would work with DOT and make a fair arrangement with them at that time. So if the city were willing to divest, then certainly our association would accept the land.

And once you get everything resolved, it would be at a no cost conveyance to the DOT. Correct.

It would be part of the package that we negotiate with them as far as the entire whether there's a donation, whether there's an entire package that we're negotiating with them at this time.

No, I understand that. But this piece would have to be at

a no cost conveyance. If that's what you vote and tell us, then that's what it would be, yeah. Okay.

All right. I don't know. Is So there any other conversation on this here?

Yeah. I have to tell you that I don't feel prepared to discuss this. This is a monumental change in what the item was as printed. And this is precisely the kind of change and thing that I was looking from the start of my mayoralty to avoid at city commission meetings. I'm totally unprepared to have this conversation.

This is a total departure from what the item was supposed to be. This is the Pembroke Road widening project. We have a fiduciary duty to every resident in the city to do that. We have gone to great lengths to assist this HOA because they have been frustrated about a parcel of land that the developer left without an owner. And we gave them time to go and perfect their title.

And they went and they perfected their title. In no time did we talk about taking a land that we own and converting it to them. And we have no right to tell them that once it's theirs that they can't sell it. If they choose to sell it, despite whatever they say here, they have every right to do that. I can't be part of that.

So what I'm prepared to do is I'm prepared to approve this item. They have already thanked us for that. They weren't looking for this concession and allow FDOT to take their land, allow them to negotiate whatever it is that they're going to do with their land. But I am very uncomfortable out of the blue entertaining a motion of that nature.

So I understand that then. And of course, you recognize that as you work through problems, you come upon new facts, new information. And so the information that I'm sharing with you all tonight wasn't available at the time. So I'm sharing that now. And we're talking about, yes, traffic within the city. But we're also talking about the impacts to the communities. And there are many other incidences where we, as a commission, have turned down projects because of the negative impact to the communities.

Yes, sir. We've never once given away property that they could or couldn't sell for a profit. That's just not something I'm prepared DELL: to do without any notice. And frankly, I believe it's a bridge too far. If For Well, my vote. Mean, it's up to you

I understand.

I don't know

that I

can go there.

And I'm just trying to respond back to you that if we're unprepared to have this conversation, if we're not certain of the decision that we're making, then maybe we can put it off until the attorney can give us the advisement, can we convey the land in such a way that they do not benefit financially from it when it gets conveyed back over to DOT. And ask any of the other questions that would help us be prepared for this.

DOT? Yes.

I just want to reiterate that the right of way MOA that we're seeking approval today is to represent the city of Pembroke Pines. We are not committing to where the noise well will be placed. We're still in the process of negotiating with them. We do need right of way in order to widen the road. And the right of way all the way to the proposed back of sidewalk, wherever HOA is an owner of, there will be some negotiation. I

want to emphasize that the memorandum

Can just of tell the record who

you are?

I'm sorry. You.

I'm a

little tall.

Sorry. Thank you very much.

I would like to there? He

needs her name.

Oh, Stephanie Gonzales. Sorry. I'm with right of way. I'm here on behalf of Christina Brown. My apologies. I didn't hear you. I want to emphasize that the MOA allows us to purchase property well, land for the project on behalf of the city. And without the Yamamoy, we cannot do so. We can't go through the acquisition process. We can't make offers.

We can't go through combination. So if we delay this any longer, it's possibly going to delay our schedule as well as maybe even the project, like Christina mentioned before, not occurring. So that is one of the repercussions that I would hesitate in not moving forward and consider take into consideration.

And if I may, Mr. Mayor, I just want to I don't disagree with the fact that your office and your department has an urgency to get this done. But I do know that in the work plan, you have two years for acquisition. So you have still a lot of time available in regards to the acquisition of what you're making reference to.

Right. So our production is August 2027. So that's under two years right now to meet our production schedule. So we just need to have this signed to be able to represent you and continue with the right of way process. Because at one point, we have to stall, we cannot go ahead and proceed with everything. That's Stephanie.

So based off of production scheduling, we need to certify by January, right? January Yeah, it's before August. January 2027. Before?

I'm sorry. August 2027 is production, 100% cash.

So we need about right now, the schedule is pretty tight. And we need about a year. That is an expedited schedule, a short schedule, in order to do all the proceedings, whether that is we settle through the acquisition process or we go into combination. So we do need time. And in order to get an OT date, order of taking date, that takes some time with the court system. So keep that in mind that we do have a schedule and we have dates that we have to meet in order to meet that schedule.

And so what we do with our rights to this property, if we vest it over to the HOA, it doesn't change any of your schedule because you're still having to negotiate with the property. I don't quite understand what you made reference, though, if I may I'm sorry about the MOA. Why do we need to sign an MOA for you to acquire private property?

The MOA outlines what the city and the department agree upon. So without that, we can't move forward in acquiring property on your behalf. It's something that we need to have in place before we start making offers.

I was just going to say that we haven't received an appraisal or any idea of what they consider the value to be at this point. But you're saying that

We should be making offers by February. But if we delay this, we will have to delay offers.

If we delay what?

The MOA, the signing of the MOA.

Yeah.

And if the intent is and I'm not even sure how that would be enforced that it would be a no cost sale. I don't know what we achieved by undoing the plan. And if there's no money to be made on their end, I don't know what advantage is achieved. They have a piece of property that they own that is essential to their project that has nothing to do with this item. And yet, we showed them, through your leadership, commissioner and I commend you for it that we were going to give them an opportunity.

Even though their property was unrelated to this item, we gave them an opportunity to perfect their title of it, which they didn't have. Well, they have it now. This has nothing to do with that business. Nothing. This has to do with our right of way to proceed with a project that two cities require in order to alleviate traffic.

And our approving this item doesn't put them in any worse position than they were in before. So I really think that we're in my view, and I say this with great respect, we're overthinking this. I think that what we should just do is approve the resolution and support the HOA and FDOT figuring out a way to dispense with the HOA's property, which isn't in our purview and shouldn't be in our purview. That is quintessentially a private matter. City attorney, do you see it that way?

Way, Mr. Mayor and Commission, the way that the item is set before the commission, it's an MOA with the city and the department and provides for delivery of whatever ownership interest the city may have in this particular property to facilitate their that is the department's process of designing and building the extension or modification to Pembroke Road. It is legally different than the HOA's issue, although they have relationships that have obviously been discussed this evening. There's absolutely a relationship, but they're not legally connected to the motion before the commission.

And so Mr. Mayor, if I may, I hear. And under normal conditions, I would be right in line with where you're going. The concern for me is that I have been with this project since its beginning, since you've engaged the city to deal with the public and the community. And I agree that it started off exceptionally well, very pleasing, that I didn't have to engage a whole lot because a lot of natural things were happening.

And then because of this whole issue about the land and the fact that I know that you're in the land acquisition group, but it seems like it's a very common thing for developers to leave, close the LLC, not convey over all the documentation, which is why they were able to get closure to it pretty quickly, because it's not uncommon. But for DOT to sit there and say, well, guess what? Because you don't own the land, we're done. We ain't talking no more. We're going to go pack it up, we're just going to take that land in it.

And that's what is the fundamental principle here, which is why I'm asking the city to support the community. Because they're the little fish. They're David with Goliath's

shoe They're on their the landowner. No. But go ahead and make your motion.

But they're still going. Mr. Mayor, I'm trying to make something, a point very clear. My intention for this land is to ensure that they at least have something in their pocket that allows them to continue to hold a bit more of their advantage so that they don't get lost again.

I think that that's a bridge too far ethically for So me to you can make your motion.

Before you make a motion, I'd like to weigh in.

You go right ahead.

I appreciate what you're doing. I really do. I mean, there are some things as electeds that keep us up trying to find the solution. And it's maybe from one commission meeting to the next, maybe some dialogue. You took me back to 2013 to 2015, two and onetwo years.

Two and onetwo years. The longest development delay in our city's history was on University Drive next to the hospital. You weren't sitting here at the time. And I worked with the HOA. And I worked with the developer.

Oh, they were some really long nights. There were lot of daggers thrown at me. But you know what came out of that discussion? There hasn't been one rental community built in the Western side of the city as a result of that action. Because I dug in and I fought for the HOA, we now have boutique homeownership in West Pembroke Pines.

And that was eleven years ago. When I see FDOT, they're very nervous right now. They're very nervous Because what government usually does is government conveys property to government so that they can have a uniform plan to do bids. Because otherwise, if there's a little piece not fixed, they can't move forward. Had I made a motion eleven years ago to convey a right of way around Walnut Creek to Walnut Creek, Ventura Point never would have been built.

They that would have hammer, that leverage, because they didn't want the project at all. And I think this is the reason why I'm having some great difficulty, great difficulty, because I want to support you, because you're doing the right thing. I'm looking at the bigger picture of what type of precedent it would set for this dais if we were to start conveying public land to HOAs. I think that is a step that is too far. Meanwhile, let me divulge what my thinking was since August.

I had asked the HOA and their counsel a series of questions. And there were commitments. And those commitments were fulfilled. And I want to thank you for that. You went to work right away. You went to work right away. But I wasn't feeling comfortable until I knew that I saw the court stamps and everything like that. That was done. Because I informed the city administration and the city attorney that I was going to place an item on the agenda at the first meeting of November to bring it back if there was no action on your side. But you held up your end of the bargain, so I didn't have to pull that lever.

Because I believe in what you're trying to get done for your community and our community. Let's be honest. We're all neighbors anyway. There were members in your community supporting me eleven years ago on University Drive. You were there.

I see this possible leverage as precedent that I can't move on it knowing that we're at the end of the line. Had this been considered ninety days ago, I think it would have given everyone an opportunity to at least take a look at it. But we made a motion back in September for December 18. That's when the meeting was supposed to be. That was the meeting it was going to happen.

We're just a week early, six days early. So DOT is here six days earlier than they expected. So they have a six day start. Commissioner Good, I am with you. But I just can't be with you on this particular item.

And I think it deserves more discussion on a separate agenda of what we're going to do with public land and how we're going to convey things to HOAs if that will be a policy of the city of Pembroke Pines going forward. If I may, Mr. Card, because we're going to wrap this up. This is some good I appreciate what he's doing here. I do.

What I would ask the association to do is put your best foot forward and give your best and final. I'm asking DOT to do the same. Here's the thing. Whatever number they're asking for, they could probably ask for more. They could probably ask for less. But the state of Florida has plenty of money. Give them what they need. Give them what they need. Because if we wait any longer and who knows what's going to happen in November and homestead the property of the governor, mayor, I'm going to go off the sideline a second. But the governor made a public statement earlier this week, and I shared it with the city manager.

I think it was a national morning show. What he wants to propose is no taxes on any homesteaded property in the And state of that would mean 70% of the city of Pembroke Pines wouldn't pay tax. That is something that Floridians will have an opportunity ten months from now to decide what they want to do with that. But right now, the state of Florida has funds. I would say this negotiate in good faith and put a deadline on when those negotiations are going to stop.

If you can't come to a deal and I'm speaking to DOT if you can't come to a resolution, then let them know where you're at with it. But we have to convey this property tonight. It's servicing 1,500,000 people between Miramar Pines and Miami Dade County. We have Pembroke Road that's going to be opening up. We have university that's being widened.

We have Flamingo being widened. This is a major artery for all of us. It's going to be two years before the ribbon cutting. So I think there's an opportunity to continue the good work. I don't recall, mayor, us ever letting the community down when it comes to sound walls. And I'm not giving up our leverage, FDOT. But we've put up some walls in this community. Yes, we have. And we've done it out of our own pocket. Some even question, why would you put it there?

But we've done it. We've paid for SROs when other government didn't want to do it. We've built walls when other governments didn't want to do it. And who knows? Maybe we're going be doing cardiac assessments and giving people that opportunity too at some future point. But the city of Pembroke Pines, we lead. But we also put people together. So it's been a good ninety days, maybe one hundred and twenty at this point. Can we come to a conclusion by the middle of next month? I would really like to see that.

Thank you. Does any other commissioner wish to be heard on this item? We'll go back to Commissioner Good.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So I hear the input. And I want to first say to my colleagues, thank you for allowing the time for some of this to get resolved. I saw an opportunity to ensure that there was consistency going forward with how this is going.

I understand that maybe right now I'm probably pushing a little bit more than what my colleagues are willing to agree to. But I want to make this clear to DOT. I mean, it can't walk away like it was before. You really need to come. I know everybody's not going to get everything they want.

And I know that it's going to come to a final conclusion. But I want to make it clear that if this strays again, I'll be back And I will be asking my colleagues at that time to take something else into consideration. Because we really want this to be successful for everybody. So I'm not going to make any motion today, Mr. Mayor.

I just think it was very important for me to see if we could have done something else. But I'm not necessarily backing off the issue about conveying the land. It's that MOA issue that I am a little bit focused on because I do understand a bit of that process. And so I don't want you to have to delay any information to be provided to the HOA to get that closure. So Mr.

Mayor, I want to thank you all for hearing me out. I thank you for your inputs. And I thank you all for being here trying to get this to a resolution. So thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much. We're back to the motion as presented. Does anyone else have anything to say on the motion, on the resolution? Hearing none, any from the public? Hearing none, all those in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. Good luck to you both. I think you heard the message loud and clear. I want to commend Commissioner Good for his work and all of you for the work that you did. We hope never to have to revisit this.

Mr. Mayor, for the record, the permanent number is 3936 for those who need that for their records.

3009

Thank

30 you very much. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay. Next item. 38, Mayor, if I may?

Mayor and commission thirty eight is a motion to adopt proposed resolution number twenty twenty five R45, which is a resolution of the city commission of the city of Pembroke Pines, Florida, proving the program year 2024 consolidated annual performance evaluation report that's a lot of words for CAPER, C A P E R, for community development block grant programs, providing for recordation, providing for confidence, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date and in public hearings required by state and federal law on item number 38 on the floor, twenty twenty five R45.

The motion is made by the vice mayor. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Commissioner Rodriguez. Do you need a public hearing? Yes, mayor. The public hearing is open. Does anyone wish to be heard on item 38, which is the consolidated annual performance plan known as the CAPER for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Community Development block grant? Does anyone wish to hear it? Be heard. Public hearing is closed. Is there any discussion on the dais? Hearing none, all those in favor, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Show passes unanimously. 39

Thank you, mayor. For the record, that's number 3937 for the record. 39. 37. Next up, mayor,

if you

will, is item number 39. Thank you. 39 has been considered and approved by the commission, which is number 3935. Next up is number 40 with your permission, mayor. May I?