City Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, let's go ahead and call this Pompano Beach City Commission meeting to order on July 14th, 2026, about 1 o'clock. If I could ask everyone to please silence your cell phones or put them on vibrate during the meeting, that'd be great so we don't get disrupted. So please, if you've got a cell phone with you, please just check and make sure it's either on silent or vibrate mode so we don't get disrupted. Thank you very much, appreciate that. Let's go ahead and call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik. Here. Commissioner Perkins. Here. Commissioner Seegerson-Eaton.

Here.

Commissioner Smith.

Here.

Vice Mayor Fournier.

Here.

Mayor Harton.

Here. Thank you. If we can all please rise for the invocation given by Pastor Tim Roberts from the First Presbyterian Church of Pompano Beach, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor?

Let us pray together. Good and gracious God, we thank you for creating a world that reflects your beauty, your goodness, your grace, your love, your power. And we pray that your wisdom and your power be felt and known and exercised among the leaders of this commission and throughout our community to be good stewards of this good and beautiful world. We pray for those who need to see and know your goodness, for the vulnerable, for those who need friends who need help, who need community. May we be such a community that we gather around those with your grace and give you the glory for it all. We pray for this in our Lord's holy name. Amen.

Amen. 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.

Thank you. Can I get a motion approving the City Commission budget workshop minutes of June 23rd, 2026? So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Can I get a motion approving the regular City Commission meeting minutes of June 23rd, 2026? So moved.

Second.

Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries unanimous. Thank you. On our agenda this evening, we will be moving item number 14, which is the BSO contract, being moved to be the first item on our regular agenda. So it will be directly before item number 9. So 14 will be moved and taken right before item 9. Mr. Harrison, any other changes on our agenda?

No, sir.

Very good. Can I get a motion approving the agenda as amended?

So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries unanimous. Thank you. On our consent agenda, the discussion this evening, are there any items wish to be pulled by the commission? Uh, vice mayor.

Yes. Items six and seven, six and seven vice mayor.

The other items, um, the same with her number six, six and seven as well.

Six to six. Okay. Very good, Commissioner. Any other items wish to be pulled by the Commission? Very good. Thank you for that. All right. And that moves us on to our special presentation. Recognition of Pompano Beach High School BITS junior aviation graduates. Barrington Irving Jr., founder and CEO of the Barrington Irving Technical Training School, will acknowledge six Pompano Beach students who completed the BITS spring program. Mr. Irving, are you here? Welcome, sir. Thank you. You can stand over there if you like. That'll be great.

All right, good afternoon, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, leaders. We're truly excited and proud of your student residents with me today. I have four of them. That's been exceptional, not only in the program this past spring, but also they received a paid internship as well. And in addition to that, these individuals received scholarships to get their avionics certification done this fall with the Aircraft Electronics Association. So we're very proud of them, and I'll have them just say something real briefly. But these are your residents. We're proud as it relates to the programs that we've enacted here within Pompano and looking forward to continued progress.

Very good. Please just identify yourself.

Good afternoon. My name is Ray Delgado. I am a resident of Pompano Beach and I attend Blanche Ely High School. The BITS program, it has been a gateway of opportunities for me. I learned about the different skills and the tools used within the program and in the aviation industry to be successful. I eventually Wanna go through the program, get my avionics certification and become an avionics technician to later off become a pilot and then eventually run my own airline.

Very nice. Okay, yes.

Good evening. My name is Carolina Issa. I am a resident of Pompano, and I go to South Broward High School. I enjoy the program, and I have gone through it. I stayed due to the hands-on projects and opportunities that it has led through its teachings of tools, safety, and even the aviation culture that I personally didn't know prior to this program. I wish to go through and get my avionics certificate and then later on go and be able to get my EMT certification and work on airplanes. Thank you so much.

Very great. Thank you. Yes.

Good afternoon. My name's Asia Reeves. I'm a resident of Pompano Beach. I go to Fort Lauderdale High School. When I got the opportunity to take this program, I actually didn't really know much about engineering or aviation itself, even though I do want to become a pilot. So taking this opportunity that was given to me really opened the door to a bunch of knowledge that I never knew before. So I want to use this as a stepping stone. to further my education in not only becoming a pilot, but also becoming an engineer and possibly getting some kind of degree in coding as well. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. Next up.

Good morning. My name is Eric Cornell. I think I'm a resident of Pompano Beach. And for me, this program is like a blessing right now because it's like, My first step in my commercial part of my career, well, it's about mechanics, but it's a step. The blessing is because I can't study right now because I have legal issues, but this is not about the program, right? But I enjoy the program all of the time because it's not only theoretical program, it's like only practice program which you can do great, great, great things in all of that time. Thank you.

Very good, thank you.

So we are, of course, extremely proud of your student residents, which are honestly going to become student leaders in various facets within aviation. This is what it's about. We appreciate this honor and honored to have the students take a quick photo with you all before we go.

Absolutely. But before you go in, Mr. Irving, for those who don't know anything about this, don't know what BITS is, don't know who you are, could you just give us a quick, just a quick synopsis? Sure, sorry. It's okay, because there's people out there watching. Watching TV.

I wanted to give all the attention to the students, but thank you, Mayor. So my name is Captain Barrington Irving. My background, I was introduced to aviation through an airline pilot who was just driving a really nice car. And I just asked the guy, how much money do you make? And then that was it. I said I wanted to go in the industry, but took that mentorship and ended up becoming the youngest person and first black man to fly solo around the world. Thank you. Basically took the success of that and got involved with education and utilizing aviation to impact the lives of young people. So I have a curriculum company called The Flying Classroom. which has been around since 2014. And then I got heavily into skilled trades to help students like this, right? If you're not necessarily part of robotics club or engineering club, how do you actually give young people skilled trades and allow them to pursue these careers? And I decided to start a technical training school to help not only young people but also adults pursue their dream, but do it where they actually have the tools and equipment to learn. They're expensive tools and expensive equipment, but we work in collaboration, of course, here within the city of Pompano to really bring to fruition what these opportunities could look like. So I'm very grateful, and we're looking forward to doing more here.

Very good. Thank you. Yes, thank you so much. And I have to say that the city of Pompano Beach, we are thrilled to be partnering with you in this endeavor to really make a huge difference in our community locally. But, I mean, you've got a proven track record behind you, and thank you so much for selecting Pompano Beach to come to and really make it happen. So thank you so much.

Let's all go down lower and get a picture with all the students. How's that?

I'll catch you guys while I can. I'll catch you guys while I can. I'll take it. I'll take it. Don't walk away.

Don't act like that. Okay, how do you want to line up? Thank you.

All right. That takes us up to audience to be heard. Do we have anyone signed up for audience to be heard, Mr. Alfred?

Yes, Mayor. I have 23 speakers. But of that 23 speakers, there's a total of about four which have listed that they're here to speak on the VSO contract. I'm going to call those speakers so that they know that

The BSO contract is an item on the agenda, so you won't be speaking on that item during audience to be heard. So if you signed up for BSO contract during audience to be heard, you're going to need to wait until the item comes up in the regular agenda. So you won't speak during audience to be heard. Go ahead.

Okay, so that's Kevin Easton, Virginia. Valenzuela, Paul Leiby, and Wanda Denna. Those four individuals will be speaking on.

Right. So those four are not going to speak right now. You'll speak when the item comes up on the regular agenda. Okay. All right. Now let's start our audience to be heard.

Okay. First speaker, Delvin King. Followed by. Followed by Isaiah Martinez, followed by Louis Lam.

I don't know about you, Mr. Alford, but I couldn't hear any of that. If I could ask everyone in the audience here, please, refrain from any kind of clapping or booing or shouting or any of that kind of stuff. I know we did it for the bit stuff, but during audience to be heard, if we can try and get through it, that'd be great. Thank you. Mr. King.

Delvin King, 2601 Northwest 12th Street. Okay, Mr. Mayor, I have a couple of questions for you. Are you familiar with the PAC, Voters for Better Government? Not familiar?

Mr. King, any questions you've got, you can send them to me.

Okay, so let me ask you another question. Are you familiar with the $50,000 check that was donated to that pack? Can you tell me who was a part of the pack? I think you, Ms. Darlene Smith, Rhonda Eaton. Mr. King. Are you guys a part of the pack? You got any questions? Are you guys a part? That's the question. Are you guys a part of the pack? Mr. King, any questions you got, you can send them to me. Okay, so I guess you don't want to talk about that. Let's go on to the next item. Today I want to talk about racism in this community. Mr. Mayor, do you feel it is right that a contractor or vendor with the city should call commissioners white women? Is that okay with you? Mr. King, any questions you've got for me? I just asked you a question. Are you okay with that? Do you stand with that vendor? Mr. King, any questions you've got of me? Okay. Do you stand with the vendor when a vendor says white people tears have acid in it? Do you stand with that? Mr. King, any questions you've got of me? So we have a vendor here in Pompano Beach that get paid $150,000. She's in the audience, Sarah Peterson. So she works with Lotus Mindset. She sat behind a table for the new, she sits with the new downtown project with your assistant city manager. sits with her represents this city but she still goes and goes back and forth calling our vice mayor uh and our um other district one official white women why do we have to address them as white women white people business is this are we about race now are we going to divide the community are you going to continue to allow this vendor to do this That commission, there needs to be a discussion. Somebody needs to pull this. Somebody needs to discuss this. And we need to discuss this today before we discuss BSO. Because this is an issue that we have in this city. It's dividing the black community. It's dividing this commission. It's making mess in this city. And until we clean up this, this BSO stuff ain't got nothing to do with it. So we need to clean up this mess in our own community. Because this is dividing. I feel like, and she lives in my district, that it's real racist. And I have, in District 5, we have whites, we have blacks, we have some of everything. And if that's the case, we might as well go and say this is a nonpartisan race. So are you going to address it or not?

Mr. King, if you've got any questions. Yeah, you scared of her. You scared of her. That's the problem. You can send them to me and I'll look at them.

What she got on you? What she got on you?

Mr. King. Or is the RMA? Thank you. Next speaker. Mayor.

I'd like to make a motion to terminate Lotus Mindset. Second. Second.

It's been moved and seconded to terminate Lotus Mindset.

Or to ask the city manager to.

I guess that means to terminate the contract. Contract, yes. Lotus Management. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Mr. Berman, is that appropriate at this point?

Sure.

Okay, discussion on the motion? Seeing none, let's go ahead and call the roll.

Commissioner, I'm sorry, Commissioner Fezzik.

Yes.

Commissioner Perkins?

Yes.

Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton?

No.

Commissioner Smith?

No.

Vice Mayor Fournier?

Yes.

Bill Harden? No. Next speaker.

Isaiah Martinez, South Florida Technical College athlete. Ms. Fournier, Ms. Perkins, Ms. Fezzik, hello, how are you doing? The first thing I'd love to speak on is, there's two groups of people. We have our Sericas and Jocelyns who like to speak, but no action behind it. And we have our Mr. Delvin-Keens. who love to put action behind everything they say. I'm a firm believer of the Lord, and in the Bible it says, words with no action have no meaning. Everything Mr. King has said he will do, he puts action behind it, and he shows it in the community of Papineau. The second thing I'd like to speak on is last meeting I attended, I spoke on the football field, which we now play on in practice. And for whoever was behind us on that and backed us, thank you. And for those who weren't, try again next year. The last thing I'd like to speak on, I have something in my journal that I write. when I feel discouraged and things that are on my mind that I think people should do better on. I put, I wonder why people are so cruel and ignorant. I wonder how people can walk past the needy and spit on them. I wonder why for we all are brothers and sisters. I now know that I have the gift of being wise and the talents of being an athlete. those being my greatest blessings from God. I pray over those reading this or hearing this that you become sympathetic for those in need or suffering mentally, for these are your brothers and sister. Lay your hand over them and lend them guidance, for the devil has no home in the Lord's children. Amen. Thank you. Very good. Next speaker.

Commissioner Fessick.

Sir, just a quick, I want to add something really quickly to you. Martinez.

Was it? Martinez.

Martinez. You said that those were your greatest gifts. I think your greatest gift is probably the big heart that thought to write something that kind in your journal. So I want you to take that and take that home with you.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Very good. Next speaker.

Next speaker is Louis Lam, followed by... Keith and Jack Hart, followed by Kashawn Vesely.

Good afternoon. I'll be brief. Lewis Lamb. I am the head coach of South Florida Technical College. I'm just here to basically just say thank you for your support of us in getting the practice field. Last year, it was a little rough for us. We really had no place to take our kids to practice football, even though we had about eight games or so. won five of those eight. This year we got 12, so we got more games with the opportunity to take our guys to different spots in the United States. Our first game is in Alabama. Second game we have a few games here locally and from that point we got one in Georgia and The rest are in scattered throughout, Florida But we are we just wanted to give you a big thank you for those who supported us and getting the practice field and That basically is not more than likely the only thing that we'll ask for, because we need facilities. We're a small school that is looking to add more sports. We're bringing in kids from all over the country, including Texas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, so on and so forth, and all throughout the state of Florida. And we need places for these young men to practice that are safe, as we give them opportunity to further their education at Broward College. I'd like to thank y'all again, and yes, we will be asking for more facilities in the near future. Thank you very much. Y'all have a great day.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Hey, guys. How you guys doing today?

Name an address.

Keith and Sean Jagusar, the same address as Coach King. Yeah, I just wanted to thank you guys again for the practice field that we practice on. It means a lot to us, you know. It's a small group of guys. We compete against other schools. We always look to get better. Mr. King puts in a lot to us. Like just yesterday, he sat in maybe 12 of us in the room. I brought our college. They're trying to get us all registered for classes and stuff, and we're in July. And he's always planning ahead and looking out for our best interests. And I'm sure that he'll ask you guys for more things coming into the future. And everything that, like, he asks you for, he really, like, he maximizes it for us. And he looks to give us the most out of everything that he asks for. Like, he sat down, he gave me my whole class schedule. I didn't even know how to register for my classes yesterday because I had just transferred. And he took care of all of that for me. And, like, he's really a great guy. And I appreciate everything. I'm sure my teammates appreciate everything that he does for us, him and Coach Lamb. And we have other coaches as well. We live ways in the public gym and fitness and pompano. We have limited resources, but they really, they pour in their all to it. They give us 110% every day. We give the same thing back with the limited resources we have. And we're grateful for everything that you guys give to us. And when I ask you guys for more things, we really maximize it and we really appreciate it as well.

Very good. Thank you, sir. Next speaker.

Sean Vasselli, followed by Giancarlos Najara.

Just name and address for the record.

Kaishon Vesey, 229 Northwest CT. Hello, everyone. First off, I want to say thank you for having me and listening to me. Never have claimed to be a public speaker. First of all, I want to say that. prepared my tire a little bit better. Basically, what I wanted to get into is specifics about people. As I look around, I see one thing we all have in common. It's that we're people. Whether it's the good or the bad, we're all people. And as far as Delvin King, Mr. King, some of y'all that go by, I've gotten to know him personally, on a personal level. A lot of people, they come from bad upbringings. And I can't say I had the best, but I can't say I had the worst. And no matter what it was, he's always put his effort first. Whether that be transportation, education, the younger kids with his youth under construction, the older young adults as me A lot of the people back there you can see, young adults trying to make a way in life. This came through for us a lot. And obviously it's with a lot of y'all's help. I don't know specifics. I would try to mention y'all name by name, but I would hate to butcher y'all's name. I just want to say thank you, really, genuinely, from the bottom of my heart and many hearts back there. So thank you for having me and listening.

Thank you. Great job with speaking. Ladies and gentlemen, please. Next speaker.

Giancarlos Najara, followed by D'Angelo Thomas, followed by Fred Hill Jr. Hello, my name is Giancarlos Najara.

I reside in 229 Northwest 12th Court. Pompano Beach. I'm a student athlete at South Florida Technical. I'm sorry, it's not easy to speak. So I want to start off by saying thank you for letting us use the field. It's very much appreciated and we're using it to its full potential. I could reassure you that. I also want to speak about myself a little bit. It's really hard to speak about my life, but coming out of high school, I didn't have anywhere to go. Mr. King gave me an opportunity uh, give me education and to have a brighter future for myself. And he does great things for the community. I was even speaking out against things that, uh, shouldn't be done in the community. And I feel like we need more people like that and a place where we, the people were signing, you know, uh, I'm sorry. It's very hard to speak. Uh, um, But I really appreciate Mr. King and the coaching for giving me this opportunity. And I will get an education. And I want to become a police officer or a detective so I can help people out. I want to protect the people because I was once a... I'm sorry. But that's all I have to say.

Very good. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

I hope you guys are having a good day. My name is D'Angelo Thomas. I attend South Florida Technical College, and I also reside in 229 Northwest Court Street. I want to start this off by thanking everybody that was involved with the process of us obtaining the field. It is a huge blessing. And like my brother said, that we all use it to the best of its potential and try to maximize what we do out there.

I even play basketball, and I still find it very useful.

To be specific, I want to thank Ms. Perkins, Fessick, and Fournier especially for helping us secure that. My statement is a little bit more personal. I'm going to try to make it a little bit more brief, but everybody goes through their own things in the past. And somebody that's helped me with that is Mr. King himself. If I'm being honest with you, I didn't see myself even going to school within the last year. And he gave me a spot. He gives me hope to make me feel like I can actually do something, if that makes sense. I didn't see myself doing none of this because my whole high school year, all my coaches, Even the people that you like, you think you could depend on. They ain't been there. But I think Mr. King, personally, what he got going on, he should be somebody that represents the face of Pompano more than anybody else. He got a lot of actions behind the words that he gives us. He puts hope. He also has the faith to back it up as well. I didn't mean to get emotional here, but thank you guys for your time. And I appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you.

Good afternoon, y'all. Hope y'all have a wonderful day so far, as I am as well. My name is Fred Hill, Jr., and I reside in 229 Northwest 12th Court. I attend South Florida College, you know, like everybody else does. I came here today to talk about the city of Pompano and how I thank everybody. Most of the people I thank, though, is Commissioner Audrey Fezzik, Commissioner Bresley Perkins, and Vice Mayor Allison Fournette. Sorry to butcher y'all's names, you know. Like I said, like everybody else said, we're not much of public speakers. We just want to show our support to the community and everything like that and how much we can replace you, everybody. On that note, I want to thank everybody that supported us for letting us use the field. You don't know how much we appreciate it. On behalf of my team, we all appreciate it, and we're all grateful for everybody that did that. Because without that, we can't showcase our true talents and everything we have that's going on. And as Coach Lamb said, us using that field for other games can showcase and show the community and how us as Pompano, it helps us also and gives us a name by going to other, how we go to other cities, whether you're Alabama or Georgia. This shows that we are representing the city of Pompano, and I promise you we'll represent it really well under South Florida Technical College. And... Also show my appreciation for letting us use McNair Park for a football field. Without that, we wouldn't know where to play games at. And I promise you we'll take good care of the field and everything like that. I also like to give my most thanks to Mr. King. Like Carlos said, and Ariel said, we wouldn't know where we'd be at without him. Without him, we could be somewhere like, you know, working, barely anything, but this gave us an opportunity that we all needed. And that opportunity helps us build onto it and helps it became a lifestyle and helps us build and make actual life and living. Because if that, we wouldn't have anything. And I know he has other communities like under the Youth of Construction. He is very well doing that. And he has very well take care of us and everything that he does for us. And also, he has also a lot of support to the community. So the reason I say that is because on Thursday, we're having a walk for Stop the Gun Violence. I would hope all y'all come help us join behind Mr. King and help us so we can stop gun violence and everything like that on Thursday. On a side note, I'm pretty sure he's running for District 5 commissioner. I think he'll show very good being a very good commissioner to all the people in Atlanta. That's me saying on behalf of all football players that I believe he will show a good representation of Pompano District 5. And I thank you all for listening, and I appreciate everyone. I'm grateful for everyone that helped us in this journey. And I hope you'll help us even more to keep going and striving for what we accomplished. Thank you for your time.

Very good. Thank you. Next.

Next speaker, Mr. Alfred. Tyrone Nelson, followed by Saracuff Peterson.

How y'all doing? I'm Tyrone Nelson. I resign at 229 Northwest 12th Court. I want to say I appreciate everybody that helped us get the field. It's getting put to real good use. I promise y'all that. And I want to say I'm a little nervous, though. But Mr. King, though, he a real good person. I knew him for going on a year now, you know. Like, everybody in need that, like, needed help were just anything. Like, he tries his best to just be there for, I mean, like, everybody. Kids from SFTC, YUC, anybody just... Like, he helped anybody in need. I see it firsthand. Like, you know, he a real good dude, though. Like, honestly, I love playing for the team. This is my second year playing. You know, he's just a great guy, you know. Great role model, great leader. And he really stick to his word and really say what he going to do. If he say he going to do something, he firm. He stick to that. He a man of his word, you know. I applaud that because he real honest. He don't sugarcoat it. Yeah, you know. Just a man of his word. I plan for that. You're a good dude. And that's all I really got to say, though, man. Devlin King, District 5 Commissioner.

Sarah Peterson. Over the last several months, it has become abundantly clear to me that there has been a concerted effort to narrow the space where I can speak freely, to limit what I can say, what questions I can ask, what conversations I believe our community deserves to have. I have never believed the truth should be negotiated or that accountability should come with conditions. I was raised in this community. I have family buried in this community. I have celebrated victories in this community. My love for this community isn't political, it's personal. That is why lotus mindset officially terminated its contract with the city effective june 30th not because we stopped believing in the people not because the work wasn't worth doing not because we lack gratitude for the opportunity to serve we made that decision because there comes a time when protecting your integrity matters more than protecting your position i choose integrity not Let me be clear. If anyone believes this is my farewell, they've been misunderstood completely. This is not an ending. It's an introduction. The headline is not that Sarah Peterson is going away. The headline is that the handcuffs are off. No more wondering what I can say. No more measuring words out of obligation. No more shrinking difficult conversations to make powerful people comfortable. The residents deserve honesty. They deserve context. They deserve to understand how decisions are made, who benefits, who bears the burden, and what truly is at stake for Exit 36. That means I will talk about development. I will talk about opportunity. I will talk about money. I will talk about candidates. I will talk about elected officials. And I will talk about the policies that affect us. And I will do it with facts, with courage, and with the love for this community. So yes, I am excited. Not because conflict excites me, but because truth liberates us. The architects of this republic understood one thing. A nation cannot call itself free if its people must whisper. So they've carved into this foundation of this country a promise that the voice of the people would never have to bow to the comfort of the powerful. That promise was not reserved for the rich, the connected, or politically convenient. It belongs to everyday people. It belongs to those willing to stand flat-footed to the truth, and when it's uncomfortable. And as a black woman born on Southern soil, raised up on the prayers of my elders, the sacrifice of my ancestors, and the unshakable belief that freedom is never given, it is exercised. And I know. exactly what comes next. My ancestors were denied the microphone but never lost their voice. They whispered through cotton fields. They sang through sorrow. They marched through hatred. And they paved their way through pain that generations like me wouldn't have to ask for permission to speak. So hear me clearly. I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced.

All right. Thank you.

Mayor? Yes. We reached the ten speakers. There's still a little bit of time. I didn't know whether.

We'll hear the rest of them at the end of the meeting. Very good. All right. That takes us up to our consent agenda. Can I get a motion approving items one through five and eight?

So moved. Second.

Moved and second. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Aye. Motion carries unanimous. That takes us up to item number six is a resolution.

A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute a reinstatement and first amendment to extend the service contract between the City of Pompano Beach and Designing Local Limited to produce a public art master plan, providing an effective date. So moved.

Second.

This item was pulled by Vice Mayor Fournier and Commissioner Perkins. Vice Mayor?

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. We don't often see reinstatements. What exactly happened here? And it's the same vendor. Is it just taking longer to produce this?

Yes, Ty Tabian, Cultural Affairs Director. There is no increase in cost. I would have chosen the word extension. We need about six more months to finish the project. We need some additional community engagement. And we're finishing the first draft of the new plan now. And I want to meet with each one of the commissioners individually and get your input. So we still have some work to do. It's about 70% complete at this point. And in the coming weeks, I'll be reaching out to your offices to schedule time to go into depth on the details of the plan.

Okay, so when I look at the $80,000 cost and the 12-month timeline, it's just taken longer, but you're going to be on track in the next couple months to finish? Correct. If we extend this. Okay, thank you.

Very good. Minister Perkins?

Thank you. I had some concerns about the reinstatement and the $80,000 cost. However, I like the idea that you're going to meet with all of us individually. So at that particular time, I could ask more questions as to this master plan for public arts. Thank you.

All right. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public at this time? Seeing none, public input closed. Further commission discussion? Commissioner Fessick.

Just want to make sure, just for clarity, you're staying within the original $80,000 scope. There won't be any additional...

Yes, correct.

Perfect. Thank you very much.

For the commission discussion. Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik. Yes. Commissioner Perkins. Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier. Yes. Mayor Hardin.

Yes.

Item 7 is a resolution.

Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, approving the City's 2026-2027 CDBG and Home Annual Action Plan and authorizing commissioners The proper city official sex youth local government certifications, specific CDBG certifications, optional certifications, CDBG specific home certifications, and appendix to certifications providing an effective date. So moved. Second.

Moved and seconded for discussion. This item was pulled by Vice Mayor. Vice Mayor.

Thank you. So in this year's plan, there is a paving project, about $400,000 for public improvement. Is that something new this year?

Alex Goldstein, Office of Housing and Improvement. Yes, Vice Mayor, that is something new, but it's something that we plan to continue to do in the future fiscal years. As you stated, we haven't typically done these paving projects, but we were working with Public Works. We were given the upcoming schedule for the next fiscal year for the paving projects. We took a look at those areas, and we saw that a lot of them fell within very high concentrated census tracts and block groups. So we took the areas that were listed on the upcoming schedule, and we were able to assist in those projects with some program income that we had.

Okay, and you may not know the answer to this, but I did see on my way here the paving trucks in Garden Isles. So obviously we've got the funding and we've started doing paving for this fiscal year. I'd like to get an update on the paving plan. And the schedule for it based on all these various sources of funding that we are finding both from the county and from this money. Are there other public improvement projects that now that we've realized we can do this, that we're starting to brainstorm or think about how we could use some of this funding for?

We're happy to brainstorm. This is the first project that we were brought to us and we took a look at it. It was eligible, so we decided to move forward with that, but we're happy to brainstorm.

Excellent. Thank you. Obviously, paving has been top of mind for many of us, and whenever we can find sources of funding for this, we are very appreciative for that effort and the creativity that maybe goes into finding the funds. So thank you.

All right. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Please come forward. Just name an address for the record.

Mayor, commissioners, city staff, my name is Ed Phillips. I currently reside at 384 Northwest 19th Street, Palmetto Beach. You know, I think it's very admirable that we're trying to be creative in terms of paving our roads. But I do have some concerns of removing CGB block grant fund monies that is normally targeted for housing, especially in the wake of the cost of housing now. I have a little reservation about that, and that's just my opinion. But I don't want to take away from the importance of paving. And so I've given my opinion about my reservation and the hesitancy I have because of the possible effect of helping with affordable housing.

Thank you. Very good. Further input from the public?

Hi, I'm Wayne Okun. I am a Palm Air resident. And all people should be heard at the beginning of a meeting when they register to do so. I am asking the city to stop spending our tax dollars fighting Palm Air. That includes any effort to move the existing dash line.

Sir, I'm sorry. Our tax dollars. Mr. Okun. Mr. Okun. Mr. Okun. Mr. Okun. Mr. Okun. Mr. Okun, we are dealing with item number seven. It has to do with CDBG funds. Mr. Okun, Mr. Okun, I declare you out of order.

Please leave the podium. Mr. Okun, I'm going to ask you a second time. Please leave the podium.

Mr. Okun, I'm going to ask you a third time. Please leave the podium. I will get. DSO, please escort Mr. Oken away from the podium.

Yes, please. Also I ask.

Thank you. Further input from the public on item number seven.

Vicente Thoreau, Pompano Beach. Mayor, how much of this money can we use to expand the marijuana business in Pompano Beach? I'm saying, do we have a place? I want to expand marijuana education and set up some shops. So where we at?

Well, you could talk to Mr. Goldstein in the OHUI department about that.

Okay, now, man, I ain't playing. We want some money for marijuana now. You understand? Okay, thank you so much. Good.

Further input from the public? Seeing none, public input closed. Further commission discussion. Vice Mayor.

Thank you. I just want to address what Mr. Phillips said and ask one more question. I am cognizant that this money goes to nonprofits and other organizations that benefit our community, but there is kind of a trickle effect, and some of these are very big organizations like Broward Partnership, for example, that have a big... And many various sources of funding. So if we can actually find ways to have a direct benefit right here in Pompano Beach with the money instead of, you know, in lieu of supporting some of these organizations that are big countywide entities, I think that's a good use of funding. And with respect to this money, it's called program income. Is there something different about it?

Yeah, so this is money not from our entitlement allocation. This is money that we, through the program, has come back into the program that we're able to spend. So we are not actually taking away any CDBG money from any of the other typical programs that we have, such as rehab or anything like that.

Yeah, thank you. That's what I thought. This is not taking money away from the grants that we are giving this year. It's just another source. Thank you.

Further commission discussion? Seeing none, let's go ahead and call the roll. Oh, I'm sorry, Commissioner Perkins?

Real quick, the CDBG funds, can you give me approximately how much of those funds are given locally, directly to some of the organizations in Pompano?

Well, we have a 15% cap on public service activities, and all of the clients that these organizations assist are Pompano Beach residents, 100% of them. They must be in order to get reimbursed.

Okay. You know, the reason I bring this up is because we have so many different nonprofit organizations that need funding. And the more funding we can give some of these local organizations, especially in the Northwest, that would help out a lot with the crime. We have organizations like, I don't know the name of an organization, but Connie McGirt, a teacher at Blanchile. She has a great program, summer program for girls. and she has been applying for this for years and years and years, so we always have to go out and find her funding somewhere else to help girls. I just think we need to focus a lot more on local, where it directly impact the residents that are needed.

I would ask that you directly get her in contact with me. I don't recall that particular organization applying, and I did not see an application for them. But if they want to reach out to me, I could help them through the process. We did have about five new people that participated in our public hearing that hadn't received funding in prior years. Unfortunately, none of them ended up submitting a completed application. I've worked with some of them to get them ready with the documents that they would need, required documents to submit for next funding cycle. So if she would like to come and contact me, I would let her know exactly what she would need in order to submit an application and qualify.

I will do that. I don't think she's applied in the last two years. I think she's been so frustrated with it. So I don't even really put it out in my community like I used to, you know, community development block grants opening up because so many are turned away and so many are frustrated, and it's just painful that we can't help all of these nonprofits because it's so needed. I will definitely have her contact you. Thank you.

All right. Further commission discussion? Seeing none, let's go ahead and call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik? Yes. Commissioner Perkins? Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier? Yes. Mayor Harton?

Yes. That takes us up to our regular agenda. Item number 14 is the first reading of an ordinance.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute an agreement for police services between the City of Pompano Beach and the Broward Sheriff's Office, providing for severability, providing an effective date. So moved. Second.

Move to add second for discussion. Good afternoon, Mr. Bosworth. I believe you're going to tee us up.

Yes, sir, Mayor. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Earl Bosworth, Assistant City Manager. This agreement establishes a three-year contract between the city and the Broward Sheriff's Office for the continued provision of law enforcement services. The agreement also includes two optional three-year renewals. subject to mutual agreement of the parties, providing the city with long-term service continuity while maintaining opportunities for future review and negotiation. The proposed contract incorporates several key revisions that reflect the city's operational priorities and strengthen the administration of the agreement. Contract includes an annual cost increase of cap of 5% that excludes health insurance premiums, workers comp premiums and pension contributions, providing greater predictability for budgeting and financial planning. A 90 day termination provision has also been included allowing either party to terminate the agreement with appropriate notice. Additionally, the transition language in the agreement has been revised to better define the party's responsibilities in the event of contract expiration or termination and to help ensure an orderly transition of services. should the city go in that direction. The agreement maintains the current authorized staffing levels for law enforcement services and includes amendments to clarify reporting requirements and enhance accountability. Revisions have also been made to the definition of the district captain as well as the process for the selection of the district captain to provide greater controls. What I did here is we put together a brief presentation just to reiterate and confirm the steps that have gotten us to this point. So if you recall, We contracted with the Ref Telus Corporation back July 22nd, 25 through resolution 2025, 194. The contract was effective August 14th, 2025. We conducted numerous community meetings. Well, we did four community meetings, eight focus groups. Individual interviews with commissioners, staff, and key stakeholders. Those meetings included 28 BSO interviews, including 50 BSO staff. And then the final report from Raftelis was completed in February and presented to the commission on February 24th. When you look at the options presented in the RAFTELIS report, there were four basic options. One was to create a standalone police department. And during this process, we went through the costs, and we dug in deep to the staffing levels, the capital investment that would be required, and the time that would be required to transition into a standalone police department. Also in the report, there was a hybrid contract model. The establishment of a city police department with a regional or contract service role over time, which would still require us to create that standalone police department and then move into some of those other service roles. Where we are today is presenting to you a renegotiated police services agreement with the Broward Sheriff's Office. If you go back to the study and look, as we negotiated and as we reviewed the contract, the report highlights four elements in the service delivery objectives for a renegotiated contract. One was to seek to rebalance cost responsibility. Two was to improve long term fiscal predictability. and to strengthen alignment with community priorities, and then to clarify a transition pathway should the city elect to pursue a different service model in the future. We looked at that point. We looked for a three-year. BSO wanted one, and we settled on two. And we'll get into those later in the discussion.

Sorry, I think you misspoke there. You said BSO wanted one?

BSO wanted three. No, BSO with a one-year deal, we wanted three, and then we agreed to a two. Correct.

On the transition?

Yeah, the transition.

Yes, sir. Got you. Thank you.

So that brought us to negotiations. The negotiation team for the city consisted of the city manager, city attorney, the assistant city managers, and consultant Paul O'Connell, who's here today if we have any questions. So we began negotiations, again, focusing on the elements from the Raftela study. When we got to a point where we were comfortable with some of the provisions in the contract, the negotiation team met with the mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, and the BSO team to obtain input and to answer questions. And then we started presenting the terms and conditions which are I put them up here, but they're in your agenda package. And I'll just highlight a few things as we go forward. Again, going back to those elements that were highlighted in the study. If you look at the term, the first term would be October 1, 26 through September 30, 29. Which is a 3 year deal, unless extended as provided below and the renewal options in this green agreement are renewable for 2, 3 year terms upon the city and so agreeing to such renewal. Staffing structure is remains the same as we're currently under. I want to note here under the consideration section. You'll see the amount that was listed in the fiscal impact in the agenda report, which was the 70,087,761. We've had to add a little over a million dollars because of the passage of House Bill 5205E, which takes effect July 1, but that was to fund the FRS increases. That need to be baked into the contract. So when we come back for the second reading, we will look at a fiscal impact of $71,092,312. Under facilities addresses, we just made some technical changes there and added the Collier City substation. And then on the third page of our exhibits, you'll notice in the specific terms we added events. These are events that are covered under the contract. We added the coverage of more events for the MLK Day festivities. And number six in the specific terms there is the Juneteenth event, which BSO will now cover under the contract. We also added stronger language for the real time crime center. The Pompano Beach District shall maintain real time crime center operations on a 24 hour per day, seven day per week, utilizing the available personnel and resources in the department. As we get to exhibit B, which is actually the main portion of the contract, I just want to reiterate some of the things that we really focused on. Again, the term, three-year term, renewable for two three-year terms if agreeable between BSO and the city. We added to the events that I described. The real-time crime center, 24-7 real-time operations while preserving the district chief's authority to allocate and reassign personnel as necessary to meet staffing needs, emergency, and overall public safety priorities. Meetings between the chief and city manager require quarterly meetings. We've increased reporting requirements, which should give us better control. Again, the 5% cap. Chief and Captain selection processes, and that about covers the main things. Mayor, if I may, Mr. Berman, if I've missed anything, can you fill the holes or can you add anything at this point? With the Mayor's permission, of course.

Go ahead, Mr. Berman.

Thank you. Mr. Bytheworth said a lot, so I went over some of the specifics. I'd like to put everything in a little more context for you. First of all, one thing that was missed, BSO will hold community events in each district at least once or twice a year. So you're going to have them out in the community. You're going to in be in the neighborhoods they're going to be part pompano beach even more than they have been and uh... they've certainly willingly agreed to do that in terms of adding some context to this approval or requesting approval this contract no one's being asked at this time to make a decision whether or not you want to stand alone police department or not that option remains open this contract you give up nothing with this contract this contract can be as long as you want This contract can be as short as you want up to within 90 days, of course. And this basically is a contract that gives us three years of stability, of financial stability. Costs are set out. cost are capped you know what you're getting for your money this is as good a contract as we can negotiate for you at this time our consultant who was here in the audience somewhere will i think agree there he is uh... if you were at the microphone i think would be agreeing with me on that if you want to have them come up but the bottom line is This contract goes for three years. Our consultant, Raftel, as referred to by Mr. Bosworth, said it's going to take two to three years for a stand-alone police department to form anyway. This contract allows us to have the benefit of stability during the three years if, for some reason, we decide... you decide as a commission that you want to stand alone police department that is possible through approval of this contract all we need is ninety days notice and the sheriff's office will work with us to make that happen if we don't want them here they don't want to be here they'll wish us the best of luck and do what they can to assist us so that's we're not giving anything up today we are right now we have no transition plan right now we have no funding identified as far as i know for a stand-alone police department and right now the financial uncertainty of the pending constitutional amendment we don't know what we have coming this allows us to transition this allows us to do whatever we need to do if opportunity arises In the meantime, we will have police services. Our citizens will be well served and protected during that time period. That's the goal here. That's what this does. You're not giving anything up. if we do not approve the contract, the commission does not approve the contract, and again, this isn't a threat, I'm just talking reality, September 30th, we would go into the transition period. Transition period is a wind down period. It's a two year period. We were able to negotiate it to extend it. That would give us two years, but we have to have some transition in place at that point. If we say no today, we've gotta have something to fill that hole. And right now, I don't believe, to my knowledge, or I haven't been involved, and if it has been, nothing is there to back it up. If you go into the transition period as well, you lose the economies of scale and all the benefits. Economies of scale meaning we get the benefit of BSO having detectives and BSO having the helicopters and BSO having all of these things that we benefit from, cost gets spread out. We lose that. Once we go into the transition period, all services are itemized, billed, crime scene people come, you get a bill. Detectives have to come on overtime. You get a bill for overtime. The cost will eventually start increasing as we go to the end of that transition period. People will be transitioned out for career opportunities elsewhere in BSO if we're winding down vehicles, equipment, et cetera. So that's the option. The option is the transition period. If we proceed with this contract with the terms that have been outlined, we still have the ability to control our own destiny in terms of what we want to do with law enforcement in the future. If opportunities arise where we can fund and create our own police department, if that's desired. The other option, of course, is to continue for two years. up to two, three-year terms upon agreement with BSO. So I just wanted to point out and give some context to everything Mr. Bosworth threw a lot at you. And basically, this is an opportunity. It's not giving up opportunities. It presents opportunities through approval. And that's my context this time. Thank you, Mayor.

Very good. Mr. Bosworth, back to you.

Mayor, that's all we have right now, so I think at this point I would put it back in your hands. And we have the sheriff here with his command staff, and Major Elwood, and Paul O'Connell, our special consultant.

At this point in time, would the sheriff like to address the contract or just want to respond to questions from commission? How would you like to handle that, sir?

Mayor, thank you.

First off, welcome.

Thank you, sir, and to the commission as well. Thanks for allowing me to speak for a moment. There's not really much more for me to add on to this other than that what's been expressed here is 100% factual. It's not my focal point to try to obstruct you as elected bodies to make decisions on behalf of this community. What I've always paid attention to is to make sure that we're clear, we're providing a good timeline of events if this commission decides to take that path. But the logistics behind it, I think it speaks very clear, for Mr. Berman has said, there's too many variables for you all, in my opinion, to make that decision now. If the decision is made two years from now, a year from now, maybe there's a new funding source, we can figure out what's going on with amendment. And you decide that that's the path you're going to take this city on, you will have our support. We will make sure we do it the right way. We will provide the transitional services that are needed. But to this point, I want to thank your staff, your team, your personnel, even the outside vendor that's come in and done the analysis. Everything I have read and reviewed has been spot on. It has not been obstructed. There has not been any influence, from my understanding, from anyone of the elected body to control how this narrative came out. You all have sat here, waited for facts, and at this point, it's your decision to make. But we thank you for how you handled this.

Very good. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your service. Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Okay, at this point in time, we'll go ahead and open it up to the public. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Please come forward. Just name an address for the record. Limit your comments to three minutes.

Mayor, if I run over three minutes, are you going to stop me? Mayor, commissioners, my name is Ed Phillips. I currently reside at 384 Northwest 19th Street, Pompano Beach. First of all, let me say this. I grew up in Pompano. I have a couple of beers in Pompano from time to time. I visit a lot of relatives and friends in Pompano, and particularly oftentimes in the evening. Omega has a frat house on MLK Boulevard. What I want to say to you, if you live in Pompano, if you've ever traveled at night, Pompano seems to turn into a different kind of arena at night because the police officers are all over the place. Now, what I say, that's a good thing. Because when folks start talking about crime and where's the police officer, if you ride through our neighborhoods, through our streets at night, there they are. Now, to what extent, I'm not certain. But I can tell you that they're active. My concern, my only concern, you know, I have a couple of concerns. But one of them is I am, first of all, glad that they, from time to time, ride through our neighborhoods. Because there was a time they didn't ride through the neighborhoods. Now they ride through the neighborhoods, not as fluently as we'd like, but they are riding through the neighborhoods. I stay in Kenner Lakes. The only issue I have with them in Kenner Lakes is someone needs to contact those force people and tell them to stop riding them freaking cars through our neighborhoods. That's my concern. Now back to BSO and this contract. And I mean no harm about what I'm about to say. Don't make frivolous decisions about BSO because you don't like somebody. Make a decision based on the city is growing. Make a decision based on, as the city attorney has mentioned, the opportunities that Our residents have enjoyed it. Indeed, in fact, the police officers themselves. I've never seen so many captains and lieutenants and sergeants who are being promoted and represented in our community. And so sure, there's problems and issues with BSO. And there will always be problems and issues with not just BSO, police. Because we want to say it's BSO, but it's police that we have issues with. I would like to see them go back to something that we used to have called sensitivity training. I don't know if they still have that. But I'd like to see that. enhanced. Other than that, mayor, commissioners, be aware, yeah, funding is tight. Money is tight. I remember that we used to set aside a million dollars a year because we were thinking about transition. We eventually left that thought because it was not cost effective. As it was pointed out, they have more miscellaneous services that they can give the city under contract with us that won't cost us. Don't be frivolous in making a decision. It's not personal.

Very good. It's business. Thank you for that. Next speaker.

My name's Kevin Eason. I reside at 2010 Northwest Fifth Terrace, Pompano Beach. What I want to let you know, I know you're not making a decision today, but in the future, I am totally against, this is my third time coming before you, I'm totally against getting rid of BSO. And I'll tell you the first thing, one of the things when BSO took over the city of Pompano Beach because of the extent of racism that was already there, In order to do that, they had to dissolve that. Second of all, maybe Mr. Berman can give me some dates on that, but the Yard on Boat Yard lawsuit cost the city $125 million. I'm on topic now, I'm on topic. In order to recoup that money back, was to transition over to BSO, which would save them $7 million. So that was a real purpose of the transition, to save them that $7 million a year. Okay, and second of all, during that time, in 2016, I don't know the exact date, the population in the city of Pompano Beach was 103,000. Now as it stands today, it's 120,000. So yes, you're gonna have more crime. Yes, you're gonna have more things going on. But as of today, district, I'm speaking of District 4, or I could include the whole city of Pompano Beach. Last year it was 118,000, I mean 18% down. Now it's 25% down. So someone is doing their job. We can't see everything that goes on, but when you come before and you wanna put your personal issues in front, this city has the developers, the residents have invested too much money to play around with the most important thing in the city is our safety. We can't afford to chop that. We can't afford to play around with it. I would love to pick up the phone and say, hey, look, call the captain, call the chief or whoever, and get some personal things done. It's not fair to do that because you're putting them on the spot. And I like it just the way it is because they don't have to bend and bow to nobody. And it needs to stay that way. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker. Excuse me, next speaker. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, please, please. No more applause. Thank you. Go ahead.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners. My name is and I have the pleasure of serving as the President and CEO of the Greater Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce. I also have the pleasure of calling this beautiful city my home. Today I'm not here to speak about budgets or contracts. I'm simply here to share what I have witnessed through the Chamber's partnership with BSO. So BSO has been a consistent partner with our chamber for years now. Month after month, they continue to show up at our chamber breakfast, where they not only inform the business community with important updates on what's going on, but they also use that as a moment to recognize their employees of the month. During that time, I think that is very pivotal because not only does it show us what they're doing, but it highlights these individuals who serve and protect our community day in and day out. It also shows the culture that BSO has towards their employees. BSO has also been a great and important partner when it comes to our Leadership North Broward program. This Thursday, this upcoming Thursday actually, we have our Public Safety Day, which is going to be hosted by BSO. During this time, our class will have the opportunity to tour different facilities throughout Pompano Beach. including the jail, the real-time crime center, and other locations. This is very important because, again, it brings awareness to things that we may not understand on the outside looking in. It gives us a chance to see what goes on in their business and what it is that they actually do. BSO has also put a few of their employees in that program, which goes to show that they are still increasing their training and their leadership development, as well as just the community engagement aspect of it all. So I want to go ahead and thank BSO for their support to our chamber. And I want to thank all of you, again, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Commissioners, for all that you do for our city. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Next speaker. Next speaker.

Vicente Thoreau, Pompano Beach. Mayor, one of the biggest factors that we had in these, well, first of all, let us first start off by, since a couple of speakers ago talked about when BSO first came here. When BSO first came here, Ken Jennings was sheriff. And he delivered and gave us the stuff that helped us stay afloat. So we didn't have a problem with obliging because Ken Jennings was sheriff. So don't come jamming down my throat. I'm just telling you what it is. Mayor, we're in this situation, if staff can get up and point out, when Ken was sheriff, we were able to select, let's say tomorrow the sheriff decides to promote our major to a lieutenant colonel. We want the right to pick our future chief. We don't want to have to ask the sheriff, the old process used to be that the sheriff would recommend three, and our manager, after caucusing with you all, would make a decision. We're not giving that up to the sheriff. If he wants to come and stand and tell us we get our rights back, then fine. But that's a power that belongs to the city. We pay for that authority. Mayor, you voted for that authority when you was a commissioner. And Commissioner Phillips, I believe you was on the commission sometime at that point. So let's not sit up here and sing children's songs tonight, because we ain't singing old Negro spirituals. Where is our authority back to select our chief, Mayor? If that ain't part of this here, he deserves a one year contract or table this item until we can get the city manager back his authority. Because we never agreed to that. And for the city attorney to sit here, your predecessor definitely didn't agree to that. Gordon Lynn always fought to make sure we had our power. So, Mayor, I'm asking, where in this contract do we get our authority back? And you don't have to have a college degree. If you done gave our city 30 to 40 years of time and you want our captains, you should be considered. So, Mayor, I'm asking you, you Pat Larkin's friend, where is our authority?

Mayor, would you like me to respond to that question?

If you ain't going to respond with a positive answer and say you negotiated it, then you don't need to say nothing about it.

Yeah, sure, Mr. Berman. You respond to it first.

Thank you. If you want to hear the answer, I'm happy to. Don't talk to me. Because obviously Mr. Thrower hasn't read the contract. I just asked.

Go ahead, Mr. Berman.

Thank you. The city manager, in consultation with the commission, will determine who the police chief is. Names will be given to us, three names by the Broward Sheriff's Office. One of those names will be from one of the district captains in the city. So if there's a district captain that we've worked with and we feel we'd want to make the chief, that name will be included. So there will always be a district captain will be one of the three names. If we cannot agree on three names, then three more names will be given to us the backgrounds we just like last time the city manager and staff will get to interview the commissioners can sit and interview those candidates and a consensus will be reached as to the comfort level that we have with the people and names that are provided by the sheriff's office the sheriff's office is running a certified Law enforcement agency, they want to maintain a certain level of leadership in each district and consistency. And we came to an agreement to negotiate it in this way. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Mayor, he answered that question in the specific of how he just tried me with that one. I asked a specific question. That doesn't mean, per the Sheriff's old memo, that you gotta have a college degree to be a major, right? That's part of what eliminates some people. So what, Mayor? Talk to me. I'm not sure what the procedures are at the Sheriff's Department. Mayor, that's the Sheriff's procedure. I'm talking about our procedure. If one of our captains didn't go to college and they want to be in the lineup and that's what you all want, it should not be that. They should be said, you got to have a college degree per the Sheriff's discretion. Because Sheriff, all due respect, this Pompano, we bean pickers. We don't care about that stuff. Many of our parents didn't pass eighth grade like my granddad. So I'm saying again, if that's part of the elimination, Mayor, commission, we should be allowed to make sure that our captains get a chance at being major of this city. We on the same page? Because blood knows, hey, I can get involved in everybody election.

Thank you, sir. Next speaker.

Mike Skawerski, 1630 Southwest Fifth Avenue, Pompano Beach. A white person. Okay. Now, I think what we have here with BSO, I think they're doing a terrific job. If there's anybody up here that thinks they're not doing a good job, they don't see them, we don't see them out there. Last Saturday night I was coming home, there was a problem. As I came off 95, it was about midnight, two cop cars just sped past me, made a left where the racetrack gas station is. They're out there. They're out there constantly. Yesterday when I was exercising in the northwest area, I don't. count or pay much attention, I saw two cop cars that drove down Northwest 27th Avenue. When I go feed in the Northwest area, I would like to know the cop that sits and watches me all the time, but there's always a policeman out there in these areas. So any of you that ever say they're not out there, you're full of crap. Go outside once in a while, and you will see that the police are out there. If I have any arguments from you, you don't deserve to be up here at all. They're trying their best. It's not an easy job. If there is one mistake that one cop makes, they make the news and the whole group gets blamed. They're trying to do their best. Am I excited with the contract they're getting? Not really. The point is, this is what we have. If you want to look for something in the future, you can look for something. And personally, I would not want to see a Pompano Police Department because of the group we have up here right now. They actually think they're better than the police. So then when they're better than the police to pick a new police chief, they're going to tell the police chief what to do when they don't know anything about policing.

Next speaker.

Hey, how are you? My name's Richard Grosso. I live at 6235 Petunia Road in Delray Beach. I'm here on behalf of the Brower Children's Center. I'm the administrator at the Brower Children's Center, and I wanted to speak in favor of the BSO. We, as many of you are intimately aware, We care for some of the most medically fragile children on the planet. These are very, very fragile children, but they're still children, and we try to get them out. As many of them as we can, we try to get them all out into the community with activities. The Sheriff's Department has been integral with some of those events that we just could not do without them. For example, every December we have the Christmas parade where they escort the fire trucks up and comes with Santa Claus. It's a great event. It's all controlled traffic-wise and everything by the Sheriff's Department. Anytime we have called upon them, they have been there for us, regardless of what it is. We have, this is a quick commercial, we have November 7th, we have our 23rd annual Miles for Smiles 5K run. This year, it's at the Pompano Air Park. We're expecting, based on other events at air parks, around 650 people. Here again, it's something that we just could not do without the cooperation and the help of the Broward Sheriff's Office. We call them, our staff calls them, they are there amazingly quick. There was one time I asked the guy if he was in the parking lot. They respond to us so well, we feel safe when they're there. Now on a personal note, being originally from the inefficient state of New Jersey, I always admired how here in South Florida you took advantage of economies of scale. you had county-wide sheriff's departments instead of every city having their own police department with the overhead, the police chief salary. I always found it to be very efficient. I always thought it was a great idea. So that's just my little plug for the sheriff's department. I want to take this opportunity while I'm here on behalf of the Broward Children's Center to thank the city of Pompano Beach for all of the support that we get from you year after year. So thank you.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you coming forward. Next speaker. Don't be shy.

Hi. Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, City Attorney, City Manager. I think some of you know who I am. My name is Linda Dana. Hi. Live at 2621 Northeast 18th Street, Pompano Beach. I've been in the city since the 60s. I started my law enforcement career at Pompano Beach Police Department on October 4th, 1982. I have to say I'm a proud member of the Broward Sheriff's Office. I enjoyed my time at the city police department, but in hindsight, the sheriff's office is the way to go. City police departments can't compare with the county you know, sheriff's office. We have so many valuable resources. We have such well-trained seasoned law enforcement people that, that work for the sheriff's office to keep our city safe, to keep the crime stats down, which they have come down. And it's, it's just, it's wonderful to be able to be a part of that agency and to work along all the dedicated men and women in this agency. I think it's time to get the job done. We need to get this contract signed and move on. This is what we need. This is what the city requires. This is what your constituents deserve, is to have a very well-trained, seasoned, experienced law enforcement agency that can provide all the wonderful resources that they have available to us. And I just want to say I hope that you'll vote to retain BSO. Otherwise, I'm going to have to move out of the city. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you. Please, ladies and gentlemen, please hold the applause.

Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. My name is Wayne Barton. I'm a new resident of Pompano, this great city, all the way from Boca Raton. It's a pleasure to be here, Mayor. And I've met you on several occasions, but you probably don't remember me. I am here to speak on behalf of the Broward Sheriff's Office. I would like to see from the Broward Sheriff's Office the community policing concept implemented where cops are getting out of the car and interacting with our community. If you guys would take consideration on looking at that theory where cops are going more proactive than reactive. We so focus on crime, crime, crime, because it gets all the attention from the media. But nobody focuses on prevention in a proactive way. What we give to our kids at a young age, instead of waiting until they get in the county jail and try to save them, I'm not saying that they can't save them, but it's easier to educate our kids than to incarcerate them. I'm gonna say that one more time. It's cheaper. Let's talk dollars. It's cheaper to educate our kids than to incarcerate them. Let's start focusing on now so that we don't have to worry about getting witnesses in the community when that's a violent crime committed. There's something going on in our community. It's nothing like going to a shooting. And whatever incident it is, a thousand people out there, but nobody's seen nothing. That's because they don't know the police. They're not trying to get to know the police. And the police is not trying to get to know our children. We need to welcome the cops in our neighborhood, because we need them. We honestly need them. So I'm asking if you, the council, would consider the community policing concept where cops are interacting with the community more. I know BSO has a neighborhood program, but let's strengthen that and see that things will come about and change in an expeditious way for our children that can make it to college and then come back home. and contribute to our community in a positive way. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Marcus Thomas, 731 Southwest 10th Street. I am a pastor here in the community, and I pastor Pompano Beach Church of God not far down the street from here. As a pastor, I am by no means political, but my job is to shepherd the flock that God has given me Not just within the four walls of my church, but within the neighborhoods surrounding my church as well. One of the ways that I am able to do that is because of the Broward County Sheriff's Department. The fourth Tuesday of every month, they show up with a box truck in my parking lot, and we hand out meals to those that are in the community. For the past year, we've handed out probably over 1,200 meals. At Christmas time, the day of Christmas, they pull up in front of the church with two box trucks full of toys, one for girls, one for boys. We open up the back of that, and every kid in that neighborhood who may not have an opportunity to get anything for Christmas gets something because of these people right here. Not only that, but in our neighborhood, most of the children in our neighborhood do not have the opportunity to leave Pompano Beach to do anything for the summer. And so we get bounce houses, water slides, anything that we can and set that up. And who shows up with specialty vehicles, toys, and interacts with the kids? It is the Broward County Sheriff's Department. And so I speak not from a political point, because I can't speak from that, but I can speak from someone in the community who feeds people. every month. And not only that, but they've helped us start a community closet where we give away clothes, shoes, diapers, formula, anything that a person might need, cribs. We were able to give away things for free because of the help of the Sheriff's Department. So I'm here to advocate for them because they're doing more than just showing up at crime scenes. They're helping feed and clothe and play and educate people in this community. And that is what this community means. I agree with the person who was just before me. If we can educate children and get them while they're young, then we'll see a huge decrease. Children get bored during the summer. We provide things for them to do, and we're able to do that because of the Sheriff's Department. So from someone who works with you, thank you for everything that you do in this community. And I ask that they continue to be allowed to do what they do.

Very well. Thank you. Next speaker.

Good evening, Mayor. I'm happy you people already know who I am. I live at 2580 and over at 12th Street. And I want to ask you guys a question. How many of you guys are pioneers? Been here, born here, raised here? Hands? I don't see anybody. I was raised and born here. I'm 80 years old and I look good. 80 years old. Okay? I've been a pioneer here. I see the changes. I work for the Sheriff's Office. 45, 43 years. Okay? I worked on a whole bunch of sheriffs here. And I know the changes. I know who's accountable for whatever they do if they do wrong. You guys don't need to vote later. You don't need to vote later. You can vote right now. Because you got a good deal. And I'll be the first one to come back and say if you make changes, that you made a mistake. I'm a pioneer. I've seen the changes. I worked it. I worked these districts all over this whole county. And I know what you guys got going now for the city of Pompano. Y'all got a good opportunity to make the right decision and do the right thing for the people and the sheriff officer. I was here with an apartment over there. Being rose, it wasn't even a road rose, dirt rose, all the way from here, clean the 441, number of camps to being rose. You guys don't know about that because you weren't here. I've seen the changes, and I know the changes. And I don't usually speak in this thing. I just come in and listen. We elect you people to do the right thing because we trust and believe in you. You can make the decision today. You don't have to wait tomorrow. And I don't like to call names out, but y'all know he's in the podium all the time. He's back there listening. He don't even own property here. He live out there where I live at. He always negativity for his personal reasons. For his personal reasons. And for other people's personal reasons. Sheriff was doing a good job here. And y'all know it. Y'all make your decision, don't make the wrong decision.

Sir, your name for the record?

Name for the record, Mr. Alfred's calling you.

My name, Deputy Richard Williams.

Deputy who?

Yes, sir.

Your first name? Richard. Richard, thank you.

This used to be my father.

Ronald Thurston, 951 Northwest 27th Avenue. Everyone had a lot to say. But Commissioner Smith here had firsthand knowledge where we took a ride up District 5 and we spilled into District 4 a little. And about 30 minutes into the little tour, Commissioner say, I haven't seen a police car here. I say, hey, that's what we try to say. We not here to bash anybody, but the truth is the truth. Saturday, just at Mitchell Moore Park, they had a brawl out there, about 20 kids. Kids got hurt, fire trucks were responded, no BSO. So a lot of people that say they see BSO, they see them when they're giving out food, But we're talking about patrolling. We're talking about the Little League football games. I don't know who dropped the ball. Was it Parks and Recreation? Or was it the Sheriff's Office? But Saturday, listen to the 911 calls. Listen to the 911 calls. No police. When the police got there, the people were tired of fighting. So People need to speak the truth. The truth don't need a leaning pole. They don't need a pole. But that happened Saturday at Mitchelmore. We know what we have right here in the Sheriff's Office. This Sheriff's Office, Department of Law Enforcement, who you call for help, does not have not one black male above the rank of captain. in the Department of Law Enforcement. So when you call somebody for help or you have a complaint, it's not going to be a fair process, I can tell you that. Read the newspaper, the new undershare. The state attorney just threw out some charges on a guy that he said assaulted him. When you talk about integrity and morals, read. Thank you. Very well.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Juliana Escobar. I live in 1921, Northwest, First Way, Pompano, 33060. Mayor, city commissioners, Mr. Harrison, Sheriff Stoney. I'm an autism advocate and a proud partner of a young man with autism. I'm here today to share my personal experience with BSO. From my advocacy work, I had the opportunity to build relationships with BSO leadership and members of their team. They have taken the time to get to know my family, understand my son, and support us when we have needed them. The level of connection and compassion makes a difference, especially for families in the autism and neurodivergent community. I have also seen BSO commitment to inclusion and community partnership outside of their everyday duties. This past April, I had the honor of serving as a co-chair of the Best Buddies Friendship Walk in Broward County. and BSO leadership show up with their support for the neurodivergent community. They were present with intent and our families loved them. This is just one example of standing alongside with the families and individuals we serve. I know that it's always wrong for growth and improvement. I support continuing to work together to make things better. But I also believe it is important to recognize the positive relationships and progress that has been made. Also, besides being a parent of an adult with autism and a former board member of the UM Center for Autism at the University of Miami. So this is not just my personal feedback, this is the feedback from so many families like mine that they want BSO to be in the community supporting us. So based on my experience as a parent, resident, and advocate, I believe VSO has been a valuable partner, not only in Pompano Beach, but in the entire Broward community. And I respectfully ask that you continue the current contract with VSO. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, City Manager, and City Attorney. I'm Marie Goodrum Johnson. I live at 740 Northwest 18th Street, Pompano Beach, Florida. I have been in, I'm talking now from a school perspective. B. S. O. They are the best, and especially when it comes to kids in our schools. We could not have done what we've done. And guess what? What we've done included them. And I'm here to say they are magnificent. They care about the community. More importantly, they care about the children. So with that, let's go with what we have and what we know at this point, and that's to keep our children as well as our community safe. Thank you very much for hearing me. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Hi, I'm Mary Phillips. I'm candidate for District 4 commissioner. And I just want to say that I've been very pleased with the service that BSO has been providing us, especially when it comes to mental health. When somebody has mental health problems and they call the police, they have a group available to assist with that. People have gotten shot because you don't realize what's going on. And you need to let people know when you're calling the police on one of your family members that there's something mental going on. That's very, very important. Not only that, you've got to ask yourself the question, are you safer now than you were two years ago? So BSO has been very effective. I've seen them in my community quite often. They do come to my homeowners association. I'm the vice president of the Kendall Lakes homeowners association here in Pompano Beach. And I say less support. our police, let's keep them in there. And like so many other organizations that come in, and we give them large contracts, BSO is making an effort to give back to the community. A lot of top people who get contracts from the city don't give back. But I can say with a surety that BSO does their part to try to give back to the community. OK, and I support them. And I hope moving forward, you will support them. You understand that our community is growing. And with growth, there might come a need for additional police in the future. I'm all for keeping costs down. And of course, if he gets the contract, I'd like for him to look at ways to try to keep our costs down. One of them is, I think, the move away from gas vehicles and going to electric vehicles, because we don't know what this situation is going to look like. Right now, it's ridiculous what the gas is costing. I know that your budget has increased as a result of that. So please, everyone, look to the things that they've been doing and see that we're safer now than we have been in the past and support bso and let's move on if you decide to do something later on we'll see we'll get to that when we get to that but right now we know growth is coming people are coming and with people come additional uh situations okay thank you so much thank you next speaker

Mayor, I have one speaker, Reverend Margaret Luster, that wishes to speak. She's here for a limited time.

Okay.

Paul, would you mind granting her just one moment?

Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.

Good afternoon. My name is Reverend Margaret Luster. I live in 632 Northwest 20 Years Court. Pompano Beach and Liberty Park area. I have been here through when it was Pompano Beach Police. I have been through here with Broward County. I can say that both of them have faults, but I have seen improvement. How? When I first came here, we had Pompano Beach, good old boys. Criswell could take a black and hold him until Pete Grandy and Lil Willie came across the track to arrest him. He was not allowed to arrest them. Then from that, we went to, we didn't have not one black officer in the police department until we started fighting for integration and segregation, if you remember that. Then there was a young lady, and you bring it back to memories. She was from Carver's home. She was on the parole part. And she said to her mother one day, she said, if I go to work and don't come back, don't fault your own people. That stood in my mind. We fought to put Braggs and Criswell out on Martin Luther King in 18 as a place that the children in the labor camp, the Puerto Rico camp, they have a place to go so that they could use electronics. When they did that, the S.O. helped us to do that. Because those children had no way to get over here to Blanche Ely. They had no computers. They had no telephones. They had absolutely nothing. But because we was fighting and we had visitors that was in here, they made sure that we did that Braggs and Criswell building that you all knocked down and have not replaced. So now we come on in to BSO. BSO came in. I didn't think too much about that. But then I was fighting. The United what? Black and whites in Pompano Beach so that we could be one and not be many. And what did we got? We got William Knowles in there. We got Major Atkins. Somebody who they really worked hard together. It wasn't easy, but we all put our heads together and decided that we was going to become one person, one nation, under God, in Pompano. Then we got Officer Stalin. I know it's my time up. 90 years of age, I might not get back down here. Officer Stalin was a resource officer. He came and he taught the children respect. He taught them how to do different things. He taught them and he brought them across the track at Sanders Park Elementary. I was the teacher's assistant there. The lady who just spoke, Marie Johnson, she was my principal. Yes, all came to this community and did a lot. Did they do everything right for me? No. It hurt my heart so bad. Two years ago, I thought I'd never recover. But I believe we need to keep giving them a chance. Fight for us.

Thank you. Next speaker. Thank you, sir.

Mr. Mayor, I swear, commissioners, my name is Paul Luby. I live at 460 Southeast Eighth Avenue. I've heard a lot of talk here. I was basically just going to talk about the contract. I guess my issue with the contract is one year versus three years. Mr. Skaworski's had a great experience. BSO is a great organization. However, the whole concept of standing up a Pompano Beach Police Department is, in my mind, based on the fact that there is a level of unhappiness with the service level. If everybody was happy with the service level, it wouldn't be being discussed. From a personal aspect, I can tell you I've lived in Pompano 13 years. I've lived all over the world. I've seen all kinds of law enforcement organizations. This is the only community I have lived in where we do not see patrols in the neighborhood. We just don't see them. They're not here. I don't see them. I see them out wherever. We don't see patrols in the neighborhood. Federal Highway, as anybody who's driven on it knows, is a racetrack. Two nights ago, I almost got taken out by two Mustangs drag racing at 8 o'clock at night. I can't say the last time I've seen a traffic stop on Federal Highway. I don't know if that's BSO's purview or if that's the Highway Patrol. It's not getting done one way or the other. I don't fault BSO for this. One of the things that sticks out in my mind is when they took over from Pompano Beach Police Department in 1999, they had roughly 250 sworn officers, if that's correct. This contract allows for 251 sworn officers. In the 27 years, our population has gone up 50% in the winter, almost 100% in the summer, and we still have the same staffing levels. I don't think they have enough people to get the job done. What I would like to see happen is a one-year contract, and then some committee, or call it whatever you want, a task force, made up of citizens, politicians, people from BSO to determine exactly what Pompano's policing needs are. I don't know if it's ever been defined. Not pointing fingers, because I don't know who to point fingers at. I'm not sure if anybody knows who to point fingers at. But I would like to see us do a one-year contract Mr. Berman mentioned that it would be a transition of two to three years. Well, this contract, if we give notice in 90 days, correct me if I'm wrong, that's a maximum of 24 months that they will provide service. That's neither here nor there. But again, the point being, I'd like to see us go to a one-year contract so that a year from now, if we get a committee together to see exactly what our policing needs are, and we say, we need 350 sworn officers. We can do that in a contract in a year from now versus fighting with it. Another issue I was curious about, I went to almost all the meetings with the consultant. One of the things that came up was we need a new safety complex, whether or not it's BSO or Pompano PD. I haven't seen or heard anything on how this is going to be accomplished. We're looking at a $20 million shortfall if the property tax goes through. And I have not seen any plan to address that. And that is coming rapidly. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Ms. Taylor, 6301 Northwest 30th Avenue. I'm going to stand before you as a mother with the situation that happened with BSO and my son on January 13th. If I had to judge BSO by one person, I will. Captain Martin. Since the January 13th situation, that is the only individual that gave my family some type of justice. Gregory Turley stayed up here, stood up here at one of the meetings, and he told me that he'll be in contact. It's been 4,344 hours since my family have any answers on what took place with my child. I hear everyone get up here and say BSO is here to serve and protect the kids, but unfortunately, my child was hurt. Damage at the hands of BSO officers. Kick repeatedly. Kick after kick after kick. This situation took about on January 13th. Here it is July 14th. I still have no answers. All I keep hearing is it's up on the investigation. No officers have been held accountable. Not one officer. What are they here for? I can't judge BSO by Officer Martin, but if I did, I'll label it LA. BSO failed my child. Everyone get up here and say BSO is here to protect the kids, but they didn't protect my child. My child is 22-year-old, and he wear about 105 soaking wet. The major got up here at one of the meetings, and he labeled my child as a black child with a hoodie. That is trauma on top of trauma. I stand here today, and I want answers. I want accountability. I have been coming to every meeting. Every meeting is the same thing. It's up under investigation. It's been six months, no answers. Six months, no answers. Gregory, Tony, can you give me some type of closure? I am tired of hearing it's up on the investigation. I am sick and tired. Captain Martin was not there that day. She should not have to pull me to the side and hug my family to wipe my tears. I am hurting. I hear everyone say, be it so. They are here to protect. Unfortunately, they didn't protect my child. Every officer that was involved in that situation that day still hold a job. My child is fighting criminal charges. They need to be held accountable. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon. My name is Jonathan Desir. I am a security manager over at John Knox Village. I have nothing but good things to say about BSO. We have a very great relationship. The residents are flattered when they see patrolling throughout the neighborhoods, especially during the late hours. They are very proactive. When we had issues with residents being scammed, we contacted Captain Stallings, and they brought out detectives to go and speak out to the residents to figure out better ways for them to keep their information protected and secure. They're all over the place. I always see them on Third Street, on Andrews. If I'm leaving the campus late night, 12 o'clock in the morning, they're there. They're all over the place. And I appreciate the close relationship that we have gained. So I have nothing but good things to say about BSO. So when you guys are considering this contract, please keep in mind about the community and how we feel about them.

Very good. Thank you, sir. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor, commissioners, city manager, and city attorney. My name is Joanne Smith, 2971 Northwest 7th Street, Pompano Beach, Florida. And I'm here to speak about BSO community engagement. I know some people do not even know about it. We have an organization called PPP. Police, people, and pastors. And we do meet, and we visit other churches, and we get involved with the community. Please, when you vote, vote positively for BSO. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Delvin King, 2601 Northwest 12th Street. Okay, so I have mixed feelings about the Broward Sheriff Office, but what I can say is things are getting better. The only request that I would have, and especially with this contract, is I feel as if BSO needs to meet with the people, not the commissioners. They can meet with the commissioners, but they need to meet with the people. No commissioner on this dais can speak about the problems in our community, especially in District 5. There's some things going on in Collier City, and you need to meet directly with the people. There's been plenty of times where there's issues and my district rep can't talk about the issues that we have in Collier City, just like the fight that they had at the Collier City McNair Park. We need easy access to captains, to sergeants, to lieutenants. There needs to be some type of directory where we're able to call them when we see an issue arising. We shouldn't have to call 911 and then they send out some officer that just came to Pompano a couple of weeks ago and they don't understand the area. We should be able to reach out to our local sergeant that's on duty by sale by his work cell phone and be able to let him know this was going on BSO is not here can you fix the problem and we just need that more communication with the city so in our contract we need to make sure that there's direct communication with the residents and I can say my experience with BSO because I've been I had some many interactions with BSO probably been in a custody one too many times but I want to say that The customer service that I've seen in District 5 is awesome. And I'm not a fan of BSO. But you got some officers out there in District 5 that's doing the thing and educating the people. And I like that. I really like that. But please add more of educating people on the laws. Educate the people on what you do at a traffic stop. What you do, educate the young people on, if you wait till you're 21, you can get your gun license. You can get your D and your G license. You can carry responsibly. We need a program for the youth that can teach them how to carry a gun properly. We need that program with the sheriff's office that can take them to the gun range. Because I heard you got a nice gun range over there. You need to have the students come over to the gun range and know what it is to wait to properly use your gun and to be responsible. Also, it's the psychology. That's why so much killing right here. They're not ready. They don't have the mindset to hold these guns. So make sure, Mr. Mayor, we add all of that in there. And make sure you meet with the people. Don't just do work through the diets. Thank you, sir. Hold on. Meet with the people.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you so much.

Sarah Peterson. My address is printed in the tap-in, too, thanks to Commissioner Fezzik. However, I do want to speak about BSO today because I live on 2nd Street in Carter City. And I'm going to ask the commission to ask BSO to give them a study of how many times BSO has showed up on my street. Every day they're on my street. Multiple times they are on my street. Just three months ago, it was a shooting right in front of my house and they showed up. Two weeks prior to that, it was a police chase when the car ended up in my yard. It was a fight three days ago. They're probably there today. So I can't say BSO is not in the community. You don't see them. They're very rapidly showing up on my street. Now I will say this, I'm not a fan of how policing happens in our community. I don't care who the sheriff is. I'm talking about the culture of policing in our communities. Now this contract, Three years. If we're being fiscally responsible, I mean, if I could lock in a price for three years, that seems like common sense to me. But we know it's election season and politics at play and people grasping for power. But while y'all grasping for power, people down here dying. People down here need BSO to show up at their door because the people in their community, and that's not from Pompano. What I've seen lately, it's a lot of people in Pompano committing crime that's not from Pompano. We don't know these people. OK, they come in here left and right. They move in here. We welcome them here. Great. I am concerned about any transition with this city and BSO living on the street I live on. Because any lapse in service, the collateral damage is going to happen in our community. So if you all don't pass this, I'm so glad it's an election year. And I'm so glad I'm out of this contract, because we need to talk about why you all are making personal decisions over the people. So this is not an endorsement of Sheriff Tony. This is speaking from someone who lives on a street that I'm probably sure is their top street of police activity. I've called Captain Stallings more times than I like to. And I can always get him. So I'm concerned, as a private citizen and a resident, that you all are making this a political decision and not putting the people first. OK? But we're going to talk about it on the Bottom Up podcast. Listen, our new time is 8.30 PM on Thursdays. Y'all make sure y'all tune in on YouTube. I'll see y'all around now.

Thank you. Next speaker. Don't be shy.

Hello. George Berlinghi, 124 Havenwood Drive, Pompano Beach, Florida 33064. Good day, mayor and commissioners. Mr. Berman, you stole my speech from me. Usually, I come from a unique perspective. You wiped me out today. OK. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. I was blessed to be here in the meeting where the results of the BSO study were presented to the public. I thought they did a great job trying to prevent facts alone. I'm a very strong supporter of BSO police force. As a homeless ministry, I see a side of them that few others do not see. I see a huge amount of compassion and caring. I see officers who go out of their way to help the less fortunate, find the resources they need to reintegrate back into life. I see officers wise enough to call for help when someone needs help or services that the officer does not know how to obtain. I see these officers take these crisis people to the places they need to go to to get the help they need. I see officers use their own money and off-duty time to help people in need. Let's talk about the finances. remember that meeting when the cost of opening your own police force was discussed they spoke on top of the they spoke of on top of the tangible expenditures there was going to be additional expenditures along the way for such thing as forensics dna blah blah blah that's where mr berman did the great jobs okay pompano beach is a larger community and larger communities experience larger crimes We have much need of these labs. These types of expenditures do need to be added into the final numbers for an accurate proposal. The latest numbers show that the crime is down in our city by 27%. This portrays the quality of work that BSO is currently doing. A new police force would hopefully get us to this functionality, but how many years would that take? These officers have worked together for years now and are a seasoned team. They have relationships with the community. They have community, continuity. How much would the crime rate go up and for how long while a new team is put together and develop their own continuity? Some people have had incidents with individual BSO deputies. I remind us all that group of humans is a group of imperfect people. I am not condoning these events. I am asking in these incidents, have Sheriff Tony and or Major Elwood stepped up and made the necessary corrections to and including termination? And all except for this one lady, and I've been here with many meetings. you hear about reprimands going on. May I ask, ladies and gentlemen, how many of your families are perfect and without flaw? It's my belief in adding all the costs of the above-mentioned labs and unconsidered costs that sheriffs should be kept.

Thank you, sir. Thanks. Appreciate it. Next speaker.

Hello, I'm Damian Washington. I'm a part of the BSO Broward Sheriff's Office Explorer Program. And I'll just keep it short. I like to express and support them on how they really have strongly given me a sense of community. A lot of people have talked about community today, how BSO supports the community, strengthens it. I can definitely say that they have strengthened the community and given me a strong sense of community. Because speaking for myself, since the beginning, I've had a very hard time expressing myself expressing how I truly feel, how comfortable I am in certain environments and whatnot. But when I came to BSO, when I came to the program, they made me feel like a part of their family almost right off the bat. And many of those explorers had been there for a long time, maybe a year or two. I just got there, but I already felt like I was a member for two years, three years. So I can just strongly support BSO that they do try their hardest to give us a sense of community, to support us, teach us how to be better leaders, teach us how to be a better person. And I'd like for them to stay because their impact on my life has been monumental. Thank you.

Good evening. I'm Xavier Calderon. I'm the captain of this program. I've been in the program for four years, and honestly, BSO has just showed us the future in law enforcement, has gave us so many opportunities. And two weeks ago, we competed at the state level, and we took home two first-place trophies amongst the state, amongst all Sheriff's Department's Explorer programs. And basically, I just want to thank the city and BSO for everything they have done for this program.

Thank you, sir. Okay, thank you. Appreciate your service. All right, next speaker.

Mayor, if I could steal two seconds.

I just want to say to the Explorers, listen up guys. The Explorers just spoke here. On behalf of the agency, I'm extremely proud of you all. To take engagement and civic involvement is something that you need to continue to do. Whether you remain in this agency, branch off and do anything, continue to pay attention. There's been talk about investing in kids here, and that has been fundamentally number one for me. And to see these young people taking advantage of this program and to have the courage, you all know as politicians, as elected officials, that's not easy for these kids to do. And so you represent the future of this agency, not just here in Papineau, but for this whole county. And I love every damn one of you for what you just did.

Very good, very good. All right, next speaker, thank you.

Good afternoon, Jocelyn Jackson. My concerns and my family members' concerns who've been here since the Puerto Rican project days with the farmlands. Yes, my parents was migrant parents during this time. I'm 56 years old. I stand in the gap for them. The Puerto Rican project is held across from the 1800 block. Now it's called Golden Acres. My concern with law enforcement is when my children was growing up, they had the programs in the schools. We need to bring that back to the schools so our kids can see representations. And representations is, Gregory, Tony, we don't have no black majors or colonels lieutenants in the law enforcement right now that has to change let's let's let's start there so our kids can see representation of the law now i don't know where these babies where they stationed at uh you know i don't know if it's a program within the city of Pompano or, you know, the school. I'm not privy to that information, but I know we need the first start there. Representation is big for us. And as Mr. Thrower spoke about earlier, when our people, our captains have worked They hands the fingers to the bone, sleepless, restless nights, sleepless days, and then we have another officer to come in over them. That's a sign of disrespect. We got to do better. So I hope in the midst of these negotiations that that is taken very seriously when it comes to our officers who've done the hard work. Another thing. The people with the light green, with the suits, with the guns on their thighs, they got to have a level of respect when they coming into the community. This woman been coming to these commission meetings, and nothing has happened. What they did to that woman's son, that's unacceptable for our community. And they should have been fired, OK? Fired, not laid off with a pension, fired. Because I'm going to tell you something, I'll let the maggots eat my soul before any of my loved ones be treated of that nature. Okay? Nobody here on this diet will be able to sustain the pressure I will give this city for my loved ones. So we got to do better at protecting our own. I'm so serious, Mayor. Now, I know the BSO, they have some things that they do, you know, to give it back to the children. But we need to put that program back into the schools, that their program. We need that back. And where's all our money going with $70,000 with the different programs and stuff? We need record of that, Mayor. We need to see that at the residence. Okay? Get that for us. Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Mayor. Good afternoon.

Everybody probably knows me, if they don't. Mark Kersey, retired Briar Sheriff's Office, live in Southeast Pompano. I've done something that a lot of people, you know, I listen to everybody here today, and they're taking it from one's perspective. Paul O'Connell and I and Darrell work together. The report speaks for itself. The proposal from Reptellis speaks for itself. Pompano is not a sleepy town anymore. We cannot regress and go back to the city of Pompano Beach Police Department. The people here have spoken. They want services. They want programs. They want outreach. Let's give it to them. This contract for three years, sign it, be done with it, and move on. If during that three years you want to change your mind, change it. The people often have said today that they don't see cops. Let me shed a little light on that. We're at the same number that we were in 1999 when we came over. This city has grown threefold and is growing as we go every day. We'd never been, when I was on patrol for 40 years, I just finished 36, but when I was on patrol with the city of Pompano Beach and Broward Sheriff's Office, at no time were we at full manpower complement staffing on road patrol. The one thing that BSO does give everybody that's employed by them is the ability to transfer out and transfer up. where if I was going to be a sergeant with Pompano Beach, I would probably have to wait 10, 12, 15 years and wait for somebody to die or retire. With BSO, these young people want to promote. They want to experience other areas. So let's keep it status quo. Let Sheriff Tony and his staff do their jobs and provide the utmost level of law enforcement to the taxpayer citizens of the city of Pompano Beach. I am proud to say that I live, I worked, I eat, and I slept in the city of Pompano Beach when I worked here. And I'm not having any time in the near future of leaving this city or county. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate your service. Next speaker. Anyone else? Seeing none, public input closed. Thank you. Thank you for that. All right. Commission discussion. Mr. Bosworth, do you want to add anything else or just... You're still set?

No, Mayor, I think we're set. Okay. I'm going to turn it over to you. Very good. Thank you.

Commissioner Perkins.

Thank you, Mayor. The reason that we are here today talking about the agreement for police services is because of the escalating of the cost. So I know you allowed everybody to speak, and we're all over the place, but really this item is about... whether or not we're going to approve three-year contract with BSO. That is what this is about. Now, the last I checked, what I'm looking at now is saying that we're going to pay BSO $70 million, approximately. That's why we're here and that's why it's on the agenda because I'm sure the city manager of course kept seeing the costs escalating and escalating and of course we had to step in and do something as a city. And that's why we're here right now today. So this is only about whether or not we're going to approve a three-year contract with BSO in order to merge back to our own city of Pompano standalone police department. I just wanted to make that clear because people that were speaking were all over the place, and we're only here for a three-year contract. That's what this is about. Thank you. I'm done for now.

Okay. Further commission discussion. Commissioner Fessick.

Thank you. Mr. Bosworth, I just had a couple of questions. When we were in our one-on-one, I was looking and there wasn't a – I was told that there was a 5% cap, but I kept trying to find it in here. Is it applied in here?

It's in the agreement.

Okay. Can you just tell me where? Because I was just looking for it.

Mark, do you have the exact reference there or –

Right here was his staff report. On the staff report. Staff report.

Sorry. So I said I was looking in the backup documents for the, in the contract or whatever this is here, and I didn't, I saw it in the staff report, but I didn't see it in the actual documents.

It's in the actual documents. I can find it. Okay, that's fine. And we'll get it for you.

I just wanted to make sure that I, I mean, I figured it was my error, but that's fine. I just wanted to make sure that it was there. Okay. So I also want to clarify something that I understand and appreciate what a lot of people took the time to come in and say, because I think without, and actually one of the first things I'm happy to say is I'm very happy that BSO finally got a chance to hear how the community feels about the work that they've been doing. And that is something that many times when you're sitting here, you don't get to hear. They usually hear all the complaints. They don't necessarily get to hear a lot of the great things and how people are happy with them in the community. With that said, it seems like a lot of people who came up here were confused about this being a pro-BSO or a pro-Pompano, and that's not what we're doing here, like Commissioner Perkins said. What we are doing is just, this is just about a contract. Where we are now is that we directed as a body, in case you don't want to go back through old meetings, we directed as a body the city manager to go out and go get us another one-year extension to our contract. And then what happened is a meeting or a couple meetings later, he came back with a memo to us saying, I'm going to go for a four-year unless anybody says anything. And then we said, oh, no, we have a problem with that. So... We were assured that the negotiation team was strong, not about anything other than, but this is where we all had concerns and there was no real discussion until this point where we know now about, other than in our previous meeting, about why we're here. In the end, we said go out and get a one, he says I'm gonna go get a four, we're at a three, and I'm happy to see the 5% added in, but this is what we're talking about, it's not about BSO doing a good job or a bad job, they're doing a great job. And I would agree with a lot of people who had said, They'd like a little bit more one-on-one communication, and I have welcomed that. I know we have asked the city manager to please arrange that. I know that I have made a personal trip, and I was able to speak with Captain Tony myself on my own well before this, and he heard the concerns that my district had and that I had heard from the meetings. I was able to share that. So I'm saying all these things because it's important that this kind of relationship where Captain Tony has the opportunity to talk to us directly and to you directly. It's probably the most important thing that as we, no matter what we do here, that's what we need to continue to do for the next however long we choose to work together. Maybe 10 years, maybe three years, maybe, who knows, maybe 20 years, maybe forever. So I just wanted to start with that. I have a question about the cost of, I mean, just year over year, because I think you said something earlier, Mr. Bosworth, about the fiscal impact here being $70 million. Then there was a change, if I remember correctly, from your slide.

It was FRS, I believe. Mm-hmm.

Commissioner, if you look on that exhibit A, it was part of your agenda back up and we had it up here. It's on page two of that exhibit A under consideration. So in the fiscal impact of the agenda report itself, we had $70,087,761. We're adding 1 million, a little over 1 million because of the FRS increases passed in House Bill 5205E, which took effect July 1.

I just didn't know what the next number was. I think you had it on your slide.

71,092,312.

I just wanted to make a note of that. Is there any availability? My only problem with this, and that's it, my only problem with this is that I really think in the spirit of where we're going with what's happening in November. And it's not election season for us as a board. It's election season for us as a state. We have to be really careful about some of the things that we have going on. And my concern is I really wanted to do this as a one-year contract with maybe even two one-year extensions or something along those lines and find that common ground. Is there any chance that this could be amended and would BSO be amenable to that?

Well, we were told during negotiations, and Mr. Berman can correct me if I'm wrong, but the sheriff is not amenable to a one-year contract due to the complexity of a police department, staffing, operations, assets, and that type of thing to do a one-year agreement. Mr. Mayor, if I may, Mr. Berman can maybe shed some additional light on that. Mr. Berman?

Thank you. Well, if you want to look at this, this is a 90-day contract because you can terminate it in 90 days. So we tried in one year. You know, I don't want anyone on this commission to think, and we've had this in the one-on-ones. We discussed this. We did not not listen to you. We discussed. We had the discussions. They were at four. We were at one. We ended up at three. But at any time, we have better option or you want to do something else we have to just give them ninety days so in reality we have the time we need three years if we wanted to go with our own department we could extend it we could cut it short we just have to give ninety days notice so we kept that flexibility in there so you can do what it is that you want picking out a number one three four

basically we still have options here and you're not giving anything up that's what we wanted to bring to you so my concern is that it's really hard for us as a commission at the moment to get things on an agenda or workshop scheduled and so when that's been my experience since i've been sitting here so um What happens in other contracts is we say yes to something, and then when we have issues, we're told, oh, well, that contract's not up until whenever, and we don't have to address it until that point in time. So my concern isn't necessarily with the contract length, and I understand Sheriff Toney's point of view and BSO's point of view in terms of having a long-term contract, but with the transition period, We have it one plus two already, so that's a three-year contract, if we used to have one. So right now, with a three plus two, we're at a five-year contract, which is back where we started. You know, with the transition period. And we were able to extend that. Thank you. There's a lot going on, and I just am very concerned about the length of the contract overall. And I'll have more questions later, but that was my first thing. I wanted to make sure that directly I was able to say, hey,

we try to find something where we we understand that one year we have a lot going on in the city and there's a lot in the air thank you very good for the commissioner vice mayor thank you i have a lot of thoughts and questions here also this is one of the most challenging decisions and one of the most important decisions that we make as a board we've gone through a long process over the last year to get Answers to the questions we have. I know some of us have some doubts about certain parts of the study, but regardless of that, we did the work and I think we're at least in a place where we should be having a full conversation at this point about what the long term vision of policing in our city should be. And we've kind of skipped that step. So when we had our The report on the study, and then this process started the city manager proposed a 1 year agreement. We all were somewhat in a consensus around that. I had asked that we put together a negotiating team with additional expertise. That suggestion was ignored by my colleagues. But as the discussions unfolded, it did become clear to me that the sheriff's team knows the contract inside and out. And they're great negotiators and very, very smart experts on the contract. And in spite of the recommendation for one year, we were never given that option. And that continues to frustrate me. It was the initial recommendation. It is what we asked for. And there are several arguments that just don't hold any weight for me. So mobilizing a police force, they're already here. So we did a one-year extension last year. It's not like we're standing up a police department or BSOS to come in for one year. They're already here. And the 90 days argument bothers me because we all know that city government operates quite slowly. And if something's not in our face, the can gets kicked down the road. And so however long we sign this contract for is likely how long we will be until we face it again. But the biggest wins in this contract, to me, some kind of additional reporting was included and these community events. But honestly, that all should have been happening already. So there's really not much in this contract that's... that I find incremental from negotiating that we actually got. And then there's one other thing I want to make sure I address here, and it's to the men and women of BSO who work hard for us every day. You are appreciated. Your service, your partnership, we heard today all about the work you do in our community. I see it. I know you're out there. You're at events. And we are really grateful in Pompano to have you in our community. But we do keep hearing that deputies are leaving because of pay. And I do want to address that. And this is my struggle with this standalone, which we're not talking about today necessarily, but this BSO versus our own department. And it's about control. and home rule and local control. And we heard about the pay raise issue and that BSO was losing deputies and we addressed that last year. We budgeted money for last year and this coming year to implement pay raises to the deputies. We paid the money and the deputies never got those raises because it's not up to us actually. This is this home rule issue. So we are still facing turnover, unfamiliar faces, vacancies, because there is this pay gap. The reality is that we are caught in the middle of a dispute between other entities, between the sheriff and the county, and our residents deal with the results of that. So we are increasingly in this relationship at the mercy of outside forces that are kind of fighting each other, these disputes, the state, and none of it's controlled by the residents of Pompano, but we do feel the burden of those decisions or those problems that are happening in other areas. So and to our major, I very much appreciate you and our command staff. But when I look at this too, if we had our own police department or even in this, our chief should live in our city. Hands down, our police chief should live in our city. So going forward, these are things that we need to think about. But what I would like to do, Because it's not just BSO. The city has a role in this also. I heard Mr. Berman answer, and honestly, Vincente and Jocelyn had some great points. And I heard Mr. Berman answer and say that the city manager picks the chief in consultation with the commission. I actually wrote this down. You said commissioners can get interviews. It is in consultation, and they can participate. I can tell you that was not how the process went down the last time. Anytime I asked, I was told, we'll let you know when we have a decision. Don't ask. We will let you know when you have a chief. So that I actually think is a great idea, Mr Bourbon. And these are the things that we as a city need to put in writing and have for me, I will support this conditionally this time based on some work that I think the city needs to go back and do. before the next reading to tell the commission you will have a role in picking the next chief. And this is what we're going to do over the next year to ensure that all this work we did with the Raftella study and everything doesn't just get ignored for three years. I think we need to continue doing some of this work, whether it's a public safety task force. But we need to do something to ensure that we don't wake up in three years and haven't thought about this. It's important to keep it top of mind, which is why I wanted a one-year contract. And I just want to make sure we keep doing that. So I have a list of things that I will support this conditionally on the city doing a few things. And maybe there's some work to be done on the chief decision. But we need better coordination and communication We need to know who we can contact at BSO. We have an app, but sometimes we don't hear back. I think there's a bit of a communication gap between us and BSO at times. We need some kind of public safety plan here that the city is developing that takes all this work we've done and all these conversations and leverages that into some kind of long-term vision for our city. Because in the end, we are the biggest city in Broward County that isn't going to have our own police department. I think we might be the biggest city in the state that doesn't have our own police department. So we need to decide long-term if that is the way we want to go, and we need to do it the right way if we make that long-term decision for our residents. So I think we need to have some kind of public safety task force. Keep talking about this. Mr. Berman, you said that the city commission has a role in picking the chief. I'd like to see that codified somewhere or written in some kind of memo or processes that that is part of it, because that is not what we were told last time. I'd also like to understand why we're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on consulting for additional law enforcement services. What are we not getting from BSO that we need to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting agreements? Those are some of the answers. There are questions that I dealt with before the second reading. But I will support this very conditionally on the city getting back to us with some more processes that make me feel comfortable. Thank you.

Very good for the Commission. I'm sorry, Vice Mayor.

Sorry to the sheriff. Thank you for being here. Do you have an answer for the family? And maybe this is also something that needs to be in the contract. Maybe we need, I know you have your processes, but maybe we need to be able to say, in Pompano, if there's an issue like this, we want an answer in 90 days or 120 days.

You'll never get it, because that's not how investigations work, ma'am. These investigations are time intensive, and to the family members who may be still remaining in here, who gave Captain Martin praise, it's most certainly doable. But I've assigned Captain Martin to be your liaison, along with our investigative branch, you've called numerous times. So my voice is echoed amongst the people that I promote. I can't call everyone in this county. So to her, her family, an answer is coming. And people need to understand when we are conducting an internal affairs investigations, we're not just looking at administrative violations, but we're also looking at is there criminal implications behind the deputies act? So with time, we exhaust. If I stood here in 30 days and automatically said the deputy's guilty, he's going to be fired, that's not enough due diligence. If I stood here in 30 days and said the deputy did nothing, he's exonerated, it's not due diligence. So it's not a matter of kicking the can. It's measuring twice and cutting once before we can make a decision. To expand on the complications that you allude to, if the city tries to include in a contract to determine how fast we move, you violate our union president's rights and our personnel rights. So that's not even something to entertain here from this body, your group, or any other city officials. That's very dangerous.

So perhaps what the answer to that is, is in the contract it says when there is an issue like this, you will immediately identify a liaison, your liaison to the family to keep in communication with them. Because now Captain Martin is, but it's July and it happened in January.

This is a single isolated incident that does not require me to change policy. In my almost eight years now, I fired over 200 plus individuals from this condo and counting and some coming.

Mayor.

It's not a question of whether or not we're accountable here. Am I missing something? Commissioner, I'm trying to figure out what.

I think if we have, like I've said, we have a role here as a city too to advocate for our residents and the families. And I understand your job, but if we have a family that's coming here every couple weeks and they can't get answers, I think one of your processes should be that you immediately identify someone that they can be in contact with as a liaison, since you've told us over and over it's not you. Who is the person? Now it's Captain Martin, clearly.

There has not been any gap in communications.

Well, that's not what the family comes here and says every meeting.

And I'm telling you right now, there has not been any gap in that. There has been multiple times that my staff has walked into my office and updated me on this particular case. Not because they're bored, but because I've called and asked them to find out where it's at.

I'm not saying you don't know.

If you try to establish this in a contract, The union president is sitting right here. It's going to create an enormous amount of problems for not only the agency, but this city. I will do the due diligence. You state that you guys are somewhat under the fire on this, right? The public's coming in, the family, rightfully so. But these are my constituents too. I work for them. You don't unilaterally serve them, we serve them together, and I have their interests at heart. First, I've said this in this committee before, I've said it throughout this county, my hierarchy of priorities are the people of this community, The agency and then the employees, and it won't change so long as I'm the sheriff here. These things take time. It creates frustration for the families. I've done this for eight years. I know what she's feeling. I know how mad she is. And she's been respectful and decent in her presentations as she challenges me.

And all I'm saying is from day one, she should have had someone that she could reach out to and a consistent basis for updates.

Day one, the incident took place. Day one, the incident take place. We automatically start an internal affairs investigation when complaints come in. So there's no jumping out day one to say here's a liaison. We have to evaluate internally whether or not there's substance to the case.

I think you're missing the point, because you are so wrapped up in your job, which you do. But I'm looking at her, and even if Captain Martin had been able to call her on day two and said, we're not going to have answers for you for another six months, but this is what the process is going to look like, and I'm going to be here every step of the way. Right, but when she did finally, right?

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, ma'am.

I am talking about the human part of it for the people who are families or victims. We shouldn't have to, she shouldn't have to come here every time and bring this up, right? We should, and the answer might be we don't have answers. That's what you said, but she needs someone to call.

Let me tell you from my experience doing this across multiple cities, across this county. She's going to keep coming here until it's over, as she should. And it's your job and my job to hear it. If your loved one under her perception, was abused by law enforcement officers. Would you stop showing up? Would you stop advocating for your child and demanding more from this commission? Would you stop screaming and yelling, saying the sheriff better step up and do what he promised? That's part of what we are responsible for hearing and absorbing. And I will be here to look this woman in her face every single time, every complaint, and I will be humbled by her response and never attack you, ma'am, because you're right on. You want justice, but I can't give you something that is not concrete, thoroughly abided, and considered, because the officers deserve the same consideration and the rights as well.

to address the vice mayor i understand but this woman's standing right here i know and i and i'm going to ask this woman to please go sit down yes i'm sorry i'm sorry ma'am it's this this is the vice mayor clearly yes sir the officers have have rights and there are organizations that are designed to help support them and navigate that

for them and that's great but there's not that same design for someone who finds himself in a situation they never anticipated so all i was asking for you to do is to create some kind of process for us so when these rare occasions happen that they have somebody immediately it's not going to be you

here's what i will compromise with because i'm going to try to meet you in the middle on this should we have these type of events if it helps this commission for me to come here and say this person is assigned as a point of contact that's easily done like i've already done but we cannot put this in a contract it'll never happen It's too much legal liability, and for what you ask, you don't consider that. There's legal liability on your side to absorb something and put that in a contract, because then the unions will sue you in the city.

For asking for a liaison?

For establishing us to have a liaison in contract mandatory to be assigned each time when their officers are fighting also to ensure that they have job security, that they're not criminally charged, that there's no administrative decertification standards that may take. There's a lot to this.

I actually don't think there is, and I think we're talking past each other a little bit. I'm asking for communication and support for victims or their families.

And so my position remains the same. We will dedicate some liaison when these isolated single incidents take place.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And like I said, I think the city has some work to do before the next reading also. We need a policy in place that says we do get to meet the candidates, since Mr. Berman said that that's in the contract, and it's not. I wrote down what you said, Mr. Berman. The city manager, in consultation with the commission, picks the district chief. The commissioners can interview him or the candidates. Those were your words. And that was not the process the last time. If that is the process, I think it should be. And that's not in the contract here, because the contract just says the city manager picks it. So this is an internal city process on how we go about it. Thank you.

Was that all for me?

Thank you, yes.

Yes, I had a question. Commissioner Perkins? Yes. I understand what the sheriff is saying. I do not agree, but I do understand that there needs to be a level of communication much better than what we have in place right now. So as an example, I can remember when Ken Jennings was the sheriff. And I had an issue with this lady. There was an issue with this lady in Deerfield where her daughter was murdered. And I was helping her raise reward money. And she was so upset because she had not heard from PSO, the Sheriff's Office. And all I said to Ken Jennings is, can you have staff call her at least once a week to say we're working on the case? Not to give her details, because they couldn't give that to me either. But it's just a form of communication to make the family feel as though somebody care. and somebody is concerned. That's all that is. It just sometimes just takes a phone call. You know, we're still working on your case. We can't give you any information. Just a courtesy call to let you know we have not forgotten about your case. Because I think a lot of the movement depends on who you are and how much publicity it has gotten. So the meeting we were in when the young lady was here, the last meeting, Sheriff walked over to her and said he would take care of it. He would handle it. So in my mind, I'm thinking that BSO is going to be in constant contact with her, not to give her information, not to share the process of what goes on behind the scene. Just a phone call just to say, We haven't forgotten you. We're working on the case. Still, you know, it's six months out. And we're still working on the case. So that has always been my issue with BSO. It's just better communication. That's all. It's better communication.

Yes, ma'am.

And sometimes, and a lot of us don't like to hear this, but sometimes when we're in leadership positions, we have to sometimes humble ourselves, too. Absolutely. And we have to sometimes fit into what that particular community is going through or what that particular person is going through. When you've lost a loved one, you're going through a lot. If you see your son being kicked in a video, that's a lot to endure when that's your baby. So I've always felt like there needs to be better communication Everybody knows how I feel about BSO. We definitely need policing. I just think that there's just not a connection with the people and the community. That's it. But that can be fixed. It can be worked on because I've been saying the same thing since 2016. be done because that was one of the reasons i voted for the core team because they assured me that the core team was going to bring community policing i'm like that's what we're lacking and we're still not getting that nothing is impossible but there needs to be a better level of communication that's it sure for me may i respond you certainly can just to follow up on this

There has been numerous communications here with the family. There has not been a dismissal since the time that I leaned over and spoke to his mother that we have not answered a call or gotten back to her. I've heard every single time of interest that she has something and wanted to follow up on it.

Have they reached out to you since the last meeting? One time.

If it's not me directing a captain or an investigator, they're making these calls. So let's just, I'm trying to be respectful to this woman because I know what she's going through. But what you assert is not factual. Do I need to come in here with call logs and have my majors and captains? Excuse me, what was I saying that was not factual? That we're not communicating with her.

She just said one time. I just asked her. This form- They've only communicated with you how many times since January? Commissioner? The last reason I got called is because Captain Martin- Okay, Martin, okay, okay.

Commissioner Perkins, we got- And apparently that's the last time she's reached out to Captain Martin on this, to take it up to administration to find out if there's any other thing that she can get of substance. Captain Martin has known this process for this organization for decades. I promoted her here and recommended her coming here because of her competency and skill set and her decency and integrity that meets my expectation. So she's calling. That's not about I and you. Well, wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

It may not be about me and you.

You sound as though you're throwing her under the bus to give yourself props. We're not here for that.

You need to hear what I'm saying. Okay, I'm listening. Go ahead. Captain Martin represents me and this whole agency. And when she's communicating with this young lady about her family concerns, And she takes it to Captain Martin. Captain Martin, more than likely, is going to call down at headquarters and ask Internal Affairs, what can they release? Is there any updates? And then that feedback goes from her back into the community of interest or whoever it may be. That's how we've always, always done this. This isn't new. This isn't a new practice or protocol.

I'm not disagreeing with that at all. You're just telling me the process. I get that. And I'm saying to you, This mother doesn't need to know the process at this point. She just needs to know that you are working on it. You're going to contact her. You're in constant communication with her. That's it. That's all I'm saying.

And we have and we'll continue.

Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you, Sheriff.

I think she has. Commissioner, do you have something for me as well?

Commissioner Perkins?

No, I'm done.

You're done? Thank you. Commissioner Fessick.

Thank you. I think after sitting here, and I have a tendency to, Just everybody just take a deep breath for a minute, right? I love the idea. And when we sat together, you have been very communicative with me. And I want to welcome that. I've heard what Commissioner Perkins has said, not just tonight, but also in previous meetings where you were not here when it talks about our community or about when we're talking about these contracts. Sure. I've also heard other concerns from people, from residents. I heard what Vice Mayor said tonight about let's talk things through. and what i'm what i'm coming to you with is these can be very not not specific to a a certain person or anything else but this is part of the conversation that we i think have all wanted to have with you and your team so that we can become a better team together And you can tell us you can't do that because our union says, well, just like that, an open conversation, an open forum, a workshop where we can actually have that go-between, where we can tell you where we feel as a community where we've heard, hey, you know, this is what we've heard in our community, and this is what we'd really like to see if it's possible to even put in this contract. I also agree with the fact, and I've been yelling it from the rooftop since the day I sat down, that building that we have your officers in is deplorable. And I have said, even with our Raftelis study, they said that that was a condition of a new police department. I think it's a condition of any police department, to be fair, any sheriff's office. That building is deplorable. It's time. City Hall has not passed its useful life. That particular building is. But that's what I've heard also, because when I brought it up, I've heard that from the community, people who used to work and said, yep, that building's terrible. It was terrible 10 years ago. Right? This is how I want to work together, where we are able to come to each other, and it's not at a day where there's a contract decision. It's not at anything like this. I want to be able to have that open conversation with you and your team so that they know that they can get our support, and we know that we can tell them what the community needs, and we can have that conversation. So if they say, we need five more officers because if you want that done, this is what it's going to take. Great. That's what we need to know. We need to know that not at this juncture. We need to know that as we head into the juncture. Negotiations, in my opinion, should not have even taken place for a three-year contract until we actually were able to have that communication. Because that's a teamwork. Contract is teamwork, working together. That's how I look at it. So what I would say is, look, I love the work at BSO. And Captain Martin, I'm so proud that you got a second shout out there. Because she is a wonderful officer and a wonderful human being. And I'm very proud that she is my district captain at the moment. So listen, I love all the work that everybody's done. I have a great relationship with our staff. They're fantastic. We've asked for workshops before. So I will also say that I will conditionally accept, but I have a question of Mr. Berman first. Mr. Berman?

Commissioner, 10 seconds. My cell phone is always open. When you called, I answered. You said, I need to meet. I said, come in. That applies to everyone on this commission.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Mr. Berman, so I was going to talk about this later, but I actually think it's more applicable now. In our city charter, can you just make sure that I read this the correct way? In our city charter, section, I think it's section 17, special meetings. Would a meeting like that, what I'm talking about with Sheriff Toney, be something like that, where if we wanted to call a special meeting, what would be that procedure? Or would it be a workshop? What would you call it?

Well, it sounds like the issues that you want to talk about should be workshopped and discussed. It's really not a special meeting. Special meeting is for a specific purpose, and you have to limit that meeting to whatever the purpose is noticed. That's called by either two commissioners or the mayor may call a special or city manager.

Would having a discussion related specifically to the services we need with BSO, would it be better to say that as a special meeting, or would that be better served as a workshop in your opinion?

Workshop meeting, it sounds like.

And as per our city, so then we go to our ordinances. Is that the same method? 30-02, I think, B. Workshop meetings shall be held in the commission meeting room only when requested by the mayor, city manager, or any two commissioners, right?

Right.

Okay.

So I, this was actually news to me. I would love between now and this is where this is sheriff Tony, since you have very graciously offered your time. If we were able to set up a meeting between now and our next commission meeting, a workshop where we could have that open dialogue, would that be something you would be open to?

I need to understand what the basis is for what we were to meet on, on this particular item or issue, or just what you're trying to establish as we move forward.

trying to establish as we move forward, because between now and then, because then what that does for me, right, is it allows the opportunity in a public forum for anybody who would like to talk about what they need in their neighborhood, and we're only talking about that one thing. We're not talking about your contract. We're not talking about the three-year. We're not talking about the one-year. We're talking about our neighborhood, and we're able to have a great... great conversation back and forth and a true workshop where you can bring some members of your team that can tell you this is what we're doing or this is what we've found where you can actually have the open dialogue and it's not about one specific item it's not about a they did this they did this right we're able to work together so that we know that when whatever we do with its one year three years if it's whatever years as we move forward they can feel confident that their voices were heard and that we're working together as a team and

Commissioner, I'll accept any meeting that is relevant and important for this community, but you don't require another meeting to make your decision today. I think the teams have put forth all the facts that you need to make a decision today. Anything subject beyond that, has been clearly stated, if we need to add something that we all agree upon, or if you decide this isn't going to work, you can change your mind in 90 days. But these men, the men and women that have been exhaustively working on this, including the deputies who are waiting to hear about the fate of their careers, where they've served this community for decades, they deserve an answer now, one way or the other.

I don't want to change my mind in 90 days. That's why I'm saying what we're not afforded, not your department, our department, our city, our management, we've not been afforded for such a long time. Vice Mayor, just because your memory might be better than mine at this, how many times have you asked for a workshop or one of us asked for a workshop so that we could have open dialogue before we get to contracts?

Many.

And how many times have two commissioners asked for that? We generally do. Right. So this is our own policy and procedure. See, this is not about you. This is about us.

This is what I was going to say. Commissioner, I don't have a vote on this. This is outside.

We could use another one. Right. So that's what I'm getting at. It has nothing to do with you or your organization. It has everything to do with us and ours. So I'm asking Mr. Harrison then. Mr. Harrison, and Sheriff Tony, if you want to send anybody that you would like to be a liaison, if we end up having a workshop, if you would like to send anybody.

Whatever this commission decides will be present.

And I appreciate that. Mr. Harrison, I'm going to ask you, since I just got clarification from Mr. Berman, I am requesting at some point in time before our next meeting, our next commission meeting, and this is how I'm saying, that's how I will feel very comfortable moving this forward. I'm requesting a meeting, a workshop meeting. I'm one of the commissioners, so I need at least one more to do the same thing so we can have that open dialogue so that everybody in here feels comfortable about whatever decision we are able to make on the 28th.

I see Mr. Berman.

The charter provision is for a special meeting. The charter is for a special meeting, not a workshop meeting. What you're discussing is for a workshop.

Okay. Point of order.

I don't know if there's time to do that before the next meeting or not, but I think that the manager can certainly set a workshop. at any time.

Public safety not important enough to discuss?

I would like to speak on the issue of point of order before we move to speak on whether we're having a workshop. I would like to speak on the item at hand. I would like my turn to speak.

You're going to have your turn to speak, but right now, Commissioner Fessick has the floor, and she's getting into a workshop situation. It's not a workshop. It's a situation. Wait, wait, wait. Commissioner Fessick, you still have the floor, but I'm speaking here just to make sure we keep order. So, Mr. Berman, are you saying that two members can call for a workshop? No, special meeting. But a special meeting.

And what the commissioner is talking about is more proper for a workshop meeting, which is not a special meeting. A special meeting is for a specific purpose, and it is listed on an agenda, and that's what you discuss, one limited item, as opposed to an open discussion about anything. That's proper for a workshop, not a special meeting. The charter provision is for a special meeting.

And the procedure for having a workshop is either requesting one by the city manager or if there's not consensus, then a vote of the city commission?

Correct.

Okay. So two members of the city commission cannot just have call for a workshop?

So special meeting, I assume that's a regular meeting of the city commission.

Thank you. Just wanted to get clarification.

I'd like to know the definition between a difference between a special meeting and a workshop then, because I feel like this is a pretty, I mean, if it's just a presentation or it's a special meeting, this is a conversation between two parties about a contract. How could that not be more special?

Because you indicated you didn't want to talk about the contract.

You wanted to talk about the services, fine. But the services in between before we approve the contract. Because here's what happens in our city. We say yes to something, and then it goes away for three to five years, and we don't ever see it again. We can't advocate for it when it's not time to advocate for it. It's very frustrating. So I'm only asking for the opportunity to have the open conversation before our next meeting. So I will support it if we're able to do that. Thank you.

Okay.

Commissioner Seager.

Excuse me, Mayor. Mr. Harrison. I'd like to remind Commissioner Fessick we had four community meetings.

Go ahead, Mr. Harrison.

We had four community meetings, eight focus groups, 28 BSO interviews, of which 50 were BSO staff. So I'm not sure how much more input we can get from a workshop on this contract.

Okay.

If it's something that is still needed in general, then after the contract is approved, we can have workshop after workshop to your heart's content if that's the way you want to do business.

Very good. Thank you, Mr. Harrison. Commissioner Seegerson-Eaton.

Thank you, Mayor. Sure. I'd like to look at what we really have in front of us. what we have facing us. There's no greater obligation of a municipality than to provide law enforcement and public safety, fire, rescue, EMTs. There are two parties in this negotiation, BSO and the city of Pompano Beach. And the one year was a non-starter. As it was discussed prior, entities need to budget. We all need to budget. We need to know what's coming down the pipeline, what we expect for the future. We're going to be having a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that may significantly significantly alter the amount we have in our general fund to fund things. And BSO is a very large portion of that. We did the study. We know from the study that we need a place to house our officers and support staff Etcetera so we eat and our our current building is not big enough given the the numbers from the rep Ellis study So the startup costs alone Means that we would have to raise property taxes in order to meet the the obligations that we need to meet for a startup. So that essentially became a non-starter. So we looked, because as I said, it's astronomical. And I don't want to put a burden on taxpayers and raise taxes, which we don't even know if we're going to have come November. So again, Starting our own police department is sort of a non-issue in this discussion. We certainly can sit back for two years and see what happens with the Deerfield transition. They do it, and it's great. Well, then it gives us something that we could perhaps use as a tool to follow along that's my logic and how i'm saying because these are important decisions these are taxpayer dollars and we are talking about tax airs protection i asked i i called major elwood and i said okay we get the crime statistics every month for each commission and then as a city overall i said well How many calls for service do we get? I want to know what is actually going on. Is it like Mayberry RFD with Andy and Opie and Barney and whatever? How many calls for service? So the number that I was given by Major Elwood, rounded numbers approximately, 66,000 calls year to date. That's seven months. It's about 9,500 a month of calls. 9,500 calls a month in the city of Pompano Beach. You break that down, that's about 320 or so a day. 320 calls for service a day. And I don't think that even calls whatever that entails. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of calls that our deputies do. So when you say, I don't see the deputies, the proof is right here. They are doing a lot of work. And it was mentioned, I don't remember by who, but we are getting larger. And would I love to have more deputies on the scene? Yes, I would, but that costs money. It all comes down to money. It all comes down to benefits. It all comes down to contracts. And I agree that we do have significant economies of scale with BSO. They provided excellent service, in my opinion, very excellent service. They serve our community. And we don't have any plan B. Our only plan B would be to transition. And that will cost the residents money, and I'm not going to agree to it. I'm a no vote on transitioning. I'm a yes vote on a continuing contract for three years. And I think that's where we should be. And we cannot be negotiating up here from the dais. The negotiation has been done. And I'm sure we can tweak things for sure as we go forward. Sheriff Tony, Major Elwood, they have their phone numbers their phones on. We can speak to our manager. We can get a consensus from the commission if it has to do with attitudes or personalities, whatever. But we must approve a three-year contract because we have no plan B. Thank you. Very good. Further commissioning? Commissioner Smith.

What's before us with the contract isn't just an extension The negotiating team actually took recommendations from the Raftelis report, and I know that I had documented some of them and presented it, and I know that a lot of those are in this contract. So it's not just an extension, it's a renegotiated contract. And it's got a lot of positives in it. You know that I'm a big fan of the Real-Time Crime Center. It's 24-7 now with the contract. Because we have that monitor 24 7 and we have so many cameras in our city it helps the officers on the street by identifying where things are going going down and Where the officers need to go so it's it's eyes on the street constantly 24 7 and There's a lot of cameras out there now. So that's their community policing and it is in it and So community policing, the community's been asking for for a while. The police are getting out of their vehicles. They are walking on the streets. They are meeting residents in our communities. That's going on. Reporting is something that we asked for. This is greatly enhanced with reportings, reporting not only to our city manager and our staff, but reporting to commission. Maybe part of, Commissioner Fessick, I don't disagree that we shouldn't have a community workshop about policing. I think we need to give it more time then the next two weeks so we can do it properly but i think community would be well informed by having the sheriff come and actually talk with us and let us ask questions on how policing is happening in pompano and in brower county in general i think that's a great idea i i don't want to see it tied to the next two weeks because i think it's not related to the contract But it's something that I think is great information that we can have dialogue with our community. So I agree with that. I don't agree with tying it in the next two weeks. The Rafteles study, yes, we can't let it just sit on a shelf. But we didn't. We put a lot of it into this renegotiated contract. So it's there. It's active. We're moving forward. We have a get out clause of 90 days. So a three-year contract. doesn't mean we have to stay for three years. If we get into some community meetings or the commission changes and we want to revisit starting our own police department, that is an option that's there for us. But to go and have a three-year contract that we know it's limited to a 5% increase over the next three years, I think it was good negotiating skills. It was a great compromise from going into one year to four years to three years. The team did a great job. It's a wise decision. Flexible. We have what we wanted. We have the RAF TELUS. A lot of the RAF TELUS reports is in the contract. My vote is yes for the three years, and let's do a workshop, a community workshop. I don't know how we title that, but let's give it some time to breathe so that we can promote it a little bit more than just having it in two weeks. Thank you, Mayor.

Very good. Further discussion? Commissioner Fessick.

Thank you. So I thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Smith. I truly think that I understand that two weeks is a lot of time or is not a lot of time to discuss something. We have been having this conversation for over a year. We've been having this conversation for many years at this point. And so, like I said, I'm okay with moving this forward today, but I would really like – so I did my little – my Googling while we were here because I – Mr. Berman, I mean, a special meeting, it says Florida special meeting is an official session called to adjust specific time-sensitive business with the intent to vote on and pass resolutions. And so if we're going to say that we'd like to make a change to something between now and then, that would then qualify as a special meeting, would it not?

The difference of a workshop and a meeting, a special meeting or any meeting, you can take official action. At a workshop, you cannot take official action. What you were talking about initially was meeting, discussing policies and things like that, things that didn't require a motion, a vote, a resolution, an ordinance. That's more geared toward a workshop. But workshops, the main difference is you cannot take official action at a workshop, only at a meeting. That's why the charter provision that you uh, throughout talks about how you can only discuss matters inconsistent with Florida law in our charter, that you can only discuss matters that were noticed. It's much more limiting, but that's what made clear and makes clear in my mind, at least. And when I evaluate it, that that provision is for special meetings, not workshops. Okay.

So if we were to discuss the, the, the, what we would like to see added to this particular contract, if anything, or how there may be changes and allow public input, At that time, would a special meeting be applicable?

All I can tell you is I'm happy to show up at a special meeting, at a workshop. Wherever you tell me to be, I'll be there and try and assist to the best of my ability.

Well, the reason I'm saying that is simply because we've already seen how workshops happen. Three, three, fail. This is specific to a specific contract, to a specific community need. And I agree with everybody. This is an important thing. We need to talk about our public safety. I want the opportunity for us to have a conversation about what we'd like to see in this if we need to make any changes. And if we're okay with it, fine, we're okay with it. No problem. That's the conversation that needs to happen and not just be, it's not because I heard a lot of for or against. It's not for or against. It's how do we make this better?

But don't forget, anytime you call a meeting, whether it's a workshop, special meeting, notice, minutes, and an opportunity to be heard. So there has to be adequate time for proper notice as well.

I mean, yes. And it says upon special meetings, upon at least six hours with written notice to each member.

That does not comply with Florida law. You need at least two to three days notice to the public.

I understand that. But I'm saying sometime between now and the 28th, I would like to call a special meeting to discuss this, and I will support it moving forward tonight. Thank you.

You're saying that's the only way you will support it?

It gives us some time to discuss it. I mean, yeah.

Commissioner Perkins, go ahead.

Are you done? I'm done. Okay. Mr. Berman, do you know whether staff or is the city manager with us today? Do you know whether staff has reviewed any other contracts with BSO in other cities? Have we looked at other contracts compared to ours? I know every city has a different dynamic. Have we taken a look at any of the other cities that have contracts?

Earl, did you take a look at any other cities that had contracts?

We've looked at them over time, but I can't say that during this process we had them all out in front of us looking at them.

Okay.

Because what I would like to see done, and I don't know how you would add this in the contract or we just discuss it, but I would like for the commissioners to have some say-so or some input into choosing the chief selection process. If we can be a part of that, I think that would make the world of difference. I don't know how that works, whether we discuss that in a special meeting or whether we add it in, whether we make a vote.

Commissioner, I can bring you back a resolution which can be heard at the next meeting before we vote on this, and the commission's role we can try and define. It's not with BSO. You're talking about internal.

Yes, yes.

You want to make sure you have some say or some voice. Yes. We can handle that. I can bring it before you, and it does not... involve the Broward Sheriff's Office. They will let the city manager make the decision contractually. We can control who participates in the process, and I'll bring you something back for the next meeting, and I'll try and get it to you to look at before then. And we can take care of that. We don't need a special meeting. I'll just put something on the agenda you can look at that'll give everyone, including the vice mayor, hopefully a comfort level with how this process works internally. Is that okay? That's okay with me.

I agree. Thank you.

Thank you.

That's it.

Pretty good.

All right. Further Commission discussion?

I just want to say thank you to the men and women of BSO. Doing an excellent job for us. Appreciate it. Stay safe out there. Let's go ahead and call the roll.

Commissioner Fessett? Yes. Commissioner Perkins? Yes. Sorry, I will say yes. Commissioner Fessett?

Yes.

Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier? Yes.

Mayor Hardin? Yes. Let's take a ten minute recess back at 428.

Thank you. This is Barbara Beach.

City Commission meeting back to order July 14th, 2026 after the recess. All right, let's continue with our regular agenda. Item number nine is a resolution.

Resolution of the City Commission of the City of Papua New Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute work authorization number six. In the amount of $298,848, pursuant to the agreement for landscaping installation and maintenance services between the City of Pompano Beach and Cutting Edge Industries Inc. for landscape maintenance services for Atlantic Boulevard and Dixie Highway, providing an effective date. So moved.

Second.

Moved and second for discussion.

Mr. Donovan. Yes, Brian Donovan, Assistant City Manager. I thought all the cameras were here for this item, but I guess I was wrong. This is a work authorization number six for landscaping services on Dixie and Atlantic. A similar resolution was approved last year, same services and same costs, no cost increases. That concludes my presentation.

Very good. Thank you for that. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion. Vice Mayor.

So we all know I completely disagree with this entire section of the roadway, but with all the time that people have to spend sitting there because they're not moving in gridlock, I guess we do have to maintain it. What would be the cost to the city of doing this ourselves, Mr. Donovan?

It would be 600, a little over 600,000. That's the first year cost, because that includes capital as well. And then after you take the first year, we'll drop down to about 325,000 recurring.

So it costs us more, and if you amortize the non-recurring cost over the life of it.

Right.

Okay, so while people sit in gridlock, they might as well look at the nicely manicured landscape.

Look at the flowers.

All right, thank you.

Further, Commissioner Fessick.

No, I just want to say, I was looking at the map this, and I was actually sitting in gridlock the other day, and I noticed there's a whole section that's just grass now. And it seems like it's just all of a sudden it was like a lot of grass or just blank. So I wasn't sure if that was new. I just noticed that maybe I was just sitting in that one particular spot for a long time. But anyhow. I thank you for that, for clearing it up, because that was one of my questions about the cost. And I just want to say that thank you to Cutting Edge and Mr. Jankowski, because he does a lot of our work in our city, and I always see his guys out there working on our streets. So they do a great job, and they clean up well afterwards. Thanks.

Very good. Further commission discussion. Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik. Yes. Commissioner Perkins. Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier. Yes.

Yes.

Mr. Hardin.

Yes. Item 10 is a resolution.

A resolution of the City Commission of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute a piggyback agreement between the City of Pompano Beach and Odyssey Manufacturing Company for the purchase of sodium hypochlorite chemical supplies, providing an effective date. Here's the queen of sodium hypochlorite. So moved. Second.

Moved and second for discussion.

Good afternoon, Renuka Muhammad, Utilities Director. The Utilities Department is requesting City Commission approval to execute a piggyback contract with Odyssey Manufacturing Company, utilizing the Clay County Utility Authority contract. for the purchase and delivery of sodium hypochlorite, a critical treatment chemical used for portable and reuse disinfection. The city previously utilized this competitively procured contract. However, the renewal expired March 7, 2026. And then following CCUA's renewal of the contract, Odyssey Manufacturing Company has agreed to extend the renewed pricing and terms to the city of Pompano Beach. The renewed agreement provides for a delivered unit price of 1.60 per gallon, representing a 4.6 increase over the previous contract price, which was deemed reasonable given the current market condition and transportation cost. The agreement will ensure a reliable supply of sodium hypochlorite to maintain uninterrupted treatment operations, regulatory compliance, and continued delivery of safe, portable, and reuse water. Funding is available within the Utilities Department-approved operating budget, and expenditures will not exceed the appropriated amounts annually. The approval supports the City's commitment to reliable and sustainable utility services. That concludes my comments.

Thank you for that. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion. Questions, concerns? Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik? Yes. Commissioner Perkins? Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier?

Yes.

Mayor Hardin?

Yes. Item 11 is a second reading of an ordinance.

In ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Palmetto Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute a first amendment to the agreement for transportation services point-to-point between the City of Palmetto Beach and Circuit Transit, Inc. to expand the microtransit service area, providing for severability, providing an effective date. So moved. Second.

Moved and second for discussion. Mr. Lance, good evening.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Jeff Lance, Parking Manager. This is the second reading of this item. There have been no changes, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Good. Thank you, sir. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion. Questions, concerns? So, Mr. Lance, just for folks out there who might be watching, if this passes, it enables anybody, say, in the Garden Isles area to look up the – app, right, for the transit. And they can go from their house in Garden Isles to the beach.

Straight to the beach and back.

Straight to the beach. Or they could go from their house in Garden Isles, they could go to Old Town to visit a restaurant.

Well, no, this is point to point. So it would be from, let's say, Old Town to the beach. Likewise, if somebody's at the beach and they want to go visit Old Town, point to point.

But Old Town, we have a depot basically in Old Town, correct?

Correct. That's the lot that we recently purchased. That would be a park and ride lot for transportation straight to the beach.

Oh, I see. So they can't go from Garden Isles to Old Town parking lot.

Correct.

Okay. It's all to the beach.

Correct.

Okay. Very good. Just want to make that all clear. Very good. Any further commission discussion? Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik. Yes. Commissioner Perkins. Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Vice Mayor Poitier. Yes.

Mayor Hardin. Yes, item 12 is the second reading of the ordinance.

In ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute a service contract between the City of Pompano Beach and Aetna Life Insurance Company to provide employee health benefit services, providing for severability, providing an effective date. So moved. Second.

Moved and second for discussion. Good evening, Ms. Sonego.

Hi, Lisa Sonego, Human Resources Director. This is a second reading. There are no changes from the first reading, and this would be for Aetna to be effective 10-1 of this year.

Very good, thank you. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion, questions? Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik. Yes. Commissioner Perkins. Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier.

Yes. Mayor Hardin. Yes. Item 13 is the first reading of an ordinance.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Palmetto Beach, Florida, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute a billing service agreement and a business associate addendum between the City of Palmetto Beach and Digitech Computer LLC, providing for severability, providing an effective date. So moved.

Second. Moved and second for discussion. Good afternoon, Chief.

Good afternoon, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Commissioners, Mr. City Manager, and City Attorney. This is our billing contract. These are the ladies and gentlemen that do all the billing for EMS prevention. They do our collections as well as the analysis for PEMT MCO money for the end of the year.

And who are you?

Sorry, I'm Pete McGinnis.

Thank you, Chief.

Long afternoon. I also thought the camera's for me.

There you go. Thankfully, they're not. This is a public hearing. Is there any input? I agree. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion, questions, concerns? Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik? Yes. Commissioner Perkins? Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Vice Mayor Poitier? Yes. Van Hart?

Yes. Item 15 is the first reading of an ordinance.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Pompano Beach, Florida approving and authorizing award of ITB 26-039 to Waterfield. Florida Staffing LLC is the lowest-ranked bidder, approving and authorizing the proper city officials to execute the agreement between the City of Pompidou Beach and Waterfield Florida Staffing LLC for crossing guard services, providing for severability, providing an effective date. So moved. Second.

Moved and second for discussion.

Good afternoon, Mr. Moore. Good evening, Scott Moore, Parks and Recreation. Before you tonight is a request to approve the award for ITB 26-039 for the City School Crossing Guard Services to Waterfield Florida Staffing LLC following a competitive invitation to bid process. Under this contract, the vendor will provide crossing guard services at 12 schools, elementary and middle schools, staffing 65 crossing guard posts and three supervisory positions for approximately 210 school days each year. The agreement compensates the contractor based on the current Florida minimum wage plus $4.63 per hour for each crossing guard. Because the agreement begins August 10th of this year, the estimated cost for the remainder of the current fiscal year is $192,000. The estimated annual cost for the fiscal year 2027 is approximately $1.146 million. And then each year that will change based on the Florida minimum wage increases. This contract will ensure cities continue to provide safety, reliable crossing guard service as far as students, parents, and schools throughout the community. Staff respectfully recommends approval and will be happy to answer any questions.

Very good. Thank you for that. This is a public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion, questions, concerns? Vice Mayor.

Thank you. Are there any other sources of revenue or funding for this, grants, anything else that are available?

Not that I'm aware of, but I'd be more than willing to look at different options for us to do this, because this is, as you can see, is a lot of money over the next five years.

And I'm sure every city would go after, if there was funding available, it would be competitive, but it seems like something that's basic service that everyone needs to provide and there should be maybe some other funding. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Fessick.

That actually makes me think about this thing. So you, I just knew, so you at Parks and Rec are responsible for our school crossing guards?

Yes, I think I'm the new guy on the block, so I got the short stick. But yes, we've historically done it overseeing the contract.

All right, great. Thank you. I'd love to find some money for you, grants.

Yeah, because how long have we been doing this? A long time. A long time. Yeah, that's it. I mean, this is just something that was dumped in the laps. If we care about the safety of our kids going to school or any kids going to school in our geographic area, it's part of our responsibility. The school board has said that, no, that's your streets. Your folks walk into the streets, so it's up to you, City of Pompano Beach.

Sorry, I'm just going to say that if the property tax reform passes in November and we get impacted and the school district doesn't, I think we need to go back and re-evaluate this.

Lots of ways. Commissioner Fessick.

That was kind of where I was going with this, is that, yeah, of course public safety is important. I was just shocked that it was coming out of our Parks and Rec Department and not out of either –

Like just something of something else or school board related just shocked as all where I know I'm always trying to find Scott I'm always trying to find you extra money for parks and rec so I was just you know Just just a Just information for information's sake I've been here when we had issues with schools and school safety and paying for things and I can tell you nothing motivates parents and residents and about that particular topic. So regardless of what happens with the property tax reform, regardless of what happens with anything else, I can just tell you school safety and the safety of our kids is number one. Very good. Further commission discussion. Let's go ahead and call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik. Yes. Commissioner Perkins.

Yes.

Commissioner Seegerson-Eaton? Yes. Commissioner Smith? Yes. Vice Mayor Poitier?

Yes.

Mayor Hardin?

Yes. Item 16 is the first reading of an ordinance.

An ordinance of the City Commission of the City of Palmetto Beach, Florida approving and authorizing award of RFP 26-040. to Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. and Will Dan Financial Services as the highest-ranked proposers, approving and authorizing proper city officials to execute the agreement between the City of Pompano Beach and Stantec Consulting Services and Will Dan Financial Services for utilities, rate, financial planning, and organizational services, providing for severability, providing an effective date. So moved.

Second.

Moved and second for discussion. Once again, Ms. Mohamed.

Renuka Muhammad, utilities director. The utilities department requests city commission approval to enter into a professional service agreement for utilities rate, financial planning, and organizational services resulting from RFP 26-040. The solicitation was issued on April 23, 2026 to procure consulting services for the utility rate studies, financial planning, organizational assessment, development services analysis, and related consulting to support the utility's long-term financial sustainability, operational efficiency, and infrastructure planning. Two proposals were received, namely from Stantec Consulting, Inc., and Welldone Financial Services. Following the evaluation process, the city intends to award to Stantec Consulting Services as the primary and Welldone Financial Services as the secondary. The agreements will be for a period of five years with no renewal options. At this time, there's no immediate fiscal impact and services will be authorized through individual work authorization based on operational needs and available funding. Approval supports the city's strategic goal of ensuring long-term financial sustainability and effective management of the utility systems. Thank you.

Good, thank you. This is the public hearing. Is there any input from the public on this item? Seeing none, public input closed. Commission discussion. Vice Mayor.

Thank you. So was Ref Tellis the prior consultant? That is correct. And they didn't put in a bid?

They did not.

Because I know when we went through the utility rate analysis the last time they were here. And so that is the same role that we are hiring for with this RFP. That's one of the parts of it.

So the Raftalis contract expired in June of this year. So we went back out.

Okay. So if there's work like that to be done in the future, expect these names to be the consultants, not Raftalis. That is correct.

Thank you. For the commission discussion, Commissioner Fessick.

So I know that you have a lot of work ahead of you in the next few years with our utility, and figuring out how we're going to pay for it, I'm sure, is a challenge for you as well, even now, even before anything happens in November. Because utility rates in general, these are going to be part of it, will we have some more insight if rates are going to be changing with these regular vendors or not?

So the rates right now are set through 28, 29. So we are not anticipating or we are not proposing any rate increase at this time. But again, it's for these consultants to go in and do a deep dive as to what we have and what is coming in the future. Some of the things that are coming down the road for the utility is House Bill 1451, which takes away the surcharge. We also talked about impact fees versus connection fee. What is the distinction and how does the utility get to development fee and implement those things. So these are the kind of things we're looking at moving forward.

Okay. That's great because I think any way we can help to offset through either impact fees, connection fees, well, or for a larger scale connection or development fees would probably be a great way to help offset some of your anticipated large expenditures. Yes. Thank you.

Very good. Further commission discussion? Seeing none, let's call the roll.

Commissioner Fezzik.

Yes.

Commissioner Perkins. Yes. Commissioner Sigerson-Eaton. Yes. Commissioner Smith. Yes. Vice Mayor Fournier.