Council - Regular Meeting

Trying to get out here early tonight, but

Okay, we're getting started. It's 6 o'clock. Welcome to the City of Riviera Beach City Council meeting. Today is June the 3rd, 1926. And it is six o'clock and we're about to get started now. We don't plan on being in here too long tonight. So we're going to move the agenda right ahead. The first thing I would like to do is welcome the Bahamian delegation back to the city of River Beach. Would you give them a hand, please? We are always excited when they come into town, the camaraderie and things that they're doing over in the Bahamas and we're exchanging ideas. So it's always a good time when they come in. Okay, the first item on the agenda.

Mr. Guy, we need to call the roll first.

That's what the first item is, roll call. That's what I was saying.

Oh, sorry. Mayor Douglas Lawson. Chairperson Bruce Guyton.

Here.

Chair Pro Tem Dr. Lynn Spiridon.

Here.

Councilperson Kashama Miller-Anderson. Present. Councilperson Shirley Lanier. Councilperson Frisella Davis-Panier. Here. Interim City Manager William Wilkins.

Here.

City Clerk Deborah Hall is present, City Attorney Don Wins. Here. Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. You may proceed.

Thank you, Madam Clerk. We'll have the invocation and pledge allegiance led by Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. Please stand. MOVING DOWN TO THE AGENDA, ARE THERE ANY ADDITIONS, DELETIONS OR SUBSTITUTIONS TO THE AGENDA? MR. CHAIR? I HEAR VICE CHAIR on spare disperse, and was it you, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson?

I would like to add parking, paid parking at Ocean Mall and the marina for discussion at the meeting, and I'd like to add...

Okay, wait, wait. Slow down. Let us put it where it needs to be. So you want to add that under the discussion items?

Yes.

And what is that?

Paid parking at Ocean Mall and Marina.

Madam Clerk, what would that be, 12E?

Yes, Chairperson Guyton, that would be item 12E.

Okay, next item, please.

I would also like to add employee reimbursement for legal fees for discussion and clarification.

And that would be Madam Clerk, 12F.

Yes, sir.

And Chair, I would like to- Wait one second, my friend. Let me make my notes here. Okay, next item.

And I would like to move 11 be to the consent agenda.

What is 11 be. I love them be in the I can property registration contract, Mister chair.

Yes, I would like to keep that on regular. Okay, okay.

Okay, we'll leave that their councilwoman Miller Anderson.

OKAY. I WOULD LIKE TO DELETE ITEM 6C, WHICH IS PRESENTATIONS OF THE 2026 YOUTH COUNCIL APPLICANTS. WE'LL BRING THAT TO OUR NEXT MEETING.

NEW SPEAKER HOLD ON. LET ME GET THERE. THAT'S IN THE PRESENTATION.

NEW SPEAKER YES, 6C.

NEW SPEAKER 6C.

6c yes as in cat we'll bring that for the next meeting but um in its place though i would like to um at the florida league of cities youth council excellence award presentation but if we could actually make that put that ahead of um 6b could you repeat that did you want it to be 6a or you say ahead of 6b well we already have a 6a

Okay, so move it to 6B and move 6B to 6C. Okay. Mr.

Chair, which item was that, please?

Could you repeat it, Councilwoman?

It'll be the Florida League of Cities Youth Council Excellence Award. That'll be what, 6B? And then 6B, which is presentation and recognition of the 2025-26 graduating cohort of Youth Council will be 6C.

OK, anything else?

Mr.

Chair. Yes, Ms. Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

I'm just asking staff to confirm if 3B and 3C are on the agenda or off the agenda.

If what?

3B and 3C.

3B and 3C. Staff, that is a question to you. Is anything being um actually when we get to the consent agenda well that's what i want if it was going to be pulled now mr chair we're just adding and deleting okay yeah we're not pulling yet yeah okay very good consent agenda okay are there any more additions and deletions with that consent agenda mr chair yeah i'd like to delete 3b off the agenda i'll bring that back at a later date

Mister chair, I would like to acknowledge council person children of the near and mayor Douglas Lawson has been present for the minute so noted.

Okay, mayor you would just indicating that you wanted 3 what 3 3 be deleted of the agenda.

Okay and chair. that's 3b um we were just discussing that yeah not not removed from consent just deleted from agenda the staff can bring that back in later okay just off of the agenda completely completely yeah and that is three what three b that is the donations from the jamaican relief funds uh to gem vice chair spiritus so chair uh my uh request to discuss

the legal fees for reimbursement of employees may actually impact the minutes of the last meeting. I think that I'm trying to clarify what I actually said in the board resolution. I think it was taken out of context and misunderstood, and I'm trying to straighten that out today. Okay.

for the last city council meeting yes okay um madam clerk wait for one moment okay uh madam clerk do you have the minutes from the last meeting i i don't have those yet but i will get with the transcriber to get those asap okay um we can leave it on and you can make your comments and then be corrected in the transcript I'll make for new David on come from a pretty big.

I'm asking for clarification on 3 feet on staff.

And what kind of clarification are you asking.

Has it been removed or is it you know, I just go off for consideration.

Okay, let's move forward. Councilwoman linear.

Yes, or Mister chair. Beginning with the consent agenda item 3 B which is resolution 6, 6, 2, 6, have been removed. UNDER AWARDS AND PRESENTATIONS, WE HAVE ADDED ITEM 6B FOR THE LEAGUE OF CITIES, YOUTH COUNCIL EXCELLENCE. WE HAVE REMOVED ITEM 6D, PRESENTATIONS OF 2026 YOUTH COUNCIL APPLICANTS. WE HAVE ADDED TO ITEM 12, DISCUSSIONS AND DELIBERATIONS, ITEM 12E. Paid parking at the ocean Mall and Marina. And we've I added item 12 F employee legal fees for discussion and clarification. The do I need to repeat or do you have a problem on the linear that you get everything.

Welcome could you can somebody down for the make police.

ITEM 6B IS FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES YOUTH COUNCIL EXCELLENCE AWARD. THAT WAS ADDED. 60 was removed from the agenda presentations of the 2020 youth Council applicants. And under discussion and deliberation item 12 he was added paid parking at ocean Mall in Marina. And I don't 12 F employee legal fees for discussion and clarification.

Do you have everything I do okay, I entertain a motion to approve the agenda as amended so move. It's been moved by Vice Chair Spiritus. Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing no discussion, I call the question. All in favor? Show by roll call.

Councilperson Davis-Preneur. Yes. Councilperson Lanier. Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson. Yes. Councilperson Dr. Spiritus.

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton.

Yes.

I see unanimous vote.

Okay, we're moving down to the consent agenda now. Does anyone want to pull anything from the consent agenda?

Mr. Chair, I would like to move 3C from the consent agenda.

Okay. Councilwoman Davis-Preneur wants to pull 3C. Madam Clerk, and where will we put that?

After consent to approve, the next item would be item 3C. So you would approve those items that are left on the consent agenda. And we'll go right into it. And then we'll go into the discussion for resolution 2725.

Okay. Any other changes to the consent agenda? If not, our... Mr.

Chair, we do have two public comment cards.

Two public comment cards on the consent. Okay. Please call.

The first speaker is Scott Lewis, followed by Lloyd Brown. The acceptance of comment cards is now closed.

Scott Lewis, 256 East 22nd Court. I came to speak about 3B that just got pulled. and I think I ought to be able to still speak about it because I'm here, and I don't need to have to come back. Go ahead. Thank you. This touched a raw chord for me because I have a small foundation that I founded 27 years ago. No employees. We have supported disasters for all those years, made it in national news, never had a full-time employee, never had a part-time. And that money all went to people that mattered. And when I read this, I did some inquiry. Now, maybe what I'm hearing is wrong. And I hope it is, because it disgusted me when I heard it. Rumor from a good source is there was $1,200 raised in this function. And you're going to debate it sometime next month. Our group raised 18,000 and we sent it down there six months ago, but we had committed we only were going to have one person down there volunteer. Didn't cost anything to raise that money, nothing. What I have heard is that there is a bill for roughly $18,000 from the police department for whatever fundraising event happened. I hope I am grossly wrong, but if I am right, it's abhorrent that you would waste, anybody would waste our tax dollars that we work like hell for, to have a party to raise money for disaster victims, and it costs 10 times, 15 times more. And that's just the police department. That's not Public Works or whoever else was there. I am really tired of having to support parties. with tax money that I got to work hard for, everybody here works for. I love the Bahamas. I like the sister city of Freeport. I think that's appropriate. If you're planning to spend tax dollars to ship the emergency equipment over there, I draw that line. Do not spend my money. Waste it like that. It's sickening. If those numbers are correct, and you all can debate it next month, That is gross negligence. It's wrong. It ought to be a crime. It really ought to. Please get to the bottom of whatever the hell happened.

Thank you, Mr. Scott. You kind of convoluted two different issues. One was to Jamaica for that forum. And the Bahamas is something separate. It wasn't the 18,000 for the Bahamas.

Yes. And to clarify, you're exactly right. I just want the record for some fundraiser for Jamaica.

Yes.

And the Bahamas, I've done calculus work. You can look at our website.

All right. I just want the record to be clear.

The next speaker is Lloyd Brown. How you doing? I really, you know, I got a friend. You're going to send money down to these places. I got a friend. He's 91. His one nose for bad. his roof leak, and y'all want to take and send money. Like the man said, I'll take money. I mean, the Bahamas, I got friends from the Bahamas. My neighbors are Jamaican. I told him about, I wanted to speak on the one about Jamaica. What he told me, he said, that don't make sense to me. He's from Jamaica. He said, man, I've seen some people in River Beach still got cops on their roof. Down in Detour Park, You go down there, if you ride a bicycle, you could almost kill yourself. They got holes and bumps and scrapes and whatever on the ground. And then you go to Goodmark Park, the water thing, you know, you drink water out of it. I want to clean the sand out of it. But you're going to send money over here. Like the man said, taxpayer money. Come on. You just want to vote. That's why you're doing it. It ain't got nothing to do with helping them people. It ain't got a dang thing to do. And then let me tell you something. When I was Coming up, the city was a city. It was a city. I mean, you have black people that come out. My friends, like, they looking at me now because I told them I'm going to talk about it. My neighbors, they don't come out. My friends, they hang around the PDQ or all these stores. The churches don't come out. They go to church every Sunday, maybe Wednesday, maybe Tuesday. And I don't see nothing that these people are doing. All they do is collect money. If I got to pay to go to heaven, that don't make no sense. I mean, honestly, my mother never pushed religion on me. She never pushed it on nobody. When a person came in my house, she didn't ask them if they went to church. That was your decision. That was you. But what I'm trying to say is, y'all people here, y'all a bunch of misfits. And then to get rid of the manager? And let me tell you something. How many people, 22 people, y'all say it? How many people in the city? I think it's 560 people in the city. So 22 people. What percentage of that? Anybody a mathematician in here? What percentage is 22 or 560?

Mr. Brown.

No, I can turn and point to them. If you can't hear me, my voice is loud. Don't cut me no more. I'm going to call it. I'm gonna call fire on you because you don't like what I'm saying.

That's why you want to go.

I got a deep voice. I don't need a mic when I'm mad. Put me some time back on there because he interrupted. You can't do that. You can't do that.

I did that for your benefit, for people to hear what you were saying.

It don't matter. You can't come in and stop me when I got my three minutes. Who do you think you are? You got the worst yard around here and you want the city inspector to come through and write us up. And then you want him, he want to send money overseas. And then you drink every day. And I can tell when you're drunk because you're like a filled bag of water.

Mr. Brown, thank you for your comment. Okay, I entertain a motion. I entertain a motion now to approve the consent agenda. So moved. It's been moved by Dr. Spiritus. And I need a second.

Second.

It's been seconded by Ms. Davis-Prenier. Is there any discussion on the motion? No discussion. Roll call.

Councilperson Davis-Prenier. Yes. Councilperson Lanier. Councilperson Miller-Anderson? Yes. Chair Pro Tem, Dr. Spiridon?

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

That's a unanimous vote.

Okay, we're moving on to the item that was pulled, 3C.

Yes, Mr. Chair, we are on item 3C, resolution number 6726, a resolution of the City Council of the City of River Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the distribution of emergency equipment to our sister city and the City of Freeport, Bahamas. Provided for conflict conflicts, severability and an effective date.

OK. I entertain a motion to move. It's been moved by vice chair spirit. I need a second second second by councilwoman Davis Purnia staff.

Mr. Chair, we do have one public comment card on this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

OK, we entertain the public comment card first. I mean, staff comments first and then the public comment card.

Good evening, Chair, Mayor, city staff, the rest of the dais. Thank you guys for allowing me to present today. As you all know, last year, the city of Riviera Beach reestablished a sister city relationship with Freeport Bahamas.

Mr. Chair, name for the record, please.

My apologies. Eric Raines, chief of staff for Mayor Doug Lawson. As you all know, the city reestablished a sister city relationship last year with the city of Freeport Bahamas. During their visit last year, they had a number of meetings with different staff throughout different departments and discussions on how we could partner through this sister city relationship. And there were some commitments and conversations that were made in regards to this emergency equipment. So Chief Curd, who is has retired at this time, had been working on this prior to his retirement. And unfortunately, since he has left, there has been the due diligence has not been completed on this process. We just need to be able to surplus this. We have done this as a city before with equipment that we has passed useful life. We surplus it and we have made donations previously or to offload it on the third market as well. And so we were in the process of getting this transferred over to the city of Freeport, but then the chief has So we're asking for the dais to give direction to staff to go through the remainder of the process of surplusing the vehicle so that it can be transferred to Freeport. And no additional cost to the city for this. The transportation of the vehicle to Freeport is a responsibility of the city of Freeport. And so the city will not have any additional fiscal impact.

Careful.

Yes, Vice Chair Spiritus.

Eric, we have some firefighting gear, I believe, as well that's surplus. Are we going to include that in this package?

We have been previously, I will have to follow up on that, Mr. Spiritus. Previously, our fire chief had a conversation with their fire chief. We do have additional equipment, but we wanted to ensure that the equipment was apples to apples and not apples to oranges. making sure that they can actually utilize the equipment, that it fits the equipment that they have existing in Freeport. So I will have to follow up on that. At this time, we are only asking for guidance on the ambulance itself.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair.

Yes, Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

Okay, so my main reason for pulling this off of consent is that I have requested that staff provide me with information THE REQUIRED PAPERWORK AS HE SAID DUE DILIGENCE AS TO WHAT THAT PROCESS LOOKS LIKE. I DID FORWARD SOME INFORMATION TO THE MANAGER AND THE ATTORNEY BECAUSE WHILE I'M IN SUPPORT OF IT, I DO FEEL LIKE WE NEED, I NEED MORE INFORMATION ON THE PROCESSING OF THIS TRANSACTION BECAUSE THIS IS A NONPROFIT TO ANOTHER NONPROFIT AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE PAPERWORK THAT IS DUE BY THE STATE AND THAT WE ARE IN LINE WITH WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO LEGALLY TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS TRANSFER HAPPENS AND IT HAPPENS IN THE WAY THAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO. SO YOU ALL WANT TO GIVE ME FEEDBACK?

Mr.

Chair. Yes. Good manager.

Concerning the first, it's not a transfer to an organization. This is a transfer to the city of Freeport. We're not going to a private organization.

Our staff is running through the diligence. We do not have we do not have a procedure.

We have a process that we followed in the past. That is, it goes through a procurement. It goes through the appropriate department, goes through legal. AND AT THAT POINT IN TIME WE MAKE A DETERMINATION. BUT THERE IS NOT, AND ONE THING WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO DO IS DEVELOP THAT POLICY AND PROCEDURE TO BE CERTAIN THAT IT'S THE SAME EVERY TIME. BUT THIS IS THE PROCESS THAT HAS BEEN FOLLOWED. WE'RE IN THE PROCESS OF MAKING SURE WE HAVE ALL THOSE ASSURANCES.

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. GREAT. SO DO WE, THE DECISION TONIGHT WILL BE TO MOVE FORWARD WITH YOU ALL GETTING THE PROCESS IN PLACE BEFORE WE APPROVE IT OR WHAT ARE WE?

NEW SPEAKER WE'VE ALREADY DONE OUR INITIAL due diligence. It does qualify from all of the regulations that we see. The city does not have a process. I'm sorry, the city does not have a policy and procedure. We do have a process. So we're following that process that meets all of the requirements. We will come back and provide a policy to accommodate the process.

Are there any further comment? If not, we hear the public comment card.

We have one public comment from Doretta Paul.

Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I did have some comments.

Good evening. My name is Doretta park and concerning, um, uh, three, six, you know, um, we should just hold off of this just like, uh, the concerns was about the process and making our, we have our due diligence that we are illegally doing this the right way. And furthermore, What about taking care of home first? We got so much here that we need to do. Our roads, our infrastructure is falling apart. So let's think about home first. And listen, I'm definitely concerned about Jamaica, Bahamas, but we have to think about home first because our infrastructure is so poorly throughout this city. So I think like they said, Mr. Wilson said, that we're gonna follow the process, make sure we have the process that's done correctly and properly. So we won't have maybe subpoenas or whatever's going on further in this city. And I thank you so much.

Thank you for your comment. Mr.

Chair, that's the end of public comment.

Are there any further comments from the Diet? Mr.

Chair?

Yes.

Thank you. First and foremost, I just wanted to appreciate the delegation. Thank you for coming and fellowshipping with us, visiting, and then also the network of building these relationships. Just to let our residents know, the sister city relationship that was established, not by the mayor's office, by this entire council. It was a process of support, and this entire council supports the sister city relationship in building economic wealth, growth, and development for both communities. We know nationally that the conversation is about eliminating certain language in our code, DEI, minority participation, local participation, women businesses. So we have to do what we need to do as communities to support one another. Our goal is to provide opportunities. The delegation is here because they're offering opportunities and we're establishing a trade mission over to the Bahamas to showcase how we as residents can actually benefit from the import of over 90% of goods that come from the United States. And a majority of that should be coming from Riviera Beach, where we have a port that goes 60 miles over to Freeport. So that's just one of the reasons, but there's so much other opportunity and support, but it's a process of fellowship, of community love, engagement, and the reason that we're donating a decommissioned ambulance is because typically this would be either donated or given away and we work with the port and the bahamas to cover the cost so there's no additional burden so this equipment that we would not service or keeping the the regime of our vehicles the fleet of vehicles that we have in our fire department. We're donating to an organization that is also going to reciprocate that same love, support, and development for the city of Riviera Beach as well. Our goal right now is to work with our partners. So we want to be intentional about that. And as I agree with my colleague, Ms. Davis-Panier, I actually wanted to pull this item to discuss the process and make sure it's properly done. And we're going to make sure that it can be transferred. Tonight's mission is to get support to actually donate the vehicle and make sure all documentation is properly done. allow for staff to complete that, crossing the T's, dotting their I's, and get this shipped over so that we can continue to foster and build this relationship as a team with the city. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. Thank you, Mayor Lawson. I'm going to take a point on personal privilege from the chair and ask the delegation if anyone from your organization would like to say a couple of words.

Good night, everybody. We just want to say thank you again for inviting us here to Riviera Beach. The hospitality has been awesome. Once again, we want to be thankful for the donation that you guys are trying to make to the city of Freeport. We have a shortage of ambulance in the city of Freeport. And this one that's being donated or possibly being donated to us will go a long way. It will be able to possibly save lives. Like they said and mentioned, we're going to foot the bill to have it transported to Grand Bahama, not adding any extra cost to the citizens of Riviera Beach. But one of the things that was mentioned by the mayor is that we want to reestablish a relationship. There's going to be some good on this end for Riviera Beach. some economic growth. Like you said, we import 90% of our goods to the Bahamas from the United States, mainly Florida. What we're trying to do is to tunnel that to Riviera Beach. We want to establish a directory with all of the businesses here within the city. Let the persons from the city of Freeport know that this is where we would like you guys to do business. These are our partners. And with providing such an ambulance for us, it shows the unity and strength that we want to build together between the two cities. So it's going to go a long way between the two groups. And I think that the city here has more to gain in this whole arrangement than the city of Freeport. Like I said, we spent about $500 million a year in the state of florida and we're trying to direct and funnel most of that to the city of riviera beach and so we'll be grateful if you guys agree to provide us with the ambulance and we will move forward and trying to build the relationship between the two cities um good night everybody thank you very much for your comments okay uh are there any further comments it's not

Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier.

Yes.

Councilperson Lanier. Councilperson Miller-Anderson. Yes. Chair Pro Tem Dr. Spiridon.

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton.

Yes.

The item passes with Councilperson Lanier out.

Okay, we're moving right into awards and presentations. 6A. Madam Clerk.

Mr. Chair, item 6A is presentation from the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics.

Most ethics issues we see don't start with bad intent. They start with uncertainty. Good evening. My name is Gina Levesque and I serve as the intake and compliance manager for the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics and as your liaison with our office. Today, I'd like to briefly focus on how ethics shows up in your everyday work and how we can support you when questions arise. The Commission on Ethics was established to promote integrity and public service, build public trust, and ensure that private interests do not interfere with public duties. We provide oversight for more than 12,000 public officials, employees, advisory board members, and certain vendors and lobbyists throughout Palm Beach County, including all 39 municipalities. What's important to recognize is that most ethics issues are not intentional. They typically arise in situations involving relationships, outside employment, vendor interactions, or decisions where there may be a perceived conflict. These are not always clear, and that's where we come in. Our role is not just enforcement, it's guidance. We are here as a resource to help you navigate those gray areas before they become issues. Whether it's a quick question or a formal advisory opinion, reaching out ahead of time can make all the difference. Advisory opinions, in particular, provide guidance based in your specific circumstances. And when relied upon in good faith, they offer protection moving forward. If there's one takeaway I'd like to leave you with, it's this. If something causes you to pause, even briefly, that's the time to reach out. You don't need to be certain there's an issue. You just need to recognize that there may be a question. You can find resources or contact us at palmbeachcountyethics.com or by calling 561-355-1915. Thank you again for your time and for your continued commitment to public service. Because ethics isn't a moment, it's a mindset. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Are there any questions? Did you say you were the executive director?

No, sir. I am the intake and compliance manager.

Oh, okay. Thank you very much for your presentation. Greatly appreciate it and need it.

And I believe the clerk has the rest of the, annual reports and guides and notebooks for you all. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much. The next item is the Florida League of Cities that was added by Councilwoman Miller Anderson.

Yes. Miss Kira Hester will be coming up and introducing our guests.

GOOD EVENING. SO HERE WITH US IN OUR PRESENCE WE HAVE MS. ERIN ALCORN. SHE'S HERE FROM THE FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES TO PRESENT OUR TWO-TIME AWARD-WINNING YOUTH COUNCIL WITH THEIR EXCELLENT AWARD.

MS. ERIN, THE FLOOR IS ALL YOURS.

THANK YOU FOR THE RECOGNITION, MR. CHAIRMAN. and good evening members of the City Council, staff, citizens, and the Riviera Beach Youth Council. As stated, my name is Erin Alcorn. I am from the Florida League of Cities, which is located in Tallahassee, Florida. And just for the benefit of the audience members, we are the statewide association for Florida's 411 cities, towns, and villages. And since our beginning, our mission has remained the same, which is to protect local decision-making because we believe local decisions should be made by those who know their communities best. And so I do want to take a moment to say thank you to the city. FOR BEING A COMMITTED MEMBER OF THE FLORIDA LEAGUE OF CITIES AND TO THANK YOU TO THE RIVERA BEACH YOUTH COUNCIL FOR BEING AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN OUR YOUTH COUNCIL PROGRAMMING. SO AS STATED, IT IS MY HONOR TO BE HERE TONIGHT TO RECOGNIZE THE RIVERA BEACH YOUTH COUNCIL WHO WAS SELECTED AS A WINNER IN OUR 2025-2026 YOUTH COUNCIL EXCELLENCE AWARD. So for this contest, the league asked youth councils to submit a project or initiative that made a contribution to their community. And this is a statewide competition that is open to all youth councils in the state of Florida. And only three projects are selected as winners. And the project that the Riviera Beach Youth Council was selected for is its anti-vape campaign, which was a community awareness initiative created to protect youth by educating them on the health dangers of vaping and the legal consequences associated with THC-related products. And recognizing that vaping has become increasingly normalized among middle and high school students, the youth council partnered with the city of Riviera beach chief of police, the Palm beach County school district and the Palm beach County behavioral health coalition to deliver a campaign that included informational posters delivered to local schools, a youth town hall recorded public service announcements and a social media awareness campaign using youth friendly graphics and videos. And I wanted to just read one line that they had submitted in their narrative that stood out. It said, by launching this campaign and building partnerships with law enforcement, schools, and health organizations, the Riviera Beach Youth Council demonstrated that young people can identify challenges in their community and lead meaningful solutions. And that's what I'm here to recognize and celebrate this evening. So on behalf of the Florida League of Cities, I am here to recognize you as a winner of the 2025-2026 Youth Council Excellence Award. Congratulations.

okay miss councilwoman miller anderson and mary lawson with joe john so we can keep the meeting moving please thank you think the chief is chief are you about to join okay let's let's get it done so we can keep the meeting moving okay thank you very much okay go to the mic go to the mic

And in addition to the trophy, the Youth Council also received a check-in amount of $500. Oh, nice.

Tonight it was an honor because all of our young people on this inaugural group graduated from this Youth Council. So this initial group now that we started over a year ago, has shown dedication and commitment. All of these young people over 3.0 GPAs, all local students, 14 to 18, and they're all, and I believe six of my students are all going off to college. So that's the actual greatness that's happening. We're gonna be inducting the next class in the next council meeting, but tonight I need you as a community to give a round of applause to these young people who represent this great city. We talk about continuity in government. This is what succession planning and training looks like, because we're teaching up our next leaders, our city managers, and our elected officials. So I also want to thank Santino, a special shout out for helping with that anti-vape campaign, our youth council coordinator, Ms. Kiera Hester, and our city manager for the youth council, Dr. Stalling Hayes. So Hayes Stalling. So Ms. Miller-Anderson, we have... We're done. Next item? Okay. So thank you so much for the time.

okay thank you we're going to roll right into the next item um with councilwoman miller anderson the presentation and recognition of the 2025 graduating cohort of the riviera beach youth council councilwoman miller anderson And that is item 6C.

For civic engagement, we want to recognize, and these were from the leaders, the staff of the youth council. We pulled together and we decided a few members really stood out to us this year and we wanted to recognize them. So this first award, we have two of them. This was actually a little bit of a tie, but we have for civic engagement award, A RIVERA BEACH YOUTH COUNCIL MEMBER WHO DISPLAYED EXCEPTIONAL INTEREST AND INVOLVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT, CIVIC EDUCATION, AND COMMUNITY ISSUES, 2025-26. AND THAT'S PRESENTED TO MR. CHRISTOPHER THURSTON AND MS. ZION GEMPHY.

Thank you very much.

I think you have two more awards. All right. Yeah, we got two more. This one is for the Legacy Award, a graduating senior whose contributions helped shape the Riviera Beach Youth Council. And she's currently not here. She's graduating. She's grown now, so she's enjoying her time with family. Ms. Trevena Walton. and this one is for a youth council member of the year award a riviera beach youth council member who has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership commitment and service throughout the year 2025-26 and this goes goes to none other than reyna caballero

Thank you very much. Congratulations to all of the recipients.

Well, we'll be done in just a minute, if you would allow us to kind of savor the moment here, because these children work very hard for a whole year and we're trying to reward them for their commitment. We're trying to reward them for their leadership. So if you all would just indulge us for a moment. It is an item on the agenda. And so we are going to utilize this time and we're not going to rush it. What we did, a part of the program, the children were provided a stipend. And so each one of them will receive a $500 check. In addition to... In addition to the over 100 community hours, volunteer hours that they earn. So they'll receive that as well.

We're very proud of them. They represented the city very well from October up until now. We did pull off the item for the agenda where we're going to have our new group that comes.

We're happy to say we are recommending those of you who are freshmen through a junior to come back. next year you did apply you are part of the group that we're going to put forth to the city council in two weeks to see if you would be able to come back for us again so we look forward to having you back on the youth council for our next year um so what we'll do now is we'll call you up we'll take a quick pick and then we'll give you your 500 check all right zion jimpy

Kaleria Williams. Zaya McLarty. Reece Caballaro. Aiyana Melvin. Genesis Salmon. Reyna Caballaro.

Congratulations.

Leanna Garcia. Elijah Duverson. Congratulations. Supreme Melvin, our photographer.

Congratulations.

Christopher Thurston.

Congratulations.

And I think last one.

And last we have Mr. Bryce Jackson.

We do have one more student, Kayla Simeas, but she wasn't able to make it today. So if you could just give all of our kids a round of applause, we appreciate it. And we look forward to having them here in two weeks to come back as applicants for the 2026-2027 school year. So if the council, would you all please come and join us because you all did have to vote to establish this youth council. So we would like for all of you to join us. Thank you.

Anybody on me? One, two, three. One, two, three. One more, one more. One, two, three.

Okay, thank you very much. Congratulations to all of the young people, our young leaders. They will be sitting in these seats before we know it. And we have a very bright future to look forward to. The next item is the resolution from the Office of the Mayor honoring the life of Betty Kendrick.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. If we can have all of our present and past pension board members join us at the front by the podium. And the family of Ms. Betty Kendrick. Thank you to the residents watching at home. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and to the entire council. We're honoring the life and legacy of Ms. Betty Kendrick. She served tirelessly the city of Riviera Beach for over 60 years, and she served this community with dedication and commitment. We wanted to honor her a few months ago. She's accidentally agenda a few times to honor her for her lifetime achievement. And as the board knows, I like to give flowers while they can smell them and they're here to see them. unfortunately we lost miss kendrick's uh a few weeks ago and her family's here and i wanted to make sure that we gave an opportunity to honor them with this resolution to make sure that on the record that her legacy will always be honored for the history of riviera beach because she gave so many years to riviera beach so we'll be reading this resolution into the record This resolution is honoring the life and legacy of Betty Kendrick. Whereas Miss Betty Kendrick has been a cherished resident of Riviera Beach for more than 60 years and the city is privileged to be served as an individual who lives exemplary, compassionate, integrity and dedication and steadfast advocacy on behalf of others. Whereas Miss Betty Kendrick faithfully served the city of Riviera Beach General Employees Pension Board from 1995 to 2026. dedicating a lifetime of selfless service while tirelessly advocating for and supporting the employees of the City of Riviera Beach. Whereas the Chairman of the Riviera Beach General Employees Pension Board for the year 2000 to 2026, Mrs. Betty Kendrick, provided exemplary leadership, unwavering commitment through her diligence, expertise, and fiscal stewardship, was instrumental in preserving the fiscal integrity of the pension fund and saving thousands of dollars in fees over the years. Whereas the state of Florida certified public pension trustee 1999 through 2026, Ms. Betty Kendricks demonstrated professionalism, knowledge, and sound judgment for her encouragement and generous uplifting of individuals and providing stability through critical times. Whereas the enduring legacy of Ms. Betty Kendricks reflects the highest ideals of public service that define the spirit of Revere Beach and her leadership and an example that will continue to inspire generations. It's with deep sorrow and profound respect that the City of Riviera Beach cherishes Miss Betty Kendricks while celebrating a life of service, unwavering dedication, and a lasting impact on this community. There, on behalf of the City Council, on behalf of our residents, we honor the life and legacy of Miss Betty Kendricks. recognizing her dedication, her decades of distinguished leadership, and profound lasting impact she's made upon this community. The City of Riviera Beach extends a support to the family, the friends, and the loved ones of Ms. Betty Kendricks during this time as we express gratitude for her remarkable contributions to the City of Riviera Beach signed this day of June, 2026.

Thank you. On behalf of the children and the grandchildren of Betty Kendrick, I just want to say thank you to Mayor Lawson. Thank you to all of the members of the council. I'm trying not to be emotional. It would be remiss if I did not thank Mayor Masters, who came and got my mom back in 1995 and encouraged her to use all of her experience and administrative skills to come and serve this community. My mother served relentlessly, tirelessly. You know my mother. You know she loved this pension board. FOR 30 YEARS, MY MOTHER HAS NEVER MISSED ONE MEETING UNTIL THE MEETING PRECEDING HER DEATH IN FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR. MY MOTHER LOVED SERVING THE CITY OF RIVERA BEACH AND MY MOTHER INSTILLED IN ALL OF US A LOVE TO SERVE OUR COMMUNITY. SO WE JUST REALLY, REALLY, REALLY WANT TO THANK YOU FOR ACKNOWLEDGING HER LIFE AND HER LEGACY.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU TO THE BOARD. THANK YOU FOR THE TIME, THE BOARD MEMBERS.

NEW SPEAKER YES. Does anyone else standing there, Cynthia Becton of this one?

Good evening. I'm Cynthia Becton, a member of the city of Riviera Beach as a resident, but I'm also a member of the pension board. I have two members here with me. We are a seven member board. And to you right now, we do have two vacancies that need to be dealt with. Councilperson Guyton, I know you are very familiar with pension issues. We appreciate some of the things that you've done along those lines. I do wanna share with you that the other two persons that are here with me may want to say something. We are very, very grateful for the legacy that Ms. Kendricks left. It was one of dedication, of commitment, she was very, very, very concerned about the general employees and they needed to be served in an effective way. Sometimes general employees don't quite get everything that they should. That's unfortunate because if you think about your city's infrastructure, so much of that is possible because of the work of your general employees. So it was critical, it was important to us that this fund was very moving forward. I do want to share with you that it is fully funded. we are at 100%. So you do not have to worry about the General Employee Pension Fund. We're doing just fine.

Thank you, Ms. Baxter. Does anyone else, would anyone else like to say anything very quickly?

Good evening. It appears that they put me on the spot, but that's okay. I want to first of all say thank you to the board for your continued support. Ms. Kindred was instrumental in my life. She was very outspoken on the board. EXTREMELY OUTSPOKEN ON THE BOARD. BUT WE RESPECT IT. AND WHEN I SAY THE BOARD REALLY RESPECTED HER POSITION AND HER OPINION AS THE CHAIR OF THIS BOARD BECAUSE SHE SERVED FOR MANY YEARS. SHE DEVELOPED RELATIONSHIPS and she was able to for the newcomers at the time several years back when i joined the board she was able to guide me and direct me in the right direction so for that i am very grateful and my condolences again to the family uh for their grateful loss and thank you again for your continued support and mayor lawson we appreciate this thank you thank you very much and

And my grateful gratitude to Mrs. Kendricks, who I worked with when I was on the police pension board. I served as chair a few years, four years. We would go to conferences together. She's always been an inspiration and very knowledgeable about what she did. Thank you very much. And we certainly appreciate you coming tonight, recognizing a legend in our community.

Definitely. Our condolences.

Thank you.

What are you all about to take a picture?

OK. OK, we're moving on to the next item now. The next item is number eight. Is that correct, Madam Clerk?

Yes, sir. Mr. Chair, we are on item 8A, ordinance 4284, an ordinance of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, approving a small-scale future land use map amendment to change the land use designation from recreation to community facility submitted by core and pgal inc on behalf of the city of riviera beach for the purpose of constructing a new police department headquarters generally located at 1621 west blue heron boulevard and identified by property control numbers five six four three four two two nine zero four zero zero seven zero one eight one and five six four three four two ALONG WITH TWO ABANDONED PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. MR. CHAIR, WE HAVE PUBLIC COMMENT CARDS ON THIS ITEM. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE CARDS IS CLOSED.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I ENTERTAIN THE MOTION. to approve this item? So moved.

Miller-Anderson.

You moved it? No. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson moved it. It was seconded by Vice Chair Spiritus. We normally go to staff. I think that we've seen this presentation at least three times now. Nothing has changed. Do we need a presentation?

I JUST WANTED TO HAVE THE CITY ATTORNEY TO GIVE US AN UPDATE ON THE LAWSUIT THAT HAS BASICALLY HELD UP THE CONTINUATION OF THIS PROJECT TO GIVE US AN UPDATE IN TERMS OF WHERE WE ARE WITH THAT AND HOW LONG WE HAVE TO WAIT TO BREAK GROUND WITH THIS PROJECT.

Ms. Lanier, yes. A motion for rehearing, as you all know, was filed in this case. It was denied by the court. However, there is an appellate time that has to happen and it's 30 days that will end on July 1st. If nothing is filed by July 1st, then we can move forward.

Okay. So we need to have a ground breaking after 7, 1.

I think it's file. Thank you. You're welcome.

OK. Are there any further comments before I go to public comment? Public comment, please.

Mr. Chair, we have two public comment cards. The first will be sending March. The second will be Dr. Julie Botel.

Good evening, Council. Cindy Marge. Good evening. I just want to ask, what's the reason for not putting the police station back where it should be? They do need a police station, and they've been long need a police station, and I'm for a new police station. I'm not against it. But being that they did not cross their T's and dotted their I's and was very misleading information, I feel, though, let us know why in a $35 million bond, to build a police station when it's the city property anyway. And the traffic is terrible there. There's already a school there. You got to go across three, four lanes. And that's a hazard. Why not put it back where it's supposed to go, by the city hall? What's the reason for not putting it back there? And we almost bonded out of money if we're not bonded out of money. Where are the kids going to go? They don't have wells. They don't have tape. Now we're talking about taking away Barracuda Bay when we can refurbish Barracuda Bay for our kids. Barracuda Bay was never there to make money. Never. Because if it was, it was bad manners. Because if so, they would have been repaired Barracuda Bay. It wouldn't have got to the point where you all feel like it needs to be demolished. And I'm just asking for them to rethink this because they did not cross their teeth and dot their I's before they got this agreement. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker.

The next speaker is Dr. Julie Botel.

Thank you. Good evening. Julie Botel, Singer Island Riviera Beach. Once again, I'm here to urge approval of this ordinance and to keep the new police headquarters at the Barracuda Bay site. Riviera Beach has been discussing a new police headquarters for decades. Millions of dollars, millions of dollars have already been spent on planning, engineering, and development. Meanwhile, our police officers continue to work from a temporary leased facility that was never intended to be a permanent headquarters. By some estimates, that lease is costing taxpayers as much as $700,000 every year, and every delay means more lease payments, more inflation more redesign costs and more taxpayer dollars spent this city's own analysis identified the barracuda bay site as a practical solution with sufficient space and lower development costs than some alternatives Changing course now would mean reopening years of work, revisiting decisions that have already been made, and risking additional years of delay. And this is not just another city building. It must support the specialized operations required by a modern police department. Every day, we ask our officers to protect us. The least we could do is provide them with a headquarters designed to do their job. I also believe it's important to remember that the Barracuda Bay site was part of a bond program presented to the voters of Riviera Beach. 71% of voters approved that bond program. 71% said, yes, we want that there. At the last meeting, council was warned that moving the project to a different site could create additional legal, financial, and funding complications. could require redesign and result in further delays in expense. That should concern every single taxpayer. I also know, as was just mentioned, that litigation has been filed challenging this project, but the existence of a lawsuit should not automatically bring progress to a halt. This council's responsibility is to make the decision that's right for Riviera Beach, and then defend that decision through the appropriate legal process. Don't let the threat of litigation become another reason for yet more delay. A police headquarters has been studied long enough, debated long enough, and delayed long enough. Our officers have waited way too long and our taxpayers had paid enough. Riviera Beach deserves better than another round of delay. I respectfully ask you to approve this ordinance and to keep the project moving forward. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Is there any other discussion on the diet? If not, Madam Chair, please go. I'm sorry.

Can I say something? Yes, Mr. Chair. LET ME JUST GO ON RECORD AS SAYING THAT I HAVE SPOKEN OUT ABOUT THE LOCATION FOR A LONG TIME. I AM AN EDUCATOR. I LIVE IN THAT AREA. I WORK IN THAT AREA. AND I STILL HAVE A LOT OF CONCERNS ABOUT THE SAFETY, ABOUT US LOSING. an asset to our community um like i said i've spoken to a lot of law enforcement officers from the school district outside the school district who also believe that that place is not ideal for the station however with the 35 i i cannot um with all that we are going through right now i cannot see losing out on the $35 million, is that correct? $35 million bond. Yes, it's $35 million bond. But I do want to go on record and say why I have not supported it for this long, but the $35 million, I mean, we can't afford to lose that. So I just wanted to say that.

Thank you for the comment. Are there any further comments? Dr. Spiridus.

I have similar concerns as Councilwoman Pinier said The location, it doesn't make any sense to me, the people who made a decision to put it in this location and to take down a $23 million aquatic center that is really in very good shape, quite frankly, to take down a $23 million facility and turn it into dirt for a new police headquarters when we did have other locations to put the police station. But as my colleague said, I don't want to stand in the way of the police department getting their station. These were decisions that should have been made a long time ago. I don't think they were properly made. I did read, by the way, the case laws that council gave to me that were used as one of the reasons why we may not be able to move the police headquarters to a different location based on bond council. I READ THOSE THREE CASES THAT WERE GIVEN TO ME. ACTUALLY THEY SHOWED JUST THE OPPOSITE. THEY SHOWED THAT WE COULD MOVE IT BECAUSE WE WERE VERY HONEST TO THE PUBLIC. WE SAID THAT WE WERE GOING TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO MOVE ANY COMPONENT OR CHANGE ANY COMPONENT OF THE POLICE STATION IF WE FELT IT WAS IN THE PUBLIC GOOD TO DO SO. BUT REGARDLESS, I'M GOING TO SUPPORT THIS PROJECT BECAUSE I I believe we have to move forward with the police headquarters. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Are there any further comments? Councilwoman Lanier and then Mayor Lawson. Thank you.

To say that when it comes to this police station, this was something that this council did seven years ago. There were eight to 10 charrettes for community input into where this would go. The city looked into where, we looked into how much it would cost us. We decided on a location because we own that land. The city put together a item that went to the voters with the knowledge of this is where it was going to go, this is how much it was going to cost. 71 of those voters say yes we want it there and we want to spend this money to actually get it done and i think that these things that happen in terms of these 8 to 12 charrettes this predated the two council people here so i can understand their position in terms of having a different place but this had already been done years before these two got here and the fact that there were charrettes, there was community input, and there was a bond that went to the voters. The voters decided this. It wasn't just this board. The voters said to the city, to us, that this is what we want. So I want to make it clear that this was not something that this board by itself decided. This was something that the voters decided.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Mayor Lawson.

Thank you. The I echo those exact same comments. Thank you, Ms. Lanier. Those were the concerns and the thoughts that I had. Absolutely supporting this, spending years of actually vetting this process and understanding that this location was properly vetted by the staff. The taxpayers voted over 60% to support this bond, almost 70%. The initiative was to bring it to this location for this amount of money that they were willing to support, and that was the understanding. So this wasn't a decision of the council, as one of my colleagues said. This was the community that actually decided on this, and I wanted to see this get done. I want to make sure that we cross every T moving forward for our staff and make sure that this process is not delayed anymore. Unfortunately, we're at these discussions because we continue to delay this process. Let's get this station built. Our police officers deserve this, and they've been working on this tirelessly for years. Thank you, Major Thomas, for the work that you've done with developing this. and to Development Services for bringing it to us. But colleagues, if we can unanimously support this, this would be great to continue to move Riviera Beach forward.

Chair. Thank you, Mayor Loftin. Vice Chair Sviridic.

So I just want to make it very clear that my colleague, the two new members of the council, myself and Councilwoman Panier, we voted, they had $20 million to this project. That's how much we believe in our police department and building a new police station.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Are there any other comments? Hearing none, Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier? Yes. Councilperson Lanier? Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson? Yes. Chairperson Tim, Dr. Spiritus?

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

That's a unanimous vote.

Thank you. Okay, we're moving right into item 10. No, excuse me, item 11.8.

Item 11A, Resolution 90-25, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, approving a site plan application submitted by CORE and PGAL Inc. on behalf of the City of Riviera Beach for the construction of a new police department headquarters generally located at 1621 West Blue Heron Boulevard and identified by property control numbers 56434229040070181 5, 6, 4, 3, 4, 2, 2, 9, 0, 4, 0, 0, 7, 0, 0, 1, 0, and 5, 6, 4, 2, 4, 3, 4, 2, 2, 9, 0, 4, 0, 0, 8, 0, 0, 1, 0, along with two abandoned public right of way, providing for conditions of approval, providing for an effective date and for other purposes. Mr. Chair, we have one public comment guide for this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

Thank you. I entertain a motion. It's been moved by Vice Chair Spiridouk.

Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur. We have had this presentation before too. It's related to the item we just voted on. I don't need a presentation. Does anyone else up here need a presentation? If not, we'll move to the public comment card, please.

We have one public speaker, Cindy March.

Once again, let's keep in mind we can agree and disagree. Everybody has the right to their own opinion. So to come out and try to input the same similarity of how you feel about something. Ain't worth a hill of beans. Give the other people a chance to speak their opinion, whether we agree or not. We all agree with the police station, the police officer need a new police station. We're not in disagreement with that, but cross your T's and dot your I's. The barricade debate was stated to be in place until 2032. You all didn't go and do your research, because if you did, you would have put the right things in place when you brought this presentation years ago up to the board. Whether 71% of the residents agree or whether 10% agree, you didn't do your homework. You all were very misleading. You had a person like a city manager up here being shielded by what you present all the time with a bunch of lies, and it needs to stop. The only way we're going to move this city forward is being honest, and transparent to our residents and our taxpayers when you come and present a project that you want to pass that's suitable for you. We all understand the first question we're going to call on is our first responder. I love the police department. This is the best police chief we have had in many years. So I'm not doubting that. But let people on this board have their opinion, just like you all have a bunch of lives.

Thank you for the comment.

That's in the public comment.

Thank you. Are there any further comments from Diane? If not, Madam Chair, please call the question. I mean, Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Pennier? Yes. Councilperson Lanier? Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson? Yes. Chair Pro Tem Dr. Spiridon?

Yes.

Chair Pro Sengaiton?

Yes.

That's the unanimous vote.

Okay. Next item is that we move 11B,

No, sir. We are on item 11B, resolution number 0226, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the execution of vacant property registration contract to provide vacant property registration with the top ranked firm, Harrah Property Registry, LLC, obtained through a request for qualifications, number 1186-25-4, for an initial three-year period with an option to renew for two additional one-year renewal options provided that Harrah Property Registry LLC shall remit 50% of each collected registration fee to the city and providing an effective date. Mr. Chair, we do not have comment cards on this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

I will entertain a motion for approval, please. So moved. It's been moved by Vice Chair Sperry.

Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. Staff, would you give us a brief summary with this?

Hello, good evening, Chair, Council, and the public. Resolution number 2-26 is seeking approval for an organization called Harrah Property Registry, LLC, to provide vacant property registration. And they were the highest, I'm sorry, the lowest bidder, the lowest qualified bidder as a result of solicitation 1186-25-4.

And exactly what will they be doing?

Mr. Chair, if I may.

Yes.

For the record, Clarence Sermons, director of development services. The Code Compliance Division operates under the state's enabling legislature, allowing cities to establish a vacant property registration program. This allows cities to stay on top of vacant properties to ensure that we are applying the appropriate level of oversight for landlords, the absentee landlords that may not otherwise maintain those properties. So having them registered allows us to provide better oversight and ensure maintenance of those properties until they are occupied once again. And this company verifies those roles to make sure anything in foreclosure is properly registered so we can do that.

So they help to monitor vacant properties and make sure that they are maintained until they are occupied.

they bring to our attention any properties that have gone into foreclosure so that we can, as soon as possible, know that a property has become vacant and our staff continues to be the eyes on the road, eyes on the ground, so to speak, to ensure that those properties continue to be maintained, cut, trimmed, and that they don't become a nuisance to the neighborhood.

Okay. Are there any further questions?

Chair?

Yes, Vice Chair.

I would just... I would just, as I said to you during the briefing, it's important that when we get this information and the city should look into turning some of these code violations into liens on the property and foreclosing, because a lot of these properties are owned by absentee landlords. They're there for investment purposes. They're waiting for as long as they can to increase the value. They know the value is going up every year. We don't want to let them sit there with abandoned properties properties are not being kept. I think it would be very good if we sent a message to a couple of these absentee landlords that the city will not stand for this type of situation in our community.

Mr. Chair, if I may. Anytime the city goes in to cut, maintain, or do any work on the property, we do record that as a code enforcement lien on the property. So that happens in every instance. However, going to the extent of foreclosure, we'll make sure we discuss that with legal to make sure we're applying as much pressure as necessary to ensure our neighborhoods are high quality. Thank you.

Okay. Any further comments? Hearing none, Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier?

Yes.

Councilperson Lanier? Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson? Yes. Chair Pro Tem Dr. Spiridon?

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

That's a unanimous vote.

Okay. We have one more item before we'll go into public comment. Item 11C.

Mr. Chair, we are on resolution number 186-25, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach. Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the execution of a lot clearing, cutting, and related services agreement between the City of Riviera Beach and Fresh Start Maintenance, Inc., and Arborea Landscape, obtained through invitation to bid 119-25-4 for an initial three-year period, with an option to renew for two additional one-year renewal periods, authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to make payments from 1011 7104-53100 and providing an effective date. Mr. Chair, there are no public comments on this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

I entertain a motion for approval. So moved. Moved by Vice Chair Spiridou.

Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur. Staff.

Yes, Latonya Ammons, Director of Procurement. Resolution number 186 dash 25 seeking approval of a contract with 2 companies that will be fresh start maintenance and a boring landscape and tree llc to provide a lot clearing cutting in related services as needed by the development services division.

Are there any questions from the board from the council. Here in 9. Madam clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier. Yes. Councilperson Lanier. Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson. Yes. Chairperson Dr. Spiridon.

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton.

Yes.

That's a unanimous vote.

Thank you, staff. We'll move right into public comment now. Actually, I don't want to start earlier than what is supposed to be. Someone will say we started earlier. Mr.

Chair.

Yes.

You can go ahead and start, and then she can continue to take cards until you stop at 7.30.

Okay. Let's start public comment.

Mr. Chair, we have 11 public comment cards. The first speaker is Annette Draga, followed by Scott Lewis and Rochelle Hughes.

Hello, everyone. Hello. Annette Dragon, Riviera Beach. First off, I'd like to say thank you to Mr. Guyton for actually getting today's meeting started at 6 o'clock on the dot. Compliments. Second thing, could everybody please speak directly into their microphones when they're speaking? We're not hearing too well at the back. Clarity would help. Now, I actually have done some digging around in public records, and I pulled some items from public records with the help of Ms. Hall and her department, particularly a lady by the name of Pamela, thank you, about personnel evaluations. Random titles, job titles, and I got the information One of them, the last review, was done in 2017, one of them, the review, was done in 2020, one of them was done in 2022, one in 2023, and a bunch of them that have never had a review. What I would like to suggest is that City Council and the staff at City Hall actually put together some kind of way of utilizing an annual review on a standardized form. All of the reviews that I received were in different formats. These need to be standardized, and they need to be done on an annual basis. And I believe that they need to be done by their immediate superior of that particular position and a council member. Next item on my shopping list There's a lack of response apart from one person on city council to emails that are sent out. Also lack of response from Mr. Mayor. I sent stuff out to Mr. Mayor three weeks ago after his town hall meeting and never got a response. I do know that Mr. Range actually pointed it out to you, but I don't know whether you read it, whether you thought about it, or whether you even think it should be responded to. In my opinion, if I get an email from somebody, I send a thank you note and I'll get back to them if I haven't got an immediate response. That's common courtesy. And finally, this one's directed at the interim city manager. When are we going to get our roads resurfaced and restriped in Lone Pine? This was supposed to have been done last October. It hasn't happened yet. Can we get some kind of clarity as to when that is going to happen? Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

The next speakers are Scott Lewis, Rochelle Hughes and Lloyd Brown.

Scott Lewis, 256 East 22nd Court. I have heard, I'm on the audit committee, as you know, and I've heard that the bond repayments, because I've been asking here and in the audit committee, would we please get a future five-year, what is a resident going to have to pay on all their property taxes and the hidden fees that are built into the Riviera Beaches plans? We've never gotten that. But what I did hear was that the bond repayment, even though you're spending the money already, today you've spent millions starting up with the police department, the fire stations are built. The bond repayment conveniently starts happening with us, not this year, conveniently after next year's election of the council. So it's going to be hidden what the real costs are to us till after the election. You know, I, I really, really want to see some effort to reduce all the tremendous waste that is so obvious to the residents. I mean, you aren't an employment agency. You're not a pickleball court manager. Employees don't need private saunas. We don't have to have this huge special events funds, which is always supported by other parts of the city and cost taxpayers 500,000 plus a year. And last year, when I came to the tax meeting, the biggest topic you all talked about was the 500,000 wasn't enough. You wanted more. You know, I'm glad i'm not sure whether i'm in support of it but i'm glad tallahassee last night shook the hell out of local governments because it's time you all need to wake up you're probably after the 125 water bill increase that's coming to all of us i don't doubt this will be the highest taxed city in palm beach county and yet it's one of the poorest cities but you build the most expensive fire stations in the county, and you build the most expensive water plant, I believe, in the state. You know, it's got to stop somewhere. Please start thinking about austerity. Think about your residents that pay the tax money to support this. This is not a slush fund. I mean, I have an old thing my father used to say to me. He said, you know, you need to sit by and watch he said because there's an old saying that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered you all need to wake up please help us thank you for your comments next speaker please the next speaker is rochelle hughes followed by lloyd brown and derek dorsett

Good evening, Rochelle Hughes, Lone Pine Estates. Honestly, I don't even know what I was going to be saying.

I just got all flustered.

But I do want to make a comment. I'm very happy about the police station. and that approval i think it's great our officers deserve a facility where they can do everything right in one one place i also want to commend the officers officer gordon major come on chief coleman and officer mcfadden um there's a little bit of an i'm not going to say an issue but um the rapids water park is has started back there friday evenings adult evenings from six to ten and um there's a little bit of an issue with the um dj music and we it's loud and we can hear it i can hear it inside my house the front of the house outside the house whatever so they're helping me with that so i just want to

say kudos to them for for being there and and um helping me with that situation and um that's all i got bye thank you for your comments next um speaker please the next speaker is lloyd brown i think he loves that emilio brown wait i think mr dorsett is here okay so as derek nurse said emilio brown and then cindy mark

Good evening. Good evening. Mr. D.A. Dorset, city resident. Haven't been here in a while, but I'm here now. I got a few things I need to bring up. I did bring it up to Councilman Bruce, so he knows some of these things. Signs for Cunningham Park that will tell park users to clean up behind themselves. I live right there on 30th in the 1400 block and I walk every morning. I see dog poop. I see all kinds of, you know, when these guys come and play at night, they basketball, they leave a bunch of trash. So we definitely need to do a, do something with that. Need some serious signage there. And we need to get after the people that's leaving it. Um, we trying to keep our city clean, like other cities, Tequesta, Jupiter, Wellington, and so on and so forth. Um, I'm looking for a location to pass out food boxes. So I need a location. Hopefully that the city can help me do that because right now a lot of people need food. I have the ability to get the food, but I don't have a location. Issue with cars not stopping on S Avenue between 29th and 30th. right there with the school, right there where the Cunningham Park is. I almost got ran over twice. And there's no way they don't see me with this red hat on. These people are just flying right through the stop. They're not even stopping. They're just slowing down and keep going. Even if there's children right there wanting to get across. There's a guard at one end on 29th, but she can't be at 30th. So I even had to last week... stop a car from passing through that so the kids can go across the street. So that's a major problem. I'm surprised nobody has gotten killed there because the way they rip and run in R Avenue and 30th is a problem too. Mobile food trucks, rules and regulations.

Excuse me, whoever's phone that is, please turn it off or the volume down. Sorry about that. You can have your time back too.

Go ahead. Yeah, I just got the... Can I get some more time, please? Rules and regulations for that. All of the food trucks that are out right now, I know there's like three or four of them, they're not legal. They're in violation. Based on the rules and regulations I just read, all of them are in violation. And y'all been letting it go for years. I've been wanting to start my own food truck. But you have so many requirements, it's hard to do that. I WOULD LIKE TO START A GREEN MARKET AS WELL SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. THAT'S SOMETHING I'M LOOKING TO. UNLEASH DOGS, THAT'S A PROBLEM. AND I WANT TO SAY BIG THANKS TO THE MAINTENANCE CREW FOR DOING THEIR JOB OUT THERE. I SEE THEM DOING IT, PICKING UP, BUT THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TO PICK UP EVERYTHING THAT'S IN THE PARK. WE NEED TO MAKE THESE PEOPLE THAT COME AND UTILIZE THE PARK PICK UP THEIR OWN TRASH. SO I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMMENT. NEXT SPEAKER, PLEASE.

Next speakers are Emilio Brown, Cindy March and Michael Jordan. Emilio Brown, Cindy March and Michael Jordan. Following Michael Jordan will be TK. So it's Cindy March, Michael Jordan and then TK.

would be the next speaker.

Good evening again, council. I first of all want to thank whoever ideal it was to collaborate together to make a wrong a right and bringing Josh back on board as an employee because I felt like it was done unfairly. That's why we should have did what we were supposed to have done, but we should have completed the job that same night. That way it wouldn't have caused that. Number two, once I put that on social media, social media can help you or hurt you. You should see the comments in my inbox about Mr. Josh. It was very nice. We cannot come in here just because the employee can't have their way. Then you're going to diminish somebody else's reputation or character because you feel like you've been here three years and you don't have a title and he can't tell you what to do. It's not about the title. What good is showing up for a job if you're not going to do the job? Don't care who the boss is. Don't care what color creed they are. Don't care because you have to follow protocol. And I felt like it was so good to bring Mr. Josh back. So whoever I really was to bring him back, I thank you. And that's what you call great leadership. That's what you call great management. That way all the employees don't get stuck in a sandbox and then be walking around here, like they're on ice shells or eggshells coming to their job every day. You all don't know what it is to not know when you don't have a job because the he say, she say. And that's not fair. And the person that reached out to me, that called himself a whistleblower, he reached out to me first. And I documented everything he said. And I told him, I will have a discussion with Mr. Josh, but I don't work for the city. I said, but I will have a discussion because he was one of the picks that I picked when they interviewed everybody here. And I went back to the young man. After I found out Mr. Josh got his job back, he called me. The guy called me. I said, you know, I'm glad I didn't come to this microphone like I had an Easter speech. Because I would be embarrassed. It's two sides to any story. We can agree and we can disagree. And I can't say that enough. But we have to be honest to one another in order to move this city forward. I don't care what color you is. It's just that simple. I do want to thank you. And for a pavement or whatever you need on your street back in October. This assistant, this manager here, he was not the manager. So I don't need an address and all your problems to him because he's not here to stay. Whoever you address your problem to in October, you should have looked to see that job was done then. And that will be Mr. Evans.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.

Next speaker is Michael Jordan, followed by TK and JB Dixon.

Good evening, Council, and everybody in their respective places. I hope everybody had a great day. I want to say, first of all, I thank you, Mr. Guyton, for starting on time and pushing this meeting right the way it needs to go. I know I have witnessed this before and noticed this and never said nothing about it. I'm saying it tonight with respect to everybody. If it rubs you the wrong way and the shoe fit, only thing I can do is tell you to wear it. Everybody up there, past and present, to me is of vital importance. You make decisions, you vote on different things, and that's to be respected. Whether I like it or not, I'm not up there. You know what I'm saying? I can make my decision at the polls. But to make Some comments to make people think because they are new or they were not here when things happen, that their opinion don't matter. I think that's so disrespectful. I think that's very disrespectful. I want you to know, Mrs. Senor Davis and Mr. Spiritus, you have the right. You're up there. I don't care if you was up there by default. You have a right to your opinion. You have the right to agree or disagree. It does not matter who like it or who thinks that you shouldn't be there because you won by default or it didn't happen whenever they made a decision years ago. this is my thing and what's important to me you're there stay there until it's your time to leave Look at things very carefully. Make your decision when you know you're supposed to make it. Vote against whatever you want to vote against. Doesn't matter what the audience say. Doesn't matter what I say. Do your job. Because some of them that have been there for a very long time, I didn't like a lot of the opinions that they gave. But I respected it, even though I know a lot of them wasn't fair and there was a lot of shaky stuff going on. But like I said, I respected that. All I want everybody to do is work together as a team and respect one another. Second of all, the accountability. Stop treating public funds like it's a home-based business. OK, we have to respect everything and you have to respect the residents of Riviera Beach. That's of vital importance. And I don't think what I'm saying is disrespectful. You know, it's the truth. If you think it's disrespectful, that's your opinion. I respect that. But I know I'm not being disrespectful because I practice respecting everybody. I welcome you back, Mr. Wilkins, for the temporary time that you're here because I followed you years ago. You always did an excellent job. So just keep doing what you're doing. And I want the entire council to do that. I thank you for what you're doing with the youth. But I have to watch my behavior. And if they're going to be our future, you need to watch your behavior as well. And I hope all of you have a good night.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is TK followed by J.B. Dixon and Delores Williams.

I'm sorry, who?

TK, J.B. Dixon and then Delores Williams.

OK. TK Soul. How you doing? I'm sorry?

That's a soul artist. Oh, okay. I thought maybe you meant like TK Waters up in Duval County. I know it's common. Thank you. My name is Tanyel Kushakian. I go by TK44132nd Street in West Palm Beach. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, council members, and residents of Riviera Beach. My name is Tanyel TK Kushakian, and I'm a candidate for the Port of Palm Beach Commission. Now I want to start by thanking the City Council for your service and your continued commitment to the residents of Riviera Beach. And I'm here tonight because I believe the Port of Palm Beach is one of the greatest economic assets in Palm Beach County. It is more than a port. It is an economic engine that supports jobs, commerce, and opportunity throughout our region. The port's business is business, and no community has a greater stake in the port's business and success than Riviera Beach. Today, the Port Palm Beach Commission should be creating jobs, attracting new business, and planning for the future, not sitting in gridlock. Unfortunately, for the past eight months, one of the five seats on the Port Commission has remained vacant, the longest vacancy ever in the history of the Port Commission. Regardless of politics or personalities, I believe that Palm Beach County deserves a fully seated, fully functioning Port Commission. A vacant seat means one less voice representing the community and one more obstacle to moving important projects forward. Whether it's attracting additional cruise ships, expanding economic opportunities, strengthening relationships with local businesses, or pursuing regional development goals, we need a commission that is focused on progress, not paralysis. I also believe the residents deserve a transparency from their government. The people of Riviera Beach should be able to watch Port Commission meetings from their homes just as they watch city council meetings. It's pretty simple. Government works best when the public can see decisions being made, ask questions, and hold elected officials accountable. Transparency shouldn't be an afterthought. It should be a core principle of good government. My campaign is built around three priorities, more jobs, good governance, and greater economic opportunity. As someone who grew up here in Palm Beach County, attended our public schools, became the first person in my family to graduate from college in the United States, and built a career working in government, critical infrastructure, economic development, and public policy, I understand both the challenges and opportunities facing our community. I also live just a stone's throw away from Port of Palm Beach in the north end of West Palm. So this isn't just an issue that is distant or theoretical to me. The success of the port affects my family, my neighborhood, and my region. Throughout my career, I've worked on some of Florida's largest infrastructure and economic development initiatives, and I know how to build partnerships, solve problems, and bring people together to move projects forward. The Port of Palm Beach has tremendous potential, ladies and gentlemen, but potential alone doesn't create jobs. Potential alone doesn't attract investment. Potential alone doesn't strengthen communities. Intentional leadership does. I'm running because I believe we can build a port that is transparent, accountable, more competitive, and focused on creating opportunities for Riviera Beach residents and for all of Palm Beach. Please go to tkforport.com. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Our next speaker, please.

The next speaker is J.B. Dixon, followed by Dolores Williams and Dorinda Paul. The acceptance of public comment cards is closed.

J.B. Dixon from Singer Island in Riviera Beach. Since our city council is also the board for our utility district meeting, I want to address the entire situation of Josh Neiman. Among all the talk and the burbling about transparency, transparency, there has been no transparency at all. We had a district director His name was Lowe. You all fired him. Then you went on what you described as this massive search for the perfect utility director. So you got in this Josh Neiman, who you seem to think very well of. Shortly after he came here, you fired him. Then, no explanation. Where is the letter of termination for Josh Neiman? I would like to see it. It's part of public record. After you fired him, with no explanation, you brought him back, also with no explanation.

Supposedly, there was an internal auditor report.

Was there? If so, we would like to see it. I understand there is a bit of a record behind this gentleman. And no, I don't want to see him come back after he was fired with no explanation either. He was not fired fairly, or he's guilty of something, in which case we don't want him back. Where is your explanation? I would like to see it before we leave this room tonight. And please don't carry on about transparency when you are not providing any of it. Why was this man not put on paid administrative leave, like the previous director was low? Why was he fired? No explanation, no explanation to bring him back. Obviously, the acting city manager brought him back. But please don't try to tell me that one or more of you did not direct him to do so. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Dolores Williams, followed by Doretta Paul.

Everybody, the Citizens Council. I don't know what I need to say about it. They're saying bringing up stuff that was sort of been taken care of.

seven and eight years ago and 12 years ago. Now you say these new councilmen.

Could you talk into the mic, please?

New councilman, chairman is responsible. And about Mr. Josh, I met with all those five applicants that was for the water plant. You all up there decide that he was a good person. I'm glad he's back. You brought him back. I don't know what happened. But I know we was leaving a meeting you had there with the mayor, and somebody ran up to us and said, they just walked Josh off the premises. I've seen some other men walked off the premises from their job. If he was brought back to do a job, to me, it felt like, I don't mean Mr. Wilkerson did it, but I think I can go back and talk to him, and I'll find out how it really happened. Because Josh, he was doing a good job. It's more than this side of that and that side of that. Open the whole book up and see. Look at the continents and see what it's saying in that book of what's been going on. You got people been up there that even care about this city. They say they did, but I don't think they did. Six, seven, eight, nine, 12 years. Nothing was done. Now you got these new people up here, and I hope you don't start that junk again by getting rid of Miss Davis and Mr. Spears. Talk about how he got in here. It was a lawsuit. He defended the thing, the challenge. And y'all always want to hear about the judge. The judge ruled. Did the judge rule for him that she walk in because the mayor didn't want to run for a seat? Nobody challenged her seat, but she's there. Look up the reasons. And I think Mr. Johnson, if he felt like that, if he wanted to come back and work here for this city, because, you know, you had Mr. Evans when it first happened and he wasn't intended to come back here. But as you had some people got to say, we worked and we worked and we worked. till we got him back here. So I wish y'all to stop trying to put this blame on this new council. It seemed like y'all, you had the one and the yes and the no. When they're supposed to say yes, they say no. When they're supposed to say no, they say yes. Look at them for what they've done here up here. You say you want this city to move? I don't think so. You got those stone faced, stone hearted, don't want to do nothing but say what it should have been. Let's see what it can be today for the future. We're not going back to the past. We're going for the future. Don't bring up, don't be trying to set up these new rules and you didn't set up or another person was there. You didn't care about it.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker, please.

The last speaker is Loretta Paul.

Good evening, my name is Doretta Park. And I just want to say a comment concerning Chair Guyton. When the youth council was up here, you were saying, okay, let's move this meeting along, but they hadn't even finished their presentation. And you're doing that to our young youth who will possibly be on the board be a attorney, be a city manager, you can't do that. You have to have respect for them. And I thought that was very wrong for you to say, okay, let's move this meeting on. And the entire project hadn't been fully told because they are doing remarkable things, these youth. And also the council people who's navigated this council. for them. And I went to the city, Ms. Deborah Hall, who's the city clerk. And she was very gracious because I really wanted to know what happened with Mr. Nielsen. And I wanted to see about an audit. And what I got from her was that the price of this generator, it was $678,000. And that And I just wanted to find out when you fired him, Mr. Wilkins, the city manager, and you rehired him, like other people want to know what happened? What happened to make you bring this man back to the city? And why was he fired initially? And is there an audit report on this generator? Cause we need to know this is our taxpayers money. And does this generator even work? It's operable. Is it because this is our taxpayer money that when we get a starting September, October, our bill is going to be enormously high. And as far as, um, And as far as this TIF fund, I have to go back on it each time because I just wanted to find out, what are you all gonna plan to do with that money? When are you gonna have some of that money go to the residents who cannot pay for their water bill. Another issue came up when you had U.S. Sugar, I think his name is Mr. Miller, and he was saying that he needs to stay here a little longer because some people not getting acclimated. And Mr. Brinson came and said he is. So I hope there won't be any retaliation on Mr. Brinson. I thank you so much.

Okay, we're moving along now. Our next item, we're on discussion and deliberation. Is that correct?

Yes, sir. We are on, Mr. Chair, we're on.

12A, I see Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. Yep, put this item on. Youth Council staff and community travel for the 2026 All-America City finalist delegation to Denver. You have the floor.

Thank you. You really rushed us on through this agenda. I didn't realize we were there yet.

We're not going to be here all night.

We just wanted to be able to provide you all with an update regarding the All-America City Award trip. So as you all know, we did put out at the very beginning, numerous times we were asking for community businesses and residents to come out and support and participate in the event as well as elected officials. I guess you all are going to cheer with us from home because we are going to have, we're going to look to have like a little watch party. So hopefully we could get many other people engaged in a part of the performance as we are doing it over there. I'm sorry? Huh? What was that?

I think it was something in And the mic, something came on. I don't know from communications. But go ahead.

I've never seen that or heard that before. Okay.

It sounded like a commercial or something was coming on.

Oh, it sounded like somebody was screaming at me, but okay.

Oh, no, no, it wasn't that. Okay.

But anyway, we're looking to have like a watch party here on that evening. It will be that Sunday evening, I think the 28th of June, if I'm not mistaken. We'll have all those details for you all. so that you could participate. But again, it is about those three programs that we have, the Youth Council, the Citizens Leadership Academy and the CRA Neighborhood Reclaim Program. So we'll continue to give you updates on that. We have about close to 30 people I think that are going Obviously the youth council, we do have some nonprofits, some business owners, and we are looking for sponsors. A couple so far. We're continuing to look for sponsors. We had the opportunity of being on Channel 12 on yesterday, highlighting the All-America Award event that we'll be attending, as well as reaching out for people to sponsor the trip as well. So if anyone is still interested in supporting, please just reach out to our offices and we'll be able to direct you in the right way.

Thank you, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. Does anybody on the diets have any further comments on that item? If not, we'll move right into 12B, small business enterprise and local vendor policy.

Good evening. Tanya Ammons, Director of Procurement. I'm here to discuss item 12b, small business enterprise and local vendor policy. I've been asked by council to come forth with a policy regarding our small business enterprise and vendors. And to the purpose of the slides tonight is just to have a discussion for the highlights of the particular policy. You will see in the presentation, my goal is to come back with a full policy based upon the comments tonight.

Walter, can you advance the slide?

Walter. Could you help with the slide from there?

I may have to stand at the podium.

Thank you.

So I bring forth today, thank you so much, why we should have this particular policy. One will be for economic growth to drive development by ensuring small and local businesses have a fair opportunity to compete for city contracts, code compliance. And so SBE or small business enterprise policy is outlined in our code of ordinances and then accountability. It establishes a transparent rule. So prime vendors, subcontractors in the city all understand their obligation. So we have two distinct programs that I want to present. One is the SBE participation. It looks like you can't see some of the font, but in our code, we have a 15% minimum goal under SBE. And then we also have a local vendor preference. And so part of that local vendor preference is number one for our bids. That will be our ITB, our hard bids. The local vendor preference as outlined in code does allow for a 5% adjustment on the cost just for ranking only and not for the cost or the price of the actual service. But who qualifies as an SBE is outlined in code. You can be certified by the state of Florida, Palm Beach County Office of Small Business Development, any county or state governmental agency. However, you must be domiciled in Palm Beach County. So that is who qualifies under the SBE category. How are SBEs been credited or counted? That's shown or depicted in the chart on the right-hand side. So in other words, if we have a vendor that is a small business enterprise, all of the money that we pay towards them will be counted towards the SVE goal of 15%. If they use someone that provides materials, that's counted 100%. If they are a manufacturer, 100%. And so second and third tier means that if the sub hires a sub that is also a small business, that would count towards the goal of 15% towards projects. The local vendor preference, again, is for a local vendor that's defined in code by you have to have a permanent physical place of business within the city of Riviera Beach city limits and a valid city business tax. And so for our current solicitations, we do have that form that is attached. So vendors can identify themselves as a local vendor. If it is, again, an ITB, their price can be adjusted for ranking purposes only. And also for our solicitations, we allow for 5% or 5 points, or just 5% of the points on the local vendor preference. So to our prime vendor obligations and required forms, As we move forward, all of our primes will have to submit a schedule one, which is our SBE and local vendor participation form. A schedule two is a letter of intent to perform. And that is one form per SBE subcontractor with a binding commitment signed by both the prime and the SBE. Again, this will have to be submitted with all of our bids if you plan to use a sub. And then schedule three will be the monthly payment activity report. I do want to note that the city's relationship is exclusively with the prime vendor at this time and subs have no direct contractual relationship with the city under the SBE and local vendor policy.

And so for a compliance perspective,

Oh, and let me note that vendors do have, or primes do have the ability, if they want to change, they can submit a request to change and it will have to be approved by the procurement department. So compliance and enforcement, if you have a false SBE representation, No schedule, you're disqualified if you do not provide a schedule bid and then you have one still represented in your package. If you have a pattern of noncompliance, suspension of debarment, that's already outlined in code as far as what the remedy is for vendors who are noncompliant. If we find out that there's unauthorized SBE substitution, we can issue a stop work and payment. and allow someone to rectify. If you're missing a Schedule III with an invoice, the invoice could be delayed. And then there's also a late payment to the subcontractor, which is outlined already in code in Section 16.5-297. And so again, I just want to reiterate that our mandatory SBE goal is 15%. We do have a local vendor bid cap adjustment of 5%. Under the code, a prime has 10 days to pay a subcontractor, and there are currently three schedules. And so next steps will be for after the Council discussion and feedback tonight to draft the final policy for the city attorney to review along with the city manager and then our target date is to bring this back to Council for full policy ratification on july one. And that is my discussion on that current policy, thank you, thank you for your presentation.

Do we have any public comment cards?

No, sir. We don't have any public comment cards on this item.

Okay. Any comments from the dais?

Chair, I have a question.

Yes, Vice Chair.

Director Ammons, can you tell me how do you handle a subcontractor or a local subcontractor that really doesn't have employees? They hire 1099 people. Are we going to make a differentiation between 1099 and an actual corporate employee?

No, at this time, if I understand your question, if a sub is a 1099.

No, no, no, I'm asking if the sub's employees are 1099s as opposed to being actual employees of the sub.

No, they shouldn't. As the sub itself is listed on the form, the sub is a business. So the sub has, the prime will... submit the sub's company information. We don't regulate who the sub hires.

But I'm looking to make sure that we are hiring employees that are full-time employees, not 1099s that are going to be paid on an hourly basis without benefits. So it's important, I think, that we rethink this and we come back and include something, an extra point in there or something to ensure that these people They're not just going to Home Depot and getting people for the day, but these are actual full-time employees from the city that get benefits and everything along with it, not just the 1099 form.

If I may repeat back what I think I heard, you would like for us to ensure that a sub on a contract with a prime hires non-1099 employees?

I think that we should just give extra credit if they're hiring full-time employees that are getting benefits and having their taxes paid, you know, in workers' comp, as opposed to a 1099 form for the day. I think there's a big difference in that, and I think that we should just give credit to the person who has the full-time employees as opposed to the part-time, really part-time employees.

Mr. Chair. Yes. And Ms. Amos, you can think about that and bring it back to us. We don't have to flush it all out tonight. Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. And we're not going to flush all the ideas. As a small business owner, I don't necessarily agree with that item to go down to that granular to where we're going past the subcontract and giving the points and giving the additional credit for the subs, for the local vendors, whether they're paying their employees 1099 or W2. I don't think we need to put that additional credits into to give additional points to that sub. Our goal right now is to make sure we bring the subs and protect the subs, make sure that they're not actually brought in on a bait and switch or dog and pony show, making sure that we're giving additional credits to the primes for bringing subs and also contracting them. Some of the things that I do want to see, though, is the affidavit, just to make sure that those subs are being paid by the prime. and the subcontractor agreements code of contacts for the subs, making sure that if they do want to replace or bring in a different sub, that there is a code of conduct as to what they followed. How did they determine that they were replacing or bringing another sub in? And last but not least was the cause for the change request. So what changes were actually done? If they're changing that sub, they have to have a cause, documented and outlined and clearly signed and agreed upon. I want to protect our subs. For many years, I've seen that idea of they'll bring individuals up to the podium. I think we even stopped people from presenting at our last meeting on the CRA side because we're tired of seeing primes bring some of our local vendors in. just to earn favor and points with this board. That's why this policy is so important. So thank you for finally bringing this to us. You've been working on it. And just under a year, you were able to accomplish what I've been asking for for about seven years now. So one thing I do want to see additional though is data collection. SO IN REGARDS TO THE CONVERSATION, I DO WANT TO HAVE THAT AFTER MY BOARD OPINES ON THIS POLICY, BUT I DO WANT TO RESERVE JUST A FEW MOMENTS TO DISCUSS WHAT DOES DATA COLLECTION LOOK LIKE? BECAUSE IF WE'RE NOT COLLECTING THE DATA FOR THIS INFORMATION, NONE OF THIS CARRIES ANY WEIGHT. WE HAVE TO COLLECT DATA. I ACTUALLY SEE A FRIEND OF MINE IN THE ROOM THAT ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT DATA COLLECTION AND HOW DO WE ACTUALLY PROPERLY COLLECT THE DATA TO DOCUMENT EVERYTHING THAT'S BEING DONE AND THE SPENDING THAT'S BEING DONE. BECAUSE WE CAN HAVE THE POLICY, BUT IF WE DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE SPENDING OR WHERE THOSE DOLLARS ARE GOING, IT'S GOING TO BE A MUTE

Thank you. And, Ms. Amos, you can bring us back an option with Mr. Spirit's idea of giving credit and one without, and we'll decide which way we want to go.

Yes, sir. Mr.

Chair. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson and then Vice Chair Spirit.

It wasn't related to this. It was my previous item. So if he wants to talk about this, I'll come back.

Okay.

yeah yeah let's kind of wrap this item up please yeah chair i i do agree with the mayor and thank you for for asking for both okay proposals to come back but i just want to make it clear that i'm looking to protect the low person on a totem pole i want to make sure that the worker receives good pay and benefits as well as the sub is going to make a lot of money on the project as well okay we're going to wrap this item up

Oh, I'm sorry. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson wanted to go back to her item.

Just quickly.

Before we go back to the item, before Ms. Ammons does leave, Mr. Chair, I did reserve a few moments to talk to Director Ammons to represent the data collection. Okay. I'm not going to interrupt you. Go ahead. Thank you. No, no. I interrupted you. I apologize. I don't want to go back to the other item before we allow to relieve Ms. Ammons.

Oh, did you have any comments before we left that item? No.

I THOUGHT, YES, THE MAYOR ASKED THE QUESTION, IS IT OKAY TO RESPOND? SO THE TOPIC WAS THE DATA COLLECTION. AND IF YOU ALL RECALL, WE TALKED MANY TIMES AND MY GOAL WAS TO BE BACK HERE IN OCTOBER WITH data, data showing where we're spending our money categorically, who we're spending our money with, prime, sub, small business, local business. Unfortunately, I'm here to report that I will not have that data by September, okay? There's been a lot of just internal discussions, but we collectively, I'm just going to say Everyone in the city outside of council has decided we're going to upgrade our current vendor management platform. It is currently not being supported. And in that particular upgrade, we may be able to ask for and just configure to be able to capture the data at the vendor level. So I currently have a contract administrator who did start earlier this year. And so we are loading up contracts into a contract module in Tyler. And we will know what type of data we can capture after we receive that particular upload and we use the latest version in Tyler. So unfortunately, I will not be able to have the data that the mayor sent AND OTHERS ON THE BOARD HAVE PREVIOUSLY ASKED FOR BECAUSE WE HAVE JUST PAUSED THE INTEGRATION OF THE PARTICULAR PLATFORM, AND SO WE'RE JUST GOING TO TRY TO USE WHAT WE CURRENTLY ALREADY HAVE.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU VERY MUCH. MAYOR, DO YOU HAVE ANY FOLLOW-UP COMMENTS?

NEW SPEAKER SO DIRECTOR AMMONS AND BOARD, IF YOU CAN TAKE THE TIME TO MEET WITH MS. AMMONS, THE SAME DELAYS THAT WE'VE HAD IS BASED UPON This is a request from 2019 that the entire board voted unanimously on to proceed with data collection. We've continued to ask for this on a consistent basis, and now there seems to be additional delays on documenting. When we're putting through and actually processing for studies, for any type of reports, we need to have the data to justify and substantiate what we're doing as a board. I think that we need to meet one-on-one, Director Ammons, if you can meet with the board to update them on the status to discuss what we need to do and then see how we can bring in the proper software to start collecting data immediately. Ms. Melanison was on the board when we had this discussion back in 2019, and she was part of that vote, that unanimous vote, and I believe Ms. Lanier as well, to request data. So we're well behind and we need to get it done with that.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And Mr. City Manager, could you... and kind of coordinate with Ms. Amos and find out what the issues are regarding retrieving that data. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

Yes, I'm done with the item. Mine is about my previous item. So we're still talking about this.

Yeah, briefly with this item. I want to ask because I remember... the mayor with 2019, there was a consultant that we brought in for this. And my assumption is that they brought some type of looking at some type of software to track this. So what happened with all of that?

If I may, when I began working here in August of 2024, I've been looking in the files. I mean, we had previously contracted with a company called B2G, and that had stalled. And B2G was a compliance monitoring software that, yes, really delved into, you know, prime, subs, spin, and a lot of other categories. And it was a stall, and my team said it just didn't work. We just couldn't implement it. And so at the request of the council, I went out and found a different solution, a duplicate one that you all did approve. And so based upon the idea that that is what the council wanted before I started, but I did find a replacement to B2G called Prism, brought it here and you all did approve the spin and we were in the implementation stages of Prism.

There are- Oh, you had something to say.

Oh, and so I'll stop there.

Yeah, I was going to ask, not just the software, but there was a gentleman that they retained for mayor, someone we brought here to to look at this situation as frequently. Yeah, holistically. And to be able to have us, you know, not to so much rely on some type of program, but for us to actually gather this information.

If I may say we We get the gist of needing this information and we can move it offline and retrieve Mr. Manager and they can do the research and find out what happened back then and flush it out offline, please.

Mr. Chair, I recommended that, but respectfully, I think that there's still some unreadiness. THIS IS A CONCERN THAT WE'VE BEEN ASKING FOR SINCE 2019.

NEW SPEAKER I UNDERSTAND, BUT WE'RE NOT MAKING ANY PROGRESS TOWARD THE RESOLUTION. WE'RE JUST VENTING NOW.

NEW SPEAKER NO, I DON'T KNOW IF IT WAS VENTING. THERE WAS A QUESTION.

NEW SPEAKER YOU'RE SHARING THAT WE DIDN'T GET IT. NEW SPEAKER MR.

CHAIR, HOLD ON. COLLEAGUES, WE'LL GO TO THE CHAIR. MR. CHAIR. And so I don't know if that was venting. That was a genuine question as to the consultant. So I think the questions and the unreadiness is that my colleague asked about what consultant was brought in. Didn't we have a process? Where were the balls dropped? And I did give directions of meet one-on-one, but there was still unreadiness as to why are we still having this same conversation? We've had these same conversations. We've had the same discussion. But this is the most important piece. We're policymakers. So I know we want to rush through the meeting, but we have to set policy.

We're not rushing. We're just being redundant. But Mr.

Chair, you keep cutting people off to allow for the, let the speakers finish because we want to get the information, Mr. Chair, and we need to be here at this meeting. I want to make sure that this is the only piece I can accomplish. I have to, as a policymaker, get this study done. Otherwise, my time on this board means nothing. We spent a lot of money on this fire station, but a lot of it went to locals. Once we leave, if that same policy is not in place, it won't matter. The next board can determine what they want to do. And if we put a policy that transcends our time on this board, we're good to go. So that's why, and that's why I think that we're having the discussion and I want staff to understand how serious this is. This data needs to be collected. So I don't want to keep passing the buck and then go back to staff and they got to get the things done. We can only give direction at this board meeting. So behind closed doors, when we meet with them, no direction can be given. So tonight we need to give them direction to bring this data back and bring this study that needs to be done tonight. And I wouldn't mind if a board member would make that motion because I'm tired of waiting. That's why it's so important, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. And let me just say, I'm not, trying to cut people off. But when I see that we are going down a road, not to a resolution, but I'd say venting, I think that it needs to be reeled in. If we're talking about a solution, want to give her a direction, good. But I MEAN, WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME ON TALKING ABOUT THINGS THAT DON'T LEAD TO A RESOLUTION. THAT'S ALL I'M SAYING.

MR.

CHAIR. YES, MS. MILLER-ANDERSON.

WELL, I MEAN, DURING THE PRESENTATIONS, YOU WERE KIND OF RUSHING US THROUGH, TOO, AND WE WEREN'T TRYING TO GET TO A RESOLUTION. WE WERE JUST TRYING TO DO A PRESENTATION. APPEAR TO YOU THAT WE'RE NOT GETTING ANYWHERE, BUT THAT JUST MIGHT BE YOUR INTERPRETATION OF IT. WE MAY ACTUALLY FEEL LIKE WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE. SO I JUST THINK MAYBE JUST BEING A LITTLE CAUTIOUS. I THINK THAT'S IT.

NEW SPEAKER. ANY FURTHER COMMENTS?

NEW SPEAKER. JUST QUICKLY. YOU SAID WE WON'T HAVE IT BY SEPTEMBER, BUT WHAT IS THE TIME FRAME THAT THE NEW SYSTEM WILL BE IN PLACE SO THAT WE CAN START COLLECTING?

I do not have an answer at this particular time. We did, IT is working with finance as far as the code so we can, you know, send the PO over to the new vendor. But I don't have a timeframe as far as the new system, what's required. It's just an upgrade to Tyler. I don't have an answer. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you tonight.

Yeah, I wanted to make a motion that we direct the procurement department to the administration to move forward with this small business and local vendor policy. What has happened is that this has been seven years, and I know that we've brought in the gentleman Franklin Lee. I don't know what happened with that. There was a lot of issues that we had originally about how to set this up, and I thought that we had gotten past the point where we need to figure out how to set it up, and we need to be able to move on this and not say to ourselves or say to the public that we just don't know how much money we gave to local vendors and we don't we have no idea so we need to move forward with this i'm making a motion so that we can do this and move forward to be able to tell the public this is how much money we spent with local people okay motion has been moved by councilwoman lanier

to bring back an official policy regarding this item. Is that your motion?

Yes.

Is there a second?

Second.

It was seconded by who?

Miller Anderson.

Councilwoman Miller Anderson. Is there any further discussion?

I just have a question. I do have a question. And I mean, this is about the procedures that we're doing. Does Ms. Hall need for, in order to speed this up, do you have to repeat every time somebody make the motion and who seconded?

No, sometimes she, well, we've never done it before. I know sometimes she can't see who's making the motion, but maybe she knows. If you're like, can you do it without me?

I can, but I do appreciate you repeating the motion.

I mean, meetings I've been in.

But you do go back and watch the video as well, right? Because we've never done it that way before. You never said you couldn't hear. So I'm just saying if we're trying to speed up the meeting, that is, you know, slowing it down.

No, it's just to help her clarify who's making the motion.

She never asked for it.

And that's what has always been done in my meeting. And let me say this too. You know, when leadership changes, some things are going to change. It's not going to be the same how it used to be done. And that's just the way I do it. And if the council would like for me to stop, go ahead.

Chair, Robert's Rules, I believe, or we could ask council, but I'm pretty sure Robert's Rules requires the chair to announce who made the motion and who seconded the motion.

I'VE ALWAYS DONE IT LIKE THAT WHEN I CHAIRED DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS.

MR.

CHAIR. BUT IT'S NOT A BIG DEAL TO ME.

MR.

CHAIR. WE'RE TAKING TOO MUCH TIME ON THIS. YES, YES, MS. MILLER-ANDERSON.

I HEAR YOU. AND I SIMPLY MADE THAT POINT BECAUSE NO ONE HAS DONE IT BEFORE, BUT YET YOU'RE SAYING YOU WANT TO SPEED THE MEETINGS UP. SO THAT'S WHY I WAS SAYING, WELL, MAYBE THAT COULD TAKE AWAY SOME MINUTES.

POINT WELL TAKED. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER COMMENT, QUESTIONS?

Councilperson Davis-Panier? Yes. Councilperson Lanier? Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson? Yes. Chair Pro Tem Dr. Spiritus?

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

That's a unanimous vote.

Next item is the direct pay vendor policy. Yes. Ms. Amon.

Walter, if you can put the presentation back up on the screen. Thank you so much. We'll talk about direct pay discussion. I was asked to bring forth a policy regarding a direct pay in the premise or the problem statement is local subcontractors or non-construction service contracts experience payment delays, financial uncertainty, and lack of statutory payment protection. Why do local subcontractors experience payment delays? It's because the payments are under city contract flow or the payments flow through the prime first and then the subcontractor is entirely dependent on the prime contractor to receive payment. Why does it create a real problem? It creates a problem because unfortunately, if the prime contractor may experience their own cash flow problems or abandon the project, it leaves the subcontractor without payment and there's no direct relationship with the city. So why is there no statutory protection? Florida Statute Chapter 713 and Florida Statute 255-05 apply to construction projects, meaning that if there is a problem with the payment and the payment bond on construction projects, there are remedies. This particular direct pay policy that I have been asked to present is for non-construction projects. So there isn't necessarily remedy for subcontractors for non-construction projects. So in summary, subcontractors may experience payment delays, no oversight, and risk. So the solution. then asked to bring a direct payment policy. So the solution, if the council wishes, can be timely payments to the sub, oversight, increased local growth, and increased trust and transparency. Now, this would be a third-party agreement between the city, the prime, and the local subcontractor. So let me pause here. We have a solicitation. It's non-construction. Council decides to award to the prime. after the prime is awarded a contract, if the prime agrees to have a third party agreement or three party agreement, then we would enter into one at this particular point. A direct pay would not be one that we force a prime. It will be optional for the prime after the prime has been awarded a contract. Eligibility requirements will be the city only for local. So city of Riviera beats your address non-construction service projects, the prime contractor written consent, and then a complete prime subcontract ask agreement that would also have to be attached. So there is a form in a draft format where the sub asks, the prime says yes, and then it's submitted.

Okay, so financial protections.

The question on the table is should we require a bond in 100% of the subcontract value? if the council decides to move forward. Meaning that if the janitorial contract, there is a sub, and the sub is expected to invoice for $50,000 for the value of the contract, would the council want the sub to have a payment bond in the value of that $50,000?

Because they also have employees as well.

To insurance, the sub would already have insurance, the certificates of insurance, because it will be needed in their original relationship with the prime. And then E-Verify, which is a Florida statute requirement. And so, and then it will provide financial protection. So I've kind of gone through the sub with invoice to prime. The prime would have to approve the invoice. We cannot move forward without approval from the prime. The city pays the sub directly. And then as the contract administration module in Tyler is set up, the subcontract kind of falls up under the prime contract and the contract is delineated. Meaning if the original contract was $100,000, the subcontract is 50, we will only pay the prime $50,000. We will not pay a total of 150 using that particular example. So there's no double dipping. Key benefits. Predictable payment, the city helps with local economic growth. The prime has clear expectations and the council demonstrates commitment to local participation. Again, optional, not a requirement. The city will not condition a contract award renewal or any benefit on acceptance of direct pay. And now here's also the myth, because I've heard this just in discussions regarding, again, the payment bond on a contract. The reality is, and what's on the books now as far as full of the statute, it protects for construction and not for non-construction. Next steps after tonight.

Yes. What would you consider on a construction project a security company? would that be considered construction or would that be considered non-construction?

That sounds more of a legal question, but me, I don't want to play an attorney, but my first instinct professionally would say no because it's associated with a construction contract.

Thank you. I agree.

Okay. Are you done?

I'm finished. I'm sorry. Yes, I am done.

Okay. I have a question about whether there should be a requirement for the subcontractor to cover that amount. What if the prime is covering the entire project and the sub is just with a bond and the sub is just getting paid to do the work, to do a certain portion of the work, but the project is already covered with the bond. Would that work?

I think the council would need to really think about just the whole financial risk, right? When I sit in my office, I always want to say, I want to follow the money. If the city is cutting the check to the sub in an issue, who's the sub want to go after? Follow the money. So can we, that's a discussion that the council will have to...

Question. So the... The prime would have to agree to this process. Yeah. So they would need to understand what the risks are as well. If you agree to this and you cover the entire bond and something goes south. Then it would be on your bond because you've covered the whole thing. If the prime agreed to that, what are we to step in and say, you should do it differently.

It's not a should we do differently. I think it's also a question for legal from a risk perspective.

The sub submits the invoice to prime.

Prime has to approve.

Someone's going to have to verify that the prime really did sign because we want to make sure that there's no fraudulent activity going on. And then we pay. But what if there was fraud? I mean, what if there was no due diligence? What if it slipped through the cracks and we're human? From that risk perspective, what if the sub has a team of people and the sub decides not to pay the team? Does that bond flow all the way through? I mean, we haven't talked to the security company. We don't know. What if the prime says, you know what? If my contract is $100,000, but $25,000 is going to the sub, and you're going to pay the sub, then I want to reduce my bond amount to $75,000. Because it's the payment bond. It's the performance. Yes, performance. But it's also the payment bond. So the prime can say, no, I don't want to cover. If you want to pay it, then that's less money out of my pocket. I'm going to reduce my payment bond amount. So you have to think about, you understand what I'm saying? So who's going to pick up that risk of the 25% that's left?

Go ahead. I'm sorry. I thought you were finished.

Understood. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson and then Vice Chair Spurdy.

So why is this being presented to us if it's presenting a whole bunch of whys or what should we do? What are we trying to gain here by doing this or changing it? What is the issue we're trying to solve, I guess?

We're trying to get the subs paid faster.

I mean, what are the primes? The prime's not paying the subs?

No, the prime is, the prime has, most have enough resources to, for a month or two to carry their employees. And if they're not paying the subs on a frequently basis, many of those subs don't have the same resources to carry their employees as long. So we are trying to figure out how to get the subs paid more quickly at the minimum risk to the city. And I do understand what Ms. Ammons is saying. It's registered as opposed to the performance. This is the payment bond. I got it.

so the bottom line we're trying to get the sales paid more quickly because they can't carry their employees as long as the prime so who's verifying the work the prime will be the one that's going to verify the work yeah and so their signatures on it so if it's not done we go go to them for what's not done

If the work's not done?

I mean, just if it wasn't satisfied, whatever it is, the service they were supposed to be doing. So who are we going to go after if it's not done the way it's supposed to be done or not completed?

The prime, because for the performance, it's on the prime side. if the sub does not perform the work, we should not receive an invoice.

But who's going to monitor that? The city has to do that? Because I think that, I don't see that. I mean, we have to come up with a different way.

The prime normally is the person that monitors the sub work and most jobs, not just construction, non-construction. That is the process that we have in America.

I mean, what is your point, though, with that? I mean, that's understood already. My question was who I mean, if. So the prime is going to be responsible for the performance. Right. So that's why I said, but so they're doing the punch list. I know I'm talking construction stuff, but essentially they're going to check the punch list and everything. So who's answering that?

i'm sorry what was the question the punch list i'm speaking yeah i might be able to answer this but it would be the prime right on on construction jobs we typically use standard in the cities usually municipalities follow the same procedure as you know in procurement we usually use standard aia documents those documents are signed off by the prime They're signed off by the city's engineer, by their engineer, and by the sub if necessary. So the work is already performed before the invoice is submitted, that those documents are submitted to the city and approved for payment. So there's a number of people signing off and verifying that the work was performed before any checks are going to get cut. So that's the protection to the city and to the prime as well. So I think that All we're trying to do right now is, and I can tell you from being on both sides of the fence, that very often a general contractor or a prime in any project has to wait for their checks to clear from the city before they can make out checks on those checks that they're receiving for the work that's being done. So we're just trying to expedite that process by cutting out that maybe extra week or two weeks. There's a lot of these small contractors, especially here in Riviera Beach, THEY LIVE WEEK TO WEEK, YOU KNOW, ON THEIR PROJECTS, NOT ABLE TO FUND THE PAYROLL TO PUT UP, YOU KNOW, THREE MONTHS, FOUR MONTHS AHEAD OF PAYROLL ON THEIR PROJECTS. SO WE'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE IT A LITTLE BIT EASIER FOR THE LOCAL CONTRACTOR TO GET INTO BUSINESS AND BUILD UP THEIR BUSINESS. HOPEFULLY EVENTUALLY THEY WOULD NOT NEED THIS PROCESS, BUT I THINK IN THE BEGINNING IT WOULD BE A GOOD WAY TO HELP THE LOCAL CONTRACTORS.

MR. CHAIR?

Yes, Councilwoman Miller.

So how many, is this something that's being done in other municipalities? Is this normal?

No, ma'am. It's not normal.

Okay. So, and we're trying to be the first to do this because we want to help the subs. Nobody, why would it not have been, nobody, you don't think anybody else would have thought to do that?

Well, if I may, I'm not sure. while others have not done it. But there's nothing preventing us from being trailblazers, being a leader and showing we're going to step out and show the country how to help ourselves.

How about, are we able to break up the job smaller so that the people who are trying to sub, trying to bid on things, they'll have the ability to do it on their own and they'll be able to stand alone on them?

The challenge would be the performance bond in many cases. Right now, the prime is carrying that performance bond, and all the sales would have to do with, if we agree to it, is carry the payment bond to ensure that the employees would be paid. And yes, we can be trailblazers on this.

What type of risk, Ms. Nguyen, have you been involved in this?

Yes, I've been in discussions with Ms. Ammons about it.

So are there any risks or things we need to be cautious of?

I didn't identify any. What we were thinking was that there would be, and I think we still are, the tri-party agreement between the prime, the sub, and the city. As long as the record keeping, you know, as far as payment goes on the finance side is correct. I DON'T SEE ANY DOWNSIDE TO IT. THE PRIME IS STILL RESPONSIBLE FOR FULFILLMENT OF THE CONTRACT.

WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT FINANCE?

I SAID AS LONG AS THE PAYMENT, AS LONG AS THAT'S BEING MONITORED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE NOT OVERPAYING THE PRIME, BECAUSE THAT'S WHO WOULD BE OVERPAID.

OKAY. SO WHO WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT? BECAUSE THAT'S THE THING. WE HAVE THESE CONTRACTS, SOME OF THESE CONTRACTS We've had issues with over the past few years for various reasons. And I don't know that we want to start adding on more monitoring issues. And then now we're giving away money that we probably shouldn't be giving away money. The only way I would halfway... Think about looking at this is if we can have answers to how is this going to be monitored, are we going to make sure that because this is where the first one and we're going to be trailblazers as as you say. I want to make sure that we have all of our ducks in a row, and I right now i'm not completely sold on it, so if there are some. areas in which you can make them make sense, then I could possibly look at it. But right now, I still have some hesitation because there are some questions that's not answered for me. Mr. Chair.

Okay. Councilwoman Davis-Preneur and then Councilwoman Lanier.

Okay. I'm in agreement with Councilperson Miller-Anderson. BECAUSE MY QUESTION WAS WHO'S GOING TO BE MONITORING IT OR WHAT SYSTEM ARE WE GOING TO BE USING TO MONITOR THIS WHOLE PROCESS? I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE MORE INFORMATION. I DON'T WANT TO SHOOT IT DOWN BUT I JUST DON'T THINK THAT I'M COMFORTABLE AT THIS POINT WITH TAKING ON THAT ADDITIONAL TASK BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S GOING TO BE MORE WORK FOR THE CITY. AND, YOU KNOW, I JUST FEEL LIKE WE HAVE A LOT GOING ON.

Okay. Councilwoman Lanier.

I just like an example of this. How does that work? An example would be what? Give me an example of start to finish of how this works. You mean operationally?

Both.

Both.

Okay. So high level, we award a contract to, let's say, a landscaper. And the landscaper has a contract for the entire city. The landscaper has a sub to work on, let's just say, Marina Village. And so the person who works with the Marina Village, and then they would enter into a third-party agreement, and that agreement will have an estimate of the amount of services they will charge that particular person. So ideally, then, the user department will enter a requisition, too, right? the user department, the department that's over, let's say, Parks and Rec, not Parks and Rec, Public Works, because they would submit a requisition based upon council approval for, let's say, a $100,000 award of contract, they would put in a requisition for $100,000. If we come back and say, no, a prime, to the prime. Then if there's an agreement with the sub for $25,000, Parks and Recs would enter a second requisition requisition for 25 000 but ask for a change order and reduce the original 100 down to 75. so the total value for landscape still is a hundred thousand dollars so then that landscaper will come and cut the grass here at the marina village and then they will submit an invoice to the prime The prime would sign off forward the invoice to the user department, which is the same pattern that it happens. The user department will verify that the signatures are valid. And then the user department will present an invoice to finance for payment against the 25,000. And as such, the prime would still invoice all the other work around the city associated with the $75,000.

So what do we have the prime for? I thought that the purpose of the prime was to make sure that all of the people that they hire are taken care of by them because that's the purpose of us giving it to them is that we don't have to pay for these people underneath them because of the hassle of going, you know, the way you're saying it is that now i'm looking at the city finance and that department the department is not only looking at change orders but they're also looking at getting it through finance it just seems like a whole another cumbersome part of it when we don't have to and i definitely certainly understand that um the situation with the sub but that is i thought that we looked at and talked about when these primes come to showcase asking for funding from the city, when the proposal that the purpose was for them to make sure that those subs have contracts with them anyway. So if they have contracts with them, then we're going to go back and change that and say, no, you can have a contract with them, but we'll pay them. That just seems so cumbersome. And it seems like it's a lot more work for the city to not only monitor, but to now trust that the user department is going to put a change order in to lessen that amount. Because what if they don't? What if they forget that, okay, you know what? I need to reduce this by 25,000 and they don't. The sub could get paid twice. I'm sure they would love that. But the situation is that now it's putting the burden on the city to be able to handle that. And I don't see where that is reasonable unless we can have the policy laid out in terms of how this will be governed and how this will be monitored because there is a lot of ins and outs of it, and it probably can work. But I just don't see now a flow chart that shows me how this will work and how you can safeguard that piece that talks about change orders and going to the finance department to be able to get it done. So if we can have something that shows us how that'll be safeguarded, because I don't want to happen, and I'm sure the subs will enjoy this, but I don't want it to happen where You know, you leave your job. The finance people leave their job. Somebody else is in their new person over in public works is new. They don't know that. Or do they know that? I don't know. So how do we make sure that that is a part of policy that whoever is in that seat knows that this is happening? then i can understand how that it could work it seems cumbersome but i do understand the plight of the soul and if they if we've given a company a million dollars and they're not paying their subs then that's another bigger issue as well so yeah i definitely would like to know how that how that could work and to safeguard that money so that we're not paying somebody twice and thank you councilman uh councilwoman uh lanier okay um

Vice Chair Spiritus, but let me just make a point. The point is not the prime not paying the sub. The point is how frequently the sub can get paid. The prime can hold out for two or three months and not pay their employees, and they can carry it. Subs cannot do that. They don't have the resources. we're just trying to find an avenue by which the subs can get paid more quickly and it appears that if the city pays them directly after the prime approves the work that would keep a lot of ourselves in business we just trying to get the subs paid more quickly um and the primes are paying but they are not getting their check. And when they, I mean, when they do get their check, they got to wait on it to clear the bank and all that. And the subs can't carry their employees that long. That's all we're trying to do. That's it. But wait, it was vice chair. Oh, I'm sorry.

um and the follow-up is that with that being said would not be a simple contract between if you have a contract between the prime and the sub anyway from the beginning because they're bringing them up here they're saying this is my subs this is who we're going to be working with wouldn't it be feasible to just put that in that contract that you're going to have to pay me every month. If I'm going to sign on with you as a prime and you're getting two million from the city, then you have to pay me every month. If you do not pay me every month, then this will happen. You have to pay me, you know, for two months now, whatever the case may be. But it seems as if that's a contractual issue that can be worked out with the prime in itself up front. And if they don't pay them, then they come to the city and say, hey, they have not paid us. We have a contract and they haven't paid us. Then I can see us saying, okay, you know what? We're going to front them the money, but we're going to have problems with their prime now. So it would be a simple fix with a contract with the prime minister. It just seems like that would be more likely instead of all of these pieces and gears and monitoring to be able to do it. It would seem like you tell me you came to the table, you told me you're going to pay me every month and you're not paying me every month. Then I got problems and I'm going to the city.

OK, I'll invite your spirit. But it's not the prime. It's how frequently the city is paying the prime.

Right.

We have the issue. If we pay the prime every two weeks, that'll be fine.

But then that's what needs to be in the contract.

Well, that can be an option.

So I just want to simplify it a little bit. We're going through the same process that we would normally go through in paying on a contract, whether it be a construction contract or not a construction project. It's gonna go through the same paper process that it would normally go through with the prime. They would submit whether it be a standard AIA form which is gonna be signed by the city either and through our owner's rep if it was a construction project. This is all pretty much the same. All we're doing is saying that the prime is going to say to the city Let's say you owe me $100,000 and he owes $20,000 to a sub. He's going to say, pay me $80,000 and give $20,000 directly to my sub, this name. And that's going to be an agreement that's going to be set up in the beginning of the contract between the prime and the sub and the city. So it's going to be a three-party contract. And that would be done in the beginning. So all we're saying is it's going to go through the same process. The same performance bond is going to be there. Everything is going to be there. All the prime is saying is instead of giving me that $20,000, pay it to the sub directly so he doesn't have to wait for me to go through my process in my corporation to wait for the money to be cleared in the bank and everything else. We can jumpstart that because these small contractors, I mean, really a lot of the small ones, especially, you know, here in our city that we want to build up to be big contractors, they got to start somewhere. They won't apply for these jobs. They won't get these jobs. They won't even ask for them. because they know they can't make those payments. So if we can help them a little bit, get in and become subs on some of these big projects, I think that would be a good thing for the city to do. And we're doing that only for Riviera Beach, right? You said there was going to be Riviera Beach subcontractors only, correct?

That is correct.

Right.

Mr. Vice Chair. And I agree with that. Yes. I agree with that because that means that that'll be taken care of up front. that that is in a contract, when they bring them up here and then they awarded the grant or awarded the money, then there's a three-way contract at that time that says, hey, if you don't pay me in two weeks, then the city has to issue me a check. And I can go with that. But I don't want to have a situation where now we're in the middle of a contract and then we want to go back and then it's just too much. So if all this is done up front, then there should not be any issue.

Mister chair coach, yes. So we're talking about the lately because we're talking about I'm this situation but I have e-mail from vendors that are saying that they're not being paid in a timely manner now so is this I mean the city we have we have to do better and and you know paying it was because this is from a local vendor with the city who is saying they're delayed So is it something, again, that seems like an issue that we have to deal with as well. So just us taking on this responsibility doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get paid any sooner, according to some of the vendors who are now working with the city. I agree. Chair, I agree with that.

And I agree with the fact that Isn't that what the owner's rep is supposed to do? The owner's rep is supposed to make sure I would think, you know, we're paying an owner's rep a big piece of money for these projects. That owner's rep is supposed to make sure that these subs get paid like that, that But that's for construction, you're saying? Right.

Typically, the owner's reps are for construction. These would be for the smaller. And so this policy is for non-construction and landscape janitorial security.

So if it is awarded to the janitorial company, then up front, we know that, hey, you're going to have to make sure that these people get paid. If not, then it needs to be a part of the contract monitoring. It needs to be a part of where we're not doing business with you anymore. And also too, I think that some of the issues could come from, you know, the invoice is being submitted and it takes so long for the turnaround. That is another issue in itself that needs to be addressed. So I just don't want us to get convoluted and bogged down in the weeds with trying to handle all three of these at the same time. And then on top of that, we don't know what the left and the right hand is doing because now we've put $25,000 out, but oh, hey, there's still contract, there's still $100,000. You see what I mean? I just want to have some safeguards so that if that is done, then we'll be able to track that.

Thank you, Councilwoman Lanier. We're going to move forward here. We need to give some direction to staff. One of the things that came up in order to address the frequency and pay is to stop paying the prime more frequently. That was one suggestion. The other suggestion was having the subcontractor pay for a payment bond and the prime still cover the performance bond. And I think there was one more suggestion, one more suggestion.

There was some type of checks and balances and monitoring.

that the council wanted to see the process of how this would actually work from start to finish with both of those scenarios. Is there any future, Mayor Lawson?

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Subcontractor agreements upon award would be a recommendation, just making sure that we have those agreements in place. I think that tracking this data, my concern with this whole process is we don't have a proper tracking system in place to track all of this. We've been talking about data collections was the previous item. So coming back to this, I also want to really dive deep into these surety bonds and these prime bonds and discuss what does that look like? Why are we requiring it of a sub if the prime's carrying it? And I understand the fiscal impact of protecting, but if the prime is covering it already, I'm concerned with requiring the sub. The reason that this hasn't happened before is because this is an innovative policy that we're trying to create, but we also want to safeguard the city first and foremost. But while we're safeguarding the city, we've got to take accountability. We're not paying on time. I've heard way too many horror stories, but then it's also just kind of a cumbersome process with submitting documentation, invoices, going through multiple hoops just to get a check out and then we can't cut a check for two to three weeks because it's not in the right pay cycle. So we have to make sure that we're holding ourselves accountable first. So just looking at the financial process of pay, how quickly we can get that payout. That direct pay process is a great option because we can really support some of these subs and we can build up those brands but we want to make sure it's properly vetted. So thank you for that recap, Mr. Chair.

Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Vice Chair Scrutis.

So I agree with the mayor and what the mayor said previously. I think that we're going to need an enforcement officer in the city. I think we should look at that in the next budget. Many municipalities have someone, for example, that just enforces the Davis-Bacon Act. You know, we have a lot of requirements on many jobs and we don't have the staff to do this enforcement. And I think we should look at that in the future in the next budget.

Okay. Any last comments before we move forward? Ms. Ammons, did you understand what the council had a consensus?

I did, and I want to rewatch. I always rewatch and listen to all of your comments.

Thank you very much. Thank you, council, for the input. We're moving on to the next item.

Mr. Chair.

Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

Can you please give me one second? So that wasn't someone screaming at me. There was a video that I was supposed to have played, was supposed to be playing.

So can you allow that to play right quick regarding the All-American City Award?

Thank you.

Is that you?

No, that's not me. That's one of our employees in communications, though.

We've been named one of the 20 finalists for the prestigious All-America City Award presented by the National Civic League. This recognition is thanks to the incredible efforts of our Riviera Beach Youth Council. who applied for this award with passion and purpose. Vice Chair Kashama Miller-Anderson shared the exciting news during the April 15 City Council meeting, highlighting the program that earned us this honor.

We're doing so many great things, not just as a city, but we bring along our community so that we have their voices included in it.