Council - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, we're getting started.

Please take your seats. Testing, testing. Are the mics on? Walter.

Testing, testing.

Please take your seats. Okay, we're getting started. Testing, testing. Okay, tonight is August 5th, 1926. 2026, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair.

Yes. If you could correct the date, it's 2026. You gave the wrong date.

I said 1926. It is, let's come up a century. It is 2026. The current time is 6.05. Sorry about the delay. I always like to start at 6 o'clock. We're going to get started now. And the first thing on our agenda is going to be roll call.

Mayor Douglas Lawson.

Wait, wait, hold on. Please, please, please hold your conversations down in the audience. We can hear you up here. Thank you.

Mayor Douglas Lawson.

Here.

Chairperson Bruce Guyton.

Here.

Chair Pro Tem Dr. Lynn Spiritus.

Here.

Councilperson Kashaba Miller-Anderson. Present. Councilperson Shirley D. Lanier.

Here.

Councilperson Priscilla Davis-Van Heer.

Here.

City Manager William E. Wilkins.

Here.

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

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Next, we're going to have the invocation and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Ms. Davis-Preneur. Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

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

You may have a seat. We're down to the approval of the agenda. Are there any deletions, additions, or substitutions? I do have an item to pull. It is 12D.

Mr. Chair, is that pulled or deleted?

Deleted. And that is the discussion on one parking. Also, I know that there is one of our staff members here to speak on the Emirates. And they had some medical work done, so I want to move them up on the agenda. So they don't have to sit here too long. and I would like to move that up to after awards and presentation.

That number is 12B. Yes, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. Can you just clarify for me what type I know what we went to having the 3rd when they be award from presentation. Different type and then on tonight.

Yes, yes, yes. We're going to have a they like we have state representative. The Florida representative state representative County Commission. They come before.

They come on the

in the regular night yeah on a regular agenda yes elected officials do um other awards we have a special i mean other presentations we have a special night for those mr chairman uh yes in addition on the discussion on the regular agenda we have those items that have been directed by the council to staff to report back on a weekly basis so i'm sorry could you repeat that

We also have on the discussion and deliberation items that the council has directed us to come back with.

Yes.

First, the AMRE was a directed, the report on the city manager search that was directed by the council. So they will be on that agenda also. They'll be on the agenda.

Mr. Chair, I can't hear anything. I can't hear. Something's going on with the mic.

Put the mic closer.

Those items, in addition to the ones we just discussed, are on the regular agenda every meeting because the council is directed that they be on.

Yes, understood. It was saying that we have certain items that are on the agenda every meeting because we or a council person has asked that they be on the agenda. That's the update on the city manager. And there's another one that someone asked to be on every agenda. But that's all he was saying. He was giving us clarity on the agenda. Any other discussion?

We've got to keep it moving. Chair.

Who's that?

That's me.

Yes, Councilwoman Lanier.

For 11B, which is the resolution for the city manager's contract, I'd like to hear the city manager's search first. Apparently, we may not even do that. I'd like to hear the 12A before the 11B.

You'd like to have 12A before 11B. Okay. Would you like to switch those positions? Yes. Okay. We're going to move 12A to 11B and move 11B to 12A. Is that what you're requesting?

Yes.

Okay. Anything else?

Mr. Chair. Yes, Councilwoman Milan we're still going to do the pulling for the consent agenda that's not right now, yeah, now we get the proven agenda.

Are there any other addition the leak additions deletions and substitutions for the agenda. Here none entertain the motion to.

I'm sorry I apologize we have one more item to be deleted. OK talking to the make talk look at that we have one more item to be deleted that is 3, 8, the agreement with the development block grant Palm Beach County.

We just received an amendment to that agreement that 5 this afternoon so we'll be reviewing that bringing it back that 3, 8, 3, 8, 3, 8, I mean you need it didn't just receive some information at the last minute. not prepared to present that one.

Mr. Chair.

Yes, Comptroller Miller.

Can we get someone to help out with the microphones? Because I cannot hear. I can't make out what the person is saying. He's very mumbled. So if Walter or somebody can come.

Walter, could you have somebody check the microphones, please? Okay. We've got to keep the meeting moving. Are there any other additions or deletions or substitutions? Hearing none, I entertain the motion to approve the agenda as amended.

Chair. Disclosures.

Yes, let's finish with the approving agenda, and then we can go to disclosures.

So moved.

It's been moved by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

Second.

And seconded by Vice Chair Spiritus to approve the agenda as amended. Is there any more discussion on the motion? Hearing none, I call the question. I'm not a clerk.

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

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

I see unanimous vote.

Okay, the next item is disclosures. Are there any disclosures for the meeting this evening? Okay, hearing none, we'll move to the consent agenda. Does any of the colleagues have any items that they would like to pull from the consent agenda before we entertain a motion to approve it?

Yes.

Okay, Councilwoman Lanier.

I'd like to pull 3D, which is the city's health care. And I'll also like to prove poll three, aye.

That's three D like in dog?

Three D as in dog and I as in ice cream.

Mr. Chair.

And three aye. Just one moment, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. And three aye, Councilwoman Lanier.

Yes.

Okay, those were Councilwoman Miller.

I want to pull three A and three F and G just so the public is just do a brief explanation of what that is so the public is aware. And then Okay, three A and three F and G.

Chair?

I'm not finished, sir. I'm not finished.

Okay, Councilwoman Miller.

And then also the items for the Lindsay Davis, which I think there's several of them. I think Councilwoman Lanier, pull three I, I want to do J, K, and L. Pulling J, K, and L. Yes.

Are there any of their.

Yes, I can we ask the city manager whether any of these items of time sensitive.

We can.

The time since it is of the. Lindsay Davis items would put us back about six weeks in terms of the completion of the program. If these items aren't approved at this time.

Yeah. And Lindsay, I'm sorry.

Just Lindsay Davis.

And Lindsay Davis is one of our polling places. And we're trying to get that done and finished by the time the elections come up, too.

So chair. So maybe we can put those Lindsay Davis items with the item of 11A on the regular agenda so that they can all go together.

Yes, ma'am. Yes, we can. The Lindsay Davis items, Mr. Wilkins, I know it's about four or five of them.

what are the numbers um councilwoman lanier suggested that they go with uh or right under 11a did you say yes there is a g as in goat i as an ice cream j as in jump and k as in kite and l as in lemon okay another item to be pulled

Hearing none, Mr. Wilkins, did you have something to say?

No, we're fine.

Okay. I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended. So moved. It's been moved by Vice Chair Spiritus. Mr.

Chair, we have a resident that just turned in a comment card for item 2A.

Which item?

Item to a which is the board appointments to the general employees pension board.

We were. Okay.

Lloyd Brown to a.

2a is the board appointment yeah hold on wait let's back up let's back up but that that's that's falling under the consent agenda that is correct mr chair yes sir okay okay um 2a is the board appointments to the general employees pension board um i would just advise that that was a A public comment card filled out for that. Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay. Mr. Brown, you can go ahead.

Yeah, well, anyway, since you all like to come in here and give out these awards and take people's time by coming here without, I mean, I'm going to talk about this situation, without having yourself set up like you want to sit here and make you know decisions on what you're going to do and what you don't you know you talk outside these meetings so don't come in here like you never discussed these situations you're doing but i'm going to do this for my last two minutes and whatever i'm just going to be silent i'm protesting all y'all the whole city the people in the churches the people's on the corner all my neighbors This is a protest. So I can talk as much as I want to. I'm not in here to compliment none of y'all because I look around and then I hear y'all talking about jobs and all that. And then, I mean, see, this is a protest. So I'm not, I don't have to stick to this item as you want it. This is not anything on this item. This is my decision to regress my opinion or whatever. I may have it wrong to the government, River Beach government. Do you know I tripped out when A guy came in here and pointed out four colored people and said, y'all are the ones destroying the city. And then he told the truth. He told the truth. I mean, that thing about, see, they don't do that. Whoever doing that in the background, y'all got them back there. Why did he leave? I don't want to just talk to part of y'all. You said I can't speak to one individual by himself, but this man got up and got out of here. So what's the difference? So what are you doing over there talking while this is my three minutes? That's rude. That's really rude. That's rude as hell. Don't shake his hand. Kiss him. That's really rude. That's what's wrong with y'all. Y'all are rude. I'm not in here to talk about no agenda item or nothing. It's a shame that you could take all the people up there to Denver when you didn't have nothing to do with what this city is doing and how great it is. The people out here made this city great. Not y'all. And the mayor, would the mayor come up here and talk about the electric bikes? Because he heard me in here. But see, I couldn't get on the news. They heard me talk about it. See, that's why I'm not giving my opinion in here anymore. And the people that, when I get out of here, my neighbors, hey, keep it up, keep it up. You know what? If y'all people were back there when Martin was trying to get something done, we'd still be in chains. I mean... As far as Jim Crow, it just reinvented itself. And that's it right there. I'm the Jim Crow pusher. Y'all have a good day, and I'm not going nowhere. But when I get up here, I'm taking my three minutes and talk like I want to, because I'm protesting, so you can't tell me what to say.

Mr. Chair, that's the end of public speaking.

Okay, I entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended. So moved. Then moved by Vice Chair Spiritedis.

Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur. Is there any discussion on the motion? Mr. Chair. Mayor Lawson.

Thank you. What order are we putting the items? Are we going to put them immediately after consent, prior to awards and presentations?

Normally that's what we do, but tonight...

If we could have an appetite of hearing from Congresswoman Lois Frankel first, prior to going into those consent items.

That is what I was going to do.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mayor.

Okay, is there any further discussion on the motion? Hearing no discussion, Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier? Yes.

Councilperson Lanier?

Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson?

Yes.

Chair Pro Tem Dr. Spiridon? Yes. Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

That's the unanimous vote.

Okay, we're going to jump down to award the presentations to Councilwoman, not Councilwoman, Congresswoman Lois Frankel.

I'll tell you, it brings back memories to be here at a city council meeting. And thank you so much for all that you do. I know the job is closest to the people. I love my job. I was your neighboring mayor for eight years. And I would just say this. I've spent a lot of time in your city. I'll just give you one. My son went to Suncoast and a lot of baseball games and a few visits to the principal. Let's put it that way. Anyway, thank you very much. So thank you for the invitation. I think I'm your substitute congresswoman today because unfortunately you've been without one for a while. So I'm going to give you a report. But first I'm congratulating you for being the All-American City for the 2026, one in 10 cities in the country. That is amazing. And I, really, I was pretty envious because I never got that award over when I was mayor. And I have to give a shout out to my lovely friend, Deidre Jacobs, who was one of my partners at City of West Palm Beach. I'm so glad to see you here. All right, all right. So listen, report, it's called the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I think it's important to know because it comes down to you having to face and live and deal with people back home. It really comes down to the city council in so many ways. But we know this. People all over this country are struggling just to pay ordinary bills. You go to the gas station, it's too much. You go to the grocery store, it's too much. The rents are going up. People can't afford their rent. And then where are you saving your money? You're not going to the doctor, right? That's what's happening. It's very sad, I'll try not to be political, but I am a pretty blunt person. We have a president that's focused on the wrong things. He's focused on himself, making money on his monuments, on his reflecting pool, his ballroom, his new plane, and people are hurting. And the problem right now is with the federal budget, is that too much money is going to war, and too much money is going to ice, and not the kind that you put in your soda. And you only have so much money. And so that's being diverted away from things like child care and public education and go on and on housing on health care. Those are the kinds of choices. And unfortunately, again, not to be political, but I have to be blunt. Republicans are going along with everything the president wants to do. And many of us have been trying to fight back. Today is a horrible day, a horrible day for our country because TPS was ended for our Haitian friends and neighbors. That's hundreds of thousands in this country and many, many thousands here. These are not only neighbors. These are people who work in very important industries. And so we see families being broken up and businesses being disrupted. And we have a president who just wants to give more and more money to those people we call ICE without having them be accountable. And what we need to do is we need to have an immigration reform. Yeah, we have to have an orderly way people come in, but we have to have a way to give people who've been here who are obeying the law, who are productive citizens, who are dreamers, who may be just born here, we have to find a way to give them a legal status. So we're gonna try to do that, I hope, with some legislation. The other issue that really affects especially this area and our country is the United States Supreme Court taking away very important voting rights in this country. It was called the Callas decision, which is really has caused now the redistricting that we see all over the country, including what will happen here. This district, your next district, well, you're gonna be separated from Broward County. That's probably not a bad thing, okay? Because you're gonna get a lot more attention. But what the bad thing is, is the dilution of really access, especially by our black voters to elect who they want to elect. And then we'll go to the SAVE Act, which you've probably been hearing about. The president wants to save our democracy with a bill, with a law, which is, just to give you an example of what it would do. Now, first, let me just say to you, the voting laws in Florida are strict. I mean, when you go to vote, you have to show your ID. That's fine. Nobody's really against people showing IDs. But now with the SAVE Act, basically, you have to have a photocopy machine in your house because he doesn't want you to vote by mail. But if you do vote by mail, you're supposed to send your picture, make a photocopy of your picture and send it in the mail. And I'll tell you what, my mother is going to be 101 in two weeks. Sharper's a tax, she likes to vote, but I can just tell you this, she's not running out to Kinko's to get a picture to put on her vote by mail. So Democrats have been resisting that. So lots going on. I think I gave you most of the ugly, the worst is what's happening to the healthcare. The Republicans took away the subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. And we have in Florida, over 400,000 people have now dropped off of insurance and millions in the country. And what that means is not only does it mean that they're going to get sicker, But what you're going to start to see, because we've seen this around the country, is clinics are closing, doctors are retiring because they can't pay the bills themselves, and emergency rooms start to pile up when people don't get primary care. And what will happen next? It's next year, there will be Medicaid cuts, and this will especially affect our under-resourced communities. Millions and millions of people are going to lose access to health care, including the elderly in our nursing homes. And that's a big impact. Now, I say that those cuts go into effect in January 2027. I'm hoping that if we can turn things around in the Congress, we can stop that from happening. All right. Now, I'm leaving you with good news, okay? Because I feel like I leave everybody depressed. I'm really a happy person because I always have hope. But I want to leave you with a little good news. I'm going to look at your audience. Is anybody on Medicare or Social Security? A few of you. Okay. But the good news is that when President Biden was in office, we were able to pass a law that capped how much you had to pay for insulin. It's $35. We have the federal government now negotiating prescription drug costs for some Medicare prescriptions, and that's going to come down. We also put a cap on how much a Medicare patient would have to pay out of pocket for prescription drugs. So that's kicked in, is starting to kick in and that should bring some relief. And there was just a ruling yesterday in the courts, it'll be appealed, that stopped the Trump administration from rescinding literally billions of dollars of clean energy projects all over this country. And if you don't think that global warming is happening, you have not been outside. lately or seeing the fires, right, or the floods and the hurricanes around this country. And the last thing I want to leave you with is talk about community projects. Members of Congress, if they choose to, not all do, are allowed to bring back funding for projects in their district. You've sort of been shortchanged for a number of reasons. Hopefully that will change. But it's an opportunity to fund water and sewer, health care, public safety, housing, youth programs, transportation, economic development, education, and arts, and all those kinds of things. And I will tell you, my practice has been to work with my cities to find out what they need now. I do have, I'm going to leave you with one extra piece of good news. Somehow, when Sheila, Shepard McCormick, when she was, the Republicans would not permit her to do community projects. And I went to the speaker and I said, well, you know, let me do them instead, you know, and they said, no, but. Somehow, we got something in there, and in our next budget, we were able to get you one of the most sophisticated mammogram machines that are being made today. It will be in found care in Congress Avenue in Riviera Beach. And that should be in the next budget. And that should give you an example of some of the, and it's for people to go to get free mammograms. It's not, if you have insurance, you use insurance, but that's going to save a lot of lives. So those are the kinds of things. I know you got a water issue. We're going to work with you to see what we can do about that. But maybe, I'm not here to electioneer. Maybe I'll be your member of Congress. If I am, I promise we'll have a great partnership. I want to, there's a lot going on in this city. I know a lot about cities and I look forward to working with you. And I want to thank you again. I know, just keep smiling. That's what I said, just keep smiling. It's good to be with you.

Thank you, Congresswoman. Wait, wait, wait, one second.

I like-

Does anyone have any questions?

I do.

I do.

Councilwoman Linnea. I know that you are on this powerful appropriations committee, and we are hoping that because we need funding for our water plant, that that is a project for you to do to take back to Washington, because we sorely need the funding to be able to complete our water plant.

Thank you. I am aware of that. I understand the importance of water plants. When I was mayor of West Palm Beach, that was a very, very big priority. Let's face it, if you don't have water, you're not going to have life. And I look forward to working with you. I'm going to give credit to my constituents, not to me, but because they've elected me enough times to have seniority, I will be one of the people who'll be right in the budget when we flip the house. And I can promise you this, whatever I can do, to be a great partner to you, you can count on me. And I said, listen, what a privilege to get to represent one of the 10 top cities now in the country. Thank you, folks.

You just made a good point. And thank you. We're going to need your support when you're writing the budget out. We're going to need your help there. You just mentioned that it'll be a privilege to represent Riviera Beach. So in the redistricting, a lot of people don't know. Will you be representing Riviera Beach in the redistricting?

If I get reelected, yes, I will be.

Okay.

Yeah. This district will now be combined, will be with West Palm Beach. Basically, it'll be a, it'll start in Delray. It'll be Boynton. It'll come up Delray to Boynton, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Riviera Beach, and then a little bit West Green Acres. I've got a few other cities that are a little bit west, but it'd be a very condensed district and it'd be a great district, I think.

Any further questions? Mr. Chair? Mayor Loveless. Thank you. I just wanted to welcome you, Congresswoman. Thank you for your years of service and dedication and your commitment to all of the districts and all the communities. Because even when you weren't our representative, you were still fighting for our city and our community. I actually look forward to having you as our representative because I really think that we will benefit from your years, your commitment and your heart for the people. So we actually have a tour this week. I got on your calendar for Friday.

So we're going to be on a tour. And I'm looking forward to it.

So I'm going to send it out to the board. If anybody wants to join us, we're going to take a look at some of the areas in the city and look at some of the needs for the community this Friday. And I believe I was going to that same principal's office with Ben back in with coach, with principal Karn. So I remember that too.

So tell him hello. Okay. He flunked the work. What can I tell you? All right.

Thank you.

I just want to mention that that Congressman Frankel has been working with us on the water sewer issue in this city. When I was in Washington with former Mayor Felder, she and her staff set up meetings for us with the EPA, and we met with them to discuss the WIFIA money and the SRF money, which flows down to the state. And Congresswoman Frankel also asked to meet with me even after that. So we've been in these discussions, even though she doesn't represent us, She has taken that on, and she has been working with the city of Riviera Beach. And thank you for everything you're doing.

But now she gets elected, and we hope she does. Okay, we'll see. She'll be representing Riviera Beach now. Okay, any further questions?

Thank you so much. Thank you for coming, Congresswoman. Enjoy your meeting. I'm leaving. Let me tell you, I went through eight years of city council meetings, and I leave it to you.

I know you feel my pain. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, now we will return to our regular agenda, the pooled items.

Yes, sir, Mr. Chair, we are on item 3A.

3A.

Yes, sir.

Okay, Madam Clerk, please read.

Resolution number 4626, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida. authorizing the execution of a banking services agreement between the City of Riviera Beach and Truist Bank for banking services procured pursuant to request for proposal number 1170-25-3 for a five-year term with a minimum contract expenditure of $52,000. $52,609.04 with no options to renew, authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to make payment for such services and providing an effective date. Mr. Chair, we don't have any public comment cards for this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

Okay. Could you hold the conversation down, hold the conversation down please, please, please, so we can hear. Staff.

Good evening. My name is Latonya Ammons, Director of Procurement for the City of Riviera Beach. At the request of the Finance Department, the Procurement Department posted solicitation 1170-RFP-25-3, Seeking Banking Services. The solicitation was distributed to 153 vendors. Three proposals were received. After compliance review, three proposals were deemed responsive. After the evaluation committee, Truist Bank was ranked the highest responsive and responsible vendor. Procurement department, in alignment with the finance department, is seeking approval for the contract. Any amount stated for a term of five years was Truist Bank.

Thank you. Who pulled the item? Okay. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

I just wanted to ask a question regarding Seacoast Bank. They were non-responsive. What was the reason for that?

I'm sorry, ma'am. I could not hear the question.

I said that Seacoast Bank is listed as non-responsive. What was the issue with that?

So for this particular solicitation, as well as others, only the price proposals of proposers seeking or meeting 70 points after the technical evaluation will move forward and they had not received the 70 points.

Okay, so they had 73. So what was the reason for them being non-responsive? Valley Bank didn't have 70 points, but Seco's had 73. So what was the reason for the non-responsive?

Ma'am, can you give me just one moment?

I'll pull it.

Okay, while they are doing that, did anyone else have Any questions for staff while they're researching that question? At least one can research, one can answer. We got a multitask here to keep it moving.

We can just come back to this if you want.

I ASKED A QUESTION IN THE GENERAL REVIEW ABOUT THIS ITEM. AND THE QUESTION I ASKED WAS, IS $52,000 A YEAR FOR THE CITY TO PAY THE BANK TO BE ABLE TO DO OUR BUSINESS? SO I ASKED THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FINANCE, WHY DO WE HAVE TO PAY MONEY FOR THEM TO PAY keep our money, that they should be giving us money. But then she explained to me that because they charge you for every check, everything that they do, and mostly they don't keep all of their money in that bank. So I was just curious to know why is it that we were paying somebody else to hold our own money? But that's.

So do we do our employees get free check cash in privileges or not? Everything is digital now. Is there any paper checks?

I don't, yeah, there's no really paper, a lot of paper checks.

Only to vendors now.

Yeah.

Okay. Do you all have the answer?

Yes, we do, sir. And the procurement department is going to ask if we can table this particular item and come back based upon the documentation that I have, it's conflicting.

Okay. You're asking us to table this item and not make a decision tonight? Yes, sir. Okay, there is a motion on the floor. We either need to rescind it or vote it down and then put another motion on the floor. Mr. Chair? Yes.

I'm over here. It's the clerk. I didn't get a motion in second for this item.

I'm sorry?

I didn't receive a motion in second. Oh, there is not a motion on the floor.

Okay. So I entertain a motion to table.

So moved.

Been moved by... Councilwoman Lanier and seconded by Vice Chair Spiritus. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier. Yes. Councilperson Lanier.

Yes.

Councilperson Miller-Anderson. Yes. Chairperson Dr. Spiritus.

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton.

Yes.

That's a unanimous vote.

Okay. Next item, please. Pulled item. Mr.

Chair, we are on item 3D.

Deirdre and David.

Yes, sir. This item was pulled by Councilperson Lanier. Resolution number 8526, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the health coverage agreements with Cigna Healthcare of Florida, New York Life, and Solstice, authorizing the chief financial officer to make all required payments, providing for an effective date of October 1st, 2026. Mr. Chair, there are no public comment cards for this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

Okay, I will entertain a motion for this item.

So moved.

It's been moved by... Vice Chair Spirulis.

Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur for approval. Discussion on the motion. Staff.

I pulled this item. Sorry, Chair.

Okay.

I pulled the item because I wanted the risk management to help HR to share with the public that we spend a lot of money for health insurance, almost up to $9 million for employee health insurance. And the fact that we were able to keep the same rates that we had from the previous year, which is kind of unheard of, given the fact that there were a lot of times when insurance goes up, it is because of the sheer number of claims that are made ON BEHALF OF THE EMPLOYEES. AND I WANTED TO COMMEND THEM AND ALSO FOR THEM TO EXPLAIN TO THE PUBLIC HOW IS IT THAT WE WERE ABLE TO NOT PAY THAT 17% INCREASE AND WERE ABLE TO KEEP THE HEALTH INSURANCE THE SAME WAY.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS, BRENDA JENKINS, HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR. SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER STEPHEN GOODE. AND SHAWNA WHITLEY FROM THE HEARING GROUP.

So it's actually the Guerin group. Yeah, I just really wanted to, I pulled that item just for that, because we have been, when I first got here, we were paying about $7.5 million for insurance. We're up to nine. And that's been in the last five to six, seven years. And to be able to keep the rate as it was from the previous year is a very big feat, given the fact that we're almost up to $10 million for health insurance for our employees. So very good job.

And the question was, how did the city do that? That was the question to maintain a lower level of rate increase.

Good evening, Mayor, commissioners, city manager and staff. Thank you for the opportunity to be here with you this evening. I'm honored to be your Gearing Group benefits consultant representative. We work hard on behalf of your city employees as well as their family members. So based on your utilization, which are the claims that Commissioner Lanier mentioned, you were projected to receive approximately 17% increase. That would have equated to approximately $1.4 million. Due to our relationship with Cigna, as well as negotiating your current rates, they agreed to keep your premiums, as they were for the previous year. The city pays approximately $8.2 million, and your employees cover the other $1.6 million.

Okay. Are there any further questions? Hearing none, I'll call the question, Madam Clerk.

COUNCILPERSON DAVIS PENN YEAR, YES. COUNCILPERSON LANEER, YES. COUNCILPERSON MILLER-ANDERSON, YES. CHAIRPERSON SPIRITUS, YES. CHAIRPERSON GUYSON, YES. MR. CHAIR, THAT'S A UNANIMOUS VOTE.

NEXT ITEM, PLEASE.

WE'RE ON ITEM 3F THAT WAS PULLED BY COUNCILPERSON MILLER-ANDERSON. RESOLUTION NUMBER 9126, A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF RIVERA BEACH Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the mayor to execute a municipal agreement for swimming lessons with Palm Beach County to participate in the Drowning Prevention Coalition Learn to Swim program, authorizing a city manager or does need to implement the terms of the agreement and providing for an effective date. Mr. Chair, there are no comment cards on this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

I entertain a motion. So moved. It's been moved by Vice Chair Spiritus.

Second.

Seconded by Councilwoman Lanier. Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing no discussion. Mr.

Chair?

Yes.

I mean, I pulled it for someone to talk about it. Is there someone that?

IT SEEMS THAT COUNCILWOMAN MILLER-ANDERSON, WE HAD THE SAME QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE ITEMS. I HAD A QUESTION IN REGARDS TO THE SWIMMING PROGRAM AND ACCEPTING THE GRANT FOR IT AND THEN I ASKED THEM WHAT WERE THEY GOING TO SWIM? SO I THINK THAT Mr. Pickney, is that yeah, can explain to them more. And we also talk about the fact that we were going to loop in communications to be able to advertise that.

Yes. So this is also well, this is the person in charge of our aquatics division. The residents that we are up here for right now is to renew a three year agreement with Palm Beach County and the Drowning Prevention Program. It currently runs out September, September 30th of this year. THE NEW CONTRACT WILL RUN FROM OCTOBER TO SEPTEMBER 2029.

SO IT'S A GREAT PROGRAM.

EXCUSE ME. EXCUSE ME. WE HAVE FOUR POOLS RIGHT NOW. WE HAVE MYSTIC WOODS, THOUSAND OAKS, NORMAL BAY AND BERKELEY LANDING THAT WILL PROVIDE THE SWIM LESSONS FOR THE KIDS.

NEW SPEAKERS.

NEW SPEAKERS.

do you have to live in those developments in order to participate or you can live outside of it so mystic woods is the pool that any person in city riviera beach can attend um thousand oaks sonoma bay and berkeley landing you have to be part of that uh community to attend all right thank you so the residents have mystic woods to be able to go to that's correct and please make sure that that flyer goes out about the next swimming uh classes for you YES, I KNOW YOU ASKED ME THAT QUESTION, SO I JUST WANT TO LET EVERYBODY KNOW HERE TOO NOW THAT WE HAVE SWIM LESSONS, SWIM LESSONS ARE OPEN RIGHT NOW FOR SEPTEMBER. WE CURRENTLY HAVE SWIMMING LESSONS GOING ON RIGHT NOW. THEY DO RUN OUT OF SPACES. SCHOOL HAS STARTED. SO WE DO HAVE LIMITED SPACE. SO WE ASK ANYONE WHO WANTS TO ATTEND, PLEASE COME TO THE PARTS AND RIGHTS DEPARTMENT AND SIGN UP RIGHT AWAY.

Yes, Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

Okay, I had the same question yesterday, but I appreciate the fact that you all are still running the programs. The seniors are participating in the water aerobics at Mystic Woods, and I know because my mom goes twice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So we appreciate you making sure that those services are available to the residents.

I appreciate that. I just want to thank Will. He's done a tremendous job, him and the Ms. Ruby have done a great job with the seniors, and the program has been, I think, very successful. So I think they're doing a great job, and I hope that's something that we can continue in the future.

Awesome. Thank you.

Any further questions or comments? Hearing none, Madam Clerk.

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

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

That's the unanimous vote.

Thank you. Next item, please.

Mr. Chair, we are on item 3G that was pulled by Councilperson Miller-Anderson. Resolution number 9226, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, approving the acceptance and implementation of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Healthy and Sustainable Communities Grant Award in the amount of $50,000, authorizing the implementation of the Healthy Wallets, Healthy Lives Initiative Pilot Program, and providing for an effective date. Mr. Chair, there are no comment cards for this item. The acceptance of the cards is closed.

I will entertain the motion for approval. So it's been moved by Vice Chair Spiritus, seconded by Councilwoman Miller-Anderson. Discussion on the motion, staff.

Good evening. Mayor, members of the council, city manager, Eric Range, chief of staff for Mayor Doug Lawson. Before you tonight is a resolution authorizing the acceptance of a $50,000 U.S. Conference of Mayors Healthy and Sustainable Communities grant for the implementation of the Healthy Wallets, Healthy Lives initiative. This is 100% grant funded, three month pilot program that requires no local matching funds from the city. This initiative will serve approximately 35 low to moderate income families with children between the ages of 18 and 14 through the penny plate and park model, which combines financial literacy, savings and education, nutritional education and with healthy food assistance, structured physical activities utilizing city parks and recreational facilities. The goal of this program is to improve both financial stability and healthy living by addressing the connection between household financial insecurity and childhood obesity. The grant funds will be used for personnel, direct participant benefits, and program administration and evaluation in accordance with the grant requirements. Staff respectfully recommends approval of the resolution authorizing acceptance and implementation of this grant. Councilwoman Miller.

Yes. So how do participants, I guess, register or where do they get more information in terms of getting involved with this?

Yeah, we needed to bring this before the board before we started rolling that information out. But we have been working with the marketing staff to develop a flyer and we will have a type form on the mayor's website or mayor's page on the city website for people to be able to sign up and get more information.

Mr. Chair? Mayor Loftin. Thank you. I just wanted to congratulate my Chief of Staff. We talked about this before, but he did go ahead and execute and apply for this grant. And this was actually one of the first through the U.S. Conference of Mayors that the cities have received. And he wrote this grant and submitted it, and we were awarded number two in the country. So congratulations to my Chief of Staff. And for Dr. Hayes-Darling for working with him to implement this program. So this would be a great program to implement to the community to roll out. And please look out for the participation. We'll be working with every department in the city to make sure that all of the residents benefit from this grant and hopefully going after it again. So great job to the staff. Mr. Range, thank you.

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

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

Yes.

Chairperson Lawson? I'm sorry. Chairperson Guyton?

Yes.

The item passes with Councilperson Lanier out. Mr. Chair, item 3H was deleted from the agenda and items 3I through 3L were moved to the regular agenda before 3A. So therefore, we are on item 6B, presentation of the city's audit for 2024-2025. Thank you.

We have, where is Ms. Reynolds? I see our auditor here. Okay, please introduce yourselves. In the interim, you can introduce yourselves while I keep trying to get things together.

Good evening, Mayor, Chair, and Council. The city's audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30th, 2025 were issued on june 26 2026. mr rodriguez harvey managing director of each hct cpa and consultant the city's external auditor will present the city's city's audited financial statement results and to also any questions that you may have thank you good day uh commissioners mayor city manager city attorney

My name is Roderick Harvey, partner with HCT, Certified Public Accountants and Consultants. We are the auditors of record of the city of Riviera Beach. We have performed our audit in accordance with GAAP, Generally Accepted Auditing Standards, to ensure that the city is keeping its accounting records in accordance with GAAP, Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. We have performed our audit and we have issued a clean audit opinion for the year ended September 30, 2025. I will note to you that there was no single audit or uniform guidance for this year as the city did not exceed in grant expenditures, federal grant expenditures, more than 750,000. And so it is important to note that. We considered all of the external reports that were out there. We also looked at the control environment for things that the city may be doing. And as a result of that, we issue again a clean opinion. We have no findings. We did rotate the audit manager on this engagement. We thought that that was important to provide a fresh person to participate at the manager level and on site and to oversee staff to provide some variability to the audit engagement. At this time, should the board chair allow, I will entertain any questions that you all may have of me.

Council members, mayor, any questions? Or did you want to see the presentation first? They would like to see the presentation first and then if they have any questions at that time.

All right. Y'all pull my plug. I tried to talk it through. Let's see what we can do. Again, we have performed our audit. Thank you for having us in accordance with gas. Again, the year end is September 30, 2025, and we have performed again our audit, which did not include a federal single audit uniform guidance. But nevertheless, we did issue a clear, clean opinion. And the date of our audit report is June 26, 2026. All of the reports were provided to the state and the various entities on time. Over the next few minutes, we will talk about the audit results, supplementary slides and responsibilities. We have performed all of our steps. There are no outstanding matters to report and all significant accounting policies and practices can be noted in note one of the ACPA. We review the organization and we had certain things that we deemed as significant accounting estimates, depreciation, fair value of investments, pension and allowance for doubtful account, significant risk, and these apply usually universally, management override of controls and revenue recognition. There were several new pronouncements that could, would, may apply based on the city. Those pronouncements, GASB 84, GASB 88, and GASB 90. For our required communications to you as your auditors, the main thing we do is audit and report. In the next couple slides, we will report to you several required communications. As you can see in this deck, we have no matters to report as relates to uncorrected misstatements, corrected misstatements, and financial statement presentation or omission. We have no matters to report. NEXT REQUIRED COMMUNICATION CONTROL DEFICIENCIES AND RELATED PARTY. WE HAVE NO MATTERS TO REPORT. I WILL MAKE ONE NOTE WE IMPLEMENTED A NEW PROCEDURE IN WHICH WE EXPANDED THE AMOUNT OF RELATED PARTY QUESTIONNAIRES NOT ONLY TO THOSE CHARGED WITH GOVERNANCE YOU THE ELECTED OFFICIALS BUT ALSO TO KEY DEPARTMENT HEADS. WE THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT WE EXPAND OUR SCOPE AND ALLOW A MORE ROBUST AMOUNT OF RESPONSES FOR PEOPLE WHO MAY BE AWARE OF any fraud or malfeasance. This is a significant slide. Again, I require communications to you. I'll just highlight a few. No illegal acts or fraud, noncompliance with laws and regulations, no other outside communication with other accountants, and no disagreements with management, again, as it relates to our audit procedures. We are deemed independent as it relates to AICPA guidance. We will now talk about the numbers. As always, we look at a two-year comparison. Where were we? The period ended September 30, 2024, as compared to where we ended up September 30, 2025. Revenues for the period September 25, 195 million, as compared to 180 million for the same period in 24. We selected a sample of significant transactions revenue transactions and tested those transactions for accuracy cutoff and presentation moving on to expenses for the year 25 168 million as compared to 164 million we selected a sample of significant expenditure transactions and tested those transactions for completeness cutoff and presentation of the expenses as recorded capital assets as you can see, remained relatively, just a small increase, $331 million for 25 as compared to $303 million for the 24 period. An increase of $19 million was primarily due to building improvements and right of use leased asset increases. Receivables, $9.96 million for 25, $9.62 million for 24. We confirmed those receivables with outside parties and long-term debt. AT THE 25 YEAR, 173 MILLION AS COMPARED TO 181 MILLION. AND AGAIN, WE CONFIRM THOSE BALANCES WITH THIRD PARTIES. AGAIN, OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO AUDIT AND REPORT TO YOU AS THE ELECTED OFFICIALS, THOSE WITH GOVERNANCE. THERE ARE TWO TYPE OF FINDINGS THAT WE MAY HAVE BASED ON OUR We can have a significant deficiency or material weakness. In this case, for this audit year, we have no findings to report and there are no prior findings. Our responsibility is to audit to provide you any information should it come available to us. We are obligated to provide that information to you in a written format. And at this time, should the board chair allow we will do our very best to answer any questions that you may have.

Any questions from the council? Hearing none, this does not require a vote, does it?

Usually, the council will vote to accept the audit report for the year then ended. Okay.

I would entertain a motion to accept It's been moved by Vice Chair Spiritus. Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Preneur. Is there any further discussion on the motion? Hearing none, Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Preneur? Yes. Councilperson Lanier? Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson?

Yes.

Chair Pro Tem Dr. Spiritus?

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton?

Yes. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Now we move down to the regular agenda.

Mr. Chair, item 3i was pulled by Councilperson Lanier and moved to the regular agenda.

Okay.

Resolution number 9726, the resolution of the City Council of the City of River Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the utilization of train technologies, a vendor listed in Exhibit A to Resolution 111-25 to provide a new HVAC systems and equipment in an amount not to exceed $106,400 for the Lindsay Davis Senior Center authorizing the chief financial officer to make payment from projects 23019 parks master plan and 25016 lindsay davis renovations and providing an effective date mr chair there are no cars for this item the acceptance of comment cars is closed okay i will entertain a motion for approval so moved so moved by dr

I second, but maybe I'm confused about where this is. I thought that this was going to be a part of your regular agenda. And with that being said, that means that the emery was supposed to come first.

Sorry now. It was moved to the regular agenda when it was pulled. And when you pull it, it becomes the first item on the regular agenda.

RIGHT. BUT BEFORE THE REGULAR AGENDA, YOU ADDED THE EMIRATE TO IT. YOU ADDED RIGHT BEFORE THE REGULAR AGENDA. YOU TOLD US THAT IT WOULD COME AFTER AWARD.

MY NOTE SAYS MOVE TO AFTER 11A FOR EMIRATE.

SO THE EMIRATE IS AFTER 11A?

WAIT A MINUTE.

OH, NO, YOU'RE CORRECT.

IT WAS MOVED TO AFTER PRESENTATIONS. MR. CHAIR AND BOARD MEMBERS, I DO APOLOGIZE. SO WE ARE ACTUALLY ON ITEM 12B. update on the Amerit Resort development.

Sorry, Chair.

Okay. Okay. That's correct. Yes. I remember why we moved it now.

We do have one public comment card on this item. The acceptance of cards is closed.

Okay. This is a discussion item. MR.

CHAIR, CAN SHE READ THE TITLE INTO THE RECORD, BECAUSE THE LAST THING I HEARD WAS THE RESOLUTION.

ITEM 12B, UPDATE ON THE AMARANT RESORT DEVELOPMENT.

THANK YOU.

NEW SPEAKER Good evening, Mr. Chair, Mayor, and City Council. This item is an update on the Amrit Resort development, which is located at 3100 North Ocean Drive. During the July 1st City Council meeting, residents of the Amrit development spoke during public comment regarding challenges they are experiencing within their community. Their concerns generally fall in two categories, construction issues and the classification of their units as non-residential RESORT HOTEL SUITES. THE CITY BUILDING OFFICIAL, MR. GRIMM, WILL PROVIDE FIRST AN UPDATE ON THE CONSTRUCTION, FOLLOWED BY MYSELF PROVIDING AN UPDATE ON THE CONVERSION OF THE RESIDENTIAL. OKAY. MR. GRIMM.

GOOD EVENING.

I'M MICHAEL GRIMM, THE BUILDING OFFICIAL.

THERE WAS A MEMO SUBMITTED BY THE DIRECTOR, MR. SERMONS, AND I HAVE A FEW UPDATES TO THAT. The final CO for the Amrit development has not been issued yet. It's a large development and there's still some issues left. All of the individually owned hotel suites have been issued COs for over two years now. And the building is being used and occupied. It has a release for use and occupancy of all the lobbies, halls, restaurants. It's just that there are issues preventing the final CO from being issued. One of the main issues is the final threshold inspection certification. There are several issues holding that up. One of them is the screening for the ACs on the roof. The original screening, they decided to change it after it had failed inspection by the threshold inspectors to a more substantial material. They have submitted that material to the building department for review. That should be issued in the next couple of days, and hopefully that issue will get inspected and done. There's some post-tension issue. There was one floor of the east tower that a while back the threshold inspectors needed it to be load tested. IT WAS TESTED AND FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND IT PASSED, BUT THE POST TENSION ENGINEER HAS NOT GIVEN THE THRESHOLD ENGINEER THE FINAL REPORTS ON THAT. I TALKED TO THEM WHY THE DELAY AND THEY FEEL THAT IT'S DUE TO SOME CONTRACTUAL ISSUES BETWEEN THE ENGINEERS, POST TENSION ENGINEER AND THE DEVELOPERS, BUT I'M TRYING TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF WHY I'VE NOT RECEIVED THAT YET. THEY HAVE The threshold engineer, which is universal, they did a final walkthrough and did a report of some cracks in the garage areas of columns and in the ramp going up the north side. The engineer of record addressed those issues and gave some specs on what to do to it. Mostly they're injection epoxy into the cracks and the contractor has been working on that and the threshold inspectors have been inspecting it. They have not yet started addressing the ramp on the north side. That's the only one where they were told to chip out some more to investigate further. They have not yet done that. I understand that they're going to be doing that within the next three weeks. There's also been a turnover inspection done by some engineers hired by the association of the individual unit owners.

There's a couple of hundred pages.

There are some code issues in there.

There are a lot of issues that are mostly maintenance issues that were not originally building code issues when it was built, but lack of maintenance during the time that it was installed to the turnover. I do want those done also. So I've been talking to the contract about that. And he's told me that they've hired a company to start For instance, there's corrosion on a lot of the piping on the roofs. And he said that he's hired a company to go up there and take care of that. And so I'm trying to make sure that all the things in that report also get done. And then the final thing is I have to put together a final list of things for them to do. I have not completed that yet. I'm going through. There's over 70 permits. even though there was only one building permit for both towers and all the units there were actually 70 permits for accessory things like pools fountains fences barriers accessory structures so i'm going through all of those i've decided to get my electrical inspector to go with me over all the fountains and pools one last time even though they passed i'd like to really make sure on those since they're the most dangerous issues i want to make sure all the bonding and everything and that is done right before I close those all out. So I'm in the process of looking at all those and closing them all out. And that's the end of my update. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Yes, Mr. Grimm.

OK, OK.

Yes, I have one quick question. First, I mean, Councilwoman Davis-Panier and then Vice Chair Spritz, but I have one quick question. You said a lot of industry jargon. You talked about a lot of trust in different things. In layman terms, did you find any major serious problems that could be hazardous to the health of the residents or danger to the health of residents?

I do not find any major problems.

Wait, I didn't understand you. What did you say? I did not. I did not find anything major.

Particularly with the structural, I speak to the threshold engineer and the reports from the engineer's record and none of the items in those have amounted to major issues for the health.

There's been a few things where plumbing has

You know, they've had issues with some of the plumbing pipes and having to open up and it's gotten some. And I guess you could consider a little health issue from, you know, plumbing being in the walls, but they have been opening, the contract's been opening up and cleaning them up. And so I don't consider any of it major.

Okay.

Councilwoman David Spanier.

Thank you, Chair. I'm sorry. I had to excuse myself. HAVE YOU BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE PROCESS THROUGHOUT OR ARE YOU JUST COMING ON BOARD?

NEW SPEAKER I CAME INTO THE CITY IN LATE 2020. AND I LEFT FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS IN AROUND 2023 OR 4. AND THEN I'M BACK. SO I'VE BEEN THERE SINCE THE LATE 2020.

NEW SPEAKER SO YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THIS PROJECT AND WHAT NEW SPEAKER RIGHT.

IT STARTED CONSTRUCTION IN 2018. SO I CAME IN WHEN Most of the structure is already up and the structure is mostly done by the threshold inspector, not our city inspectors. The structure is done by by state law threshold inspectors.

OK, thank you. Because that's why I was asked.

Vice Chair Spuridich.

Thank you, Chair. I was going to ask the same question you asked about life safety issues. So you don't see any life safety issues that are outstanding right now.

No, I would not have issued COs on those individual units if I felt that there was life safety issues.

So all the elevators have been certified and they're all approved?

All the common area elevators. There are issues with the penthouse elevators, and they are not the best. But the elevators, they're not the emergency egress from the penthouses. It's the stairways. THAT ARE.

I'M JUST GOING TO BRING UP, CHAIR, SOME OF THE ITEMS THAT THE OWNERS BROUGHT UP WHEN THEY CAME BEFORE THIS BOARD. ELECTRICAL. A LOT OF THE OWNERS COMPLAINED THAT WHEN THEY OPENED UP THEIR WALLS, THEY FOUND ELECTRICAL WIRES THAT WERE FRAYING. THERE WERE SOME ELECTRICAL ISSUES WITH THE PANELS, THE BRAKERS TRIPPING WHEN THEY TURNED THE OVEN ON, THE TV WENT OFF. where the break is blue, has that all been resolved?

I don't think it, I don't know if it's all been resolved, but those electric panels were installed and inspected probably two years before they actually started being used. And they sat in a salt air environment and did get some corrosion. And so the ones that were brought to my attention, I have seen being repaired and replaced.

So you've responded to all of the complaints that you've received? Yes. Okay, but you don't think that this is a situation that's throughout the entire building? That some of the people just haven't seen it or don't notice it yet?

That could be. They did sit there and they probably should have went and once they noticed several of them happening, they probably should have went and decided to open up all of them and clean up any corrosion they noticed and replace breakers.

I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU WOULD KNOW THAT UNLESS YOU OPENED UP EVERY WALL. SO I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT COULD BE DONE WITHOUT DOING THAT. SECOND QUESTION, THE CRACKS THAT YOU SAID YOU SAW, THOSE WERE I GUESS YOU ASSUME SOME OF THEM ARE JUST EXPANSION CRACKS AND NOT STRUCTURAL CRACKS.

NEW SPEAKER WE HAD THE DRESS HOLD COMPANY write in a report the cracks that they saw and then they had the engineer of record address those and and say what to do to them and his report indicated that they were not major and that he wanted them to do epoxy injection into the cracks and seal them that includes the uh the roadway going up to the that's the only one the north ramp roadway right that's the only one that they wanted to do some chipping on and they haven't done that yet I talked to the contractor, and he blamed it on the rain. I'm not sure if that is the real thing, but he told me he expects to do that in the next three weeks. Okay, plumbing.

One of the people came here and said, one of the owners said that he had human waste in his wall, that the pipes had broken. I know you're saying there was some plumbing issues. Is that something that we're going to see throughout the building, or was that isolated to that particular unit?

I think building like that you're bound to get a couple of those when it first gets turned over and started to be used you'll find a few plumbing things they actually had a plumbing issue just the other day with a water pipe in the restaurant that burst and they had to turn down turn off the main for the building for to get it repaired but you're bound to get a couple of those here and there and When they do show up, I expect the contractor to go in and repair it and fix the firewalls in the shafts and get it done. And I believe they've been responding to each one.

In the plumbing itself, were there elbows added that are creating this problem? No, I heard that.

I heard that before, that they were trying to snake it out. And they don't understand that that that system is a solvent system that that if they're trying to sneak it to that that's going to hit the aerated to the solvent system a lot of people are not very familiar with that it's more of a northern thing with the cast iron and but uh you would hit that and uh you would think it was an elbow but it's not and uh so that was not what what it was okay

When are we going to have this resolved? When do you think you're going to have a C of O on this building issue? Any guesstimate? I know we're going to have to hold you. Before I retire. Paul?

I don't know exactly yet. I would hate to give an optimistic guess. I tend to be optimistic and I'm always wrong. So I don't know. This developer tends to be very slow. He does end up addressing items, but slowly.

Okay, but I'm happy to hear that you don't think there's any life safety issues, because that's what I'm concerned about. Mr. Evans, are you going to speak about the changing to these homesteaded units?

Yes, I have a summary when the board is ready.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Vice Chair. Mr. Evans, did you want to speak on that now?

Yes, sir. The owners of some of the resort suites have indicated that they intend to apply for conversion of some of the units from resort suites to permanent residential units that can be homesteaded. The city has a section of the code that provides a process to apply for this change in a resort hotel zoning district. The homeowners association represented the owners have hired a consultant to prepare an application for this process. The existing conversion process provides that the conversion price is approximately $52,000 per unit, and on that current site would allow up to 60 units to be converted. The consultant who is hired by the HOA did meet with us recently and indicated that they're also developing a request to modify the existing conversion process, but they haven't provided defined details yet to staff and they haven't made their application. The schedule for the review of this type of application would be approximately three months from the date of submittal insufficiency.

Has the official application been submitted, Chair?

No, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Are there any further questions or comments? Hearing none, thank you very much, staff. But they're going to take care of you. Thank you. I appreciate you moving the item up.

We did have a public comment card and I don't know if you call a famous man.

But the government did you have a comic carpet below.

I WISH THE GENTLEMEN HADN'T RUN OUT BECAUSE ONE OF THE CONCERNS THAT I HAD THAT WAS RELATED TO ME BY RESIDENTS WAS THE BOILERS. FOR TWO YEARS THEY WERE PUMPING CARBON MONOXIDE INTO THE BUILDING AND THE FIRE INSPECTOR WANTED TO SHUT THEM DOWN. THERE WAS SOME DIRECTION ITEM THAT CAME FROM EVANS BUT THEY DID NOT SHUT THE BUILDING DOWN. THEY LET CARBON MONOXIDE BE VENTED INTO THE public area instead of being vented outside the building. My question has that been addressed because for two years, it wasn't, the board leaves were not signed off on by the state fire marshal. That was one item. And the second item I had was that the spa was working for a year and a half without a temporary certificate of occupancy. And they were not, there was no business tax receipts being collected for the spa, but yet they were operating and collecting tax. I filed the complaint that there was no business tax receipts being collected and then magically, oh, give us a couple of weeks and we'll take care of that. So those are two questions I wanted to address before those gentlemen took off.

Mr. Brim, could you, Mr. Grimm, could you come back to the mic, please?

Mr. Chair? Yes. And as Mr. Grimm's walking up here, I do have a question for Chief Coleman as well. Mr. Grimm, if Mr. Grimm can go first and then Mr. Coleman. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Okay. Mr. Grimm, did you hear the comments about the carbon monoxide?

Yes, I did. The boilers, that is correct that they were not certified for when they should have been. That really is a fire marshal, not the building department. I understood what the reason was, was for they wanted a carbon monoxide detector on the unit, not just in the room. I did not hear that it was being vented improperly. That would be news to me. I was never told that by the fire inspectors, or I did not see that in the report. uh it had the boilers have been certified though um i believe about a month or two ago i don't know the exact date but i was told that they were finally by a fire inspector mr jones okay um there was there was a second question too a comment that was about business taxes oh yeah there was a lot of uh discussion on business taxes because originally they were going to have every unit owner have to get their own business tax for every single unit which would have been everyone going to the state to get a hotel license and i pretty much was demanding the the amaranth to cover the business taxes for everybody on that to cover it all underneath their hotel um but i'm not in charge of business taxes that's the department and okay um

I THERE WERE A LOT OF ISSUES WITH GETTING BUSINESS TAXES HE'S CORRECT BUT THEY'VE BEEN RESOLVED MOSTLY OKAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH MR. GRIMM CHIEF COLEMAN MAYOR LOFTON THANK YOU MR. COLEMAN JUST QUESTION THE BOARD DID ASK ABOUT ANY CRIMINAL ACTION OR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY THAT WAS BEING DONE OR DONE WITH THE CITY OR THROUGH THE AMERICAN DID YOU DO AN INVESTIGATION YES SIR THANK YOU GOOD EVENING CHIEF COLEMAN CHIEF OF POLICE RIVER BEACH POLICE DEPARTMENT

My department was brought in to investigate the Amrit for criminal charges in late 2025. During that process, we solicited assistance from the FBI and from the state attorney's office. During the whole process, we requested a majority of the documents that related to the Amrit and the whole bill. What we want, did it meet the threshold? to file in a criminal charge against anyone at the Amherst or see if we did have any wrongdoing internally within our agency. During this whole process, we discovered that there was no criminal charges during this whole process. And on the city side, we did everything right based on and all the documents showed that there was never stated in the documents that there was going to be homesteading for those homes. And we went to the state attorney's office, met with them, and everything that they said, it's a civil matter between the homeowners and the property, the homeowners and the renters who are renting and built the property. So based on everything you're asking, sir, we did a thorough criminal charges on everything, looked at all the documents that were associated with this bill, and everything internally is based on our interpretation and understanding it's a civil matter.

Thank you, Chief. And follow up to that, I believe it was Chairman Guyton that did ask to have that looked into. So thank you for following up and thank you for giving a clear bill of health to the process for staff and for Emirates. So hopefully we can resolve this for our residents and come to a resolution that's amicable for all sides.

So thank you, Chief. Thank you very much, Chief. It is now 7.32. I go to public comments now. My friend. Public comment shall begin at 730 p.m. unless there is no further business of the City Council, which in that event, it shall begin sooner. In addition, if an item is being considered at 730 p.m., then comments from the public shall begin immediately after the item has been concluded. Please be reminded that the City Council Board has adopted rules of decorum governing public conduct during official meetings. which has been posted at the front desk in an effort to preserve order. If any of the rules are not adhered to, the city council chairperson may have any disruptive speaker or attendee removed from the podium, from the medium and or the building, if necessary. Please govern yourselves accordingly. Madam Clerk.

Mr. Chair and board members, we have 20 public comment cards. The first speaker is Dennis Williams, followed by Annette Dragon and then Tiffany Williams.

Dennis Williams.

All right. Annette Dragon.

Walter, would you come check the mic, please?

Thank you, Doug.

Good evening, Annette Dragon, Riviera Beach.

A lot of things on my list for today. Why is William Wilkins named as city manager on the city website when his contract hasn't been approved? Why is the vacancy for city manager not listed on the website? Who's the interim fire chief? Who's the vice mayor? Who's the assistant interim fire chief? Why are the vacancies for fire chief and assistant fire chief not listed on the website? And what is the city actually doing to find appropriate personnel to fill these vacancies? What is being done to find a new CIO of the city? Vacancy has been posted on the website for four weeks already. What's being done to find a new parks and rec director for the city? That vacancy was posted on the 22nd of June. Why are the residents being kept in the dark about all these processes and all the above? Why was parking one reinstated prior to discussion at special city meeting last week on Thursday, and then conveniently the meeting was canceled on Thursday, so I'm guessing that city councilors didn't want to answer any questions about the sewage that had leaked into the water at lift station 10. Why was the incident only posted on the city website the day after it happened? I had intended to actually go to support the Jazz in the Park event on the 21st of August at the beach, but now with parking fees, I'm not supporting it. I also have spent a bit of time reviewing the housing element of the charter and the comprehensive plan, so to speak. And it clearly states that the public sector has a responsibility to ensure adequate safe housing, especially for low and very low income families, elderly and other disadvantaged groups. Council is clearly in violation of this goal and objective of the comprehensive plan by selling off city owned land to high end developers to build high rises, which are clearly meant for the uber rich only. While doing this and then giving waivers and making exception, council is clearly disregarding the needs of its current residents. When are you going to stop and look after the residents of the city of Riviera Beach that have been living, working and playing here for many years? This is a no brainer people.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker please.

The next speaker is Dennis Williams, Tiffany Williams and Eddie Green.

Good evening, Councilman. I'm here today concerned about the parking that we have in Sing Island. I don't know. Oh, OK. I don't know if anybody's aware of how these parking is being regulated as far as using cameras, block cameras, which not given an accurate detail of parking, which I was violated. It showed that I was parked there for less than two hours, but I still got fined for it. Not only that, the license plate reader, it did not show a clear image of my tag as I exit. It showed that I came in, but it doesn't show that I've actually parked my vehicle there. Anything could have happened. My car could have broke down. I could have been working on my car. I didn't physically park. Also, had I been at the establishment that I'm usually at, which is the two drunken goats, in order for me to find out what was wrong, I looked at the date that they stated that I was there. I wasn't there. My bank statement shows that I'd never been to Two Drunk and Ghosts at that particular time. I was there the following month for my fiance's birthday. So even at that time, the parking was not supposedly active in 526. They didn't reinstate this until October 3rd. So why am I being subject to pay for something that I didn't even have knowledge of? So one of the other things that is a big issue is the time limit, the time that they actually have these cameras activated or whatnot. As far as parking, you're hurting the businesses of that establishment. This says that I was there at 1030 at night on a Sunday. I have to go to work the next day. It says I left a little before 1230. So the business itself, they're losing money. They're going to lose money. We have people that don't even want to come back into these areas because they have to pay for these parking. Once they got in effect, I have no problem with paying. I have no that's that's the whole purpose. I know you guys are trying to generate and make money, but you're hurting the residents and you're hurting the businesses.

Thank you for your comment. Could you give a copy of your citation to be investigated by staff? Mr. Wilkins or Lydia Nittier?

The next speaker is Tiffany Williams, followed by Eddie Green and Matthew Woods.

Good evening. I'm Tiffany Williams, and I'm here on behalf of the Riviera Beach Fire Rescue. And right here I have Battalion Chief Boney. So this year we, Fire Rescue, we celebrate 100 years of service to the community. It started as a volunteer department in 1926. and it became a paid department. So we want to give back to the community as that's what they did always as the volunteers. So on August 13th, we're having a community health and safety forum here at the marina from 11 to 2. And we asked in the community and employees to come out to join us and just do what fire rescue, what we do. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Eddie Green, followed by Matthew Woods and Rochelle Hughes.

Good evening. Good evening, everyone. My name is Eddie Green. In joint partnership with Sincere 2000, a local organization dedicated to mental health awareness and suicide prevention, I would like to personally invite you all to join our upcoming festivities surrounding the proclamation of Eddie Green Day. We have an excited weekend. Starting tomorrow, we have a business mixer at the Vault Lounge for all residents. If you have a business, a small business, or you're trying to start a business, we want you to come out today. It's free. On Friday, we have a celebrity basketball game with celebrity NBA players, NFL players. content creators, some of everybody that's going to be at the basketball game. Kids 12 and under is free. 13 and up is $10. Proceeds will benefit Sincere 2000 Mental Health and Suicide Prevention. On Saturday, we do have a back-to-school drive right out here at the marina sponsored by Sincere 2000, Eddie Green, and Mayor Lawson. Make sure you bring your kids out for that. SATURDAY NIGHT WE HAVE A COMEDY SHOW RIGHT HERE IN THIS ROOM AND PROCEEDS WILL BENEFIT SINCERA 2000 MENTAL HEALTH AND SUICIDE PREVENTION. MAYOR DOUGLAS LAWSON DECLARED AUGUST 6, 2025 AS EDDIE GREEN DAY IN THE CITY OF RIVERA BEACH FOR PUBLIC SAFETY LEGACY. OUR EDDIE GREEN PROVIDED 25 YEARS IN SERVICE AND and becoming the first Black Ocean Beach captain in 2017, saving lives locally and internationally, and offering a free swim program to the kids and the residents of Palm Beach County, swimming clean with Captain Green. Entertainment had recognition of accomplished comedian, film actor, and released the only stand-up comedy stand-up comedy. I don't like talking in front of people. I have my own stand-up comedy special that was shot right here, right in this room, that's now streaming global on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and Fainsome, Mr. Willie's son. The proclamation was given for all the great work that I do in the community with our kids. This year, I have taught 112 kids free swim lessons. I want to give a shout out to Officer Jacobs for allowing me to use his pool at his house. Doug Lawson for always standing by us. Thank you. And I want to say thank you to Council Lady Davis. Thank you for your donation for helping us with this week at a Green Week. Everybody invited. Please come out. Love y'all. Thank you. I'm done.

Thank you for your comments.

The next speaker is Matthew Woods, followed by Rochelle Hughes and Lloyd Brown.

Thank you for letting me speak about the situation with anchoring. I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself before I get on to that. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale. My mother raised five kids by herself. We were very, very poor. In fact, we moved every year, but I didn't know we were getting evicted every year. Anyhow, so in my neighborhood, there was a little lake, and a gentleman taught some of the neighborhood kids how to sail. I was in third grade, and I've been in love with sailing ever since. In 2001, oh, sorry about that. I was able to buy a small sailboat, and I kept it behind the Pine Beach Sailing Club, and the only reason I could do that was because I had an affordable way to keep, and a place to keep the boat. Well, in 2001 is when I joined the Sailing Club. Last year, the Palm Beach, well, the state enacted House Bill 481, which allowed communities to regulate their waters. So that's what Palm Beach did. They did not regulate the waters. They simply evicted everybody. There was no chance. We went to the town meetings and what we said fell on deaf ears. It was not really good. So anyhow, a bunch of the displaced boaters came to Riviera Beach. And so here I am, I'm anchored in Phil Foster Park at the moment. And now here we go again. where we're going to get an eviction notice here pretty soon from the city of Riviera Beach. I don't know where we're gonna go. There's nowhere to go within 50 miles. I might go down to Dinner Key and get a mooring or go up to Fort Pierce Anyhow, so I'm gonna be forced to move the boat or to sell my dream. I've worked very, very hard to have that boat and it's just not really, really fair. We know that the Riviera Beach is planning and it's pretty close, I understand, of putting in a managed mooring field. So what I'm asking the town to do is to create a temporary permit to stay here until the mooring field is complete and ready to go. It's not a big ask. It won't cost the town anything. And of course we're responsible voters and so there won't be any of those typical issues. And then that way when the mooring field opens, you'll have customers on day one, which would be great. The sailing community is a vital part. of the economic community here. I just spent $6,000 at Cracker Boy just getting the bottom of the boat painted. And so that really helps the economy here. Also, I understand you're building a new vocational school that's gonna be teaching marine trades. What will the future look like with no customers? Or less customers?

Thank you for your comment.

So anyhow, my future lies in your hands.

Thank you for your comments. I'm sorry. We have to move to the next one. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Rochelle Hughes, followed by Lloyd Brown and Dr. Phil Dukes.

Good evening, Rochelle Hughes, Riviera Beach resident. A couple of things. First, I want to say thank you to the Public Works Department, Mr. Cedric, Mr. Buxton, and the team. They're going to be starting the millage and resurfacing project in Lone Pine.

Yay.

So thank you. I also want to say thank you to Major Kamone. Captain Rydell, I think I got her name correct, and Captain Harrison for some assistance that they gave a couple of us in Lone Pine Friday evening. So thank you very much, Chief.

Thank you for such a great team that you have.

The other thing, I wish we would have had the pay to park thing, because I need you guys to make this make sense to me. I sat through the last council meeting where you talked about the utility rates and how high they were and residents can't afford it and this and that. And I get it because we're trying to play for a new water treatment plant. And we went through and listened to residents and how much their water utility bill is. Then when it came to the pay for parking, it was all of a sudden, yeah, let the residents pay to park, to come here to the marina or to go to the ocean walk to go enjoy the beach. Make it make sense. Please make it make sense as to why residents of this city cannot get free parking passes to enjoy the beach that's free, to come to the marina that's free. This is city-owned property. Actually, so it's city-owned, it's resident-owned. and i need you to make it make sense as to why we we talked so much about the utility bills being so high but then you're okay for residents to pay for parking that's what i need i just need you to make it make sense thank you thank you for your comments um next speaker please the next week

White Brown, followed by Dr. Phil Dukes and Joseph Bedford Sr. My name is Lloyd, and this is not a comment.

Y'all ever heard of Abraham Traore? You know, it's like all the gold and stuff that was in Africa. That's like what this land we got here. You know, he sent all these people out of Africa, and he let the people who live in Boca, wherever he's a president, he let the people take the gold. And he made the wealth in there for the people. It's not like y'all. This is gold out here, all this along this coast, all the way down in Lauderdale. And black people were here. And white people were here. And we want a part of that money. We don't want you to bring in these developers and take up the whole street. Y'all need to listen to Abraham Traore and bring the stuff back to us. And then another thing, I heard you talk about housing. You said workforce housing. So that's to let you know we ain't got no workforce here. Because you said, we ain't going to have workforce housing for the people coming in the community to work. So that means that we don't have nobody in our community working. And then I'm saying, you're talking about housing. I can take you over there on this avenue where you got at least, I may be exaggerating, you got maybe 40,000 people that live over there living in them apartments. But you're not trying to do nothing for them. You want to build this here. They're not going to be able to go in there. There's no affordable housing. And don't walk out when I'm talking, man, because she said I can't talk to nobody, one person at a time. So if the group want me to talk to y'all at one time, then stay your ass in here. That's wrong to tell me, surely they're telling me I can't talk to one person. But this man get up and walk his behind out of here. And y'all sit back there. And you're selling us out. You need to listen to this man, Abraham. He kicked these people out. The developers and all of them kicked their ass out and let us use that money for over here. And then like the lady say, you want to charge us for parking. Ain't no big deal to me because I don't go over there no more. I really don't because under the bridge, you can't even get up under there. I mean, everything you're doing is taking less from us. And then to have a white guy come up here and point four black people out and say, you ain't doing nothing for your neighborhood. That's the first time I think I ever heard that in my life. And I'm 72 years old. I've never seen a white man come up and point out some black people and say you doing wrong to black. So apparently you must be doing pretty damn wrong. I mean, you sit there, y'all got smirks on your face. Do like the man do. Kick these people out of here properly. That's like gold to us. Make money for us, not for y'all. And then you talking about we don't have it. Well, y'all took a trip to Denver. You took a trip to Denver. You were right down there. I bet you took some people from New York who was a brother. See, I found out all this. I'm not dumb. I may look dumb, but I'm not. You do a lot of things undercover just to get votes.

Mr. Chair, the next speaker is Dr. Phil Dukes, followed by Joseph Bedford Sr. and Fane Lozeman.

President Trump.

Dr. Phil Dukes, CEO of Operation Restore, citizens of Revere Beach, city council, city manager, mayor. It's been June since I've been over here to talk about black history and the state of affairs in our nation. One thing we have to, oh, before I say that, first let me thank all the people who sent donations. We're still working on putting on these rallies. We have a presentation that we're going to give to the city. And this is about bringing our people together. We are in back in the late 1930s under this President Trump administration. This President Trump administration is linked up with every white power nationalist group in America. Donald Trump is a fascist white supremacist. Now, some people don't want to hear that because you don't want to admit the truth, but he is. He's done everything he can to tear down everything that black people have built coming up from 1865 to this very day. He's done that. And when we say that, people say, well, Pastor Dukes, you're making yourself a victim. No, we're talking about the victimization of America against black people. Now, look at some of these things that he's doing. Like how he's going after the Southern Poverty Law organization. Look what he's doing. He's not going after those white supremacist organizations because they support him. Look at all the things he's doing. So in the city of Riviera Beach, we should be pulling people together. I do not hate Donald Trump. I'm not a Republican or a Democrat, but we need to go out and vote. And vote this present administration out. It is un-American. And those of you who voted for Donald Trump, you know why you voted for Donald Trump. Because he appealed to that Eurocentric white nationalist thing, you know, that they're Christian and they're right. Listen, I'm a Christian. Matter of fact, I'm a Christian with a master's degree and an earned PhD that I got from a conservative seminary. But I did not let them tell me what to think. And that's the problem we have in America. So let us pull it up. Listen, you can go on YouTube and type in Operation Restore. We're all Operation Restore Inc. We're all Americans. And you will see our video that we're pushing out to the nation for unity. And I'm going to be coming up here talking about black history, some of the things that you need to know, some things they're not talking about in school, and not to push a black nationalist agenda. That is not my goal. My goal is to educate you, regardless of what church you go to, theologically and socially about American history and what it has done and why we're in the shape that we're in today. Thank you very much.

Thank you for your comment, next speaker.

The next speaker is Joseph Bedford, Sr., followed by Fane Lozman and Alfred B. Jones.

Joseph Bedford, Sr., Regent City Council, Mayor, City Staff. I had to follow behind that man. I'm a little nervous right now, so forgive me. But I'll come up tonight with a grateful heart. My wife and I started a youth mentorship program called Kings and Queens, Crown Kings and Queens Youth Mentorship. And we had our very first fundraiser this weekend. I don't know if it was the smartest thing to do in August, a fish fry as our very first fundraiser. That was definitely an experience. BUT WE HAD TO GO TO $1,000. WE DIDN'T MAKE IT, BUT WE DID COME CLOSE TO UNDER $600. FOR ME, BEING A START-UP PROGRAM AND NOT KNOWN, FOR MY COMMUNITY TO COME OUT AND SAY, HEY, WE KNOW WE DON'T KNOW YOU, BUT HERE'S SOMETHING, WE SEE YOU TRYING TO DO SOMETHING IN THE COMMUNITY, THAT MEANT A LOT TO ME. SO THAT under $600 was way more valuable than the money itself. So no one can tell me anything about my city. No one can tell me anything about my community, because I know my community will come together. under the right leadership, under the right guidance, I know that this city and the possibilities of my community. So I just want to say thank you with a grateful heart of supporting us and we're getting our foundation together, setting a solid foundation, getting our SOPs together, getting our insurance, doing all those type of things. But in January, we will start with our mentoring program. So I just want to say thank you. and I appreciate my city. Thank you.

Thank you very much for your comments. Next speaker please.

Next speaker is Fain Lozman, followed by Alfred B. Jones and Margaret Shepherd.

Fain Lozman. I received a call a week or two ago that the utility director had been fired by Mr. Wilkins. And then a few days later he was rehired. After I complete my comments, I'd like an answer. Is that true or that's just an unsure rumor? I've been in contact with the state of Florida The state of Florida says their TIF boundaries, the boundaries of the submerged lands on the north side of northwest course of Singer Island, they have not changed. But yet the police chief, and you can bring him up here and ask him the question, the police chief told me categorically that he cannot enforce trespass on our properties on the northwest corner of Singer Island because the city attorney told him not to do it. the city attorney unilaterally about the authority of the board has usurped your authority and changed not only the boundaries of the TIF property, which are individual properties, but also shifted the properties into the state park. Okay, now I've retained a lawyer. We're going to try to force the state to come down and tell the city that you cannot change the boundaries of the sale from 1924. I talked to spirits about it a while ago. We had a fight over the issue and I've been talking to him since. But he was like, well, the city had this survey done back in 2003, and the surveyors said they're in the wrong place, so we're just going to adopt them. You cannot change the sale of 307.11 acres by the state of Florida just because you hired a survey 110. YEARS AFTER IT WAS SURVEYED IN 1924 AND SAID WE'RE JUST GOING TO DO IT AND THE CITY ATTORNEY HAS UNILATERALLY TAKEN AWAY YOUR AUTHORITY AND TOLD THE POLICE CHIEF NOT TO ENFORCE TRESPASS THIS BOARD HAS TO DO SOMETHING AND CONTROL HER THAT SHE DOESN'T HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE A BOARD DECISION AND IF THE BOARD DID DECIDE TO CHANGE THE BOUNDARY DID LOOK LIKE YOU WOULD LOOK LIKE A BUNCH OF FOOLS BECAUSE THAT CAN ONLY BE DONE BY THE STATE OF FLORIDA IT CAN'T BE DONE BY ANYBODY IN THE CITY MUCH LESS THE CITY ATTORNEY So somebody needs to figure that out. Why is the police chief taking direction from the city attorney and not from this board?

That's all I have. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Alfred B. Jones, followed by Margaret Shepard and Connor Tierney.

Alfred Jones. I'M UP HERE TO REALLY KIND OF TALK TO OUR COUNCIL. I WOULD REALLY LIKE ALL YOU GUYS TO COME TOGETHER AS ONE. I MEAN, WE SPEND MORE TIME TRYING TO PICK ON PEOPLE INSTEAD OF TRYING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS THAT WE HAVE. WE HAVE ALL THESE, THE WATER BILLS. WE HAVE THESE BUILDINGS. WE DO HAVE A NEW CITY MANAGER. Go with the flow. Do what we need to do with the city manager and let him do his job. Not every time we turn around, we're bothering him about something. When Jonathan Evans was here, you couldn't say anything. You guys, I say, but I'm tired of this. This city needs to come together. Everybody have their own little private agenda. I mean, if it's not what you want, it's a problem. But I remember those times when Jonathan Evans was here and the same thing was happening. Why we can't just go past this and just move on? We're spending more time on this, and I would love to find out about this report. So I'm hoping that we hear something tonight about this. I really want to hear about the report. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Margaret Shepherd, followed by Connor Tierney and Alex Hill.

Margaret Shepherd River Beach. Should have had my cane. I know if my children see me now, they have a fit. But yes, Erica Davis did hit me on the side of my head and caused a concussion. Yes, I did spend a whole week in the hospital. And yes, I spent two weeks in rehab. And I'm here today to say thank you to everybody that came to my house. All of the phone calls. You can always tell who is in your corner. Because they are the ones that come to your rescue. Thank you for their dinners, for the salads, for the flowers, my birthday cards. Thank you. To go away and come back and say this is the best city or whatever, that you spent $45,000. I think that's what I heard. When people are struggling with water. As Alfred said, we come in here and we don't know what to expect. We're not safe. You put that there and people use that as a weapon. I was there that night when Erica, I was so ashamed as a black woman. Thank you to hear her talk about you, Mr. Guyton, because we've been friends for years. We don't always agree, but we agree to disagree. That's what make you an elected official. Thank you, sir. And to the mayor of this great city, Mayor Lawson, Mrs. Spiritus, I'm overwhelmed today because I was over at Lindsay Davis for the first time in two months. And they said, what a beautiful affair you gave for Father's Day. I was honored because I was pushing you. I needed that money. And I was pushing, pushing. And Mrs. Spiritus said it so calmly, I got this. Don't worry about it. Let the mayor. I'm grateful. I'm grateful, Mr. Spiritus. You didn't have to do it. You just got here. And some of these people have been in Sydney for 12 years and haven't done nothing. And I thank you. The water. This is the best city, but yet still we cannot drink the water. They want to put it over to us that the water is safe on the island. I will send you a clear message. If you don't have to shower in that water, don't. If you don't have to drink that water, don't. Because it is coming to a standstill that we need to stop the in-house fighting. It comes from council. And that's where the public. Mr. Wilkins, so glad to see you back. It was an honor to serve you then. And it's going to be an honor to serve you now. I thank you for allowing me to go with Ms. this way and also the blue the late Don Wilson snyder we open up we all keep in touch. And they're happy you back. So we're here I would like to have a meeting with you about how this police handle this I've never been raped. I want to tell you what this is that this is the 3rd time this girl hit the matter in this office and nobody did nothing. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment. Shepherd hope you get well. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Connor Tierney, followed by Alex Hill and Joyce Murphy.

Sorry.

Thank you members of the Council. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Connor Tierney and I own the Singer Island Pack and Ship on the south side of Singer Island. I'm located in a small section of businesses that's attached to the west side of the ocean walk lot along with eight other businesses, shops and small businesses. I didn't expect to be here today, but two hours before this meeting, I and several of my business neighbors received an email informing us that we suddenly don't meet the eligibility requirements for an employee parking permit because we're not located directly on the CityWalk sidewalk, despite being part of the greater Oceanwalk area and being attached by the hip to the parking lot. As such, it sounds like we can be expected to have to pay the daily rate to park within walking distance of our jobs. And as contributors to Riviera Beach's economy and workers who must use the Oceanwalk ocean walk lot to walk to our daily jobs. We are pretty upset with this decision and it feels quite unfair. It feels like we have our hands tied behind our backs. Most of us work at our shops between four and six days a week. I myself work there six days a week. And with the daily rate, I'd be looking at $180 a week to park at my job. That's going to be over $700 a month to park at my job. We're a small section of businesses that, again, directly border the ocean walk. And between all of us, we maybe occupy 15 spaces at any given time of the nearly 300 spots. And several of us are closed on the weekends during the peak collecting times for the meters. So we wouldn't even really make a dent in this bottom line of the potential revenue from the parking meters. So at best, it feels like we're being overlooked. At worst, it feels kind of like a cash grab from a small group of people who have no other options. So I have with me a petition signed by myself and a few of my business neighbors. It doesn't represent everyone who's upset by this because, again, I just got this notice two hours ago, as did they. But I'll keep sending you names of workers and owners who are hurt and upset by this decision. So I implore you to do the right thing and reconsider this decision and expand the parking permit program to us because, again, we have no other options. Thank you for your time.

Could you give that petition to our city clerk? Thank you. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Alex Hill, followed by Joyce Murphy and Michael Jordan.

Hi, good evening, council members and staff. I want to thank you, of course, for your service and hard work to keep Riviera Beach moving forward in a positive direction. I'm a resident president of my condo association, Lake Harbor Cove, located at 3040 Lakeshore Drive. just west of the wonderful Berkeley Landing Apartments. Our property has a view across Lake Worth to Sugar Sands and the Tiara area, and in particular to the boats that are anchored in the little bit of water just north of Phil Foster Park. As a manager of a marine business, which had an office for three years at 1905 Broadway, and currently employed by a residential community security company, which has been based on Singer Island for 25 years, I'm very aware of the potential and in fact bought my condo in Riviera Beach because I do see a wonderful future where Riviera Beach can achieve a positioning as really the boating capital of Palm Beach County. I would say that both attracting the visiting yachts during the season as well as keeping affordable options for local boaters here is fundamental to the marine trades, which are very prevalent here in the waterfront area of Riviera Beach. The yards, fiberglass, painting, electrical, plumbing, engine work, detailing, and then many other ancillary services that support yachts when they are here, groceries and restaurants to name a few, capture the economic benefits and employment of the yachting business. I applaud the city's plans for the managed mooring fields, both northwest of Peanut Island and over north of Phil Foster. This should be seen as one of the many efforts to develop and leverage Waterford assets of the city, which again, support employment in these Marine trades. My association has about 150 foot pier, fishing pier, walking pier. And we certainly are concerned about the derelict boats that are unmaintained and anchored over by Phil Foster Park. We've had two near misses of boats breaking free and almost hitting our pier, which you cannot insure a pier if anyone would like to know. So I do support the rapid implementation of the mooring field. At the same time, I do support a constructive bridge program for local boaters. And we would like to come together and provide you a solution that for a small number of boats that meet a very strict criteria would be able to stay in the city waters while the mooring field is being implemented and then become some of the first customers. Some of these criteria would include documentation of ownership, contact information readily available to the Marine Police, proof of insurance in line with the Riviera Beach Marina, registration with the state of Florida, Fish and Wildlife long-term anchoring permit. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comments.

The next speaker is Joyce Murphy, followed by Michael Jordan and Cindy March.

Hi, I'm Joyce Murphy from Riviera Beach. I had a big problem with the situation regarding the meetings with the residents of Riviera Beach on the subject of the parking. We canceled last Thursday's meeting with the residents and tonight we canceled discussion of the same. Why? Residents of Riviera Beach should not have to pay to park in Riviera Beach. We have already paid enough taxes for the creation and the maintenance of these parking lots. we should have free parking. Most of the profit from this paid parking will ultimately go to the private company you hired without community input. And little by little, like all dealings with private companies doing municipal works, it always ends up costing the city and its residents money in the end. Are you planning on having a meeting for the residents? When are you planning on having a meeting for the residents? Or have you all decided our input is not important? I am also in agreement with the comment regarding council person's rudeness to residents who choose to take the time to come here personally to speak to you. You're looking at your phones, your laptops, your tablets, ignoring us totally, as well as leaving the room, making sure we understand you really don't care what we have to say.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Michael Jordan, followed by Cindy March and Antonio Arte.

I WANT TO KNOW HOW THE COMMENTS GO. I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S WHEN PEOPLE COME IN, THEY NAME GO TO THE BOTTOM OR TO THE TOP. I'M JUST ASKING.

NO DISRESPECT. SO WE'LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER. I'm saying I have a concern with that, so you know me. I mean, I respect everybody, but whatever the concern to me, I will talk about it. First of all, I want to congratulate, well, I want to say that I want to congratulate all of you all, the city as well, to be represented, you know, by Congresswoman Lois Frankel. That's a good thing. But I'm praying and hoping that we can own up to continue to get the representation. Because like I say, I know we all and no matter where you go, have a lot of internal problems. But it's how we put it out there and how we do things and learn to do it with class. You understand what I'm saying? So that's what I would like to see happen more. I do think it's disrespectful when people get up. I can't say when you have to go to the restroom and they're talking and addressing the council. People walk out. They ignore the people. Residents are upset about that. You know, so I think some kind of way we should try to respect, you know, and I know something. Let me put it this way. I know sometimes people can come up and they may be a little harsh. It may be a little disrespectful to you all. But like I said, if I was up there working, I'm going to be respectful at all times. So I'm saying we got to try to get a little better with that because we need you all. And you all definitely need us because if it wasn't for our vote, nobody would be up there. You know, and I'm not saying this in a disrespectful manner because the residents have concerns. They're being overlooked. We're being disrespected. OK, you may not see it as being disrespectful. We don't know what's going on with the water taking a long time for the plant to get the water. to be built. I know that takes time, but we still running off dirty water, mess floating out there in the water. So, you know, these things that I'm talking about factual. And I know you all seen the post that I put up because I always speak the facts. I don't go by what people tell me. You know, it's a lot of things that we have to correct. And if we work together, we want to help you all correct them. So like I'm just saying, let's go back and let's try to rebuild a friendship or a partnership with the residents. Because I'm going to tell you something, one thing about it, the residents can hurt you. You know what I'm saying? And I'm not talking about physically, but you won't be there. And the worst thing you could do is get a bad reputation. You know, I talk about the reputation of the city all the time because it is what it is. And I'm not going to change that. But we want to help you all to kind of clean that up. And like I'm saying, I know, you know, it doesn't matter who ignores me because I know whatever I'm going to say, I'm going to say it loud, proud, and factual. And when you're doing the right thing, I'm going to always respect that, like I say, and commend you on it. I like a lot of the things you're doing, but the disrespect to the residents is something that I don't tolerate. I don't like that. That's very, very bad, you know, because I see people come in sometimes don't follow the rules of the quorum, but then you put certain people out.

Thank you for your comment. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Cindy March, followed by Antonio Arthe and Peter Hervoa.

Good evening, Council.

First it was Barracuda Bay. Then it was no fishing on the bridge. Now we got the park to go to the beach. It's a sad situation in the city of Riviera Beach. You know, we voted you all into office and you are not going to give us everything we want. And that's very well understandable. But watch out on all the parks and recreations. and we have nowhere to go. And another thing I want to know, I don't understand the CRA. The CRA should be able to be funded from one area to the next area, but you all pick and choose who you all want to help financially and with grants. That Smooth Me Please stayed open for three years without paying rent. Rafiki Ticket stayed open for three years without paying rent. We have an entrepreneur that's here mentoring our young ladies, and you all can't even help her get what she needs. She had to go to another city to get what she needs, and she's homegrown right here. How can we help our own people? The way we can do that, we can start with the person of Mandela's number one, and start talking about what you're going to block, because your day will come. Lanier, I observed you smacking and laughing when someone up here was speaking. Now you wonder why nobody want to pay your legal fees for wrongdoing or whether you did something wrong or not. They don't want to pay them. And you all come out to me this non-biased and whatever other thing on social media. Don't come. at me come to me because i got time if you all got time but what i'm not going to tolerate is you coming on my page as a non-follower and then when i say something in rebuttal you all got a problem with it it's not fair to me and i'm not going to tolerate it just like you all don't tolerate me being like i am when i come to these meetings being disorderly mr bill what god has for you is for you Can't no man stop or block what God has for you. And some of you all making remarks about his age, 80 years old. It's a blessing to be four scores. And you better hope you all get to be four scores and more. This man is doing the best he can do. If y'all had that same energy for Evans, we wouldn't be in the predicament we in with our budget. We wouldn't be in the predicament being behind the eight ball with not being able to get no bond money. So you all have more things to think about than insinuating on him being too old to be a city manager. It's not how old you are. It's what you can do. It's just like money. It's not what you make. It's what you do with what you make. And you all need to give this man a fair chance. And if y'all don't want to be on the board under his leadership, then you all need to just resign. It's just that simple. Glenn, you stay right there in that seat and do what you're supposed to do for the city because you don't came over on the west side before. And yes, the water is a little cleaner on the ocean. Thank you for your comment. Thank you.

Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Antonio Arte, followed by Peter Jaroa and Loretta Paul.

Good evening, Mayor, Chair, and Council. My name is Antonio Arte, and I am a local structural engineer who has owned a sailboat more in front of the Palm Beach Sailing Club since 2005. The town of Palm Beach recently kicked out all of the boats out of the lagoon for no reason other than they do not want working class people to enjoy the water. I then moved my sailboat to Phil Foster since last May. We all agree that derelict boats are a problem, especially when storms and hurricanes hit and get However, most boats are not derelict, and it is a huge mistake to throw out the baby with the bathwater. I am talking to you in representation of the boaters of the Palm Beach Sailing Club, which take great pride in the upkeep of their boats, keep them registered and insured, do not leave them and follow the law in every possible way. We are your future customers who will be renting your mooring balls once your new mooring field is finished. However, we cannot do that unless we are able to keep our boats in the area. We ask you to amend the recently passed ordinance to include a provision for a temporary permit with the conditions that you deem fair, including a fee and placement in a waiting list for a mooring ball so that we can wait for the construction of the mooring field to be completed. I truly believe that this is a win-win for both the city of Rio Grande Beach and the local residents who are responsible boat owners and your future clients. I really think it would set a great example of how a common-sense government should work with the needs of a population that should not be pushed to extinction just because we are not wealthy waterfront homeowners owning their own dogs, unlike what the town of Palm Beach has so horribly done without care or consideration of the consequences of their actions. We look forward to working with you to make this ordinance amendment as fair and effective as possible for the benefit of the community at large.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker, Peter Hergola. Daretta Polk. Mary Brown. Daretta Polk. Mary Bram and Dolores Williams.

Good evening, my name is Doretta Park. I AM A RESIDENT OF THE CITY OF RIVERA BEACH. I WANT TO CONGRATULATE MR. RAINS FOR THE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OF ATTAINING A GRANT FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD. IT IS SO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS CITY THAT ARE REALLY SUFFERING AND THIS WAS A VERY GOOD GRANT AND I HOPE HE CAN CONTINUE HIS HARD WORK AND DEDICATION TO THOSE WHO DEFINITELY NEED IT. My condolences go out to the Stuttsdale family. They lost their sister, Catherine Stuttsdale. She'll be memorialized this Saturday at 11 o'clock. She was our president of our citywide missionary at Greater Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, which I attend.

Our founder of the citywide missionary Baptist Church,

was the late Christine McLean. She was a founder. She dedicated decades of helping children to assist them in getting scholarships for colleges. And we still carry on her legacy. Our citywide missionary of Citywide Missionary Palm Beach County President is Harriet Felder. We welcome numerous churches if you want to join this Citywide Missionary of Palm Beach County. We welcome you. We also give to elementary schools throughout the city, undergarments, which is totally definitely needed, socks, and we... We also having a banquet in which I'm going to talk about hopefully that when we do have our banquet for raising money for the scholarship, that the parking fees would be waived because this is to help our children. So I'll be talking about that a little later. I want to bring also concerns I talked about a couple of meetings ago concerning a generator. that was purchased by the utility director, Mr. Josh Neiman. Was it working when he purchased it? Is it working now? And what is the status on that? And I want to congratulate Councilwoman Kashama Miller Anderson, because she is doing a phenomenal job getting that achievement concerning our cities, outstanding cities, out of all the cities in the United States, that's phenomenal and outstanding. I thank you so very much.

Thank you very much for your comments. Bye-bye. Next speaker, please.

The next speaker is Mary Bram, followed by Dolores Williams.

Good evening, General Counsel, as well as the city manager, Bill Wilkins. Good to see you all, but I have been on my job looking out for the interests that I am supposed to look out for. I'm going to tell you something here tonight because everything that I do tell you, it comes into play. I will never stand here and tell you anything that's not going to happen. Bill, we have been this road in your three times. I have stood in the gap for you as well. As long as they can play you, if you don't do what they want you to do, you know what is going to happen. We too are old for that now. We must do better. You are in a budget crunch here. You are top-heavy. Remember what we said on the other side. All of these assistant city managers that's making those top salaries. You get you someone that is reliable and that can help you progress and not hinder you. That is one thing that I was supposed to deliver for you tonight. Thank you, City Manager Jonathan Evans, for your service. It has been noted in the authority record Also, you as council people, any council representative needs to recruit he or she when their hands are in the pot. Oh yeah, you must do that. Don't sit up there and do that because it is noted. Whoever is doing it, and I'm not going to point you out, you know it because we know it and they know it too. So that's two things. Vote. Ms. Graham had on this voting here. I will not tell you who to vote for, but I'm going to encourage you to vote for the best candidate that has your interest at stake here now in what we're in here. It's time now for their friends and buddy stuff. If they do not vote for you, do not vote for them. It's okay to choose somebody else and see what they are doing. The parkings. See, Ms. Brown, I know the pocket issue has come up, but Ms. Brown paid for her pocket in February of 26. I took advantage of the offer that the city had given to we as residents. Whether you agree with it or not, we are in detrimental times here. When I tried to tell you all to move on that water, residents, this is not your fault about the water. It is the elected officials. And I don't say that lightly. I get it from the top officials. And this is what you all have done to this city here. Not the residents, not the residents, as leaders of this city here. You must get your act together because we will get it together for you.

Thank you. Thank you for your comment. Our next speaker, please.

The last speaker is Delores Williams.

Everybody. You're talking about the water. I think somebody brought this question up. Say, who fired the utility man?

If you can, you tell me and I'll tell them who fired it.

But it's not what they say, but it's what they do. Listen to what everybody be saying. Look at what they do. Some been there. Mr. Wilkins, I know you because my daughter and Ms. Anderson attended school and they were what? Friendship with each other, scholars and everything. Some people say you're not too old, but Jesus say call for the old pathway and walk there in. Sometimes you got to look back over. You can't see and learn from your old mistakes. You're going to keep on making mistakes. I'm going to say something. They might get mad and say, I'm doing this here. But if you notice those two people on the end there, they sit there like a wart on a pickle. They special people come up there. You watch them get out the computer. They put their hand off the chin and they smile. But they think Mr. Wilkins can't do the job. is what you think is what you do. I think he can do the job. And before I keep getting on that, I just want to give an honor to the mayor. We did last week, Saturday, get the book bags ready for this Saturday. And he's doing a wonderful job for passing out the book bags and school supplies. Mayor Lawson. So we want you to think about a lot of times people say, you know, I bought that. Somebody bought that thing and I bought it up by the crow. in the evening. Man, we still got some of these crows around here. Pecking and pecking on the best things and trying to destroy not going nowhere. If you want to go somewhere, you got to join it to the right thing. You got to join it for things that make things go forward and to be a greater progress. If you say you're qualified, you got more, you did this, you did nine years, did 12 years, then did 13 years. If it's the same thing when you was here before we got the new manager back, you the same old, same old, same old. You the alpha that's falling a bunch. I need you to stop that. Show these people like you care about, you want this city to progress. I'm saying, I'm going to do it to log. I'm going to put their pictures and show you how they act. They won't. They want Ms. Davis to lose the race. They want Geithner to lose. They want Mr. Spears. They want you all to vote them out. But we're not going to let them vote you out. We're going to vote you, keep you in, capital I-N exclamation mark. They need to stop this and come on, be together. Like you say, you're together. You're not together. What the word say? Together. And you're not together.

Thank you very much for your comment. Madam Clerk, what's the next item?

Mr. Chair, we are on item 3i. Mr.

Chair.

Yes, Councilwoman Miller.

If there's some questions that were asked during the public comment, can Mr. Wilkins please answer?

Do you want to do them now or in this closing comment?

Yeah, we normally write after because some people leave, so we try to do it right now, right after. Okay.

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman and Council, there are only a few remarks that I have. One is concerning the remark from one of the individuals concerning looking to waive the parking fees. And we'd just like to report to the public that in the future, we're not at liberty at this point in time to discuss these plans. I'd like to indicate to the general public that at this time, we're not able to describe or disclose the information that we have, but the city council members and the staff is looking at a provision, looking at a way in which we can assist the public with the parking fees. Okay. To Mr. Jordan's concerns about the water department, One of the things that we may have been a little slow on is really continuing to put information out about the water plant. So we're going to put together a program that on a regular basis, we will keep the public updated in terms of what the status of the water plant is. It's a three-year project. It's not going to be finished overnight, but we can provide you with information that will give you the a surety that the plant is being delivered in a timely and efficient and great fashion. There was one comment about the situation with the generator. and the utility director. At present, the case is being investigated by the state attorney's office. Those of us who are involved have been advised not to make any comments on it until they complete their investigation. So we cannot legally and we should not legally make any comments about that case until there's been some decision made by the state attorney's office. And that's why you don't see staff answering these questions. um mcgrabham made comments about too many assistants uh we are in our budget uh period now the city council has been presented their budget by me and it's up to the city council to make determinations about the status of those activities that are funded in in the budget we did go through and make a number of cuts And our staffing, our goal was not to reduce our staffing level because we know that these are citizens that occupy these jobs. We are attempting to hold on to as many employees as we can. So it is a process. We'll be on August the 11th, August the 15th, and August the 18th. We're having budget meetings. We encourage all of our public to come out and participate. You get an opportunity to see firsthand HOW THE CITY BUILDS THIS BUDGET, AND AT THAT POINT IN TIME, YOU'LL ALSO BE GIVEN AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE COMMENTS.

THANK YOU, MR. WILKINS. YES, GO AHEAD.

MR. WILKINS, IS THERE ANY WAY TO MEET WITH SOME OF THOSE BOAT OWNERS THAT DO NOT OWN DEARLY VESSELS TO SEE IF THERE'S ANYTHING THAT WE CAN DO?

Yes. Staff plans to meet with the appropriate individuals to discuss that and come back to the council with recommendations.

Okay.

Thank you. Mr. Chair.

Mayor Lawson.

Thank you. And to Ms. Davis-Panier, I did get a chance to meet with that community and hear some of their perspective. They have some good ideas. So if staff can meet with them to have that discussion, that was going to save that for my comments, but thank you for addressing that. AND ALSO I DIDN'T WANT TO HEAR AND GET SOME UPDATES HOPEFULLY BY NEXT MEETING. WE DON'T HAVE TO GET IT TONIGHT BUT WHERE ARE WE WITH THE MOORING FIELD? WE'VE HAD SOME DISCUSSIONS AND I KNOW THERE'S NO CLEAR PLAN SO IF WE COULD POSSIBLY HAVE THAT AS A DISCUSSION ITEM AND DIRECTION FOR THE NEXT MEETING AND THEN ALSO MEET WITH SOME OF THOSE VOTERS, LOCAL RESIDENTS, VOTERS TO SEE WHAT OPTIONS AND ALTERNATIVES WE COULD DO TO ASSIST A FEW OF THEM. Our biggest concern was the derelict boats and also in conversations, I know that a lot of boats are just being dumped into our area because other municipalities have passed this ordinance. So we want to make sure that we can kind of get ahead of it, but still protect some of the residents and some of the boaters that are currently there, the safe operational boaters.

Yes, our marine unit is active. Our marine unit. is active in approaching the boats, inspecting the boats, and providing notices. So we are active. The program has started.

And with that, the program has started, but some of these active boaters have been getting ticketed and are getting noticed. So we want to see what options, if we can meet with them, to discuss what options we have as maybe something, as one of the speakers said, like a bridge between now and the mooring to give them an opportunity to not have to relocate while we finish the mooring discussion.

We certainly will do that.

Thank you, sir.

Chair. Thank you, Mayor.

Vice Chair. I really want to discuss this tonight, but since everyone's bringing it up, I held four town hall meetings with reference to the ordinance that we passed and with reference to the mooring fields. I could tell you that overwhelmingly the people in Lakeview Park, Sugar Sands and the other areas that are directly on the waterfront and there are boaters are 100 percent against the mooring field. Uh, we've worked some sort of negotiation with those people, um, in our conversations at the first thing that we would do is this ordinance and clear out the area. These people that are there right now were thrown out of three other communities. We've become the dumping grounds, uh, for the boats, uh, that are being moored right now. It's very hard to differentiate between a derelict boat and a regular boat, even on a legal standpoint. You can't cut the baby in two. You have the law. You have to enforce the law. It's very hard. The people did agree that after we cleared out the boats and the area was clean, we can then look at doing a mooring field. We had hundreds and hundreds of people show up to these hearings. We agreed that we would have a mooring field that would be reduced in size and would have certain constraints on it. And these people would all be eligible to apply for it. But certainly I would hope that the council would give preference to Riviera Beach residents in the mooring field that we're going to have. So this definitely deserves investigation by the city attorney as to whether we're doing selective enforcement, whether we can, how we pick and choose boats that are going to go into even the mooring field itself. but clearly whether or not we can only partially enforce an ordinance, or if we do, how could we possibly do it legally? So I think it's going to be in the hands of the city manager. We all feel bad for these people, but they're coming from three different communities. North Palm Beach passed this ordinance. Palm Beach passed this ordinance. West Palm Beach passed this ordinance. Town of Palm Beach passed this ordinance. So that's why they're all here right now. everybody's boats that were in these other neighborhoods are now sitting in front of the houses and in the in the waterway that's being used by the people that live in riviera beach so and we and i can tell you we've had already had two boats smash into the wall at the sugar sands in just the last few weeks we've had three boats uh that are sinking right now uh this is a horrible situation that we're in it's going to be a very expensive situation we don't get all these boats out of here right now and i know that there's a couple of people or a few people that have good boats and abide by the law but it's very hard when you're looking at the amount of boats that we have that we even have two large barges right now that set up shop here in riviera beach you'll see them outside of peanut island right off lakeview area there and you'll see You'll see that they have giant cranes on them. This is the first thing you see when you come over the Blue Heron Bridge. Instead of seeing blue water, you see a giant crane and two giant barges. So that's why we passed the ordinance that we passed. But this will be further discussion.

Yes, that's what it could be. Bring it back for discussion at our next meeting and discuss options as to what the council wants to do.

OK. Mr. Chair.

Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

Just one more thing. Mr. Wilkins, one of the residents, she indicated that she had been assaulted or hit or something or attacked or something during a meeting. Can you just make sure some sort of investigation takes place? Because I think she said that may have happened a couple of times. Do you recall during public comment?

Did you hear what please please in the audience? Yeah.

Mr. Wilkins.

We will investigate that incident. And I believe the individual has been here before she made that report before and I believe we have investigated I'll have to do they have an update or something or are they aware?

The ones that that the podium?

But are you all coming here to speak on this issue here?

Yes, please do. Thank you.

Kevin Coppin, assistant city manager. Just want to give you 30 seconds on some of the enforcement that's been taking place on the water. And no, no, no.

I was talking about which which situation are you talking about? The water, the boat.

Yeah, the mooring. Now she's talking about we're off of that issue. Okay, but it's going to be investigated, Ms. Miller-Anderson.

You said yes, Mr. Wilkins?

He said he's going to investigate it.

We will have to find out with the record. I don't know what the results of that review were. I know our police were contacted. There was a report, right?

So it was investigated, you said? Okay.

To the best of my knowledge, I don't know for certain.

Is there anybody here that's aware of what it was?

Ms. Nguyen, do you have any information on this item?

I'd like to speak with the council individually about it first.

Okay. All right. She's going to speak to us individually.

That's fine. I just want to make sure that we have an opportunity to let the public know because we have someone saying they're being hit and we're not doing anything about it.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Are there any further comments? We're moving on now to our next item. Please read it into the record. Excuse me. Wait. Wait, please. Let me say this. We cannot answer every question the same night. Certainly I would get with the city manager to follow up with those that he was not able to answer tonight. But please don't expect us to sit up here and answer every comment that comes up. Every comment is important. And we will follow up. But we do have to keep the meeting moving, moving, moving, moving. So, Mr. Wilkins, could you follow up with Mr. Lozman on his comment?

I will.

Okay. Thank you. Madam Clerk, please read this item into the record.

Mr. Chair, we are on item 3i. I will read the resolution into the record again. Resolution number 9726, a resolution of the City Council of the City of Riviera Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida, authorizing the utilization of trained technologies. A vendor listed in Exhibit A to Resolution 111-25 to provide a new HVAC systems and equipment in an amount not to exceed $106,400.00. for the Lindsay Davis Senior Center, excuse me, authorizing the Chief Financial Officer to make payment from projects 23019, Parks Master Plan, and 25016, Lindsay Davis Renovations and Providing an Effective Date. Mr. Chair, there are no comment cards on this item. The acceptance of card is closed. We have previously received a motion and second on this resolution. Motion made by Chair Pro Tems. and the second was provided by Councilperson Lanier.

Thank you very much. Staff.

Good evening, Council. Terrance Bailey, City Engineer. If it please the Board, I'd like to do a presentation on Lindsay Davis and what is going on in total, as all five items are pieces. I believe that will expedite this issue by doing them basically together. Privacy has its place. We'll just go through what's going on. As you know, in October, Lindsay Davis was approved to move into construction. We were moving diligently through that construction. And while the contractor was in the ceiling, he found out that what looked like termites in the trusses in the roof. They brought it to the attention of staff and the design architect. The structural engineer came out and determined that that was accurate. There were termites in the trusses.

Engineer Bailey, can you please explain to everyone what a truss is in the roof so that they understand what you're talking about? Yes, sir.

Above your roof, the framing that holds the roof above down to the structural elements of the wall and moves the load from the roof down to the concrete. But basically you see them on trucks all the time in a house when the house is going up. You have the walls go up and everything above the walls are the truss system. It looks like a nice wide triangle and then the boards for the roof go on top and your shingles. So it is a structural element that holds the roof up and doesn't fall on your head.

All right.

So very, very important for life safety to make sure that the roof stays up and doesn't come down in the building. So with the discovery of the termites, the structural engineer and architect determined that the termites needed to be eradicated. The building was tented. There was a communication from city manager Evans at the time to the public. There was notice. The building was tented and the termite colony was eradicated. Unfortunately, there was a significant amount of damage done to the trusses. The structural engineer went beam by beam, board by board, every single truss and came up with a plan for remediation. A copy of that plan is in the backup for the agenda item on 86-26. So you can see how many trusses in the scope and scale of the problem. um while they were up there uh we also were notified that the existing fire alarm system which needed to be expanded was over 20 years old and could not be expanded so it needed to be replaced as well the mechanical contractor while he was intending on inside the existing contract we were adding one new one new air conditioning unit and replacing one unit as part of the project He notified staff that the three units that were remaining were not in good condition and requested that they be evaluated. Public Works Department evaluated them and determined that they needed to be replaced. Director Buxton-Tete asked me if I could integrate it with the project since we already had the crane and the mechanical out there and we obliged so that when we're done, this will be a very new very safe very stable building with all of these new life safety elements and with proper maintenance it will significantly extend the useful life of the building so the five agenda items uh before you are the fire alarm, the three HVAC units we need to purchase. The design architect, as you can imagine, they've had to be so integrated with this problem. There's an extension of their contract with more funding as the project was anticipated to be completed in August and now will be completed in December. So their time to continue on the project is in the resolution. In addition, we were fortunate in because this additional scope was unknown and unforeseen in our work with Palm Beach County as a great partner, they determined that we do qualify for additional CBDG funds. So the county is bringing $218,000 to the table to help us offset this cost for the additional work. And that too is one of the resolutions here before you. So in summary, We were in the project, we discovered some unknowns, and now we have a change order to address those unknowns. And unfortunately it did push the timeline of the project back. The major lead time is the 20 ton AC unit has a 16 week lead time. That is what's going to push it to December. Most of this other work would have been done in early September, early November, but we simply have to wait for that very large AC unit to arrive. They're not lying around, they have to be made. So with that, I'm here to answer any questions you may have.

OK, I think Councilwoman Lanier is the one that pulled this. Did you pull this item? I mean, not pull it, but you wanted them all to be discussed together.

Yeah, that was that was the that was the thinking behind it, so that all of the items that are associated with Lindsay Davis should be presented together so that we can vote on them one after the other instead of having them hodgepodge all of the agenda.

Good idea. Are there are there any public comment card. Madam clerk.

There are no comment cards for this item.

Are there any further comments from.

I just also like to say that I had a lot of questions about this early on I appreciate Mister Bailey providing us with A BREAKDOWN OF WHAT IT IS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT, BECAUSE I HAD NO IDEA THAT ALL OF THESE WERE TIED TOGETHER. I HAD NO IDEA THAT THE CDBG GRANT PAID FOR OVER HALF OF IT. SO THIS REALLY DID HELP ME TO PUT IN PERSPECTIVE EXACTLY WHAT IT WAS THAT I WAS LOOKING AT. SO I CAN APPRECIATE THAT.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. ARE THERE ANY FURTHER COMMENTS FROM THE COUNCIL?

I WOULD JUST ASK AGAIN THAT YOU ALL COMMUNICATE WITH THE SENIORS THE TIMELINE BECAUSE I THINK THAT THEY WERE EXPECTING TO MOVE IN IN THE PAST AND THEN IT WAS OCTOBER AND NOW IT'S DECEMBER. SO JUST LET THEM KNOW THE PROGRESS THAT'S BEING MADE AND THAT THEY WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE A GREAT CENTER TO BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE AND ENJOY THEIR ACTIVITIES.

NEW SPEAKER AND AS YOU KNOW, WHENEVER WE DO ONE OF THESE LARGE PROJECTS THERE'S ALWAYS grand reopening and we are going to put that in place. So we are excited to have that as part of the Christmas celebration.

Thank you. Mr. Chair?

Yes, Councilwoman Miller on this.

Mr. Wilkins or Ms. Nguyen, are there any concerns with any of these items that we need to be aware of prior to voting?

No, we reviewed them again today and yesterday prior to this meeting and our concerns have been satisfied.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay. Madam Clerk.

Councilperson Davis-Panier. Yes. Councilperson Lanier. Yes. Councilperson Miller-Anderson. No. Chairperson Dr. Spiridon.

Yes.

Chairperson Guyton.

Yes.

The item passes with Councilperson Miller-Anderson dissenting.

Next item, please.

Next item. Item 3J. Resolution number.

I'm sorry. 3J.

3 J yes, their resolution number 98 dash 26 the resolution of the City Council of the city of River Beach. Palm Beach County Florida authorizing the utilization. Of West architecture as selected by resolution 6324 to provide architectural services in an amount not to exceed $74,980 for the Lindsay Davis senior says center authorizing the chief financial officer to make payment from projects 23019 parks master plan and two five zero one six lindsay davis renovations and providing an effective date we did have one comment card on this item but the gentleman has left the acceptance of public comment cards is closed okay and the next four items are related to lindsay davis there what we just discussed i would entertain the motion for approval for this resolution it's been moved by vice chair spiritus second

Seconded by Councilwoman Davis-Prinnear. Is there any further discussion on the motion?

Yes, Mr.

Chair. Yes. Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

I do want to be very clear that I certainly support the renovation of the Lindsay Davis Center. However, I have heard of some concerns with several of these items that are related to this project, so I cannot support it because of that. I know Mr. Wilkins just said that they took a look at it again, I guess, and THEY'RE PRETTY COMFORTABLE WITH IT BEING ON THE AGENDA AND THAT'S FINE. I'M NOT COMFORTABLE WITH IT BEING ON THE AGENDA BECAUSE OF THE SITUATION THAT I'M HEARING THERE'S SOME CONCERNS ABOUT THE PROCESS. SO I WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING IT. SO I JUST WANT TO PUT ON RECORD AS TO WHY I CANNOT VOTE YES.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU VERY MUCH. ARE THERE ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

NEW SPEAKER MR. CHAIRMAN.

You know we're about to vote, but go ahead.

I understand. Recognizing Commissioner, I'm sorry, Councilperson Miller's concerns during our review, we did make note of some policy changes that we're going to have to entertain. So I just want to alert you to the fact that we are willing to make some policy changes that we've discovered and thought were significant enough for us to address.

Yes, Councilwoman Miller.

What does that mean? What does that mean? Like what needs to be changed or what happened?

There are some things that we do administratively that we need to address.

What does that mean, Mr. Wilkins? I didn't have that conversation with anyone, so I'm trying to get an understanding as to what that means. What policy changes? What happened?