Council - workshop

Thank you.

Chris, Deborah.

Ms. Davis, can you hear me?

Walter, can you hear me?

Okay, we're going to get started. TODAY IS AUGUST 24TH. THIS IS A CONTINUATION OF OUR CITY COUNCIL BUDGET WORKSHOP. THE TIME IS NOW 6.01. MADAM CLERK.

NEW SPEAKER.

NEW SPEAKER.

NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER. NEW SPEAKER.

NEW SPEAKER.

COUNCILPERSON FOR CELLO DAVIS-PANIER.

HERE.

AND FOR CITY MANAGER WILLIAM WILKINS AS ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER KEVIN COFFIN.

HERE.

CITY CLERK DEBORAH HALL IS PRESENT. AND CITY ATTORNEY DON WINN.

HERE.

OKAY. LET'S STAND AND HAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE.

Next item on the agenda is the FY2027 budget overview and discussion presentation.

INTERIM KEVIN COPPIN.

NEW SPEAKER Thank you, councilman. NEW SPEAKER Thank you.

Interim city manager. I'm sorry. Fill it in.

NEW SPEAKER Mr. Randy Sherman. NEW SPEAKER Mr. Chair?

NEW SPEAKER Yes. NEW SPEAKER Okay. You say he's the interim city manager?

NEW SPEAKER No, no. Don't stress that. He's the assistant city manager. Okay.

Well, question still though, is Mr. Wilkins out still today? Cause I didn't see any update.

I'm sorry.

Is Mr. Wilkins still out? I hadn't seen anything past Friday.

Yes. I spoke to him today. He's he's well, um, he shall be returning soon.

He was anybody going to let the council know?

I don't know. Wait, slow down. I reached out to him. Um,

so we can do the same um it wasn't that's not that's not what i'm asking mr um chair i've talked to him too last week but my question is today was anything sent out letting us know that he was not going to be here today is my question oh that i don't know i've been busy today i really haven't looked at but but i'm not necessarily talking to you i know you're answering for everything mr coppin are you aware

I was under the impression that something was sent out today. I will get an update. Okay, thank you. You're welcome.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Just for the record, I spoke to the city manager today and last week as well, and I've been working with him. This is nothing as if he's still here. Thank you.

Okay, Mr. Sherman.

Ready? Okay. Again, just real quick, this is our last budget workshop that we have scheduled. The public hearing is on September 8th. That's what was noticed on the trim notices. And then we have our second reading of the budget will be September 16th.

That is going to be a problem.

I'm sorry?

On 16th is going to be a problem. i know i would be in dc i've already retained my hotel no i understand that you may change that date but that's okay that'll just follow whatever date you see um well we need to probably deal with it tonight sometime at the end so we can solidify a date that everyone would know that that's going to be the substitute date okay all right so again we're finishing up the balance of the departments tonight and first up is mr brody for the library

Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Adam Brody, Library Director, Riviera Beach Public Library. Good evening, Mr. Chair. Good evening, Mr. Vice Chair, Mayor, City Council, and Assistant City Manager Coffin. Tonight, we're going to start off by going over some library budget goals as we forge into the 2027 fiscal cycle. And we will start off with a brief overview of library services at the Riviera Beach Public Library. And the Riviera Beach Public Library has sections for adults and children. Those are the two sections at the Riviera Beach Public Library. But within each section, the goal remains the same. The Riviera Beach Public Library has a community, cultural, and educational entity for all. And this is supported through innovative programs, meaningful partnerships, and extensive library resources. So let's go into the goals. Goal number one, we're going to leverage and integrate the new era of Riviera Beach Public Library services within all facets of communication. The new era is a term that I've used kind of loosely over the last few months since we reopened the newly renovated Riviera Beach Public Library earlier in the year. The Riviera Beach Public Library went through an extensive renovation. And some of those upgrades included new carpeting throughout the children's and adult sections of the Riviera Beach Public Library, upgraded flooring in the STEM staff workroom and training rooms, fresh interior and exterior paint, significant IT upgrades in the YEP rooms, the STEM and testing rooms, and also my personal favorite, the branded fish tank. But yet beyond the realms of the carpeting, beyond the realms of the paint job, and even beyond the realms of the fish tank. The new era is about new ideas, new perspectives, and new partnerships. And some of that I'll cover tonight. Next goal, integration of library programming, which span beyond the realms of literacy. While piloted at certain points during the past year, the Riviera Beach Public Library is looking to place a stronger emphasis on hands-on engagement. And this will be implemented through an initiative called Beyond the Literacy. We piloted a few times over the last year. We're going to go full force going into the 2027 fiscal cycle. And this will be for adults, teens, and children. It's an initiative for all ages. And we're very much looking forward to putting that into full force as we go into the 2027 fiscal cycle. Next goal. STRONGER STRIDES WHICH FURTHER SUPPORT THE RIVERA BEACH BILL OF RIGHTS FOR CUSTOMERS, RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES. IN ORDER TO PLACE A STRONGER EMPHASIS ON CUSTOMER SERVICE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE RIVERA BEACH BILL OF RIGHTS, THE RIVERA BEACH PUBLIC LIBRARY TEAM WILL EXPLORE ENHANCED MECHANISMS WHICH FURTHER SUPPORT THE EMPLOYEE TO CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP. MATTERS OF CONSIDERATION WILL CONSIST OF THE FOLLOWING. the implementation of a reference recap initiative. Basically it's a follow-up correspondence that we would provide to library users after an extensive reference session. It's not about where's the book. It's not about where's the bathroom. It's about an extensive reference session, oftentimes most associated with our electronic library resources. The correspondence would involve appreciation and follow-up points that customers can use over the long haul. We'll also utilize a new library brochure, which will be utilized upon the library card signup process and also implementation of new reference desk computers in order to lend itself to a more efficient customer service experience. And also there'll be other matters for consideration as well. Those are just some examples. Next goal, implementation of new partnerships in support of a thriving community. In addition to our wide range of literacy initiatives, the Riviera Beach Public Library also prides itself on forging relationships with meaningful community entities. In order to further expand on that commitment, the Riviera Beach Public Library is looking to forge the following relationships. Most of them have been forged already. It's just a matter of implementation. A partnership in support of community empowerment. We recently forged a relationship with an entity called Beyond the Valley, and it's really an expansion of the community conversations format on a broader scale, much like what Mayor Lawson had a few years ago. We're just expanding on that a little bit more through this entity. We recently piloted it. We're going to go full force going into the 2027 fiscal cycle. Job and career. As many know, we have a relationship with SCORE called the Winning Score for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, which I know Dr. Spiritus and Mayor Lawson are familiar with for aspiring entrepreneurs. We have recently forged a new partnership with an entity called, with the YWCA. The relationship is called Job and Career on North Congress, recently inked, and we're going to implement that later in the year, and that is for the traditional job seeker. support for aspiring entrepreneurs, and also support for the traditional nine-to-five job seeker as well. Resume support, cover letter support, interview strategies. We're going to be working with that later in the year.

One second. Yes. Let the record show that Councilwoman Shirley Lanier is present. Okay. Thank you.

Also, we have forged another relationship with the YWCA, in support of victim services information. It's called We Can Work It Out. It's not about counseling. It's about information for anyone who needs support as it relates to victim services information. There's just one catch to this initiative. We're actually not going to wait until the 2027 fiscal cycle. This is going to start, we're going to pilot this on Wednesday, but obviously we're going to go full force in the 2027 fiscal cycle. And then finally, just within the last week, week and a half, we forged a relationship with the Florida Health Department. And we're gonna expand on existing relationships that we have as it relates to public health and mental health. It's called the Library Lab of Environmental and Public Health Information. And that's gonna, conversations will begin on that soon. And that'll be in support of environmental and public health, stronger emphasis on environmental health with this relationship. Next goal. implementation of summer reading engagement mechanisms. In order to further engage the youngest members of our community during the summer months, the River Beach Public Library will explore and implement various programs which further support the respective summer reading theme. This will be integrated through our Family Read Aloud Night series, Preschool Story Hour, Baby Labs It!, various craft initiatives for children, and also stand alone summer reading initiatives. And those are my goals. And I'm happy to take any questions that you might have.

Numbers.

What's that?

Numbers. This is a budget hearing. I want to hear what kind of numbers you have for your budget this year.

Oh, yes. Yeah.

I see personnel operating capital two. I'd like to know what kind of numbers we're spending. Briefly, go over your numbers for me.

Sure. Personnel, from what I can see, we've been designated an extra, looks like for 2026, we had $902,914. And it looks like we're going up to $954,140. On the operating side, it looks like we're looking at about an $8,000 increase there. Last year, I want to say last year, this year, it's a little over $400,000. And then we're going to go around $408,000. And then on the capital side, that's going to remain the same.

Okay. Yes, Councilwoman Davis-Bernice.

How many people are employed at the library full-time and part-time?

Including myself, about 10. 10.

Full-time, part-time?

Oh, full-time? Well, there's myself, our assistant director, our senior staff assistant. We have three full-time library assistants, and we have two full-time librarians. And then on the part-time side, we have two part-time library assistants and a part-time library page.

Thank you. Vice chair.

So I see director Brody that your personnel budget went up. Is that because of contractual obligations?

Yeah, I would imagine it has to do with inflation. You know, in light of the, I believe I thought I saw a 4% cost of living adjustment. I believe that's probably part of it. And then the other part of it would be whatever, adjustments they have because some of our department some of our some of the uh employees in our department are unionized so there might be some uh adjustments there as well director brody uh i'm pleased to have been part of the city council that spent all this money to upgrade our library which is so needed in the community but you forgot about the roof oh the roof yes absolutely that was actually the biggest one the roof the one that many don't see but it was probably the biggest part of the uh

the the cost right we're pretty close we're pretty close to having a brand new library there i don't know if it meets your space requirements but certainly the the physical building has been upgraded substantially absolutely and we're trying to integrate that and as mentioned earlier integrate that in all of our facets of communication because i think that's important for the community to know right you're doing a great job with the programs thank you thank you so much much appreciated any further questions

I heard Councilwoman Shirley Lanier and then Mayor Lawson.

I'd just like to thank Mr. Brody for his excellent, outstanding work at the Riviera Beach Public Library. I want to make a request that when we are looking at the building of our new library, if so, that Mr. Brody is included in those discussions in regards to how this new library would look and what it entails. And I really appreciate the fact that IT IS NOT ABOUT THE LIBRARY THESE DAYS, BECAUSE YOU CAN GET CHECKOUT BOOKS ONLINE, THAT YOU MAKE IT WHERE THERE ARE OTHER ACTIVITIES, BOOK CLUBS, BOOK READINGS, AUTHORS, ALL TYPES OF ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN AT THAT LIBRARY. AND IT'S ALWAYS, ALWAYS FULL WHEN I ARRIVE BY. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR EXCELLENT WORK.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU SO MUCH, COUNCILWOMAN LENIER. I SHOULD ALSO MENTION THAT WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK WILL BE ONE OF OUR BIGGEST WEEKS THAT WE'VE HAD DURING OUR NEW ERA. Authors, literacy initiatives, partnerships.

Excellent.

Thank you, Councilwoman Lanier. Mayor Loffler.

Thank you. And I want to echo the same sentiments, Director. A phenomenal job. the programming, the activities, the events, you do a great job over there. I want to bring some more exposure. So we're working with our communications department, making sure a lot of the programs that you're doing are updated on social media, on our pages, doing a few mailers, and even looking at your budget to determine if you have any funds for marketing or programming or activities, because I want to bring more things and more exposure to the library. I wanted to kind of also couple that question, space-wise, capacity-wise, I know we're struggling with kind of the space at that location, whether yourself or staff or anyone, Is there any way for expansion, whether it's a neighboring building or neighboring lot near that library, so that we could possibly build or complement the library you're in with additional space? Your assistant librarian told us that there was about 55,000 books just sitting in the storage right now, and we want to try to get as many books out as possible, get as much programming and space that you need. But is there a possibility of expansion in that footprint, in that site?

I think as a short-term solution, funding for more shelving space would be very beneficial. When the Riviera Beach Public Library transitioned from City Hall to the location that we're in now, one of the things they found back then, this was a little bit before I started, was that the space did not support the amount that we had in the collection. So what we have, we actually have a number of physical items, physical material that would otherwise be in the library catalog in the staff workroom. I call it the hidden collection. Um, but you know, the good news is our Riviera beach library team, um, have found some strategies to bring a lot of that out to the forefront, but I think to really bring all of it to the forefront, I think some extra funding for, um, some shelving space would be a step in the right direction. I think a larger facility would certainly, uh, be a great thing, but I think in the short term, uh, more shelving space so that the customers can actually see what we have, whether it be our audio visual collection or a physical book collection. Okay. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. I have a couple of more right quick. I wanted to ask Mr. Brody about, I know that you guys had some programming for looking at the digital divide for residents who lack access to internet access. How have you guys been dealing with that?

Well, we have two programs that have been picking up some steam. Number one, we have a beginner's level computer class. Really teaching members of our community computer skills at the novice level, at the ground level. It's run by our library assistant, Tiffany Palmer, and our adult librarian, April Giles. And they do that on a monthly basis. And that has been picking up some steam in the community. And also on a monthly basis, our adult librarian, April Giles, she renders a digital resource class. where she goes over the fine points of our various subscription services. It's one thing to be aware of the resources, which you can find on the River Beach Library website. It's another thing to learn how to use the resources, and that's where the digital resource classes come into play.

So have you ever thought about hotspot checkout programs?

Yeah, and that's something we can definitely explore through our relationship with the Southeast Florida Library Information Network. I think that would be a good thing, and I think there may be a path to make that happen.

Thank you. And I think one more about I really would like to see you increase your staff at that library. There's a lot of your summer reading engagement program. I know that you've met and exceeded your targets for the past fiscal year and fiscal year before. So how do you how do you deal with the additional supplies and stuff for the reading programs that you have?

As far as implementation goes, it's just a matter of spacing them out accordingly, being able to connect with local authors in the community, which I think we've been pretty successful at. This month alone, we've had three authors come in. Two of them will be within the next week. Being able to establish connections, being able to schedule staff strategically and accordingly in order to help implement some of these programs, because some of these programs community-led whether like through an author initiative uh some of the programs are staff-led through our signature initiatives like conversations connections and literacy our beginners level computer class family read aloud night so so positioning staff to teach strategically to render those programs and then you have the partnerships um which which are which are led by by our partnerships and we just host those so it's just about being strategic with the scheduling uh strategic with the staff involvement And I think when we're able to do that, we're able to move mountains.

And I also want you to pursue some partnerships with the school district and the housing authorities for sure. And then one more thing, any deferred maintenance issues that need immediate attention?

Any what?

Deferred maintenance issues.

Well, I have to admit that our public works department has been phenomenal when it comes to addressing our maintenance issues. Actually, not only our public works department, but we have a strong relationship with our IT department, with Ben, and their attentiveness and their knowledge and their expertise has been absolutely outstanding and a huge difference maker in our functioning. So we're very grateful for that.

FOR MY SAY SO, I'D LIKE TO PROPOSE A NEW POSITION, ADDITIONAL POSITION FOR THE LIBRARY THAT WILL HELP TO EXPAND THE SERVICES, AND I KNOW THAT THERE ARE A LOT THAT IS HAPPENING AT THE LIBRARY, AND I KNOW THAT THEY CAN BE MORE HOT SPOTS WITH THE SUMMER READING PROGRAM, WITH THE AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM THAT YOU GUYS HAVE, THE BOOTCAMPS THAT YOU HAVE. THAT IS A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENING THERE, AND I THINK THAT I KNOW THE STAFF MEMBER WOULD DEFINITELY add to the expansion of where you guys are trying to go.

Thank you. Thank you so much. And we do share a space with the Youth Empowerment Program, and they've been a great partnering entity for some of these things as well. So much appreciated.

Thank you.

Ms. Davis-Panier, excuse me, Councilwoman Davis-Panier, but before we leave that point, one second. Councilwoman Lanier, what kind of position are you proposing for the library?

I'M SUPPOSING A FULL-TIME POSITION THAT CAN REALISTICALLY HANDLE THE CURRENT RESOURCES THAT THEY HAVE AND ESPECIALLY THE EXPANSION THAT THEY'RE LOOKING AT FOR THE SUMMER READING METRICS PROGRAM, FOR THE PARTNERSHIP THAT THEY'RE LOOKING TOWARDS. AND ALSO, TOO, WITH THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, THERE ARE A LOT OF PROGRAMS THAT THEY WANT TO IMPLEMENT BUT DON'T HAVE THE BODIES TO DO IT. MR. BRODY IS VERY MODEST AND HE'S NOT GOING TO ASK, BUT I GO TO THAT LIBRARY A LOT. AND THERE'S A LOT OF STUFF HAPPENING THERE AND THERE NEEDS TO BE ANOTHER BODY TO BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE THE EXPANSION OF PROGRAMS IF WE WANT HIM TO EXPAND THEM.

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. CAN FINANCE RUN SOME NUMBERS ON AN EXTRA BODY THERE AND LET US KNOW BEFORE WE START VOTING ON THE ORDINANCES? NEW SPEAKER YES. NEW SPEAKER MISS DAVIS-PRENIER.

MR. BRODY, I LOVE ALL THE WORK YOU'RE DOING THERE. WHAT IS YOUR AVERAGE ATTENDANCE AT THE LIBRARY ON A WEEKDAY, WEEKEND?

NEW SPEAKER I CAN PROBABLY THROW OUT SOME MONTHLY NUMBERS FOR YOU, BECAUSE I DO STUDY THOSE EVERY MONTH. SO I WOULD SAY BALLPARK, ON A SLOWER MONTH, YOU MIGHT GET ABOUT 4500. AND THEN ON A GOOD MONTH, I'D SAY IN THE 7000s.

What are visitors to the library?

What's that?

Is that visitors to the library?

That's on a monthly basis.

On a monthly basis.

On a monthly basis, yes. I do study those every month.

Is this regular usage or is this for special programming? I'll follow it. Is this special programming or is this on an average day? I'm talking about day to day. You all don't.

track numbers yeah well we do have a traffic counter where we do track the numbers on a daily basis um on a on a daily basis um i would i actually it's hard to catch that number at the top of my head but i can get that for you and then um and then i'll be able to provide that for you as far as a daily number goes okay because i can unsee

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING, BRINGING PEOPLE IN, LIKE YOUR LITERACY PROGRAMS, AND WE HAVE YOUR AUTHORS THERE. I KNOW THAT YOU SEEM TO, I KNOW MY COLLEAGUE HAS HAD SEVERAL LIKE BLACK HISTORY EVENTS THERE OR THINGS LIKE THAT THAT BRING CROWDS. SO I WAS JUST WONDERING DAY-TO-DAY NUMBERS. AND AGAIN, I EXPECT THE NUMBERS FOR SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS TO BRING MORE. BUT I WAS JUST WONDERING ABOUT THE AVERAGE ATTENDANCE AT THE

I can get those more of a daily outlook for you, and I can get that for you.

Okay.

So, Director Brody, so if somebody goes in the library, goes to lunch, and comes back, are they counted twice? So, yeah, well, as far as customers go? Yeah, do you have a counter? Do they walk past the counter?

So if they walk past the counter, that would count as coming in. then if they were to leave and then come back, then that would count as a new entry. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Good job. Do you do any collaboration with the county library?

Actually, just recently, it was actually a couple of weeks ago, myself and our assistant director, we went to the main Palm Beach County Library and we forged an agreement, which we've been, it's a longstanding agreement that we've had. It's called the, it's called the, library of the Palm Beaches. It's a partnership with not only the Palm Beach County Library, they have the highest stake in the region, but also nine other libraries as well. We have a partnership as it relates to knowing about different professional development opportunities, reciprocal library card arrangement, reciprocal borrowing arrangement. So if someone from Riviera Beach walks into a county library, they can get a library card one of their library cards for free and vice versa. So it's a great relationship that's been longstanding over the last few years. Okay.

And check this out. One thing, this is really good that they have. My grandson has library cards all over the county. You can go to any library and drop your book off to Riviera Beach and they'll get it back to that library in Delray or that library in Boca.

Are we the only one that does?

And just for clarification, the formal name is called the Library Cooperative of the Palm Beaches.

OK, good job. We've got to move on now. Thank you very much for your presentation. Much appreciated. OK, the next department is procurement.

Good evening. Good evening, chair, members of the board and the mayor. Thank you so much for the opportunity to give you a quick picture or brief picture of how the department is organized.

I'm sorry, Mr. Brody, if you're here, be sure to get with Mr. Sherman and Councilwoman Lanier to discuss what type of position that you may want us to consider. We haven't voted to consider. Okay. Sorry about that. Sure. Yes.

Can Ms. Emmons pull her microphone down and speak a little more into it? Thank you.

Okay.

Yes. Thank you. LaTanya Emmons, Director of Procurement for the City of Riviera Beach.

Can you hear now, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson?

Yes, it's better now.

Okay.

Okay.

So first, I would like to start with the procurement department overview. What you see are six core functional areas of the procurement department. Those areas are vendor management, solicitation, purchase orders, procurement cards, contract administration slash management, and surplus sales. Together, these areas represent the full lifecycle of how the city spends and manages public dollars And keeping them clearly defined allows a small team of six to operate and move discipline across a large and varied scope of work. Next slide, please. So the procurement department has three major goals for FY2027. The first is standardizing and completing our governance documents. and basically governance will be how we operate, how we do what we do. And so our goal across those six areas that were just pictorially pictured on the screen, we are going to have policy and standard operating procedures across all of those. The last two years, we kind of did what we had to do to get the job done in line with general procurement processes, but now we're actually documenting them and codifying them and putting them on paper. So that will be our goal for 2026 across all functional areas. Number two, strengthening vendor engagement and local vendor capacity. The procurement's job isn't just to buy, it's also to make sure that the door is open wide enough for our local and small vendors so that they can walk through the door and actively participate in the procurement cycle throughout the city. The procurement department has been active in our outreach. Last year, we had our first annual procurement conference in October 2026. Last year, calendar year 2025, I was the co-chair for the 19th annual Palm Beach Partners Matchmakers Business Conference. That is an annual conference that this city is always and will hopefully always be a partner. We attend outreach events and we've been asked this year to attend some new events, and that is collectively as a group. We've been with the city of Palm, the city of Palm Beach Gardens. We were asked to then with Miramar, but I've also been asked to speak and share opportunities with Miami Dade County. and also the Miami Dade Commission on Ethics. And so we are out there. We're sharing the word that the city is open for business. So we also want to launch our Vendor Academy, which will be a catalog of classes for our vendors. Those will be those that we teach, and also we will partner up with other organizations in the form of a partnership that also includes the Black Chamber of Commerce. So in other words, We are out there encouraging and informing the community that we are here. We're open for business, but not only that we're open, but how to do business. Also the procurement department has decreased the number of forms that are needed for solicitations and kind of taking a strategic look at what is needed by statute and what is needed from the city and kind of combine those to make it easier. And then lastly, I will be coming back to the council to ratify the subcontractor and local vendor policy. Again, that actually says we want, not only do we talk their talk, but we're actually going to put pen to paper and make sure that we bring that together as a city. And then lastly, enhancing contract administration oversight. Contract administration is the clearest example of transformation in this department. Before contracts were centralized, as they are now, they were managed by the department. No uniform framework, no formal standard operating procedures, no consistent way to track explorations, renewals, amendments, insurance, or vendor compliance. So the contract administrator role was completed or was filled in January of this particular year. And so now we have formal procedures. We work with the departments. We are entering our contracts into Tyler. We're tracking the explorations and we're having a better visibility into the compliance and obligations of those contracts. So in short, we've moved from a decentralized and reactive to centralized and proactive in our mission. Departments have guidance. the city has clear vision. And so as we continue to grow, we are putting in standard operating procedures, not just for those contracts that I bring forth with the council, but also for piggybacks and cooperative agreements. And so I would like to say in closing together with these priorities and the different divisions of the procurement department or our functional areas, it's going to create great synergy across the department. We'll have all of the policies and procedures. BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE'RE HAPPY TO CREATE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR LOCAL BUSINESS AND BECOME DILIGENT IN OUR CONTRACT ADMINISTRATION. SO I THANK YOU SO MUCH.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

NEW SPEAKER MR. CHAIR.

NEW SPEAKER VICE CHAIR SPIRITUS AND MAYOR LAWSON.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO AND YOUR STAFF. WE APPRECIATE ALL THE HARD WORK AND WE APPRECIATE THE OUTREACH TO THE COMMUNITY, TO THE LOCAL COMMUNITY. AND CLEARLY YOU GOT THE MESSAGE. I LOOK AT YOUR BUDGET AND YOUR BUDGET IS LESS THIS YEAR THAN IT WAS LAST YEAR. SO THANK YOU FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SITUATION THAT WE'RE IN RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU, SIR.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU.

AND DIRECTOR EMMONS, THIS IS NOTHING PERSONAL. NEW SPEAKER YES. NEW SPEAKER CURRENT SPENDING FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES. Do we have an idea of what we've spent this past year for local businesses?

Unfortunately, we do not have what we spend on local businesses, and that's local businesses that we write a check for and local businesses that work with our prime.

Okay. So those local businesses that we write a check or the primes, we don't have any of that data. Do we have an idea of what our target is for local business in regards to our spend for this coming fiscal year?

Yes, so we are going through a process with Tyler, which is currently our ERP system, and we are updating our vendor database. And so I look forward to bringing back to the council how we plan to upload, I mean, to upgrade our vendor database. Part of that improvements will include actually being able to number one, have the vendor check the box that they are local, but two, to verify that they are local. That also includes a small business enterprise. And then we'll be able to run the data on those who we cut a check to. So that is the goal in 2027 to be able to come back with the data to say, this is our vendor database that is current. Number two, everything that is in the actual procurement, I mean, the data file or the vendor file is correct. And then we will have the numbers to say, this is who we cut a check to from a direct business relationship.

You just celebrated your two-year anniversary. Congratulations. Thank you so much, sir. What has been your struggle with collecting and gathering this data to identify where the money is going for our local businesses?

Can you repeat the question?

Why don't we have the data yet? And the reason I ask is you've only been here two years. I've served on this board since 2019. And the day I was elected, the very next meeting, I asked for a disparity study. It's 2026. I don't have the data to reference a disparity study. I don't care what the national conversation looks like in regards to DEI, minorities, women businesses. This is the city of Riviera Beach. So what does our data look like so that we can substantiate where our money is going for our local minority women businesses? Even if we have to call it local, I'm fine with that. I need my data and I need to make sure it's budgeted for that accordingly. So when I said it's not personal, it's been eight years of not getting what we've asked for. and that vote was unanimous on the board back in 2019. This board has been consistent with local participation in reference to my fire stations that were built and the vote of this board getting 48% local minority women businesses from Riviera Beach and 53% on the second fire station, which is even going to exceed that number with 86. So our goal is to make sure that we have the accountability and the data to showcase and justify because once The madness of this country goes back to allowing for locals, minorities, and women to benefit in contracts. I want to have the data collected and not wait to start collecting it. So in regards to your budget, in regards to your fiscal spending, and in regards to what you've accounted for in regards to consulting, software, anything that's available, where can we find and point to in your operational budget that will help with identifying local minority businesses for Riviera Beach? I'm sorry, local businesses, because we can't say minority.

So if I may, Chair, I have two answers. Number one, I believe that when Tyler was implemented, it's nothing against Tyler, the company, we didn't know what we wanted at the end to be able to design what we needed on the input. So no one was here to say when the vendor module was set up, no, we need to check these particular, we need to have these buttons. We need to check these buttons. No one re-engineered what we needed. And so we have that gap. We have a lot of vendors in the system that aren't active. We have incomplete information. It's outdated. Unfortunately, we recognized last year that people can add vendors. And so vendors are in there two times. My name is Latanya with a capital T. You use me for an example, there are vendors in there with L space, LA space, capital T. There was no checks and balances. My name could be in there with a lowercase T. And so if you look in a vendor file, my name is technically in there four times. So as we recognize that those, we're putting in the stopgaps to say, hey, how could that happen? So when we talk about vendor cleanup, we're just going back to the vendor cleanup just to say who is here and what do we have. But the second part of your question is the budget was cut because this board did approve us to use a contractor to help implement or have the software to track the sub data. So we have, and allow me if I just take a step back, we have locals that we cut a check to. Everybody that we cut a check to was in Tyler. Those are vendors. then we have subs so we cut the check to the prime but then the prime gives the money to the sub so we talk about subcontractor policy i have no way of tracking that i did and then because of the budget cut and to that point uh don't mean to cut you off we have a lot of departments and we have another reading of this yeah what does it look like for that dollar amount for that data

can you identify and see if the board would be interested in putting that back into the collection? Because I understand that they said Tyler could possibly collect the data, but since I've been here, it hasn't been able to do it. And there's been shortfalls in that. So if we can't identify what is the cost of that data, I know that we did reference you cutting your budget, but collecting this data is so important to showcase the numbers because without, as my dear friend would say, my chair, data, documents, and evidence, i don't have any factual information to justify what the city is doing for locals and for local small businesses in our community so i want to make sure that we have that information so in your department if we can look at some consultants and look at the data necessary and let's not just keep talking about cleaning it up and and fixing it let's actually get it done this fiscal year but i must say before i do close is that you've done a phenomenal job with the outreach, with the programming, and just within your two years, I know that it's been an eight year struggle for me and this entire board, but in these two years, you've done a great job with getting us businesses prepared to capitalize on this billion dollars that's in the entitlements and the additional $2 billion in the private sector. So thank you for keep pushing that. I just want to make sure that we have all the information necessary.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Council Member Davis-Grenier.

along with what the mayor was saying. So at first I thought you said that now that you are upgrading Tyler, it has the capability to extract the information that he's requesting.

But only for the people we write a check to.

Okay.

But not the subs. We don't write the checks to the subs.

Right. Understood. Okay. And there's no way for us to require them to provide that information in any reporting that they give to us?

WE CAN REQUIRE THEM IN THE REPORTING. IT WILL BE THE DEPARTMENT THAT'S GOING TO HANDLE THAT MANUAL PIECE OF DATA. SO THEY COULD GIVE IT TO US. AND THAT'S WHAT THEY'VE DONE BEFORE. IT WAS JUST WHEN YOU TAKE IT A STEP BEYOND AND TALK ABOUT THE DISPARITY STUDY, IT'S THE DATA. IN FACT, YOU KNOW, THE REPORTED DATA. NOT OKAY, I HAVE A FORM FROM JANUARY 1 AND A FORM FROM FEBRUARY 2. IT REALLY IS THE DATA AND TO RUN THE REPORT.

I NEEDED TO ASK A QUESTION ABOUT DO YOU HAVE, DOES THE CITY MAINTAIN A LOCAL VENDOR REGISTRY?

NO, WE DO NOT MAINTAIN A LOCAL VENDOR REGISTRY. PER CODE, A LOCAL VENDOR IS ONE THAT RESIDES IN THE CITY AND HAS A BUSINESS ADDRESS IN THE CITY, BUT I DON'T MAINTAIN A LOCAL VENDOR REGISTRY.

I THINK THAT THE MAYOR He and I both came here at the same time. He has been asking this question for the last eight years in regards to this. And this is like a simple form that you can write down. You can write it down how many local vendors the city has. That should be something easily to be able to track, meaning that if I ask you how many actual local vendors does the city have, you should be able to just give me a number like that because you could just pull them out and write them down. With that being said, you have a position that you're going to eliminate. Who's going to do that job?

So the position that I was that is being eliminated because of the budget will be the purchasing assistant. But I do want to go back on your question, I guess, on your point about the local vendors. We can get a copy from Development Services on the BTR. So that gives us a list of everyone who has registered or who is doing business in the city. Yes, I can get that from Development Services, the BTR list. So that's readily available.

Yeah, we need to have a list of local vendors. And whether that comes from Development Services or Procurement should know how many local businesses the city deals with. So when we have WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT THE ISSUE WITH TYLER AND DUPLICATIONS, DO YOU HAVE OR HAVE YOU DONE ANY TRAINING WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS SO THAT THEY CAN KNOW HOW TO SUBMIT A SCOPE OF SERVICES, HOW TO SUBMIT COMPLETE REQUISITIONS? BECAUSE IT SEEMS THAT THERE'S A LOT OF BACK AND FORTH WITH DEPARTMENTS THAT YOU SAY, NO, YOU SHOULD DO IT THIS WAY. MAYBE YOU NEED TO LOOK AT

um training with different departments because you guys spend a lot of time going back and forth with departments because stuff hasn't been submitted correctly so um if i made that i think your my answer is in two parts so number one i have provided lunch and learns to everyone in this city who has selected to attend the first one is what is procurement and how do we operate and i have a quick reference guide that is readily available if you spend this i want to spend this is the process for spending And my staff constantly sends the same people the same slides. So we have. My staff has also visited individual departments and given training on site. I have as well. So once it comes to Tyler and the issue of training on requisitions, we have provided that. On the issue unnecessarily of how to enter a requisition, we've done that. But as far as the scope of services for solicitation, we've trained on that as well as far as the RFP and provide us with the scope. The other issue though with the vendors is we did have a summer intern and we were able to kind of clear up all of those duplicates. The question is what we're moving to, and I look forward to coming back is we do not want anyone else to register to be a vendor, but the vendor. So we don't want, so we've closed those gaps. Meaning if you sit down and put a requisition in, you can't add a vendor anymore. That's where some of the problem was. So we moving towards the vendors. SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION AND US APPROVING IT AT THAT TIME TO AVOID THE DUPLICATION.

SO MAYBE, COLLEAGUES, WE MAY NEED TO LOOK AT TRANSFERRING THE VTR TO PROCUREMENT BECAUSE THEY NEED TO KNOW EXACTLY WHO OUR SMALL BUSINESSES ARE. I KNOW THAT THE DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES but just for the sake of collecting the money, they are, it's in that department, but you really need to know how many small businesses are in this city. So that's the thought, colleagues, to look at that transfer. It's something that we can discuss. Has there ever been, has the internal auditor ever Issued any findings related to procurement, lack of document bids, sole source justifications, contract extensions. And I get the contract extensions because one of the issues that we've had is, and I don't know how, I think that you probably have addressed this, but when it comes to contract management, I know that you have an issue with people going off on their own getting contracts and you have no idea that there's a contract out there. And it is the expectation that you should know. But people have gone and gotten contracts on their own. How do you deal with that? How do you try and gather that so that it is not your fault that this other department has gotten two contracts and you have no idea of how that has happened?

If I understand your question, the first part was you asked about the internal auditor and the findings. I'm not aware of any findings. And part of my last conversation, one of the last conversations and communications with her is they're not subject to open records. So if she's doing an investigation, she can't share those. So I haven't seen any findings. I will answer questions, of course, about the department. As Maren stated, I just recently celebrated my two years. There weren't any processes and procedures when I started. So we're still drafting them now. There wasn't any how to do, there weren't any lunch and learn before I started, nothing. So taking the time to create them, understanding how the city works, that still takes time. But my goal for this particular year is to have a complete set of documents. So are any questions as far as not only the policy, but the standard operating procedures. So that will move on into your next, I think, question was about contracts that are flowing around the city. So all we can do is have the operating procedures. If people do not follow them, then there's nothing that I can do. But we do work with other departments. And so legal will say procurement needs to sign it. And then it comes to us. And now we know about it. And I think that is for the contracts that are less than 25K. If you're referring to the ones that are less than 25K.

They've done some outside of your purview.

And I wasn't aware of those particular contracts. So I just sent the staff today just to review a draft of the piggyback standard operating procedures. If somebody wants to piggyback these operating procedures, and we'll share them with the department. But if a contract's out there and I'm not aware of it, there's nothing that I can do.

Right. So also, too, when we back up to the BTR, and I'll be my last question, chair, back to the BTR. Now, thinking about it, it doesn't necessarily have to be transferred to your department, but you should have some type of automation where you automatically know that this is a new small business in the city. There should be something shared with the BTR with you, given that you are the ones that pay them. You're the ones that work with them. um the developmental services just actually collect the money and the data for them so there should be some type of shared programming however that could work there's an it issue that any new business that come into the city tomorrow there's a new business here you would know that i mean you can say i have this many new businesses this month type of thing so that definitely needs to be looked at and then the last question is How do you, what type of metrics are you going to use to look at your goals? You talked about reducing the PO time by 20%, increasing local vendor registration. You said, so how do you, what metrics are you going to use to be able to get to us knowing that you did 20%?

So high level, we'll just count the number of purchase orders to see if there was a reduction. Procurement and finance do have a joint session or training session at the end of September. And the purpose of that is to help the department set up purchase orders, maybe one versus 12.

What do I mean?

If they want to rent equipment and it's $1,000 a month, instead of having 12 separate purchase orders, we're going to work with them to say, no, you can set it up. with one PO for the whole year and then you draw down. So we talk about also education and educating them and looking at the purchase orders to try to have some operational efficiency. So that's one way to measure. If we did 6,000 this year and next year we do 5,500. That is one way. So a lot of this is, you know, training and having a great skill set. And finally, the procurement department is, the staff is divided up or they have, they work with certain departments So one person is assigned to fire, one person is assigned to police, one person is assigned to development services. That way they can work with the departments and understand how the departments work and help them have not only at least a less number of purchase orders, but how to actually optimize exactly what they're doing and learning the business and to help them more efficiently.

Okay. And then also, too, I think you guys should have them. with your own budget now, a vendor outreach and education fund so that you guys, that's specific to vendor outreach.

Yes, ma'am.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Lanier. Nice, very pertinent question. Mayor Lawson.

Thank you. And just to close out, while I appreciate you cutting the budget, Your department is responsible for getting the money into our community and for all the dollars that's coming out. So we have to make sure that we have all the data necessary and you have all the tools necessary. So you've done a phenomenal job just in two years. You've done more than I've seen of any procurement director here. I want to keep pushing that because you're the most important piece in the city and in any city when it comes to spending for local vendors. And we have probably the most spending in Palm Beach County happening. So if you need the tools, whether it's going to be the software, we need to know about that so that this is the only moment that we have to approve a balanced budget. And if you need additional funding for that software, we need that. If you need the staff, even eliminating that position, if you need to replace it with somebody that can actually collect that data because you guys issue the vendors, I believe you issue the vendors numbers out of procurement, correct? So the vendors numbers are coming from you, even combining the resources of the BTRs with the vendors. I know everybody doesn't operate and do business with the city, but just having that list, because all of these businesses coming to the community, we don't want to be the board to say, well, go work with them, go work with them. Here's a list of all of our local businesses in the community, and they can be itemized through your department. My intern actually put together a full list for us over the summer of every business from the BTR list. So if you need the staff, if you need the additional support, then this is where we can apply it. And this is the only time that we have an opportunity to give you that help necessary. I don't want to come back next year and say, well, where's my data again? I want you to have all the tools for these next 12 months to be prepared so that you can accomplish everything that this board has asked you, which you've done a phenomenal job these last two years. So thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Mayor. With Amos, you're in a very challenging position Your recommendation impacts people's livelihood, whether they get a contract or not. That's going to create emotions for those who may not be recommended. That's going to generate, I don't want to say enemies, adversaries because you didn't recommend somebody or they thought you should have did something a different way. So I don't envy your position because it's a position where you're going to get a lot of criticism and you have been getting that. Whether it's valid or not, that's still in question. I don't think most of it is. And I'm saying all this to say that we have to do something to make your job more efficient. The Mayor and Councilwoman Lanier have been talking about software. Our departments need to have software that can talk to each other without having to request it. You can write software to do that. If a local business come and register, when they register, You should be able, both of you all or three of you all should be able to get it at the same time. You'll know who registered as a local vendor without having to pick up the phone. We're in 2026 and I support upgrading the software. We have to deal with real numbers. So we would need probably you and IT to get together and determine what software can accomplish what we up here have been talking about. I don't support identifying the problem and then letting it go to the wayside. What is the solution now? We know we have a problem. We're not getting the data we want. The departments that should be communicating with each other don't have software to communicate with each other. That's a problem. Data is not only used for disparity studies. Having been down at the county as long as I have, my first job was in community development. We did a lot with CDBG grants. and other income requests. All of it required data. We're applying for a grant.

They want data to support why we should give you this money.

And I don't think that we have enough data collection software in place. And that's to not only the employee's disadvantage, it's to the resident's disadvantage, too.

If we had data, we can apply for more to provide better services to our residents.

So we need to move beyond just talking about it. And from here, my colleagues, I think at least we should have a report from UNIT. When is our next meeting? If we're going to move in this year's budget, We got to have it by the time we started voting on these ordinances to approve the budget. You're about to say something. I'm about to end, but go ahead.

Yes, I just wanted to remind the board that you all did so graciously approve for us to enter into a cooperative agreement with a company that would be able to provide us the data that the mayor was looking for. As we did progress, I can say that we knew we would need some more. We, as far as the capacity in the city and the people and trying to make everything work, WE WOULD HAVE NEEDED SOME MORE MONEY TO IMPLEMENT, BUT DO AN INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT, IT WAS SUGGESTED AND RECOMMENDED THAT WE CANCEL THE PARTICULAR CONTRACT BECAUSE OTHERS THOUGHT THAT TYLER COULD PROVIDE US WITH THE SUBCONTRACTING DATA, AND TYLER CANNOT. SO I CAN COME BACK WITH THAT PARTICULAR CONTRACT.

I'm asking with the approval of my colleagues to get with IT and bring us back what you and IT think would be the best way to collect the data that we're asking you to collect. You and IT, I'm not asking you about outside sources, people who may have a job that they They do this from a distance. I want people working in the industry like IT and you to get together and bring us some information back with some numbers so we can consider it in this budget that would collect the data that the mayors want and also have our departments communicating better, especially regarding who our local vendors are, whether you're paying them or not. We want to know our local business. It would help us go after more dollars. Is there anything else? Yes. Is that Councilwoman Miller-Anderson?

Yes. The information that Ms. Amos is speaking of from the internal auditor who works for us, um is there something that she provided to you information to you in writing or anything that you can share or i can get from her regarding what you're talking about yes i can share with the entire council okay thank you okay

So, Chair, my follow-up was going to be, and if that company is one that you all deem sufficient and would be able to provide, please provide us with that information.

We need numbers. If that's the company or whatever UNIT come up with, we need numbers, though, to consider to see if we can work it into the budget. But we cannot keep identifying problems and keep kicking the can down the road. And our residents and employees are working in an environment that is not best for efficiency. Enough of that. This is 2026. We have to get our priorities together. If any of my colleagues have any opposition to what we're requesting, so speak or forever hold your peace. We're not voting on it right now, we're requesting information so we can make a rational decision about upgrading our city employee's life to 2026 with some better software. Chair? Yes, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

I MEAN, I'M NOT DISAGREEING WITH ANY OF IT. I JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE I HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION BEFORE I SAY THAT I'M OKAY WITH THAT. AND I DEFINITELY WANT TO HEAR FROM IT TO SEE IF WE, BECAUSE WE DID INVEST A LOT OF MONEY IN UPGRADING OUR SYSTEMS. NOT SURE IF EVERYTHING HAS BEEN IMPLEMENTED YET. BUT I DEFINITELY WANT TO HEAR FROM IT AS TO WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE OR WHAT WE STILL NEED IN ORDER FOR US TO ACCOMPLISH THAT.

ABSOLUTELY. I AGREE. And this is just to retrieve information and it's been emphasized for IT to be involved as well as procurement. Yes.

Yeah.

Okay. Thank you for your comments. Thank you very much. And let me just say that you're never going to be able to satisfy everybody. They're going to criticize you, but I know that you'll be getting calls from industry colleagues for your opinion to come speak. They heard about a program that you had up here, how to do it in their area. I see your colleagues recognizing what you're doing up here and they're trying to implement it in some of their areas. So don't let the haters get you down. Keep doing what you're doing. Good job. Okay. Next slide.

Good evening, Council. Ben Sheehan, interim director of your IT department. And I want to thank Mr. Guyton because you've made most of my presentation in the last few lines far better than I ever could.

I did not know that you were the IT guy, to be honest. I'm new around here. Good to meet you.

The IT department is the only true support department in the city. We exist only because of the work the other departments accomplish. So my priorities are not my priorities. My priorities are Chief Coleman's priorities. Excuse me, Mr.

Chair.

Yes.

Can he introduce himself? I mean, I don't know who he is either. So could you please introduce yourself?

Again, Ben Sheehan. I thought he did. He did. I missed it.

I'm sorry.

I missed it. Reintroduce yourself.

Certainly, certainly. Ben Sheehan. I'm the interim director for your information technology department. Previously worked in the city primarily for the police department as a technology manager.

So wait, two-fifths of the council didn't know who you are.

Then I'm doing my job very well.

Shirley said she did. I mean, Councilwoman Lanier said she did. You've seen it. So that's three-fifths. But go ahead. It's glad to meet you.

I really believe information technology should be boring. If I'm attracting a lot of attention to my operations, we're doing something wrong. That means something is broken. so again we are here to make sure the other departments have the resources they need to perform their jobs they're the departments providing services to the citizens uh the i.t department provides exactly nothing to the citizens but we provide it to the police department so the police department keeps citizens safe and i can go on and on and on i'm trying to be cognizant of your time i know we're running a little over schedule here um You have in front of you what you would have in front of you. Let me just click back there. The IT department layout. These are the six divisions that make up the IT department. I won't go through all of these, but I do want to point out the last one, the enterprise resource planning individual. This was a position that was brought on in the last year specifically for Tyler. Tyler is a conglomerate. It's a group. It's an avalanche organization. of modules that can do all types of things. When the city brought Tyler on board, there were so many capabilities that were available to us. It's kind of like, you know, you get a Chinese menu and you don't know what to pick from for dinner. So, and this is my opinion here, the departments looked at Tyler, they looked at the key needs, they picked it out of Tyler and they did those things. But as time has gone, we've just now starting to learn what questions we need to ask. We don't know what we don't know about products such as Tyler. So the ERP individual has spent most of the last six months actually going in and identifying those Tyler modules and working with the various departments to say, hey, do you even know this capability exists? You have this piece of software you're paying for. You have the way you're used to doing it. But the city is already paying for this tool that could do X, Y, and Z. And maybe the module is not a perfect fit for a department's needs. And it's up to the departments to decide that. but it's our job to at least bring the capabilities forward to the departments. So, you know, Ms. Ammons was making reference to Tyler and Tyler wasn't really recently upgraded. It's just, we finally are in a position where we can take a step back and understand what Tyler has to offer for us. It's a very expensive piece of software that for years, frankly, we have not been leveraging anywhere near to its value or its cost. So, and again, I'm not going to go through all these. For the actual IT budget, i don't like up here that says fiscal year 2027 goals because my goals are the department's goals uh again it is not here to attract attention we're not here to stand up at the opponent podium and make glorious speeches as i'm sitting here running my mouth we're here to take care of the needs of the other departments the overarching kind of thought process behind it lately though has been money money money about every three or four weeks i get another notification from a vendor that prices are going up 20 in seven days i'll give the police department headquarters building as an example when we got the initial quotes for the pdhq building from that period of time until now those costs have almost tripled A police laptop that Chief Coleman constantly hits me up for just two or three years ago cost about $1,800. That same laptop now costs $3,500. That trend is servers, software, desktops, laptops across the board. So our focus has really been I can't control the price of a laptop from Dell. I can't control the price of a server. But I can go through our telecommunications circuits and audit what we're paying to the various carriers. I don't have to explain to anybody in this room that companies like AT&T, Verizon, their billing structure is set up to extract as much money from you as possible and kind of hope that you forget what you're paying over time. So the bulk of the last year and a primary focus for the upcoming fiscal year will be continuing to audit those services to reduce costs, to utilize resources that we already have, such as Tyler, to perform more efficiently, provide more service without necessarily having to spend more money. uh 2027 budget modifications uh the only is the police technology administrator position is being transferred back to the police department i have no specific capital goals because again i want to stress my goals are the department's goals so those capital goals are typically part of the department's project we're just here to implement them If you look at the actual budget over here, you'll notice operating capital went from $235,000 to $541,000. That's largely reflecting those increased IT costs. Microsoft recently sunsetted Windows 10, which many of you were using on your devices to get your jobs done. It is no longer supported by security updates, so we had to migrate to Windows 11. Windows 11 has a few hardware requirements that Windows 10 did not. So we came across a lot of machines that the physical box will not migrate to Windows 11. So many of the costs in here you're seeing are replacements for those desktops, laptops to perform the Windows 11 updates. Cybersecurity, if it's not money, it's cybersecurity. Those are the conversations that rule my world. We sit here and we have various consoles We look at attacks in the thousands per hour that our tools stop. We are constantly being probed from the outside to get into our networks. All of you are very heavy email users. You see the phishing emails. You see the scams that come through. I will tell you that for every email you get that looks suspicious, we've probably blocked a hundred of them that never made it to you. um operating expenses on here uh these costs have increased these are primarily circuit and contract costs again like the hardware software is increased circuit costs have increased as the city brings on additional facilities hardened facilities obviously we bring up a brand new fire station we want redundant circuits going to that fire station that should the Atlantic come out and smack us around one hurricane season, we can keep our emergency operations center online. We can keep our responders available to respond. That reflects those costs increasing. Personnel costs show a $50,000 decrease that is primarily from transferring the police technology administrator back to the police department, but the bulk of IT employees are in the SEIU. So there's a contractual increase that partially offsets that. And that's the total of the budget. We have no, again, no capital items for this year. And in the interest of expediency and honoring your time, I'm taking any questions for you.

Chair.

Vice Chair Spurley.

Director Sheehan, can you tell me, cybersecurity, I'm very concerned about, especially with the utility district, our new water plant, our existing water plant. Of course, we know the history of the city being hacked years ago, costing us a ton of money. Well, actually, the insurance company, I guess. but my concern is cybersecurity. So do you have somebody that's working directly with the utility district and the engineers on the water plant and the new police station?

I'm dying to answer that question. The water treatment plan has been something that has been kind of, everybody is, we should split off the water treatment plan. The water treatment plan should be on its own network. It was always one of those good idea things that nobody could ever push across the line. I'm thrilled to say we met with Director Neiman and his staff last week to come up with a plan to break the USD off from the city. They will have their own separate domain, their own separate network. We had several very high-profile attacks in the news in the last few weeks. Not theoretical, you know, boogeyman. These were legitimate attacks on water treatment plants that affect the water supplies of citizens. So, sir, you're absolutely right. Cybersecurity is the number one issue, and we are taking active steps as we have this conversation to safeguard and protect the water treatment plant.

Of course, the police station and the firehouses and City Hall as well But the utility district, of course, we can't live without water.

There's nothing more critical and more sensitive than the water supply. There's no take backs on the water.

Thank you.

OK, Mr.

Seaman, is it?

Sheehan. Sheehan.

Yes.

Mr. Sheehan, I've been with the county not close to 30 years, and every maybe six months or so, or maybe more than that, we are required to take phishing training. They'll go through little scenarios. They tell you what to look for. Then you take some tests at the end and you can't move on until you pass it. That's not an option for us. Correct. We have to do that. do we have anything regular to keep our employees on their toes like that?

We do currently employ a product that does that very function, though, in my opinion, it does that very function very poorly. um what you're talking about is in the from the pd side at the end of the day i'm always going to bleed blue uh the police department has what are called the sieges security requirements managing information systems that have a security awareness function uh coming the october 1 fiscal year we're planning on implementing a software suite that mimics what fdle requires for the police department and it will be much of what you're describing it'll show various uh you know scenarios to the end user you know which one is legit what to look out for It will also be more actively sending phishing emails, you know, kind of poking the bear a little bit to see how the users respond. And hopefully we can identify, you know, problems with the users before they click on something legitimate. And instead of it being, oh, my God, the skies are falling, we turn it into an educational and a learning situation. So look forward for that greatly October 1st. I know you mentioned the police department. What about citywide? That is a citywide prerogative. We're just using the model that FDLA mandates for the police department and applying it to the rest of the city.

And how regular would we be doing that?

I don't want to give away too many specifics because it's a security question.

I mean, training. Training required. And we'll get with the city manager. Required training. I wasn't here, but everybody know that we have gotten hiked and paid a large amount. And we need to be prepared as well as we can to try to mitigate and diminish that possibility to ever happen again.

I remember that morning, 4.17 in the morning, I got a call from my police dispatch. I'll never forget it. Most of the information security regulations and standards mandate a one-year minimum training period. But like I said, the phishing emails will go out throughout the year. And if a user were to click on something that would have normally been malicious, that will be an instant required training for them. It will pop up right then and there and nag them until they complete that periodic training as often as needed.

Okay. The other thing that we regularly get training on, too, is active shooter training. Do we have that?

That might be more of a PD question.

Do we, Chief?

I know Chief Colvin, Chief of Police, River Beach Police Department. To answer your question, yes, we have active shooter training on a regular basis. We deploy all employees within the police department. I mean, for all employees. No, sir. No, sir, we do at the county and that we are working on a plan now with the fire department and final care center, we're going to have a citywide scenario based training. I don't want to give out too much right now, but it's in this planning stage. We just met two weeks ago with Chief Alvin, Chief Freeman and his team. It was my police department. So we're going to have a scenario based training where we're going to deploy multiple different resources citywide and real life training that's going to take place hopefully within the next two months citywide with Ms. Baker and her team at the final care center.

at something similar to the fishing training um with the active shooter training it always happened at a place that doesn't expect it and i feel that we should be prepared for the unexpected no matter where it may happen that um on one of these um city-owned properties And if it happens and we have no training, nothing, I think it could be more devastating than it needs to be. So, um, I will hope that you take a look at that. We, um, I'm a planner and they require us to do it too at the county. Yes, everybody is required. We need to know what to do, where to go, who to call. Um, We even get training about where you are, who would be the first going out the door and should you be in a crowd together? And that's basic things that we take for granted. And and each life is valuable in this city. Employees and residents of life. So we need to have the proper training. OK, thank you. Please take a look at that. Last question for you, Mr. I'm bad with names. Sheehan. Mr. Sheehan, does Title of Software sufficiently do any of the things that Ms. Amos and I were discussing?

We were involved with Ms. Emmons in the piece of software she is referencing to. Tyler was found to be lacking specifically in the contract management modules. And some of that was the city was without a contract administrator for quite a number of years. And I want to thank Ms. Emmons for that contract administration. Ms. Whitney Davis, I believe her name is. She has been excellent. but the Tyler modules themselves did not at first glance seem to handle contract management to the point, especially that Mayor Lawson is asking for the local businesses. So that was a deficiency that was identified. I believe she's gonna come back to you with a request The software she bought had a professional services component to integrate the Tyler data into the software, but that data is not in Tyler currently. Okay.

Now you said Ms. Ammons is coming back. You need to be integrally involved in that process.

My apologies, sir. You're correct.

To determine whether what is coming back to us would sufficiently do what we're trying to do.

Absolutely understood.

Okay. That's all I have. Anybody else? Councilwoman Lanier.

I wanted to ask, this is probably too for the chief that they were requesting $750,000 for five years for the drone project. And I want to know what was IT's role in supporting this?

We support the backend infrastructure. I am familiar with the item. It was, it was, dedicated technology as a whole. So I believe it was the UAV program, might have been some ALPR, it was software. I believe you've seen the police department's real-time crime center. One of the big problems with the real-time crime center is they ingest so much information from so many sources that there's not a human on the planet that can sit and watch all those cameras and ingest all that information. So the software component he was looking for basically picks out the important bits with the help of some AI and some other technologies and puts those in front of the user. Our role in that would be the back end, the networking, the computer fundamentals, just the computing infrastructure, just like any other technology project. But they would be the operators of that program.

So are there any costs that are not reflected in the police budget that you're picking up?

I don't believe for the real-time crime center, part of my budget comes from the police department, just like all the other budgets. So we are funded by an enterprise fund that each of the departments contribute to. So the police department is already contributing.

So it wouldn't be any other cost other than what the police is paying for?

No, I believe those costs are all accounted for one way or another.

Okay. Tell me about the ratio that you guys have. I would like to know the ratio you have because the city is like 550 individuals and you guys have like 10 employees. How does that match up to other cities?

Poorly. There are 12, including myself in the IT department. We do have one vacant tech position. I always taken some pride in being compared to the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office is doing this, Orange County is doing that. And a lot of those things I talk about they're doing, we're doing, but they have an army of staff to do it. And we have 15 minutes of our spare time between all the other priorities of the city. So it is a struggle trying to keep up. The city grows both with the services that are offered, the number of city facilities is constantly growing, the technology incorporated in those facilities. As Chair Guyton has made it, I've said the same, it's 2026, it's about time we do this, that, the other thing. We're trying to do this, that, the other thing. But at the end of the day, you need bodies to support these things. These systems, I like to say, are not toasters. You cannot just plug them in and walk away. They require constant interaction, constant upkeep. And what you're alluding to is a definite struggle.

So tell me about the... THERE WAS AN INTERNAL AUDIT THAT WAS DONE THAT SAVED YOU GUYS A LOT OF MONEY. TELL ME ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I REALLY WANTED TO, AND THE BOARD SHOULD ALSO BE PRIVATE TO, A LIST OF ALL THE CURRENT SOFTWARE CONTRACTS IN THIS DEPARTMENT. so that we have an idea. And I know that the internal auditor did a report and save you guys a lot of money because there was some duplications here and there. But I also know too that your department is sorely underfunded in terms of staff, given the amount of city employees that the city has. So I definitely want that to come to us, a list of all the software contracts from each department so that we have an idea of what's happening with this. Because even though your department is over it, I don't even know what you're going to do now that you transfer the position. So who does that over at IT? Who picks up that whole thing is a lot. So I can appreciate that. And I think one of the last questions I had was, you have no new current capital projects for IT, but you have an aging network. that needs updating. So how are you going to manage that?

One of the recent discussions with the capital projects team was establishing a capital fund to get the IT infrastructure on a rolling replacement cycle. We've done it on a smaller scale with some of the individual departments, but you're absolutely correct, man. there is no designated capital fund for IT infrastructure. Realistically, we've had the advantage of all of the new facilities lately. And when each of those facilities comes online, there is an IT component typically budgeted in that. But as Mr. Bailey has pointed out, and rightfully so, we are financing IT infrastructure that's good for five years with bonds that are paid over 30 years. And if I'm getting the 30 number wrong, my apologies. But that infrastructure, that IT infrastructure that does not have, you know, the long tooth service life should not be financed in that fashion. So you're absolutely correct. Establishing an IT capital fund is a priority for the upcoming budget year.

And then the last question is, is the cloud versus premise, meaning that have you guys evaluated moving more to the cloud versus hardware maintenance costs?

There's kind of a snarky line for the cloud, and the cloud is just somebody else's computer. When those services first came online, there was a big push by the various vendors because they want you to use their service. They want the subscription model. They want the monthly paycheck. So the initial price of many of those services was artificially low. So basically you would move all your data and your operations would become so dependent on them that now that they've inflated the prices and they have inflated the prices, it doesn't necessarily make sense to host things in the cloud that you can keep online. I'll tell you right now, we use AWS to store backups for all the various city systems. And we're in talks right now with vendors to bring much of that because we do now have these various hardened city facilities. We've got two brand new fire stations that are both rated for Cat 5 end of the world events that have multiple backup generators and multiple circuits. I feel pretty safe with my data on an appliance in both fire stations that if something takes out both of those Cat 5 fire stations, this is probably a moot conversation at this point. So we're looking at leveraging those facilities and getting rid of some of those bills.

That's the answer to hear because I was, can we just be careful to not talk too many specifics for security wise? I'm sure chief is sitting there and he knows when we need to kind of not go too deep in conversation. So we are not making ourselves vulnerable.

Okay. But yeah, that's what I wanted to hear in terms of not looking for other places that it stays with the city itself. And also too, the city's cyber policy that luckily we did have it because a lot of the Ransom, so to speak, was paid by the student policy. But thank you so much for that information, because it gives me much comfort to know that the city is taking care of its own data.

Right. And we're getting rid of that phone system.

Oh, OK. Let me just say that, you know, as we make our request, all of the colleagues know this. But for the residents, we're required to do a balanced budget. We don't have an option. So as staff bring us an initial budget and we start telling them we want this, this, this and that, they've got to go somewhere and eliminate something to make sure that they can bring us back what we're asking them to. So we need to be prepared to understand that we're going to lose something when we're asking for something. So we have to prioritize But we still want you to do what we're asking when I say you staff. And staff is going to say, if you want us to do this, then we recommend that this be eliminated, that be eliminated, this be eliminated. We can't have it all. And I don't want to give the public the impression like we're going to be able to do all of this without eliminating something else that they may or may not want or do they think they need. So that's a balance to a budget. And I just want to keep everyone level headed that they're going to be some elimination of some things that may be in the budget. Now, if we choose to go in a different direction, we can't have it all. And we have a lot of bonds that the residents are going to be paying for already. and so we're conscientious of that. Thank you very much, Mr. IT.

And I certainly want that information about the security, I mean, the contracts from the software contracts.

Nobody disagrees. That is in process, ma'am.

And also, too, you're correct, because I was wanting to add another 150 to their budget, but okay, I get you. I get it.

All right, very good.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. IT. Next.

ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING, MR. CHAIR, HONORABLE MAYOR, MEMBERS OF COUNCIL, I AM CLARENCE SERMONS. I HAVE THE HONOR OF SERVING THE CITIZENS OF RIVERA BEACH IN THE CAPACITY OF DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT SERVICES. THIS EVENING AS DIRECTED, I WILL GIVE A VERY BRIEF PRESENTATION CONSISTING OF AN OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT, OUR ACCOMPLISHES THUS FAR THIS FISCAL YEAR, AND OUR GOALS objectives and a proposed budget for the fy 27 budget so quickly the mission of the development services department is to plan build and maintain riviera beach We do that through four divisions. First, planning and zoning, who oversees the application of the land use and future land use and comprehensive plan of the city of Riviera Beach, identifying what lands are within the jurisdiction of you, the policymakers, and the highest and best uses and maintaining those plans for those and processing applications to change and develop on those lands. Next, we have the Building and Inspections Division. Their responsibility is to enforce the Florida Building Code to make sure that anything that is developed on the land here meets all of the important life safety and building construction standards of our city to deal with our climate and our weather incidents that we do have regularly in the state of Florida. After that, the maintenance of the city through code compliance. ensuring that all of those properties that have been developed in the city are maintaining the minimum standards, and if not, that even more. If a project is approved by this council with certain conditions or certain standards of landscaping, signage, and things of that nature, they are the body that goes by to make sure that if for any reason they fall into disrepair or beneath those standards established by this organization, that they are dealt with and enforcement actions are taken. then finally we have the permanent business tax operations that oversees the different uses that take place within the structures of our city so quickly i'll give out some numbers of the accomplishments and activity of the development services department division over the past year starting with planning and zoning they have processed over 120 applications of different types of development activities everything from plats and site plans to pre-applications and ZONING VERIFICATION LETTERS. THEY HAVE TAKEN IN $56,080 THUS FAR FOR FY26. NEXT, THE PERMITS DIVISION. THERE HAVE BEEN 2,708 PERMITS ISSUED THIS YEAR BY THE PERMITS AND INSPECTIONS AND OPERATIONS DIVISIONS. collected four, I'm sorry, $5 million at this point in permit fees. And then there have been over $518 million worth of development valuation that have taken place within the City of Riviera Beach thus far this year. Within the Code Compliance Division, there have been 1,996 cases issued by our officers for the different properties around the city. and they have collected $127,361 in fines. But as you know, the goal is never to collect funds and code compliance, but it's to make sure that our properties are well maintained and that anyone who owns property in Riviera Beach understands it is a great investment here because of how well our city is maintained. But in situations where those standards are not met, there are situations when fees are collected. And then finally, in business tax receipts, there have been 2,249 BTRs issued. AND $1.4 MILLION COLLECTED IN BUSINESS TAXES. SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, IN THE UPCOMING YEAR, IT HAS BEEN A CHALLENGE AND THE THE BUDGET REQUEST OF THE DEPARTMENT REFLECT WHAT IS THE MINIMUM NEEDED TO MAINTAIN AND GET THE MOST OUT OF THE OPERATIONS AND RESOURCES AND STAFF THAT WE ALREADY HAVE IN THE DEPARTMENT AND UNDERSTANDING THAT WE'RE IN A CHALLENGING BUDGETING AND FORECASTING ENVIRONMENT. SO WE KEPT OUR ASK TO A MINIMUM, KEEPING ASIDE FOR A MOMENT THAT THE FACT THAT THE Millions of dollars brought in by building permits have to stay in a reserve and only can be utilized to administer the Florida building code and cannot supplant other needs of the city. So that is what's utilized for the majority of the positions and needs of the building permit and building inspection staff. For the goals of the coming year, a few of them have been highlighted on the slide here. One is to look at our fee schedule. to make sure that we have right sized our fees because we are limited in the amount that we can bring in based on property taxes alone to make sure the things that we charge for services are appropriate or commensurate with the amount of time, energy and software and other things that are needed to provide those services. So we are in underway to revise, especially our planning and zoning fee schedule, as well as building permits. This was mentioned earlier, but one of our goals is to create a small business directory for the city to be used by residents and interested parties. Some may not be old enough to remember the yellow pages, but that's what we have in mind. So that any business that is in the city that you can go to one resource to see what they are, what the business is and contact information. And that is we have the data exporting it in a format that can be readily used. by the public is the challenge there, but we are here for it. And we have highlighted that as one of our primary goals for the coming year. Even since the procurement director's presentation, I have interfaced with her and shared what data we do have in BTRs and begun to collaborate on how we can get it in the format she needs as well to communicate with potential vendors of the city. And then third under goals is to consult with third party GIS services and AI software providers to make public basic information on permit applications, cold cases through the city's official GIS map. We've made a lot of headway in this area over the past year, and we're very close to being able to demonstrate how AI can enhance the services that we provide and make information more accessible to our residents. SO THAT IS AN IMPORTANT GOAL AND WE ARE UNDERWAY AND HAVE MADE SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN THAT AREA. AGAIN, IN TERMS OF THE BUDGET MODIFICATIONS, NO MAJOR CHANGES WE HAVE IN THE SPIRIT OF REQUEST MADE OF US BY THE CITY ADMINISTRATION AND THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT, FROZEN FUNDING FOR ONE COMMUNITY INSPECTOR POSITION IN THE CODE COMPLIANCE DIVISION. Requests that we have made are increasing operating supplies budget for planning and zoning, increasing overtime and printing budget for code compliance, and increasing VTR operations budget for mailing operating supplies. So again, we're adjusting these existing line items to make sure they don't go in the red, but no significant changes in terms of requests for this budget cycle. The only capital project that we have is some minor modifications on the second floor of City Hall. As you all are aware, the CRA will be moving out at the end of this fiscal year. the space that they are vacating, we are making plans to reclaim that to optimize the layout of our department and how we can best serve the public from that space. So that is a brief summary of the Development Services Department, what we are, what we've accomplished so far this year and our plans for the next fiscal year. And of course, I'm here for any questions.

Chair. Vice Chair Spiridus, then Councilwoman Lanier. And I heard somebody over here. And then Mayor Lawson.

Director, I've seen in the employment vacancy list, the director of planning and development, that job's been advertised, I don't know, well over a year, correct?

Yeah, that's a CRA position.

Yeah, oh, CRA. I thought you had one in your department as well, no?

No, when I first saw it, I thought it was my job for a moment.

I was a little nervous, but no, that is a CRA. I see that you're eliminating a building inspector. I mean, your department is probably one of the most important departments in our ability to increase our tax base. I would not disagree with that. So can we afford to eliminate a building inspector?

To clarify, that is a code compliance community inspector. So not on the building side. The building side, we feel strongly about the revenues from this fiscal year that we wouldn't need to eliminate any positions in that division. They have brought in $5 million so far this year, but code compliance is funded out of the general fund. So that was the least painful cut that we can make in terms of positions, and that's reflective of that. Thank you. Councilwoman Lanier.

So when you talk about the fee study timeline, what does that look like?

It's a challenge. It's difficult to provide a timeline because one of the reasons we need to update the fee schedule is because the new state statute that has changed how building permit fees can be calculated. No longer can it be based on, I want to do my best to try to paraphrase, no longer can it be based on project valuation. And so cities have to find another way to assess permit fees on development projects. So cities and counties across the state are figuring out the best ways and hiring consultants and doing studies to figure out the best and most effective ways to assess building permit fees without using that particular model. So that is one of the biggest changes aside from, of course, right-sizing our fees, which is always important. This particular time we have to do it based on an entirely different model. So I am working with counterparts through our building officials and trying to partner with, piggyback as much as possible. So we're not all replicating the same studies across the state, but that is a significant challenge that we haven't had before in changing our fees, at least in the recent term. So that's going to complicate the process. So I can't give you a hard number, but I can emphasize that it is a priority. And we are also working with our finance department to make sure all of our reporting requirements of the state are in place because that is a prerequisite to updating permit fees as well.

Got it. So the digital permitting roadmap, what does that look like? We talked about the whole digital piece for permitting. What is that? How's that going?

So one thing that we have done, and there are some pros and cons of the Tyler software suite, and it has come up multiple times during this hearing just tonight. We were able to move all of our divisions in development services to the Tyler suite, and that allows us extreme efficiency and generating reports on the numbers, the number of applications we've taken in this week or a year. And it allows us to make that data very accessible. Again, since the procurement director came down, I sent her a report of all of the VTRs that have been submitted in the city, even though she said they're not in the right format, but it allows access to data very quickly. And so what we've done is gotten with the IT and the AI company that says with this information, I can make it visible on a map, or you can type a prompt into a box and it can search all of your records, all of the permits or all of the development projects going on in the city right now to get you answers in real time. So making those types of products available to the city and the citizens as well is what we're on the cusp of. We already have the demo models functioning that we've been testing and working with, and they've been giving us good results so far, making that live on the website, connecting it to Tyler Intergov permitting. So you can click on a parcel and see, oh, there's a permit submitted on this parcel, or there's a site plan application submitted here. Those are the things that we're able to do because Tyler has integrated all of the different land development functions that we have in the department. So you can click on a parcel, see if it has a cold case or a permit all at one time. And that's what we're excited to roll out very soon. That in addition to finally getting all of our remaining building permit application types fully electronic as well for electronic applications. So no one has to lug big permits to our offices anymore. So those are two very high goals for the department in the near future.

Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to ask about the whole electronic permitting process. So what part of your budget is covered through fees?

So the building permit fees, those are through financing and their accounting, they're set to the side and by state mandate can only be used for the administration of the building code. So that's our permit technicians, our building inspectors, the building official, and anyone who is working under that, but primarily those positions and any services they need. So their IT services, vehicles they use, those can also be funded through the building code. I'M SORRY, THE BUILDING PERMIT FEES, BUT IT'S LIMITED TO THOSE FUNCTIONS. EVERYTHING ELSE THAT THE DEPARTMENT BRINGS IN GOES INTO THE GENERAL FUND, AND IT IS HASHED OUT IN THIS FORMAT, AS YOU'RE AWARE, AND GOES INTO THE POT, AND IT'S DECIDED LATER WHAT COMES BACK TO THE DEPARTMENT.

ALL RIGHT. JUST TWO MORE QUESTIONS. ONE OF THEM IS, THE CURRENT LEVEL OF DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY IN RIVERA BEACH, YOU KNOW, PERMIT APPLICATIONS, ARE THEY INCREASING, DECREASING? ARE THEY STABLE? What does that look like going forward with all this development that the city has?

So for construction permits, we are slightly behind where we were last year. I think we may we have a couple more months in the fiscal year, so we might be right at where we were last year in terms of the amount of revenue we bought in with permits. We have had a couple of big development projects that have been approved by this board. It's always hard to know when they will come in the process. For example, a project of the scale of Oculina, it takes time to develop the construction drawings for a development of that scale. We stay in contact every now and then. We reach out and say, are you still on track? Are you almost ready for a construction permit application submittal? And they have let us know with the last update that they are working. But it's hard to say exactly when it will fall. So it was approved FY25. It did not hit the books for twenty six for permitting unless it comes in over the next two months. So they will likely be next year. But it's hard to gauge exactly when they will come in. But so far, we remain at about the rate that we were last year in terms of construction permit revenue. The other divisions, they fluctuate. Business tax receipts is about one point five to two million on average every year permits planning and zoning. Excuse me. It can fluctuate. They have had a strong number of applications so far this year. The types of applications that come in, you know, they can get an application to do a plat on an existing lot, or it can be an application of a 20-story development. So their revenue and the fees associated with can fluctuate significantly.

The last question. Have you guys ever did a consumer or customer satisfaction survey? no we have spoken about it um it's nothing that we have gotten to implement yet uh but yet we've talked about it and yeah i really want you guys to do that to have something that gauges how your department is doing for the public because PEOPLE COMPLAIN, BUT NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE COMPLAINING ABOUT. SO TO HAVE SOME IDEA OF SOME OF THE AREAS THAT THE CUSTOMERS FEEL LIKE WE SHOULD, YOU KNOW, I KNOW THAT THE BIGGEST THING WAS THE ELECTRONIC PERMITTING THAT, YOU KNOW, I CAN GO TO WEST PALM AND I CAN GET IT ONLINE AND THAT KIND OF THING. BUT TO HAVE CUSTOMER FEEDBACK FOR PERMITTING WILL DEFINITELY HELP YOUR DEPARTMENT.

NEW SPEAKER AGREED. IF I MAY RESPOND ON THAT. The numbers are more clarifying in terms of the real story. So for example, our permit center schedules 1,000 building inspections every month. The number of complaints we get, however, may be one, two, or three. So based on the volume of work and permit applications that go through all divisions of the department, the number of complaints we receive is reflective of an operation that's going very well in general. those situations when we do get complaints, of course, we focus on those. We want to resolve the issue and then look preventatively to make sure the same types of complaints are arising if they're based on some type of staff issue or operational issue. But the majority of the transactions go through very well in a customer service survey. I'm confident would reveal that better within numbers because you are getting more positive feedback than you are negative. Because when someone gets good service or satisfactory service, usually they don't take the time to write a letter, make a phone call or show up. But those who do have those issues have additional motivation. So we think a customer service survey would balance the feedback that we're getting. So that's another reason why we have been considering that, and we think it would do good.

And I say that because I want to showcase the positive feedback versus the negative, because I know that there's a lot of positive feedback, but you only hear people up here know. You only hear the negative. and you don't hear that out of your thousand permits that only one had a complaint. So that is something that really you guys should focus on because you hear a lot of good things, but one bad thing happens and it's a bad deal.

Understood. Know that.

That's it.

Thank you. Mayor Lawson.

Thank you, Ms. Chair. Ms. Summers, I know we've talked about fully automated and being fully digital in the department a few years ago, I believe it was during COVID and then after that. Where are we with going to being automated, especially for some of the permitting and just some of the processes where people are still coming into the office?

We have made significant progress, but it is not complete. And that's one of the things that is a huge challenge that still gives me a bit of heartburn. We, I would say, are 70% complete with being fully electronic. The last leg of it is allowing residents or contractors from their offices, upload their documents in PDF format and submit the application. That last leg is building out the website for the customer facing side. The biggest part of it, and the part I mentioned earlier, the employee facing side so every uh permit that comes in is input in the system and everyone could immediately see it even a city you all could go right now onto the city website and type in an address and uh pull up the permit information that that's already available but uh and it was a significant amount of work to get there the customer facing side is what remains and so we've just had a new uh change in staff uh staffing for the department unfortunately the requirements at the state require us to reconfigure how we have things in the system. My goal is to have that done by this time next year. That's my goal. We have the staff in place. The time is our biggest fear or our biggest challenge right now because everyone has a day job. And to build out software, you really have to step away from the permit counter. and say, I'm not processing permits right now. I'm going to help write down what the module should look like when you're processing it. So building out that calendar and dealing with the changes and permitting requirements that come from the state and reconfiguring, that's what continues to slow us down. But I believe by this time next year, we can be complete with that.

So where in the budget can we point to where you're going to be able to accomplish that last 30% hurdle? Because if you do need or staffing constraints, I would assume that we would prepare with putting in a staffer, a consultant, or even an interim individual to be able to fill that need. Because we want to accomplish that. We've been trying to become automated. We're kind of behind the eight ball when it comes to technology. across municipalities. So if we can touch on that and point it in the budget to say I need these dollars to get that done, that would be the first thing. So that would be the first thing. If we can maybe look at that and bring that back. The next step would also be possibly coming up with We've talked about separate ideas, and I don't want to be disjointed against different departments. Procurement and development services has a lot of the same data that we need. So possibly coming up with a platform that would identify small business directory, BTR information, vendor registration, permitting information, and something that's AI-assisted. Incorporating everything into one platform with having the information that we're asking for, because If you can create that actual portal that can showcase the BTRs for our residents, that can actually show the vendors numbers, that has all the basic information, which is going to be that small business directory that we talked about earlier. I know that you have all of the information, but if we just create working with procurement, regards to one directory for this actual business portal i think that'd be the best thing for the city as a whole because you have one piece of it when it comes to the btr miss hammonds has the vendor forms and we're disjointed when it comes to working together as departments so integrating all of this into a potential portal to automate a lot of what we're doing And last but not least, concierge. The one concern that I've heard for small projects to major projects is possibly having that white glove approach, that Chick-fil-A approach, that concierge service, walking them through the steps of getting everything done, because I know I'm going to get the same quality customer service every time I go to certain places. So it's possible to maybe incorporate some type of development concierge into the city to help with some of these smaller to large projects to walk them through the steps. to walk individuals through to be prepared to oversee the steps of what they would need, what documentation, what process, just to make sure that when they come to the city of Riviera Beach, I don't ever hear again that, you know, we're struggling with development services, we're struggling with the process, we're struggling with of people giving us the proper oversight. I haven't heard that recently though, to your credit, Mr. Servants. In the last couple of years, they've said that development service has gone tenfold increase, but I want to keep building it. We can always do better and push to be better because we have the most development and all eyes are on us in this entire country. So with that, I want to step it up a notch. What can we do to make sure that people want to come to the city to continue to grow and develop? We have the last undeveloped beachfront, portfront land, and people are coming here to actually build and grow that. So making that process seamless for them so that from A to Z, they know that when they come to the city of Riviera Beach, that their goal is to get the best service possible. So those are just some ideas that I want to come and throw at you. And again, like all of our other departments, you're doing a phenomenal job in developing the service to keep building it. So thank you.

WAS JUST FEEDBACK UNLESS YOU HAVE ANYTHING FOR IT I DO HAVE ONE UM A RESPONSE RELATED TO THE UM THE AUTOMATIC AUTOMATION OF OUR PERMIT SOFTWARE THE IN ALL OF THE CITIES THAT WE'VE WORKED WITH THE BIGGEST DETERMINANT IN HOW FAST THEY CAN ROLL THOSE SOFTWARES OUT IS THE AMOUNT OF IT SUPPORT THEY GOT SO IT GOES BACK UH TO MR SHEIN'S DEPARTMENT THOSE WHO THOSE CITIES OR DEVELOPMENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT WHO HAVE AN ASSIGNED IT PERSON TO OVERSEE THE ROLLOUT AND BUILD OUT OF THE SOFTWARE They get it done much faster than us when I have to shut a window down at my permit counter and have a staff member who's not an IT professional try to figure out the software. That's the biggest difference. And he's already expressed the staffing challenges he has. So he doesn't have a body to give to development service and say, hey, you're in charge of the build out of Tyler Intergov for the department because it is complex and it takes a lot of man hours to do. But that is the biggest determinant that we found from talking to our counterparts in other cities.

But to that point, the staffing constraints are also costing the city money that could be generating, getting more properties on the tax roll at a quicker expedited rate, departments where it comes to development services and the fees and the fines that are coming in. So that one staffer that may cost us 150, 200,000 annually could be generating more money for the city. So I want to make sure that we're operating at full capacity and efficiency in every department. Because if our staffing constraints can reflect a direct dollar amount that's going to increase for the coffers of the city, it makes sense to fill it. Even if it's going a little bit up from FY25 to 26 to 27, it shows that we can actually correlate it to the dollars that's coming back for the city. GRANT THAT AND SAY THE DEVELOPMENT SERVICES NEEDED THOSE FUNDS BECAUSE NOW WE'RE GONNA BE GENERATING MORE MONEY, GETTING MORE PARCELS ON THE TAX ROLL AND INCREASING THE REVENUE THAT'S COMING BACK TO THE CITY IN AN EXPEDITED FASHION. BECAUSE IF IT TAKES THREE, FOUR, SIX MONTHS, TIME IS MONEY FOR DEVELOPERS. SO THE QUICKER THAT WE GET THEM ON OUR TAX ROLLS, THE MORE MONEY THAT COMES IN FOR THE CITY COMPARES AND COVERS THAT BUDGET. THANK YOU, SIR.

NEW SPEAKER ONE LAST QUESTION, CHAIR. HOW MUCH HAS THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT BROUGHT IN THIS YEAR?

As of today in our latest report, $5,016,822.74. Excellent. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Okay. ACM, is someone taking notes of the request that the council is making to bring us back some numbers on?

Yeah, I have, and I'm pretty sure my counterpart, Ms.

it's also taking copious notes but i'm i'm jotting down notes okay because um again we have to have a balanced budget something else is going to have to be cut and we just need to know and be realistic about how we're moving and realize that something else is going to have to be cut in order to get what we want and get that balanced budget so Each department is going to have to take another look that we've made a request from to see what other things can be cut in order to do what we want them to do.

In addition, sir, to myself and Ms. Starling, I'm pretty sure that Ms. Hall is also taking notes also. So we'll all get together collectively, put everything together.

Even if you have to go back and look at this. I'm taking some notes too, so if you missed some, I'm probably gonna call you on it. Mr. Sermon, before I let you go, and it's been mentioned, but I just wanna reiterate it. You need to be involved in that conversation with IT and Ms. Ammons to make sure that the software is generating the information that we're requesting. and you don't have to pick the phone up to call Ms. Ammons or Ms. Ammons doesn't have to pick the phone up to call you. It goes right into software that is being shared with you all. Hopefully simultaneously, hopefully no one have to go and push a button. The other thing was you asked if someone was old enough to remember yellow pages. Yes, I am. Um, that was the business section of the telephone book and the white pages were residential. Yes. And, um, That is something that would be very helpful. But again, this is 2026. Those pages need to, in my opinion, electronically, they should not have to turn through a lot of pages trying to find a business. So hopefully with the software that is going to be discussed with IT and Ms. Amon, that can be incorporated that people don't have to sit down with a 500 page on yellow page book looking for a business.

Mr. Chair?

Yes.

And to that point, I mean, automated systems. I was just reminded that Amendment 3, even though we're cutting our budgets for the sake of possibly passing Amendment 3 on this ballot, it doesn't impact us our fiscal budget until next fiscal year so right now we need to implement as many processes as possible automated systems services address and plug any leaks that we have in the system and make sure we've brought enough staff to cover all of the roles necessary to generate more money for the city um processing the the the permitting making sure that we have everything automated for permits through the city small business to large business and make sure that we have that a white glove approach. I want us to be so lean that when it's time to actually cut our budget, if this ballot initiative does pass, that we've created enough systems through procurement, through finance, through development services that we're generating revenue and additional revenue because we've automated most of our process. But we have this year for preparation. So everybody's nervous and we're trying to cut budget, but it's not going to take effect till next year. So we have this last year to really make sure we automate as much as possible. and properly collect data and hire all the staff as necessary to get the job done officially.

Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mayor. Any further questions? Thank you, Mr. Sermon. Good job.

Excellent job.

Next department, please. And who bright idea was to add another at the USD tonight?

Tonight? It was mine, sir. And we can if we stop having all these long conversations, we could get right on through it. Thank you, Chair. Are you with me tonight?

I told y'all if it go past the certain time, I'm not.

Well, you got to stop talking so much in between. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Okay. I'm with that. I'm with that.

Okay. Mr. Public Works.

Good evening, Chair, Mayor, Council. Excuse me for my voice. I'm kind of losing it a little bit. I'm Bernard Baxenteta for the Public Works Department. We actually have about five departments to talk about. So in the interest of time, I'll jump to the main items.

Okay. Sounds good.

The first department will be, we call generally the public works, but that's primarily facilities and industries and grounds department. Those are the ones that we call public works. The 2027 goals that we have, these are primarily centered around what we believe is the council's priorities, which is enhancing quality of life for our residents. So we're centering our goals around cleanliness and safety. within our right of ways and our facilities. One of the initiatives we are taking on, we're currently doing a lot of inspection of our ADA accesses at the intersections when residents and our school kids are crossing the roads. So we're focusing around the schools and heavy public spaces to make sure that we're fixing the sidewalks and the ADA ramps when you're going through a community. We're also prioritizing neighborhood cleanups Currently, we are partnering with the Divine Nine groups, hoping to begin in October some monthly cleanup opportunities that they can participate in. We'll also definitely be working with the community groups such as the Park Manor and other communities. We want to engage the community much more in the city. Last and not the least, we also want to focus on our team members. So this upcoming year, we're planning to make sure that we're providing a lot of investment in our team in terms of their professional growth. We know some of them are looking for opportunities to grow like CDL and things like that. So we'll be making sure that we provide those opportunities for our team. For fiscal year 2027, We are requesting a total of almost $8 million as a slight increase from last year. And I believe most of it is primarily for wage increases from the union. This department will make up about 25 of the 39 staff that we have. So it's a majority of the team members that we have. The next item is our fleet. This department is an enterprise fund, similar to what IT does. These funds that are produced are provided by other departments to manage the fleet throughout the city. We just have one team member, you know, and that is personnel. Most of it is just operational for maintenance and then for leasing of a vehicle. In terms of our goals, we're continuing to transition to the city's fleet to electric. Currently, this current year, we purchased five electric vehicles, full electric vehicles into the fleet. We'll continue to review to determine departments that could best use such vehicles so that we can increase the number of electric vehicles throughout the city. Other things that we'll be doing and have done this year, we're going through used equipment and vehicles. As of this year, we've auctioned about 100 surplus items to get them out of the yard because they're no longer being used, underused, so that we'll make sure that we are being cost effective in terms of the city's operations, just to help reduce waste in the city's operations. THERE ARE NO MODIFICATIONS. WE ARE NOT PERFORMING ANY CAPITAL PROJECTS. A TOTAL FOR THE YEAR IS ABOUT $2.3 MILLION FOR THE FLEET SERVICES. MR. CHAIR.

MAYOR MASSADOR.

I'm going to say a big shout out to Bishop Thomas Masters.

I love you, my brother.

I'm going to continue with this. While we're talking about the EV process, you said that you were converting all of our vehicles to EV?

We have five. We procured five this year, five EV vehicles.

Converting our vehicles, all of them to EV?

No, just the ones that you use them. So obviously, we're not going to give you to stop that. So for example, we talked to the... Um, building of official building inspectors. We're also being cognizant of their overall use. So let's say in case of an emergency, there's a hurricane, that's the team that goes out to inspect facilities. So we're trying to see the ones that could use them maybe as an office team, office staff that could use EV vehicles and not everybody not able to utilize them. So we're performing those analysis to determine which staff, which offices could best use such vehicles.

Okay. I definitely want to, As we look into that upgrade, I want to make sure that we're upgrading facilities, especially charging stations as well and access to actually charging up these vehicles there and throughout the city. I did have some questions about the maintenance plan, but I'll wait to get to the rest of the presentation. But I did want to address the EV since I did hear it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.

The next item is a solid waste collection. One of the challenges we face and continue to face is illegal dumping. So we're continuing to enhance our effort towards cleaning up the city. Chief Coman and his team have been gracious enough to work with us. We're currently piloting a couple of locations where there was heavy illegal dumping. So we cleaned the place up. We erected some solar lights. And then the chief is putting several cameras to date. We continue to monitor it and the place has stayed clean. So we're partnering with PD and CODE and we're coming up with such initiatives to help clean up the city. Last year, we collected about over 5,000 cubic yards of illegal dumped items throughout the city. So we'll continue to educate folks and we believe that that would help reduce those incidents. One of the initiatives that we're thinking about working together with Mr. Simmons' team is to have some form of like a welcome package because we realize that some of our residents, when they move into the city, they are not aware of some of the rules and the guidelines that we have. So we're going to work with them to have somebody sign up for, say, a utility account. They can be given a package that identifies some of these things that we kind of implement throughout the city. THERE ARE NO MODIFICATIONS, NO PROJECTS. THE TOTAL BUDGET IS ABOUT $7 MILLION.

CHAIR? YES, VICE CHAIR.

I GUESS YOU'RE GETTING READY TO GO INTO THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROJECTS RIGHT NOW. THAT'S WHERE I'M HEADED. AS YOU KNOW, THE CITY IS RESPONSIBLE TO DREDGE THE CANALS, TO KEEP THOSE CANALS DREDGED. THEY'RE OWNED BY THE CITY AND IT'S OUR RESPONSIBILITY Do you have any money in your budget? I know that the police department has been working with your department in determining areas. It doesn't look like we need major dredging, but there are areas where you don't have the depth for most of the boats, some of the boats that are going through there. Do you have that in the budget?

No. Currently, there's no funding set aside for dredging. Regarding the finger canals, we've talked to the chief and his team. We actually had a consultant conduct a quick study to determine how the process can be established. What they also looked into was the ownership of the canals and the properties adjacent. We forwarded the document to a legal team. We're doing some research and the intent is to bring you some report on what we found. We identified certain documents that we wanted a legal team to review and advise us on the city's role or ability to perform some of the things in some of the areas.

Director, I've been told by our legal counsel that it is our responsibility and that we do own the canals. This is essential for the people that live there. Many of these people pay $200,000, $300,000 a year in taxes to keep their boat there. If they can't take their boat and bring it out, then they're going to sell their homes or their homes are going to go down in value. They can ask for tax certioraries and they'll probably get them. It's very important that we provide this service. to these people. This is the reason they're living here. We have that responsibility. This is not maybe we'll do it or maybe we won't do it. We'll get sued if we don't do it. We have a responsibility to do this. So I suggest that you start going through the budget and figure out where we're going to get some money and get some guesstimates on the dredging. Like I said, it doesn't look like we need major dredging like they did over in Palm Beach Shores, but clearly we need to do some dredging IN OUR CANALS. I'VE RECEIVED NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS FROM THE CIVIC ASSOCIATIONS ON A REGULAR BASIS. YOU KNOW THAT BECAUSE I'VE BEEN WORKING WITH YOU ON THIS SINCE THE DAY YOU GOT HERE. SO THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO THE PEOPLE IN RIVERA BEACH THAT HAVE BOATS, THAT THEY HAVE THE ABILITY TO USE THOSE BOATS. NOW, MY SECOND QUESTION IS CROSSWALKS. YOU HAVE MONEY IN THE BUDGET TO HANDLE CROSSWALKS THROUGHOUT THE CITY BECAUSE THERE ARE A LOT OF DANGEROUS crosswalk areas or areas that need crosswalks. Do we have any money in the budget for that?

There's some money in the sidewalk enhancement project. So that's the funding we're utilizing to improve the intersections. But when you say crosswalks, you mean like mid-block crossings?

Well, some of them are mid-block. So, you know, we know where the people are. Certainly we can see where the people cross, you don't have to do a major study. What you have to do is use your eyes and you can see where the people are crossing. I know that the state and the county just are doing a job right now on Broadway, of course, to stop cars from coming across because they were able to see where those cars were coming and where the accidents were. But yes, we have to look, I think, at the entire city because people are going to get killed. And so I think we have to start being proactive and getting some crosswalks throughout the city. The same way you're doing pavement markings, we have to do actual crosswalks. They have to be lit crosswalks, push button crosswalks. You have to make it safer for people to get across the street throughout the city. Then my third question, of course, is the sand, which I know we've been working on. I know you've submitted the application. You had Baird Engineering submitted the application for the permit. We certainly have to start that project And that's sort of an emergency, as you know, on Singer Island right now, sometime in November. I know we have a million dollars as per contract with the county that we had the budget for this year. And of course, we have to do the same for next year. But we're going to need more money just in case the county balks like they did this time. We'll continue working with the county and hopefully they'll step up to the plate, but if they don't, this is something we have to do as an emergency. So I think you should be looking into the disaster budget for the county, for the city. I guess you can work with Director Sherman's on that and see what the process would be to be able to tap into that to get that project done. Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair.

Yes, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

No, it's City Attorney Don Nguyen.

Sorry about that. I forgot you were even on. Yes, Ms. Attorney.

Something that Dr. Spirida said that I want to clarify. We did not, my office did not make a determination yet as to who owns that property that you were talking about with the dredging issue. We haven't made that determination yet. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear.

Chair?

Yes.

Yeah, I thought that it was determined that the city owns the cows.

I have not heard that. The last that we discussed, I made the suggestion that the staff get with the property appraiser's office so that we could try to determine who owned it. Because my understanding was that there weren't funds to be able to hire, for instance, a surveyor or something, someone to find out who owns it. So the staff was still working on that. It's the last that I heard about it.

So maybe it was engineer Bailey who told me that the city owns it. Is engineer Bailey here?

He and I were working together and he has not relayed that to me.

Well, he's here. Let's hear from him.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

You're welcome.

TERRANCE BAILEY, CITY ENGINEER. AND AGAIN, WE'VE BEEN WORKING AS A TEAM. AS MS. WYNN SAID, WE'RE TRYING TO WORK WITH THE PROPERTY APPRAISER. THEY'RE IN A TRANSITION RIGHT NOW. SO WE WOULD ASK FOR A LITTLE BIT OF TIME AS THEY RECOUP OVER THERE AT THE PROPERTY APPRAISER'S OFFICE AND KIND OF GET BACK ON THEIR FEET. AND WE WILL BE ABLE TO HOPEFULLY ANSWER THAT QUESTION FOR YOU VERY QUICKLY. NEW SPEAKER VERY QUICKLY MEANS WHAT? THIS YEAR? NO. VERY QUICKLY. WE'RE TRYING. AGAIN, IT'S A COMPLICATED SITUATION. I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

WE DON'T KNOW WHETHER THE CITY OWNS THAT PROPERTY OR DOESN'T OWN THAT PROPERTY IN ALL THESE YEARS. WE DON'T KNOW WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CANALS.

So from my real quick recollection, it was a 1950s or 60s plat that just created that area for the canals. It does not specify who has ownership or maintenance obligation. So with that ambiguity, because for whatever reason that far back, they didn't name the city, the homeowners association, it's going to take a lot of sort of legal wrangling and due diligence to determine who owns it and who has the obligation to do the maintenance on it. So that's where we need to approach the property appraiser to see other situations of similar circumstance and see what other communities are doing if their plots were created in a similar fashion. But we can give you a full report here in another week or so of where we are in the process of doing that due diligence.

That would be good. Thank you. Thank you.

Cheers.

Thank you, Mr. Bailey. Councilwoman Davis-Preneur.

Just a quick question. What department, along with public work, would decide or determine where crosswalks in the city would be? Because that doesn't seem like it's just a public work station.

It would be City Engineer Bailey. It would be working with him. He'll provide technical support, but then, yes, we will work with him.

OK, thank you. You don't have to come back. Thank you.

Mr. Chair.

Mayor Lawson.

Thank you.

So he's still in the presentation?

Have you finished your presentation?

No, I have stormwater left, but some of the items came out of stormwater, some of the items from the finger canals. Okay.

Mayor Lawson and then he'll finish his presentation.

Do we currently have a comprehensive facilities plan for the city facilities and city buildings? Because we're building all these pretty new buildings, but maintenance has been an issue and a topic of discussion for a number of years. And a lot of the buildings we had to demo were because we didn't properly maintain them. Do we have a full comprehensive plan now?

I would say yes. And what I mean yes is I just, you know, celebrated my one year anniversary. So one of the goals that I gave myself was to put one together. So yes, I do have a draft. I'm currently working with the city engineer, Bailey, because he has elements that come into the building. But yes, we have a draft that we are formulating and enriching. So some of the things that we've discussed is We're currently inventing all our AC units, and then we're developing a replacement plan for them. Currently, as we speak, for this year, we had all our roofs inspected. So I have a roof report for every building in the city. So we're determining what is wrong, we know what it would take to so we have we have that information we're just putting them all together we are uh taking information of electrical systems elevators uh backup generators so every system that maintains the building we're working on that we'll be we'll definitely have put in place a termite protection plan for every building as we speak we have we have a plan for them they've been treated we have an annual inspection of them so we have these things i have them in a report we have the but i'm trying to consolidate them and then we'll officialize them you know through this manager's office but yes we do have a document and what we'd want to see in the budget for every facility is that annual cost of preventive maintenance because we've struggled with that with these buildings so i have a list here hvac roofing

elevators, generators, technology, security systems, any major equipment. So every year we need that update because it seems like every year we always get an update to our budget to say we need to do new flooring we didn't account for, or we need to upgrade this and we didn't account for. We had leaks. So we want to make sure that we have that incorporated in an annual comprehensive maintenance plan so that we as a board every year can include this into our budget to see what it's going to be to maintain all the buildings. Because if we're building a life expectancy of a new building of 20, 30, 50 years, we want to make sure that we can meet that. And in 10 years, we're not trying to rebuild them and costing the taxpayers more dollars. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Loftin.

You can finish your presentation.

Yeah, so to run off the last but not the least, stormwater. We've done a lot of work and the team is working hard. We have close to eight miles of canals. And as we speak, the team has touched every segment of it. The goal is to ensure that we have capacity in our drainage system in case we get heavy rains. We can provide that relief to our residents. So that's something that the team is doing on a daily basis, cleaning the catch basins, And every time it rains and we're not able to perform other roles, what we do is we go out and inspect the drains and clean the top of the drain. So we actually do have a program to make sure that, you know, even though we don't have the most of the capacity of our drainage system, whatever we have is functioning properly. So that's the biggest goal to make sure that what we have functions properly was we look into, you know, making better what we have. So that is a goal for stormwater. And that's where we have some some challenges. You know, like Vice Chair Esperitos mentioned, that's where the funding will come for the dredging and all of that. Currently, all we have is just enough to keep the operations going. So to get into the bigger projects, there would be a need to look for other ways of funding the program. But as you can see, for this upcoming year, we're getting about $3.7 million. All the things that we requested, there's a canal that is failing on a C-17. We got some pipes that are failing. We currently don't even have the funding for those. So that's where the challenge is to get some funding for stormwater. Are there any further questions?

Yes.

YOU CAN GO AHEAD WITH HIM. I HAD IT WRITTEN DOWN.

RIGHTS CHAIR SPURTIVE.

SENATOR DIRECTOR, YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT STORM WATER. HOW ARE OUR STORM WATER FEES IN COMPARISON TO OTHER COMMUNITIES?

We're currently performing, conducting a study comparing all that to see where we are. Our rate is $9 for the ERUs. So we're looking at the cities that are around us that have similar sizes and functions. But that's something that we're conducting and working together with the MR. SHERMAN'S OFFICE AND THEN WE'RE LOOKING TOGETHER FOR SOME REPORTS THAT MIGHT END UP COMING BEFORE YOU TO CONSIDER SOME CHANGES TO THAT. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU.

NEW SPEAKER I WANT TO ASK A QUESTION, CHAIR.

NEW SPEAKER YES, COUNCILWOMAN LINDEAR.

NEW SPEAKER ABOUT YOUR SERVICE REQUEST BACKLOG. YOU SAID THAT YOU WERE GOING TO WORK ON THAT. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE NOW?

NEW SPEAKER SERVICE REQUEST.

Services, people call and say they need a speed bump in their road. People call and say, hey, this sidewalk is broken, that kind of thing.

What we do is we prioritize, obviously, when somebody calls in. make sure that at least we put what i call we put our eyes on what the issue is so that we can determine you know the kind of priority that goes to it uh this morning i i spoke with a gentleman from lone pine he called and he was complaining about his sidewalk was damaged and he was scared so i personally drove there to see because i thought it was something when i got there there were cracks so obviously we'll advise him that you know, our priority is something that's going to be of a tripping hazard. So we do respond to these things, but then we determine that based on the resources that we have, then we prioritize it as to when we get to it. But that's one way we approach it. We make sure that at least we put our eyes on it immediately and determine, you know, how we can prioritize addressing them.

I see that you have an ADA transitional, an ADA transition for for the city. Do you have a transitional plan that

includes you know sidewalks and other priority improvements no that's that's what i'm going to put together a document for now the goal is to utilize the funding that we have and be performing the work. So, but that would include what Dr. Spirit has mentioned, Vice-Chief Spirit has mentioned about the crosswalks. Then we can include those elements. For now, the focus is going to be at the intersections because we know that's where there's that interaction between vehicles and pedestrians. And then we can expand that to look at mid-block and other areas and like other features that we can include. But for now, we're focusing on just the intersections.

AND SO WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE ADA COMPLIANCE, YOU KNOW THAT I THINK THERE'S SCHOOL BOARD FUNDING FOR THOSE KIND OF COMPLIANCES NEAR SCHOOLS. SO I THINK THAT WOULD BE SOMETHING TO LOOK INTO. I'M NOT SURE, BUT I WOULD THINK THAT BECAUSE IT'S NEAR A SCHOOL OR, YOU KNOW, MAYBE YOU CAN REACH OUT TO THEM AS WELL. SO IS THERE SOME TYPE OF FORMAL ELECTRICATION PLAN? for taking the fleet from gas to electric?

no it's not formal like i mentioned what we do is we perform a utilization because because of the devices that we have in the vehicles we are able to assess and see so for example a vehicle is assigned to a particular person or department we can determine at the end of the year how many miles is it driven so that's that's we can perform that and determine that it might best serve that particular you know individual or department to utilize an electrical vehicle because of HOW MANY TIMES THEY STARTED OR USED OR DRIVEN. SO WE PERFORMED THAT, THOSE ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE WHO CAN BEST UTILIZE IT.

I KNOW THAT ELECTRIC PLAN IS MORE, THE COST IS MORE AT FRONT THAN IT IS ON THE BACK END. AND ABOUT YOUR ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, HOW DO YOU DO THAT? I KNOW THAT THE MAYOR TALKED ABOUT THE FACILITY MAINTENANCE PLAN, BUT WHAT ABOUT MAINTAINING ASSETS IN THE CITY? I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THERE'S A formal way in which you guys do that because there's a lot of equipment, furniture, everything in this city, but I don't know if there's a centralized location or plan to be able to track it.

No, we do not unfortunately have one. The talk of Thailand has come into play. So that's one of the areas we looked at to see do they have a module that might be able to help us in that regard. We attempted to get you know, a software that could help us with that. It always boils down to cost. So we decided to see if there's other ways that we'd be able to have that information.

Okay. So the capital project, capital improvement plan you have for traffic size and payment marketing enhancement, are these part of the larger prioritized five-year project?

CAPITAL I MADE THIS REQUEST SIMILAR TO WHAT THE VICE CHAIR MENTIONED TO HELP ENHANCE SOME OF THE CROSSWALKS BECAUSE WE DID SOME THIS YEAR. WE HAD ABOUT $25,000. WE HAD A SMALL CONTRACTOR COME IN AND REPAY.

SOMETIMES IT COULD SIMPLY BE THE I'M JUST SAYING IS IT PART OF THE OVERALL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN OR SOMETHING SEPARATE?

WE WERE ASKING FOR THIS SO WE HAVE OUR OWN SET OF SIDE FUNDING TO UTILIZE.

And then I have one more about. How do we talk about contract oversight? So what is the current performance of the solid waste contractor?

We meet with them regularly twice a month. Obviously there are challenges that come up. So when I say we're strengthening our oversight, so for example, currently I have a team member and sometimes I do it myself because they start operations at six. I have a team member that comes in at 5.30. So instead of us waiting for them to be out on the road and deal with issues, they have a team member that comes in. So he's right there with them, literally following them as they go through the process. And that is helping curb some of the concerns. So we get to somebody's house and they are right there and there's a dispute or there's an issue, we might be there with the resident and be able to address the issue. It doesn't extend into the day. So that's some of the approaches that we're taking to make sure that performance is getting better.

I think that I'm concerned more about performance metrics. How do you How do you measure that? You know, missed pickups, customer complaints. How do you monitor that for the city? People call about, you know, their trash pile was not that big, but they got fined for it. How do you keep up with those type of complaints from that contractor?

So when we get the calls in, we have a gentleman that fills the calls. We do have a tracking sheet. So we have a... I can provide the data. We have a monthly log, annual log of all the missed calls. We have that because usually we send it to them and they're supposed to address it and provide us a response. So we do have logs of all those calls.

And the last question in regards to your, I saw that you talked about workforce development and how you're going to promote development of Protecting employee health and safety while invested in professional growth. What training and programs do you currently have for your staff?

Currently, one of the core trainings we do is MOT because we know they're out on the road. So we ensure that everybody...

I understand that. What you said?

I'm saying that the core training we give them is the maintenance of traffic because they work in the road. We make sure that everybody goes through that on an annual basis to refresh themselves on how to... set up when they are working in the road or around the road and things like that. For folks in stormwater, there are certifications and programs that they can attend. So we encourage them to go through that. We make sure that everybody on the team attends that training. I mentioned the CDL. That is something that, you know, provides them with ability to be able to operate equipment. So those are some of the trainings that we intend to offer to them.

And the apprenticeship program, do you have any of those?

We do not have an apprenticeship program, no.

All right, thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Okay, just a couple of things for me. I noticed that one of my colleagues spoke about the dredging costs. So you'll be bringing that back to us?

Yes, sir.

With the approximate costs? Somebody's taking notes, right? And what would have to be eliminated We understand that we got to balance the budget and something may have to go if we so decide to go that way. We used to have, I noticed when I came back elected again, that a lot of the vehicles, not necessarily in public works, but maybe they are in public works too, are not owned by us, the fleet. Are they leased now?

Yes, we are actually moving into the leasing, more of the leasing and less of what we own. So we are actually moving more into the leasing.

And what was the rationale behind that move? Do you know?

It was initiated before I got here. Some of it is maintenance related because then you don't need as many mechanics in the shop because the leasing program includes prepaid maintenance. So you have a leased vehicle, you need oil changes, you go to the dealership, it's prepaid and it's just serviced right there. So you don't need somebody in the shop waiting to do the maintenance. So it's one of the reasons. It also allows the city to be able to obviously have a newer vehicle without paying the cost upfront because you kind of spread it over three, four years.

Okay. And this is more toward Mr. Bailey. Where's Mr. Bailey? Sir, Mr. Bailey, I and. Vice chair spirit is served on the MPO Metropolitan Planning Organization Board. But you deal with a lot of transportation issues. And we as taxpayers contribute to the funding that they be given not to the various municipalities. I HAVE NOT SEEN RIVER BEACH IN ANY OF THE FUNDING CYCLES OF LATE. DO YOU KNOW WHY WE'RE NOT APPLYING FOR ANY OF THOSE FUNDS?

NEW SPEAKER ONE OF THE STRUGGLES WITH THE MPO FUNDING, BECAUSE IT GOES INTO THE DOT'S FIVE-YEAR TIP, IT'S A SEVEN-YEAR CYCLE. before you apply and then you see the implementation of your project. Most of our projects generally can't wait seven years. Seven years, it turns into most of the problem. Because if I bring a project, because we do need to come before the board requesting permission to apply, and I tell you you're not going to see this project for 10 to 12 years, Because again, seven years is when they start. Year nine or 10 is when they finish. So that has turned into something of a problem with the way their funding cycle goes. But I have been working, now that we actually have that infrastructure analysis complete where we did the worst first and you saw it in last year's budget, we have identified some of our worst roads. Most of the other issues are most of our major roads are either DOT or county, which is generally the higher volume, higher capacity roads that they like to fund. So we would need to partner with the county or the DOT to identify some of those roads. Keep in mind, the county and the DOT roads, for the most part, have been redone generally over the last 10 to 12 years and have a lot of useful life left on them.

Okay. This is not my first ride at the rodeo. I've served on the NPO before. A lot of the funding cycles are not that long. Some of them are. Not all of them. Even if they were, we need to be at the table in order to eat. We're not even at the table now. We're not even applying. That's the problem. I wouldn't care if it was 15 years down the road. We need to be in that funding cycle pipe. And whenever it drops, we're going to use it. I know that we can be competitive for some of those funds. And that's various funds. We were talking about humps and striping and all that. That's all, they do all of that. And we're not even competing. And Mr. ACM, I want that to change. I want us to be in every funding cycle.

Absolutely.

Applying for something moving forward. I don't want to sit down there and I don't see my city even in the cycle trying to get anything. Yes, sir. Um, but that is something that has been disturbing me because our taxpayers face some, for some of those cycles, um, rights, care, spirited, um, has been serving on that too. And, um, you know, we represent a wonderful city that pays taxes like everyone else does. And we want to compete for some of those funds.

Yes. AN EMAIL CAME IN TODAY FROM THE NPO REQUESTING A MEETING FROM THEIR LEADERSHIP TO THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE AND MYSELF AND THE PLANNING TEAM ARE COORDINATING GETTING THAT MEETING WHERE THE OPPORTUNITIES, THE FUNDING AND THE COORDINATION AT A HIGHER AND DEEPER LEVEL WILL OCCUR. SO YOU ARE ABOUT FOUR HOURS AHEAD OF THE NPO'S EMAIL THAT CAME IN TODAY FOR THAT VERY COORDINATION.

NEW SPEAKER OKAY. DID THEY HAVE TO REACH OUT TO US?

Well, I believe they're going around to everyone in general, but today, literally today at three or so, an email came in to start the coordination for their team and our team to come here and to have that very kind of conversation of all their opportunities and what they do to serve the community and how they can leverage their relationship with the DOT to facilitate the residents of Riviera Beach.

Sure.

OH, YES, VICE CHAIR SPRUDIC.

THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THIS UP, BECAUSE THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT I'VE BEEN DISCUSSING FOR THREE YEARS THAT I'VE BEEN SITTING HERE NOW WITH THE FORMER CITY MANAGER AND THE CURRENT CITY MANAGER. YES, WE SIT ON THAT BOARD, WHICH BASICALLY SPLITS UP ALL THE FEDERAL TRANSPORTATION MONIES, EVEN THE STATE MONIES THAT COME IN THE REGION. AND WE'VE BEEN APPROVING HUNDREDS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. WE SIT THERE AND WE VOTE YES FOR COMMUNITIES THAT ARE ONE-THIRD OUR SIZE GETTING ALL OF THIS MONEY. AND WE'RE NOT EVEN IN IT. AND AS YOU KNOW, YOU BROUGHT UP THE TIP, AND FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO DON'T KNOW WHAT A TIP IS, THAT'S A TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PLAN. THAT IS A FIVE-YEAR PLAN USUALLY. BUT IT DOES GET AMENDED EVERY YEAR. WE VOTE ON IT EVERY SINGLE YEAR. WE CAN MOVE PROJECTS AROUND. SO A PROJECT THAT IS READY TO GO, WE CAN LOBBY TO BRING THAT PROJECT INTO YEAR TWO OR YEAR ONE. depending on how quick we move. It's important for us. That's why I've been fighting very hard. And I hope this council recognizes this. This is why we need an intergovernmental affairs person. And we need to be able to hire engineering firms and social science firms for other programs. But for the TIP, for the MPO, clearly engineering firms that specialize in road improvements, resiliency projects. There's so much money for resiliency right now. We're not even applying for it. You've got to be in it to win it, and we're not in it. I suggest that we get started. We may not be here, but we have an obligation to the people down the road, whether it be five years, 10 years, 20 years. We have to start it because we have that obligation. We have a fiduciary responsibility to act on these projects and to guard the people's tax dollars. And that's what we're asking you to do. So please, let's participate. You know that we speak to, you know, Director Nielsen on a regular basis. And they are willing to help. The county is willing. The MPO board and their staff are willing to come here and help us on these projects. And I think that we have to really start taking advantage because we're losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair. And I definitely agree with everything you just said. OK, are there any other questions for Public Works? Have you completed your presentation? Yes, sir. If there's no further questions, we'll call the next one up, the next Department of Human Resources as they come. Let me remind my colleagues that when it was suggested to add USD, I said at 9 o'clock, I was going to start winding it up. And we may have to move some things to another day. And it looked like we may have to move some things to another day. So as HR comes up at about 8.42, after this discussion, I want to discuss where we're going to move the rest of these presentations to.

Good evening, Mayor Lawson. Ms. Jenkins. Chair Guyton, Brenda Jenkins, Human Resources Director, Stephen Gould, the Senior Human Resources Manager, will be presenting our budget.

Good evening, Chair, City, Manager, Mayor, everybody. For time purposes, if you like, I can just go ahead and skip to the second slide. You can. We can speed it up and just go over the numbers. 2027 goes reduce vacancies and improve recruitment. We want to modernize human resources operations, maintain a competitive compensation and benefits, improve customer service and department performance. We're going to present the numbers to you from the numbers standpoint. If you look over there, we were showing that we have to two point two eight million compared to two five five fiscal year 2026. That's showing that we're having a 267,000 in decrease. That's a 10.5 decrease this year for human resources. Some of the key movement.

You said 10.5, that's 10.5%?

10.5% decrease. Okay. How we were able to eliminate that, if you notice right there in our budget modifications, we had three positions which we modified, we downgraded, THE SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCES ADMINISTRATOR ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR AND THE HUMAN RESOURCES PARTNER, TOO. WE DOWNGRADED THEM TO SENIOR HUMAN RESOURCES GENERALIST, HUMAN RESOURCES GENERALIST AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT. REORGANIZING THOSE POSITIONS, DOWNGRADING THEM ALLOWED US TO SAVE ABOUT 10.5%. THERE ARE NO CAPITAL PROJECTS FOR 2027. AND IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, I'M HERE. MS. JENKINS IS TO MY SIDE.

One of the critical positions that exist in all public agencies is the risk management position. And that position gauges the type of risks that we're taking and the level of the risks. Do we have a position, one, in that capacity? And two, is it filled? And if it's not filled, when would it be filled? And that's about the fourth question. I'm going to let you answer the first three.

We do have a risk manager position. It is currently vacant. We have It has been advertised for months. I did put it into the Prima magazine, and we're actually interviewing someone from the state of Georgia who is retiring next month and would like to relocate to Florida. So we do have a prospective applicant for the risk manager position.

Okay. Do you think we should have more than one prospect in case one doesn't work out?

We're not getting the applicants for the position.

And I say that because I've had a couple of calls about it and they were indicating they have the insurance, but I don't know what is required. But there have been at least two people reached out to me who said they had the qualifications.

So that's that's part of the problem. They have an insurance claims experience, but then they don't have the other side of the experience that's needed for the risk manager position claims is only a small portion.

So on the other side of the house claims is just about 10% of the risk manager's job. The risk manager deals with workers compensation, you know, dealing with our injuries, reports, insurance, procuring insurance for the city right now. So there's a front-facing dealing with the employees. So most of the people who are applying for the position, they only have that background. And we've had a couple of applicants previously who they specialize in that, but they didn't specialize in the people aspect of it, or they weren't able to do the day-to-day side of it. They only specialize in the claims portions of it. There is... Mr.

Chair? yes who's who's speaking it's um city attorney dawn when um and mr goo don't forget we also have the litigation side of it and that's very important and it's an integral part of what we do as far as uh claims and in being involved in for instance in our mediations in our litigation cases um so we it's hard it has been difficult for hr to find someone who has pretty much all three of those um segments that we need here in the city.

Okay. Last question.

And I noticed tonight that everybody has asked all the questions they wanted without me rushing anybody. Have you seen that? I'm getting better.

My last question is, is risk management an industry that has an organization locally or nationally that you can tap into for prospects?

Yes, sir. Previously, we have applied through the RIMS. They have a risk management, like a certification. So when we do put the position out, we have applied for them. We pay the additional funds. And it's one other. It was two of them. It was RIMS. Prima rims and promo. Those are the, those are the two that we're, we, we paid the additional funds to, um, advertise the position.

What I would suggest is that we get a little more assertive. I know that we have, we up to the city, maybe, um, someone in Georgia that may be retiring and want to move to Florida. We putting the eggs all in one basket concerns me. I think that we need to have more prospects to choose from. I'm not a HR person. I'm just talking as a lay person, trying to think logically to have some options in case something doesn't come through with people you may have your eye on.

Sure.

Yes. Vice Chair Spirit, this is Dan Mayer Lawson.

Thank you. so uh my question was going to be about the risk manager so thank you for bringing it up uh i see it advertised all the time in our vacancy list it's been well over a year now maybe two years my question is can we privatize that can we hire a private company to act as our risk manager

I WOULDN'T SUGGEST PROGRAMMATIZING THE RISK MANAGER POSITION BECAUSE WHEN YOU DO THAT, YOU LOSE CONTROL OF WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THE CLAIMS AND THE SAFETY AND IT'S MORE THAT YOU HAVE THE SAFETY ASPECT OF THE RISK MANAGEMENT, YOU HAVE THE CLAIMS AND THEN YOU HAVE YOUR CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE THAT HAS TO BE VERIFIED FOR DIFFERENT VENDORS. SO I WOULDN'T PRIVATIZE THE RISK MANAGER POSITION. I DO HAVE A CONTRACT THAT I GOT BACK FROM LEGAL TO SHE'S A RISK MANAGER AT ANOTHER ENTITY THAT WILL START LOOKING AT SOME OF OUR WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE ACTUALLY REVIEWED BY A RISK MANAGER.

NEW SPEAKER, FOLLOW-UP. I'm not quite sure your reasons why we can't have a private company. Clearly, we hire private engineering firms to act as the owner's rep on $50, $60 million projects. And those have safety involved in it and pretty much everything that you brought up, the follow through and everything else. I think we ought to consider it, maybe look into it and see if any other municipalities have done that. BECAUSE CLEARLY WE'VE GONE NOWHERE FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS NOW.

THE POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED. IT HAS BEEN FILLED. IT HASN'T BEEN VACANT FOR TWO YEARS. IT HAS BEEN FILLED. THE PERSON LEFT? TWO PEOPLE HAVE LEFT.

TWO PEOPLE HAVE LEFT. SO THAT'S LIKE HAVING NOBODY THERE, REALLY. I just think that you should look into it and see if any other municipalities have done it and if they have, are they happy with it or not happy with it?

I can answer that for you. Municipalities our size have their own risk managers. You want to keep that in-house just to keep control over your claims. We already outsource to TPAs who are monitoring our claims and whatever else. But you do need a risk manager in-house to keep control of the money that is being spent on lawsuits. You have to respond to arbitrations. And if you have an in-house risk manager, they can look at accidents, incidents, whatever, and respond to these claims along with the city attorney's office.

I hear what you're saying. I respectfully disagree. I don't see why that can't be privatized and get the same service, maybe even a better service because you might have more people backing them up and a larger organization backing them up. But that's okay. You're entitled to your opinion. Thank you.

okay i think it was mary lawson um um the city attorney did you want to comment on this discussion that um vice chair spirited said or you just had some general comments if they're general comments i'm going there briefly i'm sorry just brief yes just briefly um from historical perspective before um miss jenkins returned to the city we did look at privatizing it dr spiritus and that uh it was determined by

CITY ADMINISTRATION THAT THE COST WAS PROHIBITIVE. WE LOOKED AT BRINGING IN THE SCARING GROUP EVEN JUST TEMPORARILY TO ASSIST US AND EVEN HAVING SOMEONE IN THE OFFICE TWO DAYS A WEEK WAS EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. SO WE DID LOOK INTO THAT AND I JUST WANTED TO SAY THAT.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. THAT'S IMPORTANT INFORMATION. NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU. NEW SPEAKER YOU'RE WELCOME.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU MR.

CHAIR. MS. JENKINS WHO'S CURRENTLY DOING THE WORK FOR RISK MANAGEMENT? Because that position has been vacant since about March, I think.

So, Mr. Gould, he held this part of it. My HR analyst, she handles the claims as they come in daily. And Solomon Burgess, our safety officer, he covers the outside. If we have an issue, if we have like an incident or an accident, he responds to the locations, take pictures, and see if it's on the city side and if we're liable for the claims.

Okay. And you were saying that it's difficult because some of the individuals for the risk management don't have all the scopes of work that we're looking for. Why don't we just bifurcate the job and separate the scopes of work to hire two separate positions?

My assistant director of human resources vacancy is assistant director of human resources. Position is vacant also. And that position will be over the risk management division. Some of the applicants in that vacancy have risk experience. So I'm hoping that if I get an assistant director in, with risk experience, that will cover if we ever have a vacancy again, that person could also cover as the risk manager as needed.

And that position is currently, I thought you were, you're eliminating, aren't you eliminating the assistant director?

No, that's assistant to director. That's an administrative position. Okay, got it.

Okay, so. I think that just the current staffing concerns with HR being the heartbeat behind the city, a lot of the discussion amongst all the departments all matriculates through HR. We have to fill all the staffing issues. Brother Good has been here for years doing a phenomenal job and welcome back. But I think our goal right now is to fill all the departments, especially with the staff that we have there now. We're essentially overworking the staff because they're doing everybody else's scope of work. and they're not being compensated to do everybody else's work. So whatever these staffers were hired for, we should be keeping them there and hiring additional staff. So if we have to bifurcate that position to hire somebody in a quicker fashion, I think we need to look at that. The other concern that I have is the duties that are currently being done over there. How many positions are currently vacant? I know that you said you have the assistant director. What else is currently vacant?

The risk manager.

Mm-hmm.

And the assistant director. Okay. The assistant human resources director position, that was only recently vacant July 1st because the current, the old assistant director was out on family medical leave, and we had to wait for his leave to expire to even advertise the position. The assistant to director position, that employee was terminated, and instead of filling that position, I knew I was going to downgrade the position, so I waited to wait until the new budget year. That position is being held by a temporary employee right now who is filling all our public records requests and doing the administrative work that that employee was doing. In the other position, the senior program administrative position, I looked at that position. I didn't see a great need to the department for that position. So that's why I eliminated the position because that person was mostly doing the administration of NeoGov and some compensation. H.I. ADMINISTRATOR FOR EMPLOYEE RELATIONS, SHE IS ADMINISTRATOR FOR NEOGOV, SO I JUST DIDN'T SEE A NEED FOR THAT POSITION. I SAW A NEED THAT WE NEEDED FOR RECRUITMENT. SO THAT'S WHY I ELIMINATED THAT POSITION TO GET A SENIOR GENEROUS POSITION THAT CAN DO RECRUITMENT, CAN DO COMPENSATION, AND CAN HELP OUT IN BENEFITS. That's the reason those positions haven't been still waiting for the new budget year.

Okay. So we're going to replace them with these new positions that you saw more of a need in certain departments. So what I really wanted to look at also is hiring and training from within, seeing if we have any staff that's available inside the department or inside the city that we could hire and bring in, properly train and elevate them. Because I think that would give us an opportunity to keep staff, keep people from within the city, elevate and train them up, and prepare them. So any of those options, I like to change it based upon your explanation. So thank you for that. And if we can quickly fill that, because like I said, you are the heartbeat. So every department has to come through HR with any concerns or grievances. So I want to be able to address every single one of those concerns with a strong HR department. You have a strong staff now. So it's elevating the ones that you have there and bringing in additional staff to support you.

Right. So one thing for sure, Ed, with training, So because we recently hired a benefits administrator, Mr. Good is going to be taking over training for the department because we lack in training of our employees greatly. We have not been in compliance with training. So Mr. Good has taken over. He's going to get training. And one of the things we learned with Gallagher, they offer a lot of free training to us where employees can actually go online and do training and get certificates. The only downfall to that is you have to have an email address in order to log on to the training. And all city employees do not have an email address. So I'm going to wait.

I'm sorry not to interrupt you. All city employees don't have emails?

No, sir. The employees out in the field, they do not have email addresses. So the workaround

Wait, wait, wait, slow down, not to interrupt you. Is there a reason why they don't, but working out in the field doesn't mean they're not an employee and can occasionally check. I'm not understanding that.

That question I can't answer, but like with our employee self-service module, the employees have a login and a password. So I was going to get with IT to see if they can use a login and a password

in order to get into the training system okay and we can take advantage of that okay i agree with you every employee that works for us should have an email address acm i don't know where the city manager is who so i keep my street come on come to the mic and chair if we can circle back i just want to finish up my two Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that. No, you're good. Go ahead. Yes, Mr. Sheehan.

Good evening, again. Ben Sheehan, Interim IT Director. We do allocate a mailbox for every employee in the city. The problem as Jenkins may be alluding to is those workers that are out in the field typically cannot keep up with requirements such as changing their password every 90 days. So functionally, while they have an email address assigned to them, when they try to use it once a year or something for an occasional HR function or whatever it is, they're unable to access that mailbox without a significant number of employee intervention to get them back up and running. So they do have it, but it's because of their assignment.

They need to be required to come out of the field and do what they need to do to maintain the email address. I'm not understanding. No employee not having it because they don't come, you know, when they're hired, they need to be told you need to maintain this and you be in here every 90 days if you're out in the field to make sure that this stays active. I'm not. That's our means of communications in 2026 electronically. I know we have phones and they may be, they can check it on their phone. Log into their phone and update their address. There's no excuse for that. And that's because we haven't directed them to do that. So I'm suggesting that we need to direct them to maintain an active email address if you're hired

We can certainly implement that, work with the manager's office to get that directive pushed out.

Okay. Mayor Lawson.

Thank you, Chair. I'm sorry. Can I ask a question regarding what we're just talking about?

Regarding what we were just talking about, the email address?

Yeah.

Do you mind?

Yeah, of course.

Go ahead, Councilwoman Miller-Anderson.

The people that you're talking about that are out in the field, do they have laptops?

No, they do not have laptops.

What's an example of a person in the field? I'm just trying to understand. What person?

Maintenance workers in parks and recreation, maintenance workers in public works,

So they don't come into the office in the morning and check and leave out. There's no computers around where they can check their emails. Because as Cher is saying, I mean, there's no reason why they shouldn't be checking their emails.

We've got to do better than this.

Yeah, that doesn't make any sense. And that's something we probably need to talk to the city manager about.

Yes, they need to have a general place with computers.

Mr. Shin is saying that he can set up laptops. FOR THOSE EMPLOYEES THAT THEY HAVE ACCESS TO BE ABLE TO COME IN AND LOG INTO THE SYSTEM AS NEEDED.

NEW SPEAKER Absolutely.

NEW SPEAKER WHEN WE DO NEW HIGH ORIENTATION, THAT WILL BE PART OF THE NEW HIGH ORIENTATION TO EXPLAIN TO THE EMPLOYEES THAT THEY HAVE AN E-MAIL ADDRESS. SO WE WOULD GIVE IT TO THEM AT ORIENTATION they can log in and change their passwords, and then they'll be instructed on the different locations throughout the city where they can go in and log in. I'm not sure about the USD employees that work out in the field.

We'll deal with that separately.

If they have access.

Yeah.

Well, just to be clear, this does have to go through the city manager and he will give that directive once the board talks with him. Yes, ma'am. So I appreciate everything you all were saying, but we can't tell you all you need to do that.

We understand that. We went through the ACM to get to the manager. Thank you.

Thank you. We were talking about before we went off to the other employees, Mr. Good, the additional work or the role that he's been taking on for training. What is that position? What is that entitled? Has the title been updated? Has the salary been compensated for?

So he's losing some of his duties. When we had the benefits administrator, those duties are no longer, he's no longer responsible for those duties. The new benefits administrator will be handling all of that once she becomes fully knowledgeable of the way that the city does benefits because she has over 12 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION. SO BENEFITS WILL NO LONGER BE MR. GU'S RESPONSIBILITIES. TRAINING IS GOING TO BE HIS RESPONSIBILITIES, AND THEN HE'LL BE OVERSEEING EMPLOYEE RELATIONS.

DO YOU HAVE A POLICY WHEN AN EMPLOYEE HAS TO ABSORB THE SCOPE OF WORK OR THE WORK FOR OTHER DEPARTMENTS THAT ARE MISSING? IN REGARDS TO COMPENSATION AND SALARY INCREASES? BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE MISSING A LOT OF POSITIONS IN YOUR DEPARTMENT RIGHT NOW, AND EVERYBODY IS KIND OF FILLING IN THE GAP FOR YOU. WHAT IS THAT COMPENSATION, WHAT DOES THAT POLICY LOOK LIKE?

NEW SPEAKER A TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE JUST COMPLETED TODAY AN EMAIL TO ME, COMPENSATION POLICY.

NEW SPEAKER THE TEMPORARY EMPLOYEE? NEW SPEAKER YES.

NEW SPEAKER SHE JUST EMAILED ME THE COMPENSATION POLICY. THAT WAS DRAFTED, I WOULD GET WITH THE POLICY COMMITTEE OF THE CITY SO WE CAN GO THROUGH THE POLICY. IN ADDITION TO THE COMPENSATION POLICY, WE ALREADY HAD A PAID ADDITIVE POLICY, WHICH HAD A LOT OF GREAT AREAS. SO THAT'S WHY THE COMPENSATION POLICY HAD TO BE CREATED. SO IF AN EMPLOYEE WAS DOING ADDITIONAL DUTIES, THE COMPENSATION POLICY IS ADDRESSING THAT.

So I really want to make sure that we've allocated enough dollars and funds in your budget to address the pitfalls in your staff. Make sure that the policies are reflective on some of these additional roles and compensations, because what's happening is our employees are being overworked. When somebody leaves a department or a position is vacant, now we're just picking up the additional role, and then I'm not sure if we're fairly compensating them for the time and the effort they're putting into it. Even when we bring somebody else in, as Mr. Goode, as you just said to Mr. Goode, you're bringing somebody else who's going to offset the work, but he's been doing the work. So was he properly compensated and did we account for that in regards to any additional compensation or money that's supposed to be going to him? I'm not sure. It's more of a question just to prepare because all week today, is prepare your staff. You've already assigned your roles. Make sure that we get that done and then bring back that policy for us so we can see what that looks like for additional compensation when other roles are vacant across the city. And then if there's any departments that are missing that we need to also fill. Because I think that that risk manager, if we split those two roles, we might be able to hire somebody a quicker fashion instead of expecting them to have every single degree or certification that you're looking for in one person. Because we're waiting on the gentleman to come from, I think you said Georgia, But if that doesn't pan out, I want us to be prepared because this position has been vacant for seven months, now six months. So I need us to have that filled. And it was also, we've been missing that position. So I want every department to fill every position as quickly as possible. There are people looking for jobs now. So if the requirements need to be tweaked, changed, or adjusted for us to get the position filled, let's make this that year to do that in every department across the city. Thank you, DeRay.

Vice Chair Spiridon.

I THINK I HEARD YOU SAY BEFORE THAT YOU WERE LOOKING INTO PASSWORDS AND WERE YOU STATING THAT YOU WANTED TO SEE THE EMPLOYEES USE THEIR PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS AND WITH A PASSWORD?

NO. FOR EMPLOYEE SELF-SERVICE SYSTEM, ALL EMPLOYEES ARE ASSIGNED A LOGIN AND A PASSWORD. YOU'RE NOT USING YOUR CITY EMAIL ADDRESS. login that you have plus a password. No, I was not suggesting they use their personal email.

Just on a personal note, Mr. Good, thank you for coming back to the city and serving us. We appreciate that. Thank you.

Okay. Any further questions or comments to HR?

Yeah, I'd like to get a copy of an org chart that lists all current positions and then the ones that are not filled.

And I have a question. You mentioned something about a policy committee. Who comprises that committee?

I'm not sure of everyone that's on the city policy committee. I know Ms. Reynolds, the Assistant Director of Finance, is on the committee. I believe Dr. Starling is part of the committee. I don't know all members of that committee.

I'd like to get a list of the members. I didn't know that we had a policy committee and what their responsibility is. OK. OK. All right. Any further and if any of the other colleagues want that, just send it to all of the elected officials, please. OK. And Mayor. One more question, Mr.

Chair. The public relations discipline, who's handling any of that now in the department?

Discipline?

Discipline, more so relations, relations in the city. Employee relations.

Jasmine Holland.

Okay. So Jasmine's handling employee relations. Yes. What's her position?

She's an HR administrator.

And is that in her scope of work?

Yes.

Okay.

Perfect. Thank you. Okay. Any further questions? Hearing none, we need to identify a... Can we come in? We need to identify another day to complete the one that we didn't complete tonight. We can't do it tomorrow, I don't think. We've canceled that one and we will have to probably re-advertise. and let the public know when we are going to complete this meeting.

Chair? Yes. Are we able to extend the meeting until Wednesday when the utility district meets and start at 5.30 and see how much we can get done?

That would be a legal question, I think, or a city clerk advertisement question.

Well, Chair. Chair.

Yes.

Remember, we... cancel the one for tomorrow, and we were adding part of that on tonight and on Wednesday already. We already had that discussion last week to do that.

I think the one for tomorrow was canceled. The public was notified it was canceled, if I'm not mistaken.

I know, that's right, because I said we split it up between tonight and Wednesday, so Wednesday is already covered for us to be able to continue it. But the question is, for me, is DID WE ADVERTISE TO ONLY GO UNTIL 9 O'CLOCK? BECAUSE DURING MEETINGS, YOU KNOW, IF WE HAVE BUSINESS THAT WE WANT TO FINISH, WE JUST EXTEND THE MEETING, LIKE WE WERE THERE UNTIL 11 PM THE OTHER NIGHT. SO MY QUESTION IS, IS EVERYONE SAYING THEY ARE READY TO STOP? BECAUSE, I MEAN, HOW MANY DAYS OF MEETINGS ARE WE GOING TO WANT TO DO HERE?

WE'RE GOING TO DO IT AS MUCH AS NECESSARY. so that we don't burn out. Wait, wait, you ask me a question. Let me finish. I think we should do it as much as necessary so we don't burn out our employees and ourselves doing something that we can do on another day. If we were facing the deadline right up back to back, I would agree to that. But when I came in, I was told that they would stay into meetings to 11, 12, sometime 1 o'clock in the morning. That's unacceptable. I'm not doing that at the chair. I'm not doing that to me.

I mean, we're not asking to do that either, but, I mean, if we need to get something done, we just need to get it done.

And we're going to get it done in a reasonable amount of time. I'm not staying tonight.

Okay, but you're just one person, so is the whole group saying they don't want to stay and continue? I think that needs to, I know you say that a lot. You don't want to stay, but it's a team decision.

Okay, my colleagues are down here saying it's a no for them. Why let them say it themselves? You all talk for yourself.

What's the next day option?

What's the next day option? I think Ms. Lanier said a no. Vice Chair Spiridon said that we need to find another day to finish. Okay, hope you got your answer, Councilwoman. Miller Anderson. Oh, that's fine.

I just want to hear from everybody else because no one else ever felt that way until you came and then you started telling them what time they were going to get up.

No, I didn't. I didn't tell anybody. Okay, anyway. What other dates do we have?