City Commission - Regular Meeting

Not a library. September 8th, 2026. If you would please call the roll.

Mayor Ryan.

Present.

Deputy Mayor Guzman. Here. Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark. Here. Commissioner Kirch. Here. Commissioner Scudo. City Manager Mark Lubelski. Present. City Attorney Thomas Moss. Present. Administrative Services Manager Lourdes Lawrence. Present. Deputy City Clerk Lena Zapata. Present.

Good afternoon. This meeting has been noticed both as an in-person meeting and a virtual meeting. The public may attend in person or participate in the meeting by calling 954-395-2401 and entering the code 368262. Procedures for public participation will be explained in a moment. Information for each item on the agenda has been and is currently available at City Hall and online 24 hours a day at www.sunrisefl.gov. Anyone interested is also invited to call 954-746-3430 for additional information. The city has provided various options for members of the public to address to the commission. Prior to the start of the meeting, we asked if anyone wished to speak on any matters before us. We've maintained that list and will call upon any speakers at the appropriate time. I'll also open up for public comment at appropriate time and ask anyone in person or by phone wish to speak. For those participating by phone, you may press five star on your phone to request to be heard. I'll attempt to take the comments in the order that they're requested by the five star feature, but please be assured all comments will be included as part of the public record for this meeting and will be considered prior to any action taken. When addressing us, please state your name, address, and what you're here to speak about. I'd ask that everybody on the call please mute your phones until you wish to speak. If you're experiencing technical difficulties, you may call 954-578-4792 at any time. Our staff is available to assist you. As we do before each meeting, we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, but as part of that, it's also an opportunity for a moment of individual and collective silence. It's an opportunity for us as a community perhaps to reflect on those in our own lives who are going through challenges and can't be here with us. Perhaps those that are unable to be with us and those that can no longer be with us because they have passed. It's an opportunity for us to reflect on the grace that we have to be here. And we as a commission at each meeting take a moment to make sure we remind everyone. It's also an opportunity to thank in our own way, those that are serving our country all over the world, those in ready support and those in harm's way. We know at this time where the world is as volatile as it is, that line of demarcation between harm's way and ready support has changed dramatically. It's also an opportunity for us as we approach the 25th, 25th year since 9-11. For those of us, many of us, we remember those moments of discovery, the cataclysmic horror that we saw of those who periled 2,977 in D.C. and Pennsylvania and at the towers. We remember the heroic nature of those first responders who rushed upwards even as the towers were burning. We remember that since that date, so many more have died because of their response to the pile. Live with the consequences of those to this day. Remember that there are those who changed and altered their lives to serve our nation. Seek out and pursue justice to prevent harm on our shores again. We sacrificed all. some in limb and life, and many with unseen scars that they carry to this day, all in response to that morning in September 2001. And as we approach this 25th year, we recognize that there's a whole generation that's grown up that doesn't understand what we saw or what consumed us. There's a generation that heard in the house how their parents were struggling with what they saw, even if they were not tethered directly to Pennsylvania, DC, or New York, but they couldn't fully appreciate it. There are those who are teaching history now who didn't watch that morning. And there are those who joined the fight for justice, whether it was with our first responders or our military. who were not born on that day. And so we as a community realize that we must continue in our commitment to say we will never forget. It was a national tragedy, it was an international tragedy, it was a world tragedy. So many from different countries of all faiths who periled that day and since. So I hope in the moments that we have, as we reflect upon the grace maybe even some of the celebrations we'll have in here tonight, the opportunity to have public discussions on things that are important, that we also remember that we as a nation stood together in those moments afterwards, no red and blue, not divided by faith, but an understanding that there was just love and compassion and empathy for our heroes and those stolen from us. I hope you'll join us in a moment of silence before the Pledge of Allegiance. All right. We have some wonderful celebrations before we get to most of the city business. Before we do that, I have the consent agenda for A through O. Motion by Commissioner Kirk, seconded by Commissioner Scudo. Any polls from my colleagues? Any polls from staff?

No polls, Mayor.

Anybody in the public wish to have any item on the consent agenda removed and handled as a full public hearing? If so, please raise your hand or press five star on your phone. I see no hands raised. Can you confirm?

I confirm no hands are raised.

All right. Go ahead and call the question on 4A through 0.

Commissioner Kirch?

Yes.

Commissioner Scudo?

Yes.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark? Yes. Deputy Mayor Guzman? Yes. Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Those items pass 5-0. We have the quasi-judicial consent agenda 5A and B. Can I have a motion on the consent agenda? Motion by Commissioner Scudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. Any affected parties? Mr. Lebowski, 4, 5A or B?

No affected parties, Mayor.

Okay. Is the applicant here and represented? Do you waive full quasi-judicial hearing in this matter? Thank you. Can you state your name for us? Sarah Thompson. Sarah, nice to see you. Do any of my colleagues wish to have this item polled for any questions or a full hearing? Hearing none, go ahead and call the consent agenda 5A and B.

Deputy Mayor Guzman? Yes. Commissioner Kirch? Yes. Commissioner Scudo? Yes. Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark? Yes. Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Those items pass 5-0. Good luck and look forward to that getting open. We have 13A and B, which is just purely a first reading, and I think we'll talk about this perhaps at another occasion, but to maybe move this up since it's not going to be handled as a quasi-judicial. Move it. Motion by Commissioner Kirch, seconded by Commissioner Scudo. All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right, we're going to move up 13A and B, the first reading of 13A. This is the first reading of an ordinance to rezone property. The title of the ordinance is an ordinance of the City of Sunrise, Florida, approving rezoning from Community Business District B2 and General Business District B3 to Planned Development District, PDD, of approximately 20 acres of land generally located at the southwest corner of North University Drive and the West Oakland Park Boulevard within the City of Sunrise, Broward County, Florida, amending the zoning district map to reflect the rezoning, approving 270 multifamily residential units for the proposed project, and approving the form of a declaration of restricted covenants for affordable housing, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. There's no motion on this. This is an ordinance that is scheduled for public hearing on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2026, beginning at 5 p.m. On that date and time, the City Commission will conduct a full quasi-judicial public hearing. Members of the public are welcome to attend the public hearing, provide comments to the City Commission, regarding the proposed rezoning before the Commission makes a decision. Is anyone here on 13A? Okay. All right. Any objections to how I handled that? No, sir. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Sarah. 13B, this is a first reading of an ordinance to rezone property. The title of the ordinance is?

Let me just make sure I got that one right.

In order to the City of Sunrise approving the rezoning from General Business District B3 to planned unit development public district of approximately 9.65 acres of land generally located south of the West Oakland Park Boulevard between Northwest 64th Avenue and Northwest 68th Avenue within the City of Sunrise, Broward County, Florida. Amending the zoning district map to reflect the rezoning allocating for up to 33 flexibility units for the proposed project. Approving 229 multifamily residential units for the proposed project. Approving development program standards approving the form of the Declaration of Restrictive Covenants for affordable housing, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing an effective date. This ordinance is also scheduled for a public hearing on Tuesday, September 23, 2026 at 5 p.m. On that date and time, the City Commission will conduct a quasi-judicial public hearing. Members of the public are welcome to attend the public hearing and provide comments to the City Commission regarding the proposed rezoning before the Commission makes a decision. Is anyone here on 13B? Can you give us your name? Okay. Matthew, any objections to how that was handled? All right. And we'll see you on September 23rd. Uh, thank you. Just so everyone knows that's the procedure that we go through on rezoning property. We make sure that the public is fully informed.

Mayor, I'm sorry to chime in. I just want to clarify. It's a Wednesday, the 23rd, not Tuesday. Sorry.

Wednesday, 23rd, 23rd is a Wednesday. Everybody good. Yep. Okay. Um, This is a procedure that we do to make sure the public is fully aware, not only by the advertising that goes out for the property, but to make sure that there is a first announcement of the proposed ordinance that gives folks enough time to organize and be here to have full input within our process. So I thank my colleagues on the commission for this process. I thank Tom and Mark for working on this and the staff. Okay, we're ready. Ready for some celebrations. Deputy Mayor, the floor is yours.

Presentation of Teacher of the Month Award for September 2026 to Ramelon Keronigan from Bear Middle School and Christina Ingraham-Looley from West Pine Middle School. Kevin Picard, Director of Leisure Services.

All right. So what we're here to do tonight is celebrate teachers. For the last 16 years, the City of Sunrise, every month, recognizes a teacher of the month. And you're going to see in a little while, we recognize our hero police officers and firefighters and our employees who work so hard to make our city run well, to protect us, and to provide the customer service we expect. And we also recognize, however, that while we don't control anything in the schools, and I've said it many times, if you're complaining about the car loop, we have nothing to do with it. There's nothing we can do about it. We try. But we also recognize as a commission and as a city, how important teachers are in the classroom. We know that the success of a school starts with somebody in a classroom who's inspired, but is also inspiring. And we've all can look back, I'm sure, look back on a teacher who made a difference in our lives. And it can be anything from the arts to inspiring us in science and technology, or just giving us a sense that we have a voice that we can express. And it starts with a teacher who cares. And we know as a community, while we don't control the schools, that we value those teachers so much that we take the time every month to recognize a teacher of the month. And you're going to hear about some exceptional teachers tonight who are obviously in their own right so special to us, but they really represent that continuum of that for generations has made a difference in our schools, has made a difference in our own lives and our children's lives and have the impact for the next generation. So tonight you're gonna hear about two great teachers. And if you're not from Sunrise, go back to your city and ask why the heck they don't celebrate teachers like we do. Anyway, I'll turn it over now to Kevin.

Thanks, Mayor Ryan. All right. Good afternoon. Kevin Picard, director of leisure services, joined by with Maria Little, our deputy director of leisure services. And I simply get the honor of introducing you to our outstanding teachers of the month. I'm going to ask to come forward since you guys are the stars here. So come join me up front. Thank you. And so I'm going to I'm going to read the comments submitted by your principals and your schools and then principals are giving you fair warning. I'm going to pass the mic to you in a second here. Okay, Bexar Middle School proudly nominates Ms. Romalyn Karinongan as the September 2026 Teacher of the Month. Ms. Karinongan is a dedicated and compassionate educator who works tirelessly to ensure that each and every student has the opportunity to succeed. She is deeply committed to helping students grow academically while also creating a classroom environment where they feel supported, valued, and encouraged to believe in themselves. Ms. Karinongan continues to help her students make leaps and bounds in reading and writing, celebrating their progress while challenging them to reach new levels of achievement. Her passion for literacy is evident in the creative and meaningful ways she engages students in learning. One of the qualities that makes Ms. Karanagan truly special is her passion for combining artistic expression with literacy. She understands that students learn in different ways and uses creativity, art, and self-expression to help students connect with reading and writing in ways that are engaging and meaningful. Through these experiences, students are not only developing important literacy skills, but also gaining confidence in expressing their ideas and finding their own voices. Her dedication extends beyond simply teaching academic standards. Ms. Karenongan builds relationships with her students, recognizes their individual strengths, and consistently looks for ways to help them grow. She celebrates their successes, encourages them through challenges, and creates opportunities for every student to experience success. Ms. Karanangan exemplifies an educator who teaches with purpose, leads with heart, and believes in the unlimited potential of every child. Her commitment to literacy, creativity, and student success makes her a tremendous asset to Bexar Middle School and is deserving of this recognition as City of Sunrise Teacher of the Month. Congratulations. All right, West Plain Middle School proudly nominates Miss Christina Lulee as September 2026 Teacher of the Month. Miss Lulee is the embodiment of what it means to be a Cambridge teacher. For the past 10 years, Christina has been a dedicated member of the West Plain Middle School family, growing from a classroom teacher into a highly respected department head and instructional leader. Under her leadership, her department has helped drive increases in school-wide proficiency and learning gains. Her impact in the classroom is equally impressive. Last year, 95% of her eighth grade students and 92% of her seventh grade students were proficient in the FAST state assessment. Even more impressive, 72% of her students who began at level three increased to a level four or five, the highest performance levels on the assessment. Ms. Lulee is also committed to her own professional growth and is currently pursuing her master's degree in curriculum, instruction, and technology. Beyond the data, she is one of West Pine's most popular and respected teachers. Her students value her, her colleagues trust her, and her leadership has made a measurable difference. The City of Sunrise is recognizing an educator who represents excellence, leadership, and a genuine commitment to student success. Congratulations to Christina Lulee, our Teacher of the Month. And a pass to our proud principals here. We'll start with Mr. Williams up there.

Good evening, good evening. First of all, Mr. Mayor, city commissioners, city officials, guests, it's really an honor to be here to recognize Ms. C. But before I recognize Ms. C and talk about Ms. C, Ms. Louie, you should be working at Bayer. So, you know, always an opportunity to recruit. He's got daggers. I'm working here for a while. Yes, that's it, that's it. But I'm here to talk about Ms. C, and Ms. C is an amazing teacher, and very proud that she is representing Bexar Middle School. And Ms. C is not just an amazing teacher, Miss C is one of our teachers who's from the Philippines. Yes, yes. And Miss C brings a wealth of knowledge. She educates our children, not just through the content, but she brings character and culture. And she also helps our other teachers as well. And when you're coming from another country, another culture, You're leaving your family behind to come to another culture and educate the children in that culture and to do it with such compassion and care and commitment says a lot about the individual themselves that they can actually come and do that. And Ms. C comes to work every day as an example of excellence, commitment. She's always willing to help the teachers and the students, has a pleasant attitude. And for those of you who may have been in school or worked in school, that's not always an easy task to do. So Ms. C, we are truly blessed to have you. And because of Miss C, you know, I see Miss Cilio out there. She's from the Philippines. And because of the example of Miss C, any teacher from the Philippines, I want all of them. Because, you know, they come and they really, really come with excellence. And they really do care and do an amazing job for our students. Again, her accomplishments, the way her students perform is a true testament of her excellence and her commitment. So we're truly blessed to have you at Bayer, representing Bayer as excellence. And we know you're going to continue doing great things for our students and our family. And I do also want to recognize the city. I mentioned last year. The last year was my first year as a principal in the City of Sunrise. And this is year 25 for me as principal. And yes, it's a long time. And most of it was in Pembroke Pines, in the Hollywood area. and never has a city recognized teachers and supported schools the way that the city of Sunrise does. So the city should be proud of itself. You guys are doing an amazing job. Bear Middle School remained open because of the support of the city. So we're really happy. I'm really happy to be part of the city and want to thank you for doing an amazing job recognizing schools. teachers, you know, and everything that we do. So thank you so much.

Well, I want to start by congratulating Mrs. C and the words that he truly said. We have some teachers from the Philippines as well. Hardest working group that I've worked with in the past 25 years as well. So I appreciate your dedication to education. And your transfer to paper to West Pine has been approved. So now you're coming over to us. We're going to have to split it, right? Well, you know, we'll see. What can I say about Ms. Lulee? You are a teacher's teacher, okay? And I say that because the level of instructional practice that you bring to yourself, your classroom, your students, your families, and your department is top tier. You build relationships with kids. You bring good tidings to the building. And everything you do represents West Pine very well. Like many of the civil servants in this room, you also save lives as well because on your worst day, you're some child's best hope. And I hope you recognize that because the power and the ineptitude that you bring to the field of education is top notch. So I'm not going to be as long as Steve. I want to say West Pine loves you. We appreciate you and keep working hard because the work is never done. OK, pick that flag up and run with it. All right.

So tonight, we really touch on the big themes that become rooted in order to grow the plant of education. And it begins with the relationships in the classroom, right? Every student's different. And we need to recognize that teachers don't clock in and clock out. On the drive home, you're thinking about one who just didn't get it and what happened. What can I do to inspire? Or what can I find that will make them want to come back to school? And your ability to combine creativity with what has to be taught inspires and we know that there are just some students that need that to come back to feel energetic to be inspired in the classroom and touching on that and finding their creativity so they find their own voice is important the big issue is confidence right we've all been at that point as a student maybe everybody was a great student I wasn't I was a rotten student. But in eighth grade, some teacher made a mistake and gave me an A and probably felt like I needed a false boost of confidence, which set me on my trajectory all the way through life. And it began with a teacher who cared, who saw something in that moment that I needed. And you're doing that by finding what inspires that individual student. And then to take the teaching acumen that you have And use data and drive and find not just those that you know are not inspired, but where are they not excelling? How do we dedicate resources to pull them up, to get them from level three to four and five, to let them know they can do it? Not just about stats for the school or some grade letter. Yeah, there's... folks downtown who look at those things. But for you all, it's changing the trajectory on a young life. And we know how important that is, particularly as you prepare them to go to high school, that they go with that confidence. And so combined tonight, you see what is the best in education in our schools. And we're so grateful for you. We've taken a lot of time tonight of your time when you should be home, but it was all part of an opportunity to do things. One, we wanted to set off a bidding war for you. And then there's some small print here. You probably can't read it, but it says now that you've accepted this, you can't leave the city of Sunrise. You've accepted it's on video. We have pictures. So you're stuck here, and we don't want you to go. So on behalf of my colleagues in the commission and the community, we say thank you with deep gratitude. Let's give them a big round of applause. All right, one more time, big round of applause, come on.

The presentation for the Youth Athlete of the Month awarded September, 2026 to Madison Louise Pierre from Flag Football Cheerleading Program and Avery Diznis from Flag Football Program, Kevin Picard, Director of Leisure Services.

All right, come on, make some noise. Parents, come on down. You don't get to sit in the back and film. Get your speech ready. Just kidding. All right, so one thing that this city's done for more than 16 years is that each month take an opportunity to recognize great student athletes in our community. And this commission is not focused on, you know, what the metrics are, where they are on the pitch or what they've done on the diamond or the court or the gridiron. It's about who they are as people, what they've accomplished in their young lives already, and what they prove to us as adults is possible. And over the years, we've heard so many inspiring stories of young people who are already experiencing achieving and making us feel like we need to do better and tonight's no different and it's important to recognize our leisure services advisory board they're tasked with going through all of the nominations across our very wide youth athlete program and go through those and pick out those that touch on the spirit of what we are really focused on and that's Again, not just pure athletics, but who these young people are. And so tonight's no different. I thank the Leisure Services Advisory Board. Let's give them a big round of applause for their hard work. And I'll turn it over to Kevin so you can learn about these two amazing young people.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I'll piggyback on that. Ms. Lorelei Borden is our Leisure Service Advisory Board Chair. And very much a thank you to you and your colleagues for all your effort. Because tonight we're talking about flag football and flag football cheerleading. And so we have a few hundred kids in that program. And so to come down to two excellent seven-year-olds is no easy task. So thank you, Lorelei. But you're the stars of the show here tonight, guys. So I'm going to ask you to come right up front here so we can get all close pictures, okay? We've got to look right at the camera, big smiles. Okay, so we're going to start with Miss Madison, our athlete of our Recreation Flag Football Cheerleading Program. Madison Louis-Pierre is a seven-year-old student at New Hope Christian School and a participant in the Recreation Flag Cheerleading Program. A few comments from her coach. Madison is an outstanding candidate for Athlete of the Month because she consistently demonstrates dedication, positivity, and strong character both on and off the field. She attends every practice and game with an enthusiastic attitude and is always ready to work hard while encouraging her teammates. Madison leads by example through commitment, teamwork, and willingness to help others succeed. Madison finished the school year on the honor roll, reflecting her dedication to academic excellence. Her parents also share that she carries the same positive attitude at school and at home. Madison has been a wonderful addition to our cheer squad. Congratulations. Avery Dezeen is a seven-year-old student at Franklin Academy and a participant in our recreation flag football program. A few comments from his coach. Avery has been an invaluable member of our Cowboys Pee Wee flag football team this season. He plays center in our shotgun offense and his consistency is a major reason for our team's success. Every play begins with him and he delivers accurate snaps to our quarterback time after time. allowing our offense to operate efficiently and confidently. While many players receive recognition for scoring touchdowns, Avery is the player who makes everything possible. He is truly the glue that holds our offense together. Behind his performance on the field, Avery demonstrates outstanding character. He attends practice consistently, listens attentively to all coaches, maintains a positive attitude, and gives maximum effort every day. He is respectful, coachable, dependable, and always willing to put the team's success ahead of his own. Avery leads by example through his work ethic, teamwork, and commitment to improvement. He is the type of athlete every coach hopes to have on their team and is highly deserving of this recognition. Congratulations.

Good evening, everybody. Yeah, so that pretty much was it, man. Avery was our glue. He came to practice every day on time, listening. And he rallied the other kids around him. You know, to start the play, get the ball. He received the ball. He bring everybody in, huddled them up. That's a true leader, you know, in my eyes and in anybody's eyes. And I want to give a testament to his parents as well because they got him like this, you know. I can tell his parents are the same way and they don't play. So, you know, congratulations again, Avery, man. I love to have you on my team. And hopefully next year we get you again, man. All right.

So, Leisure Services did not disappoint tonight, and these two amazing young people. Let's take some time, though, to also recognize our coaches who volunteer, don't have a big contract, right, at all. We double your salary every year, right? So let's give the coaches who take the time and really care. And to the parents, right, it's a labor of love, right, to make sure everybody's there on time, they have their gear, it's washed, they haven't lost, you know, all sorts, your eyes are open wide, I know. I'm sure everything is always washed before you get there. But it takes a lot from the parents, and you clearly have done an amazing job, both families, of raising some amazing young people. Let's give them a big round of applause as well. Thank you. And to our superstars, just in learning a little bit about you, you've taught us so many lessons here tonight that we need to remember in our own lives as adults. Teamwork, caring about your team, putting the team ahead of yourself, right? Motivating your team when they're down, when they're feeling like they can't do what needs to be done, and always having a positive attitude. Being able to do that's what we should be doing in our lives every day for the people around us. And you've already learned those lessons. And so this was really pretty much a therapy lesson for all of us to learn from you tonight. So congratulations. We can't wait to watch where you go in your lives. This was part of our opportunity to say we knew you when, right? We can say we all knew you and we've got pictures with you, but we know you're going to do great things as young people and as adults. Congratulations to the families, to the coaches. Congratulations.

And to these two superstars, let's give them a big round of applause.

All right, congratulations again.

Presentation D, presentation of the Firefighter of the Month Award for September 2026 to Battalion Chief Daniel Gamote, Captain Christopher Botello, Captain Alexander Compain, and Rescue Lieutenant Michael Mikey Rowland. His mother is a famous photographer in this city. And John McNamara, Fire Chief. Sorry I had to embarrass you.

Thank you, Commissioner. So this evening, like I have in the past, I get a great opportunity to introduce you to what I would tell you are four very special fire rescue professionals that you not only does our profession enjoy, but you here in the city of Sunrise Enjoy. You may have remembered in June there was a pretty large, significant natural disaster that occurred in the country of Venezuela, an earthquake that trapped hundreds and hundreds of people. Their government contacted the United States and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get assistance from what some of you may or may not be familiar with specialized rescue teams those teams are known as urban search and rescue teams south florida is very very unique we have two teams that are locally here we have task force one which is comprised of members of the miami-dade fire rescue department we have task force two it's a department team that's led by the city of miami And the members on that team come from over 30 plus fire departments made up in the tri County area. And the members that get on that team have to put a lot of training to get the knowledge, skills, and abilities to not just be able to try out for the team, but to make the team and they compete with each other. And as unique as it may be, uh, being from the same department, we are extremely fortunate. We've had a lot of representation on that team over the years, but the four gentlemen you have in front of you today are four of those team members. And. They responded, they take a lot of time away from their families to be there, to do the job they do, to put their lives on the line, not just for the community of Sunrise, but beyond. And while I'm not at liberty to tell you everything they did, I read a quote once that said, extraordinary measures, because someday we all run out of tomorrows, but it's our job to use extraordinary measures to make sure that that day is not today. And what I can tell you is if you go back and read, there was a gentleman that was trapped in rubble for eight days and Mr. Gil Flores and the urban search and rescue team, this team, the four of them, along with their fellow brothers and sisters, they epitomized the term extraordinary measures to make sure that that gentleman had an ability to see tomorrow. It was truly tremendous what they did. And for those reasons, not only am I humbled to have worked with them in the fire station, I get a chance to work for them now, and it's truly an honor that they are part of the Sunrise Fire Rescue Fire Department, and I congratulate them on their efforts.

So tonight, you know, we get to talk about things that we've experienced and we've had members of our fire rescue family respond to 9-11. They've long retired but still committed one who's passed from brain cancer, and we always can question whether it was because of his dedication to respond. And it reminds us that when there's not just a national tragedy, but a tragedy that occurs anywhere in the world, that these heroes may get called upon to go help someone that they've never met in an area that they don't know, for someone who will never attend a commission meeting to tell them how much they appreciate what they did. They don't do it because they'll see them in Publix or some store later, or to try to help someone they know and their family. They're truly trying to help someone that is connected to us, but is not here, right here in Sunrise. And it is an amazing dedication to pick up and tell your family you're gonna be gone, especially when we see the pictures. All of us saw the earthquake pictures and the rubble and the despair and the conditions. And for us, it was an opportunity for us to express in our own way our empathy for what was happening, but we weren't asked to sacrifice a thing or take any risks. And make no mistake, there are risks. And these four, along with their brothers and sisters who have done this and continue to do this and compete for this, exemplify what you should be really proud of in Sunrise. And that is that for everyone, this department is there to serve. They feel the same way when they show up, when something happens in your neighborhood or in your business or in your home. And they feel the same way about something that happens distant to us. And it reminds us that we're all connected. The sacrifice that you all went to, the distance from your own family, because it's not easy seeing you guys pack. and leave and they live with the angst. They can't know everything you're seeing or doing or the risks you're taking in that environment, but it is risky. And then you come home to them. It means so much to us as a community that you care that much about the world around us, but that you have competed for this. You have chosen this. This is not something that was hoisted on you. It says something about the flame that burns in all of you to make a difference in our world and to make it better. They deserve a huge round of applause once again for their commitment to our world. All right gentlemen, if you would. All right, before you go anywhere, for the families that are here, for these gentlemen, please come forward so that we can also give you a round of applause for your commitment. Let's give them a big round of applause. All right, one more time, big round of applause.

Proclamation proclaiming the month of September 2026 as National Service Dog Month in the City of Sunrise, Mayor Michael J. Ryan, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman, Assistant Deputy Mayor Latoya Clark, Commissioner Neal Kirch, and Commissioner Joseph Scudo.

Come on, make some noise. You've been hearing his collar all night, so... Thanks for doing this again this year.

Thank you.

All right, so, you know, we so often see in our community a service dog and we see the dog helping someone do something important and we can't always understand how that came to be or what happened to allow the dog to be associated with. But there's a whole team that starts years before you see that moment that are working so that it seems seamless to the rest of us. And it takes a lot of people. It takes those, of course, that need the service dog to inspire. It takes those that care about these canine companions to work hard to raise. And it takes... truly a village to help raise these dogs and then associate them with their owners and the work they do is amazing we've seen it over and over again and it's astounding and and we all at some level could benefit from it we know but i want to take tonight really and we as a commission want to take tonight to really celebrate those who who benefit the folks who make it happen and focus on the advocacy to really drive more of this. And it also gives us a chance because all of us don't know what to do. When we see a service dog, right, we want to pet, we want to get down. And there's actually some rules that make it a little easier for those that need the service dogs. It's not that anyone's being rude. It's just a very delicate relationship. So we're going to take some time tonight to talk a little bit about that and celebrate and see if we can keep their attention long enough not to run out. So I'm going to hand it over. Tell us again this year. And really, we're so grateful that you're here to help us understand this.

Thank you. Good evening. And thank you, Mayor Ryan and the city council for honoring these dogs, their hard work and their dedication. 51 years ago, Canine Companion was started by Charles and Gene Schultz. And if you're not sure where they are, he's the creator of the peanuts. He realized the importance it is for people with disabilities to be independent, and what better way to do that than these loyal creatures. These dolls are the eyes for those who can't see, the ears for those who can't hear. They help the alert if medicine is needed. They bring courage. They give bravery. They give independence. They work 24-7, 365 days without complaining. And the only thing they ask is you give them a lot of love and treats. Treats are required, absolutely. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Some wear capes. Some wear stethoscopes. Others wear badges and boots. But my hero and the hero of people like me, they wear vests. Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you, Mayor Ryan. It's always a pleasure. Your friend Marcy, she's in training right now to be a service dog. But Terry here at the end with Goodman. Goodman is a puppy in training. She's been doing this now for 26 years, and her puppy is the one that she currently has is her 17th dog. We have Amy Perlman, who is a volunteer, Natalie, Mary, Bren, John, myself, we're the support group for these guys. And Canine Companions does a lot more than just these kind of service dogs. They do dogs for hearing. They do facility dogs that work in hospitals, in schools, in the criminal justice system. They even had one guy who became a first responder in Tennessee. They currently graduated about six dogs to do medical alert for diabetes. So every year, every year, they increase what they're doing. They do veterans. No one can help a veteran with PSD better than a dog. They know what's needed, and they're there for them. You know, we take for granted what it's like to be normal. Well, what is normal? Normal for me and normal for Amy is not the same normal for Nicole or someone like her. And people always remember for a long time, oh, there comes the little redhead in the wheelchair. Well, now they say, oh, where's your dog? There comes the person with the dog. The dog brings that independence. We're all disabled in some way or other. Theirs just shows more. And these dogs make sure that they can have the independence that they deserve because they have a lot to give and a lot to offer. All we have to do is stop and listen. Thank you.

plug about how to support canine companions and help us to understand what we do when we see someone with a service dog because we all want to run up and hug because we care that much

Well, Canine Companions, the website is canine.org. Anyone can give. The wonderful thing about this organization is the dogs are given to their recipients at no charge. There is no cost for the dog. It's all done through donations, and they are big donations, but every donation counts. So canine.org, and you could go on their website, and if you're happy to become a donor, they would be thrilled to hear that. But when you see a service dog, it's not that they want to be mean, oh, don't touch my dog. No, that's not it. The dog is working. The dog is working 24-7. If you distract the dog, he's not paying attention to the person he's with. And he's picked her. He's picked her. The dogs pick the people they want to work with. So he wants to make sure he gets her the best care. And if he's distracted, and they can be distracted, hey, if you're going to hug me and tell me how handsome I am, I'm going to be happy with that. But always ask, is it okay if I pet your dog? If they say yes, happy to let you do that. If they say no, not right now, it's because the dogs are working. And it's just etiquette. And again, I know that a lot of people, we all love our dogs, but not every dog is a service dog. These are trained. They're trained for two years. They start when they're eight weeks old, and they're trained until they're two years old. So there's a lot that goes into this, and they give up a lot. They give up being somebody's pet to be somebody's hero.

I know you got to take her on the road. She's good. She she's good. I don't want to follow that to the organization and the volunteers and the donors. The change in trajectory in somebody's life towards independence is really the driving. I hear that is the driving force. Right. As you pointed out, it changes lives. It saves lives for those who can't see, those who can't hear, those who just need the alerts, those who need their medication. The stories are so many that it seems miraculous, but we are very fortunate that in our community that there's so many people who care, both in terms of donations and volunteers. So let's give them a big round of applause for that. And so it's my honor on behalf of the Commission to declare National Service Dog Month here in the City of Sunrise. Whereas we believe in the joyful, transformative power of the human-canine bond and the importance of fostering a fully inclusive community for all. Whereas in the U.S. approximately 70 million adults live with a disability, yet only about 16,000 service dogs from accredited training programs are currently available to assist, creating a significant and growing demand for these invaluable companions. Whereas Canine Companions is a pioneering nonprofit organization that created the concept of service dogs for people with physical disabilities, training the first service dog, Abdul, in 1975. Snoopy clearly wasn't a service dog, and I find it ironic that Snoopy was the inspiration for it, because that would not be anybody's service dog, so... Whereas Canine Companions has since expanded its mission and now serves individuals with more than 65 different types of disabilities and challenges, providing expertly trained service dogs for free, along with a lifelong support to ensure enduring and effective partnerships. Whereas Canine Companions currently operates eight regional training centers across the country, has placed more than 8,200 service dog teams since its founding, and supports over 2,800 active teams nationwide. Whereas the need for service dogs continues to grow with more than 500 currently on the waiting list to be matched with a canine companion. Whereas the National Service Dog Month allows us to raise public awareness about the life-changing impact of service dogs, highlights the rights and protections afforded to individuals with disabilities under the law, and celebrates the organizations and the animals that make greater independence possible. Whereas the City of Sunrise remains committed to promoting inclusivity and accessibility for all residents and visitors, including those who are accompanied by service dogs. Now, therefore, I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with my colleagues on the Commission, do hereby proclaim the month of September 2026 as National Service Dog Month in the City of Sunrise. And I encourage all residents to honor and support the important role that service dogs play in the lives of adults, children, and veterans, ensuring respect for their rights and celebrating their freedom independence these extraordinary dogs help provide Thank You Nicole thank you to everybody here let's give them a big round of applause well done All right, one more time, big round of applause.

6g proclamation proclaiming september 15th through october 15th 2026 as hispanic heritage month in the city of sunrise mayor michael j ryan deputy mayor jacqueline a guzman assistant deputy mayor latoya s clark commissioner joseph ace gudo and commissioner all right big round of applause mary mary where's mary is she here sandra here as well

Are they here? Coming? Okay, coming. You got to come up. You got to come up.

You don't get behind the back. Nice to see you. Good to see you.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Exactly. So we're here tonight to come forward. You don't have to hide in the back. Come on, come on, come on, come on. This is a loving crowd. They want to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. And it's something we've been doing in Sunrise a very long time. And we're so fortunate in our community to be able to celebrate the diversity of what Hispanic Heritage Month means. It's not monolithic, right? It represents so many influences. And in Sunrise, you can find those influences in art and music and food, as you can tell. throughout our community. And so it's an opportunity for us to celebrate that and also to remember the really powerful force that the Hispanic community has for economics and our culture here in the City of Sunrise in this region. And we don't take that for granted. So it's an opportunity for us to make sure we're doing what's necessary to support, but also to celebrate more than anything else. the quality of what we have here in our community. So I'm going to hand it over and let you all talk a little bit about why it's so important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and what we do this month to celebrate.

Thank you so much, Mayor Ryan, Commissioner Guzman, and the whole commission here. We're so honored to be here. My name is Catalina Veira. I have the honor to serve as chair of the board for the Hispanic Heritage Chamber of Commerce. And to us, it's obviously what you share about our community, but obviously bringing to the forefront all the accomplishments, the community, the flavor that we share with the U.S. and globally. Just so you know, it's expected that by 2030, 30% of the population will be Hispanic or Latino descent. So it's imperative for us just to continue sharing the good news about what we bring to the table in every space that we're in. And another nugget of information, Latino women start businesses six times faster than any other group. So that's why it's imperative for us to continue supporting businesses, not only Latino businesses, all businesses, However, it's imperative for us to know that we are part of that economic engine that makes the U.S. even better than, let's make it even better than it was before. So we're here to contribute, to tell everyone that we're not takers, we're builders, and that's what we're going to continue doing. So thank you so much.

Thank you.

Hi, good afternoon, mayor, commissioners. Thank you for your invitation. I'm here on behalf of Elaine Vasquez and our founding, our founder of the Light of the World Clinic. 37 years ago, he founded a clinic because he believed that everyone had access to healthcare. And we care for all of our individuals from all Broward County. And I'm here to say thank you because thanks to this support and this recognition, We're all here to support as many of our neighbors from whatever backgrounds they come in, but we are very honored to be here on behalf of representing the Hispanic culture and all the joy and the passion and the spice that we bring to the community, and I thank you.

Well, thank you all for being here. I appreciate you individually. I see the work you're doing in our community. It does not go unnoticed, and I look forward to continuing to building with that here, not just in Sunrise, but in Broward County. So thank you.

Thank you.

No, I want to thank you all for coming. You know, we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month from September to October, but in my house we celebrate it every day. My wife is from Colombia. My son is 22 years old. He's Colombian-American. So in my household, we're dual culture, dual music, dual comidas, dual idiomas. All the things we do in our house, sorry. All the things we do in our house runs around Hispanic heritage and culture, as well as English heritage and culture. So in our community, it's I'm proud to be part of this great community where everybody is welcome, inclusive. It's our diversity that makes us fantastic. And it's great to sit around and get along with people from different cultures because at the end of the day, no matter what color your skin is, what your language is, what your religion is, we have more in common than we do differences. We all love a good barbecue, right?

We all love to dance.

We all love to get along with our family. We all care about our kids. And I think it's important that, especially in this day of age, that we really focus on the commonalities and not the differences. So hopefully this month for Hispanic Heritage, we will do that going forward. So thank you for being here.

Congratulations. It's very important. I'm Italian, so we're still in that same type of region. But I just want to say, being up here on the commission for a long period of time, it was a gentleman who worked for all service at the time, Republic Industries, who and it was Pepe Lopez who started the Latin Chamber of Commerce. Some of you who may know him from many years ago, he was the original starter with the Latin, and then worked for BSO, and then BSO let him go out and branch this out throughout the county. So to the people who really started this back then, and to see now you guys are continuing on, it's no different than with the Italian American generation. It's a lot different when you come here as a first generation. But then when it comes to second generation, like Commissioner Kirch said, now if his son speaks Spanish and then has to make sure he passes it on. So it's the same thing. We got to make sure that we pass on our traditions because We're all Americans now, and our heritages will get lost if you do not continue. So it's good to see that you guys are going to continue to push forward with your heritage. So it's very important.

Good job, good job. Give them a round of applause.

Congratulations. It's good to be in a city that honors all the melting pot of all the cultures that are here. Congratulations, and looking forward to seeing you again.

And the work you do, right, in not only supporting Hispanic businesses, but in outreach to the community and celebrating the Hispanic heritage, it influences all of us and makes us all better. And, you know, I heard from another mayor who used the phrase melting pot and then corrected me. And he said, you know, I don't really think of it as a melting pot. I think of it more as a stew. Because as you put each ingredient into it, it never loses its own character. It becomes part of something greater. And rather than losing, as was said, maintaining that cultural sense, but also helping us to celebrate it. And when you look at great cities around the world, What they celebrate is that you can get food from anywhere, you can listen to music from anywhere, you can celebrate the diversity of life. And that's what Sunrise has really become. And so this is just part of the extension of celebrating the Italian-Americans, the Caribbean-Americans, the Irish-Americans, and of course, the Hispanic-Americans. But it is also a broader sense of community connectivity. So thank you for all that you're doing. Let's give them a big round of applause. Please step forward. We're going to read the proclamation. And it's my honor on behalf of the Commission to declare Hispanic Heritage Month here in the City of Sunrise. Whereas each year, from September 15th through October 15th, Americans celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, a time dedicated to honoring and recognizing the rich histories, cultures, traditions, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino communities whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the more than 60 million Hispanic Americans whose contributions have strengthened our nation and enriched our communities through their achievements, traditions, and dedication to creating a more vibrant and prosperous society. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month began as Hispanic Heritage Week, introduced by Congressman George Brown in June of 1968, and it was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1988 to recognize the significant impact and achievements of Hispanic Americans throughout the history of the U.S., Whereas through determination, innovation, hard work, and perseverance, Hispanic Americans have played an essential role in shaping the growth and success of our nation, the state, and our local communities. And whereas Hispanic and Latino Americans have made extraordinary contributions across countless fields including education, business, science, technology, healthcare, government, public service, the arts, agriculture, and the military, strengthening our own cultural heritage through economic vitality and global presence. Whereas Hispanic Heritage Month serves as an opportunity for all of our residents and businesses to recognize and celebrate the diversity that actually strengthens our community while honoring the perseverance, resilience, and achievement of generations of Hispanic Americans who advanced the principles of equality and opportunity and inclusion. Whereas the City of Sunrise proudly recognizes the many Hispanic Americans who have served with distinction in the U.S. Armed Forces, earning commendations for their courage, leadership, and patriotism, today Hispanic Americans continue this proud tradition through every one of our services. Whereas the City of Sunrise is proud to celebrate the rich heritage, culture, and countless contributions of its Hispanic and Latino residents who continue to strengthen our community and make Sunrise a more diverse, welcoming, and exceptional place to live, work, visit, play, eat, sing, dance, all of those things, right? Now, therefore, I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with my colleagues on the Commission, do hereby proclaim September 15th through October 15th as Hispanic Heritage Month in the city of Sunrise. With this year's theme, Together We Are More, which celebrates the unity, the resilience, the collective impact of the Hispanic and Latino communities. The theme recognizes that while Hispanic heritage encompasses many countries and cultures and traditions, shared values of family, service, perseverance, and creativity continue to unite generations and strengthen our communities. It serves as a reminder that together we are stronger, and our collective contributions help shape a brighter future for all. Thank you so much for being here and for your work in the community. Let's give them a big round of applause. One more time, big round of applause.

Flipping, I'm flipping.

Presentation of the Outstanding Performance Award for September 2026 to Soraya Thomas, Public Service Aid, Daniel J. Ransone, Chief of Police.

Good evening, everybody. Chief Ransone, Soraya's Police Department. With me is Major Will Gordon. We are here to recognize Ms. Thomas for the Outstanding Performance Award for September 2026. A little over a year ago, Ms. Thomas came into the Sunrise Police Department applying for an internship position. And after sitting with her for a few minutes and looking at her resume, we quickly learned that we would not be doing the Department of Justice if we didn't offer her a full-time job. And she accepted. She's currently working in our special operations section. She has some fans in the back, our community resource office. And we're going to invite them up now to take part in this. Now, if Ms. Thomas had the ability, and she's asked me not to hand her the microphone, she would thank everybody within the Special Operations Section for their efforts. But I'm going to turn it over to Major Will Gordon to explain why Ms. Thomas is receiving this award.

Thank you. I want to highlight the great work Police Service Aide Zahra Thomas did on the Police Department's annual report. This project was tough and needed a lot of patience, hard work, and she did an amazing job. PSA Thomas took charge right away and fixed numerous problems. She made sure the report was correct, looked professional, and was finished in a timely manner. Because of her effort, the whole department now has an annual report we can be proud of. PSA Thomas' hard work shows that she cares about her job, her team, and the professional image of the police department. Thank you for doing more than what was necessary or expected and for making a big difference for the department. PSA Thomas' dedication reflects her character, her work ethic, and her commitment to the success of the entire team. Again, thank you for setting such a high standard and for making a positive impact on this department.

So first of all, thank you for choosing Sunrise. Obviously, when the chief sat down with you, he saw something that really touched him, that realized that more than just an internship, you needed to be part of this family, of this organization. And you've taken that on in a full-throated way. You've really worked at it. And folks don't realize that behind the scenes there are PSAs like you who are making such a difference in our community. Sometimes we see them on the roadway, sometimes they're doing other things, maybe responding at the police department, and that are as critical in the forward-facing impact with our residents and our businesses. But in this case, the work that you put into the annual report, which is stellar, it's a beautiful report, and it's taken all these years for them to finally get it right. But it serves as a model going forward, and it says something about how much you cared about this department. It would have been easy to just put it together and not try to improve it, but you took the time because of what you saw in the men and women who serve and what the residents and businesses needed to learn about the department. And that vision is what the chief must have seen at that moment when he said, you need a full-time job here. And we're so grateful. And it reminds us all that there are heroes who wear badges, and there are heroes who wear patches. And so we're really proud of you and the work you're doing, and we look forward to some really great things. And for your team to come out tonight, it says a lot. They really care about you, and you are a part of the family. Let's give her a big round of applause. Congratulations. And mom has come in all the way from Vegas for this celebration. Give her a round of applause. One more time, big round of applause.

All right. 6E. Proclamation proclaiming the month of September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise. Michael J. Ryan. Deputy Mayor Jacqueline A. Guzman. Deputy Mayor Latoya S. Clark. Commissioner Joseph A. Scudo. Commissioner Neal Kirch.

So, yeah, this is one that folks don't always clap to, right? It's a tough topic. It's a really tough topic. And for us in Sunrise, it's very raw. We know in the community that broader mental health issues are present for everyone and in all the communities. And we've worked really hard for years to try to reduce the stigma of not being okay. We've said it's okay to not be okay. And we have programs and we have outreach and we have work that we do to try to help, but we can't always know. And what we need to do as a community is not shy away from the topic. For too long, even the vernacular of how we described suicide is that somebody committed it, like it was a crime. They committed suicide. And we're beginning to understand that by doing that, we're unintentionally creating the stigma, right? Stigma for the families who struggle with the aftermath of it. We can all shake our fist at the universe when something terrible happens, when a car runs a red light. But what do you do as a family member when you couldn't stop the thing you would have wanted to stop more than anything else in the world? And part of that discussion is us just talking about it. This is someone who's died by suicide. If it was cancer or a broken arm, we wouldn't shy away. We wouldn't make the families feel there can't be a celebration of life or there is something to be hidden. And we know that the families, and we'll say the survivors of this, like cancer, those who survive, those who take their own life, who die by suicide, is hard. And for families, they too often go into the shadows because they don't know how to deal with it. And in our own city, in our own departments, we've had the third suicide. And we struggle to try to say, what did we miss? What did we not do? you know, still shake our fist at the universe. And we wonder, and those that are closest who say, I didn't see it. I wanted to be there. It's hard because you begin to say and take the blame. But what we really need to be doing as a community is not shying away from the topic. Instead, just recognizing that That it's okay to reach out. And we have to work on systems to support that. Because we can say that, but then there's judgment that follows. And we see it in the first responder community. For those who don't know, we lost an amazing officer who died by suicide just weeks ago. Rashonda McWilliams. Loved by everybody in the community. some of the happiest videos and presence you'll ever see, a radiant smile that everybody knows, who received awards from the department and the community. And yet whatever was going on, we couldn't stop it. Or Frank Hagan, who was a union leader and tough as nails, who could kick anybody's butt, but couldn't defeat the one demon that was chasing him. Or Cindy McHugh, a police officer, who we lost, that we didn't see coming. For some that say, listen, we have these programs, what more can we do? What we do is what we're doing this month, and that's talk about it. And recognize that even if we couldn't have saved Cindy and Frank and Rashonda, There's someone else who maybe, just maybe, will say, I'm not okay. I really need a space, some space. I need some help. Maybe the job's not for them, and that's okay. And so we're going to talk a little bit about tonight what it means to advocate and talk, and then we have a proclamation. But really what it's about is we have to do our own work because there are people who will weaponize someone not being okay. We see it in our community all the time. We see it in our workplace. We see it in minor ways where someone who's repeatedly sick, who's not well, there's judgment amongst the other coworkers. Ah, they're not pulling their weight or they're not tough enough. And in areas of first responders, it's hard because how do they talk about it? How do they come forward? How do they, who've built their identity around being the first responder and tougher than everyone else, not being able to communicate, hey, I really need some help. And so our departments are still struggling with this. And to the brothers and sisters who remain, who know that Roshanda was an amazing president and is still and to the chief and his command staff who struggle with what could we have done differently that we do differently is what we do tonight. It's just keep talking about it, just making sure that services are there and just hoping that when it comes time that someone doesn't feel okay, that we take the time to listen, not stigmatize it, not push it aside, not relegate it to a sense of weakness because coming forward to say you're not okay, particularly as a first responder, takes so much toughness. So if you would introduce yourself to the community and part of the work that you do in the community to help raise awareness and help in suicide prevention.

Okay.

I'll try not to be too nervous, nervous. So my name is Ava Thompson. I happen to be a licensed clinical social worker, but I'm also a survivor. So nine years ago, my beautiful, brilliant 49 year old daughter took her own life. I'm a social worker. Like, how could that happen? How could I... I talked to her the night before. What could I have done differently as a parent? You know for sure it was in your power to stop it somehow, and you didn't. So fast forward nine years later, I'm... privileged to serve with a team of survivors at Mental Health America of Southeast Florida, and we're called the LOSS team, L-O-S-S, the Local Outreach to Suicide Survivors. So what does that mean? If the police call us, if the victim advocate calls us and tells us there's been a suicide, if we can go on scene, we go on scene so that their survivors are not re-traumatized with everything else that's going on. If we can't do that, we come as soon after as we can. We come alongside them. When there is a death, a funeral, people talk about it. When my husband died, we talked about how he died. You mentioned, oh, my daughter died. How did she die? Society does not have a good grief language, let alone a good suicide grief language. So we come alongside these families, these survivors, families, friends, whomever they are. We offer services. We are volunteers, clinicians. We refer to therapy. I personally am privileged to facilitate three support groups a month. Some are just for parents and grandparents. The other groups are for all relationship losses or friends. And so what we do is we sit in a safe, non-judgmental space, and we talk about it. We laugh. We cry. It is what it is, but we're trying to destigmatize. And again, we talk about the language, not using the word commit. We try not to use the word trigger. Oh, I felt triggered. I felt triggered. There are so many deaths by gun that we try to use not a perfect word, but we try to say activate. We felt activated instead of triggered. You know, we do the best that we can. It's not perfect, but... But it is an honor. Most, like I said, all of those on our team are survivors. Somehow I know it brings some kind of, maybe brings some meaning to my daughter Judith's death, that I can do something and maybe help one person. Because it might be that person that you look at that you might think looks okay. And maybe they're not really. And there's such a stigma around suicide. People just don't want to talk about it. So we're privileged and honored. I'm honored to represent my team here tonight and accept this proclamation. And we were part of the team that went out with this young lady's death. And so anything we can do, feel free to to call us, reach us, even if you don't know what to say, you don't know, you know, we'll take you to that next step. We'll help you.

Give her a round of applause. And the work you do, just to put it in some perspective, because the survivors of those who've died by suicide are on edge. in so many different ways, and they don't know how to process, and they don't know how to grieve. And it's not just the family. It's the coworkers and the friends. They don't know how to grieve. They don't know what their grief should be, and everybody's grief is different. But we see too often, you know, it's replicated. That fear of suicide is replicated. And so the support groups perform an incredible function of not just – helping people to process their own grief, but to protect so that no one else does. Um, and in this country, we've done a, just a miserable job of treating mental health as an ailment of, you know, we, we can fix your broken arm. We'll give you plenty of, uh, hardware and a lot of PT and it's all paid for by insurance, but not everybody does that. And I, um, companies need to look at this differently. And then City of Sunrise through our EAP program, the work of the departments, both the police and fire department, to try to provide those programs and to be there is about saving the next. And so I thank the departments for doing that, for their work. And in our broader communities, we talked tonight about veterans and those who've served and seen things. We know that veteran suicide, it's just abysmal what's happened and how we haven't been able to respond. So the work that you're doing as an advocate, what you're doing for families and what we do by having this broader discussion is meant to try to tear down little by little. Um, the last time we had this discussion, it was tough for us. We had a lot of children, young people in the room, and we don't know how to talk about that, you know, and, and we just pushed through right now. You know, unfortunately, as you see more of it, you realize it doesn't help to not talk about it.

I was looking at all the children and just watching them as they were leaving and just kind of.

Yeah. But you know what? These kids are smarter today. They know what not okay is we, you know, didn't have the phones and things like that. And we need to make sure we're continuing to communicate. We have to grow up is really what has to happen. So on behalf of the city commission and our city staff, it's my honor to work with you and your team and the commission working alongside all those that work on suicide prevention, whereas suicides, a major public health issue that affects individuals, families, and communities across our nation nation causing immeasurable pain and suffering. Suicide is the act of taking one's own life by intentional self-harm, but non-fatal self-inflicted injuries are more common and not all self-inflicted injuries are suicide attempts. Whereas according to the CDC, suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. And with the advent of easy access to weapons, we know that that's a problem for folks in their homes that realize those that are not okay, that's the first step is taking away the means. It's the leading cause of death of younger age groups, especially 10 to 14 and 20 to 34. Suicide claims the lives of 48,000 people in 2024. Whereas suicide remains a national crisis, taking the lives of over 6,300 US veterans each year. And it continues to be one of the leading causes of death amongst first responders, including law enforcement officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel. In Florida, firearms are the most common, the most lethal method of suicide. with access to a firearm tripling the risk of death by suicide. Whereas every life lost to suicide is a tragedy and it's our collective responsibility to raise awareness, offer support, promote mental health resources to those in need while working to eliminate the stigma, not as a bumper sticker, but as a true heartfelt, compassionate approach for those who are struggling. Whereas during Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, we join with organizations, health care, professional educators, survivors and individuals to promote understanding, spread hope and share the message that suicide is preventable. Whereas nearly half of the individuals who die by suicide have a diagnosed mental health condition, It is critical to recognize the signs of depression that may lead to thoughts of suicide include speaking about wanting to die, feelings of isolation or hopelessness, increased use of drugs or alcohol, and severe mood swings. Whereas in addition to shifting public perception, City of Sunrise spreads hope and vital information to all by working with organizations. It's our goal that our community has access to the resources they need to discuss suicide prevention and to seek help. Whereas it's critical to recognize the best methods to prevent suicide when a person is in crisis, ask if they're thinking about taking their own life. Keep them safe and remove access to lethal means such as firearms, poisons, and prescription drugs, and get professional help. In Florida, dial 2-1-1 or call or text the 988, which is the Suicide Crisis Lifeline, to connect with trained counselors 24-7. Whereas the City of Sunrise recognizes the importance of communication, fostering open and honest dialogue about mental health and suicide prevention, encouraging everyone to seek support and reducing that sense of isolation and despair that can contribute to suicide thoughts. For those who survive, grieve. Don't blame yourselves. Now, therefore, it be resolved that I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with my colleagues on the Commission, do hereby proclaim September 2026 as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise. And I urge everyone to learn more about the mental health issues, to support those who may be struggling, and work together to create a community where every person feels seen and loved and heard and valued. Thank you. motion by deputy mayor second by commissioner scudo there are two applications carly is the sunrise resident and piper student both had great uh applications uh you know personally it's up to the will of commission but obviously a piper student and sunrise resident seems to be in line but i think what's really amazing is that we're drawing the attention from our other sunrise family schools So it's a really good opportunity. And maybe, you know, in the future, race is a good point that we should be considering whether we try to get. We've had historically a tough time getting students. But when we have multiple applications, you always wonder, you wish you could harness that energy. But anyway, what's the will of the commission on this one?

Yeah, that's fine. If you want to appoint the Piper High School student, that's... You want to make a motion?

Okay.

Motion to appoint the Piper High School student.

All right. That's Carly... M. Is Carly here? How do I say? Carly, come on up, please. I did struggle with this beforehand. And I'm embarrassed, but I'm so happy you're here tonight. Can you take a moment and introduce yourself to the millions at home?

Yes, hello. Sorry, I'm not dressed for the occasion.

Oh, no. We need the turtles.

We need the turtles. Yes, my name is Carly Musanak. I am a student at Piper High School and the president of my school's environmental board. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I'm just here today because I wanted to show my face just in case I do get appointed. And I'm really happy to take this position as I really would like to build up my school's environmental club and get us out in the community and doing things and serving the community. And I would really like to not only be a part of this position because of my school, but because of my community, because I truly do cherish the earth and would like to inform people on how they can do better for the environment. And yeah, pretty much that. That's awesome.

Come on, a round of applause for that. And Carly, if I can call you by your first name, Carly, what we would say to you is we need you. Your community needs you. And the fact that you took the time not only the service you're already providing right you could just do your club work and do your high school work but to reach out beyond that and be part of the community and advising us what we need to do is inspirational and we're really grateful to you you're joining a great board they really care they're very active and there's a lot going on right now so we really really need you and so we're grateful one that you put the application but I don't know that we've ever had someone just come to say, I want to make sure I'm showing my face in the event I get this appointment. Too often we vote from here, and we may not even meet the person. We may see them at a meeting later on, but you stayed, and I watched you. You were paying attention to the whole meeting. So very, very grateful for you on behalf of my colleagues, the entire commission, that you want to be involved in this, and we look forward to hearing really good things from you. And as it goes forward, we have events, you know, we have things, and we'll need your voice out there.

I just want to touch that. It would have been nice if John Pierre was still here from Republic. Yeah. Because they had the electrical garbage truck outside that they just rolled out into Coconut Creek. And I had asked them if they would be willing to bring the truck here so that the city commission could see it here in Sunrise. And I asked the city manager if it would be okay to allow them to bring the truck here. But that would be a perfect where... You have one of your meetings at the school that maybe Republic could bring someone or a truck and talk to you guys about what it is that they do. They may not be the biggest here in Florida, but if you go to their place in Vegas, they own the landfill. They own the recycling centers. So I'm saying different regions have different things, and that would be a great resource for you.

No, we would absolutely love that because we are trying to expand our school's recycling habits and picking up trash around the school and growing our garden. So we would love an opportunity like that.

You guys have a garden?

Yes, we do.

Oh, good. So I'm just going to tell you. find out from the principal, I'm growing like 500 palm trees and I got all kinds of other trees that I'm given to also to West Pine. So I would love to give them to you because they said they want you guys to plant and I could load up your school. We would love that. Thank you so much. I got a way to get rid of some of my plants. My wife would be so happy.

Actually, Mr. Lewis reached out two years ago wanting more trees on school, so it's perfect.

Yeah. uh so see what happened you came here to apply and you brought back swag for the school right um and there's so much work that that the schools are doing right now uh the school board is launching a recycling curriculum in this coming year and working with the Solid Waste Authority. In addition, Carly, we're going to need you to join the composting pilot program that is just starting. So we'll get you the information before you leave. Just get with Lourdes. She'll put you on that list so you get all that information. And we look forward to working with you going forward.

Thank you so much. Thank you, everyone.

All right, don't go anywhere because we had a motion and a second. We need a formal vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Nope. Congratulations, Carly. Thank you so much. Great job. All right, B, a resolution of the City of Sunrise, Florida, appointing members to the Unsafe Structures Board and providing an effect date. City Manager Mark Lebelski, Felicia M. Bravo, City Clerk. Do I have a motion? Move it. Motion by Commissioner Scudo, seconded by... Deputy Mayor. Okay. So we have a number of different applications. First of all, to Felicia I know she's not well tonight. I want to say on behalf of the commission, we hope she's feeling better. Thank you for stepping in. But you guys really did a great job organizing this on the backup. So everyone knows we've got six applications. However, we have to appoint by discipline. We have one for architect, which is Mr. Balim. We have one for real estate property manager, Mr. Ramos. Do we have agreement on those individuals? Is there consensus? Yeah. Yep. Okay. For the four engineer applications, they're all great applications. In my review, I just kind of tried to figure out if I had to rank, if I only had one. I think Mr. Heckman, Dr. Heckman was what really stood out, but Mr. Guzman right behind that. So it's whatever the will of the commission is on that. Is there a motion? All right, is there a motion on HECMET?

Motion.

Motion by Deputy Mayor, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. Any discussion on that? All right, so the slate is HECMET, BALM, and Ramos. All in agreement? Yeah? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, we're good. Thank you very much to the clerk's office for all the work on this and pulling the applications and to each of the individuals. For the what?

Mayor Ryan, I'm sorry. For the registered engineer, there's only one vacancy.

Right, we're only doing Heckman.

Oh, okay, perfect.

Mr. Ballum's going to be the architect and Ramos is the manager.

Okay, got it.

But for the other three, if you would, please generate a letter of gratitude from the commission to the other applicants, which I'll sign on behalf of the commissions that we communicate that out.

Yes.

All right, thank you so much. All right, we have a number of items. Let's see if we can clear some folks out. There's 12A. Do you have a motion to move that up? Move it up. Motion by Commissioner Skudo. Is there a second? Second. Second by Deputy Mayor. All right, 12A. Commission discussion or action refers to reading orders of the City of Sunrise, Florida, amending Chapter 3, Alcoholic Beverages, Article 1, Alcohol Beverages, by amending Section 3-4, Hours of Sale, Consumption, and Service Restricted, to clarify the hours of sale, service, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. on the premises for establishes fighting for conflict right for some of the right for inclusion city code and providing a city uh... affected a city manager mark about you have a motion move it much like a scudo seconded by commissioner purchase a public hearing anyone wish to be heard on this matter please come forward or press five star on your phone i see no one conformity confirm no hands i confirm no hands are raised all right a close public discussion discussion from my colleagues commissioners for years so i really want to uh...

Thanks, staff, for bringing this forward. At one of our previous meetings a couple of months ago, something tragic happened at one of the banquet halls. And because of that, as a city commissioner, I wanted to make sure that People that have businesses that want to operate after 12, 1, 2, 3, 4 in the morning have to go for the extended license and come before us and go through a whole process. The people who have banquet halls, and I'm just saying, this is just a normal.

The City of Sunrise has a few banquet halls that residents could rent.

You could rent Nob Hill Hall. You could rent Flamingo Hall. You could rent SAC Hall and have parties for your family or whatever. But normally, you don't stay till 4 o'clock in the morning. You're not serving alcohol till 4 o'clock in the morning at one of your city banquet halls. The banquet hall that this happened at was one of the busiest banquet halls that Sunrise had 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago, 20 years ago. It was one of the only banquet halls that we had in the city. It was two-story, set up on top of the second story, and it was called Justin's at the time. served food, and did have alcohol if you had a wedding, a party, a vomit, whatever it is. But some of these banquet halls have been operating as a club. So they say they're a banquet hall, and they've been operating like a club. We know that. So since something tragic happened, even though it was a birthday party, and it just came very... suspiciously when an 80-year-old birthday party going on at 2.30 in the morning, and then someone gets shot and killed. So it just, to me, was like a little bit crazy that we would have a banquet hall in the city operating, selling alcohol after 2, and it could have stayed till 4. There's only so much that we could do. And Mayor, you're a lawyer. Neil is a lawyer. And then I had to ask Tom and had to ask Mark and ask Shannon and Sean and Emily and everybody, because to me it was just, I just didn't feel like it was right. Do we have to now have these people go for a four o'clock extended license, but now we're going to make them operate till X amount? So now we have a catering hall. saying at the city. But normally, all the parties end at 11, at 12, tops. And still, now these facilities may be allowed to stay open to, is it one o'clock? Is it two o'clock? I'm just saying. I mean, I know we're in a tight spot. I'm not trying to do something that's outside. I'm not trying to hurt somebody with their business. It's just, you know, If you're a club, you're a club, okay? And then if you have a club, you have detail. And now with this, we had armed security in a shopping center. And this is where it gets, you know, it gets to me where it's like iffy. If my police officers in the city of Sunrise, I'm not saying mine, I'm saying our police officers in the city, are doing a detail for someone that has a 4 o'clock license, and they're paying our police officers to be there in uniform. What a cop car. But then a banquet hall had a security guard, and it could be a security guard. Maybe they didn't have their name on their shirt. Maybe they were undercovered. There was no way to say who they were, but walking around branding a gun. Now, I'm just saying, if something ever happens, when a cop comes on scene, and now you're seeing somebody with a gun, and this is where it got me. And that's why the guy who was the security guard is the one who shot a person in a wheelchair. Not even, you know, running after him, chasing after him. The gentleman was in a wheelchair, known to people, and the security guard shot him and killed him. So, I mean, I'm not trying to stop this from going through. To me, it just still opens up where... They're not going to have a cop. They're not going to have anything. And I just feel like after 12 o'clock at night. You know, I'm saying one o'clock, two o'clock.

You know, I mean, I think the tough part was and I know I talked to Mr. Lebowski and to Tom on this as well. And the issue is equal protection. Right. They have the same rights as any other business. The points you've raised and raised previously in trying to bring this forward were all salient and almost seem illogical that we can't do something because there's something about an existing business that's open every week. It closes at 1, knows its obligations, right? But the banquet hall is opening itself up to parties, right? that are not consistently managed or overseen. And that's the frustrating part. I'm happy to have a further discussion with Tom before second reading on this, but my sense from talking to Mr. Moss and to talking to Mr. Lebelski was that there was no way that we could, two things. One, that we couldn't impose a different requirement on that business than other brick and mortars for fear of equal protection, and that may be worthy of some additional, and that may not be right. You may be right, though. Here's what I want to say. It may be that's worthy of some further look between first and second reading. The second part, which was, you know, do we ever want them being on the extended hours license? Is there any way to stop them from applying? And the response I got on that was also an equal protection problem. It doesn't mean that we have to grant, because it's pure legislative. That's really important, that the commission has the authority to make that decision in whatever reason it wants and so it's it's not an entitlement uh it's not as a right uh it is something we could be very concerned and i think that if someone from a banquet hall comes forward says i want an extended hours license i think certainly this commission i hope future commissions would be reticent understanding there's no consistent management you don't because we've always had somebody come forward and tell us at the podium oh yeah i'm the manager i'm always going to be there i'm the one i'm not going to case and it's not the case and they rent it out which we don't allow for the extended hours for the club so while we may not be able to prohibit it i think it's going to take a you know i'm just going to say i think it's going to be a big hurdle to ever grant an extended hours under those scenarios when we compared it to businesses that wanted that we didn't give it so I think, you know, for right now, I think the better thing to do is at least move this forward so that there's some regulatory oversight, that we're stopping and we're making clear what – this is really a cleanup. I don't think we ever realized this wasn't here.

It took a murder to figure out that there was something missing. I just wanted to say to one other thing is you mentioned about the brick and mortar or whatever, but it's kind of like an Airbnb if you think of it like that. If you rent your home or you rent your apartment or you rent your condo to someone for one year, you would feel that that person that's renting it for the year is going to be consistent. But when you rent an Airbnb, it's for three days. And usually the people that are renting it are going from zero to 60 for the three days. I mean, we've had this problem where I've never rented one with you, but I can imagine that's probably true. What I'm saying is we've had people where the kids are on the roof, they're jumping in the pool, they got music on every single night. So it's like an inconvenience because it's a party and it's a party to party for the night. till two in the morning where the airbnb is the same you know you're renting your house but it's not to the same person where they're going to be calm and cool and courteous to the neighbors but when you rent your airbnb out every week to somebody different it's always a party it's always and i just don't want to i want to make sure when we do this that it's not going to be where it's two o'clock two o'clock because like we don't even have our own halls to two o'clock And I'm not saying about a church. If church has an event, I mean, we've had where we do special exceptions for some of the churches that come here that do all nighters and things like that. That's totally different. I don't think that people are going to have a church and they're going to be doing what it is that some other people do. So I'm not saying that they won't, but we can only hope. So I just wanted to bring this up. I really want to thank staff for really digging into this deep, but it's still, that I know it's going to 2 o'clock, and I know that they don't have to have a cop, and I know that they don't have to have all these other things in there. I just don't feel comfortable sticking in 200, 300 people that are going to party to 2 o'clock. It just puts us in a bad situation, I think. That's all I wanted to say.

All right. Between first and second reading, Mr. Moss, I think we need to do, and Mr. Lebowski, just a deeper dive on this, because I think all the points that have been raised previously and tonight are the concerns. And if we can't do anything, we can't do anything. But let's just make sure there's nothing, there's no further guardrails we can put on that. All right, any further discussion? Commissioner Clark? Sorry.

Mr. City Manager, is this going to be imposed on the owner of the establishment? They have to register saying that they're going to be open to keep this because according to the reading, it says that they can also get licenses from a person that actually has this type of extended license. So how exactly are we going to really monitor this?

This is more of a clean up slash clarification of the code. So banquet halls operate under typically two different business models. Some banquet halls have their own liquor license and some use outside caterers for those liquor license. What this ordinance does is it says regardless of whether you have your own liquor license or you're bringing an outside caterer, you have to comply with the consumption on premise requirements of Section 3-4 of the code. And it furthermore states that if you want to stay open past 1 a.m. and have alcohol on premise, then you need to get an extended hours license. That's the two components of this ordinance. So there's no registration requirement for any banquet halls. We have done an evaluation of our current banquet halls. There's only a handful that operate in the city. And as far as we know, none of them have their own liquor license at this point.

So we can pull any liquor license if they came for a special exception?

If they come for a special exception, the commission has the ability to approve or deny that special exception. But if they want to stay open past one and consume alcohol, they would need an extended hours license. And that is what Mayor Ryan was saying is legislative. So I just want to confirm.

So how exactly is this information going to be related to the current owners who did not do any of this before? And now they're going to have to change their complete business model. So is there a retroactive? Like what exactly? Because I'm imagining that they would already have individuals who are already pre-registered to have their business operating. So exactly what are we planning on doing?

We'll do outreach to the handful before second reading and making sure they're aware.

And how many of them are in our city?

Like I said, it's less than five, I believe.

So I'm just going to touch on what Commissioner Clark said. They're already operating after two o'clock now, these five?

I do not know if they're operating past two.

Well, we don't want to, she's changing the business model. This is not their business. Wait, wait. If their business model has been to operate past 2 o'clock, well, you were just doing it because there was nothing on the books. I'm not trying to jeopardize their business, but obviously now they were operating like a club and not as, that's what I'm saying. So this is where I was getting at. So I'm, look, this is the reason why I wanted this. And I talked about this because if these five people are operating as a club, okay, and saying that it's a catering hall, and then I'm gonna go further. You said they could either use their own license or an outside license. So now if they go for special exception, who's going for the license? The person that has the establishment with the license? Because a guy that just has a catering business in Coconut Creek but that wants to operate out of... um justin's catering hall how do you give him a four o'clock i'm just saying but that's that because they brought they brought up both licenses i know but if it comes forward it's not before us tonight right but if they come forward looking for a special exception that's when we're going to have to really struggle with that because we can't stop them from putting in the permit her question was there are ones that are operating right now so now that's a different question that's different so now are they operating as a catering hall are they operating as a club

Let me clarify. So with this, if this ordinance gets approved, it doesn't mean banquet halls have to close at 1 a.m. All it means is they can't serve alcohol past 1 a.m. without an extended hours license. So if their business model is to stay open until 2 a.m. on the weekend, they still can do that. This ordinance does not prevent them. It's only if they want to consume alcohol past 1 a.m. is saying you have to get an extended hours license. Yes.

Well, we didn't pass it yet. Right now, they've been operating because there's a loophole. That's the sad part. Yeah, but the point is, is I think...

The point is that there's a lot of things, logistics, that's going to have to change for these individuals who are operating their business because... Well, we caught it, and they shouldn't be doing it. But we didn't have a law that said that.

But now we do. I mean...

Right. So the persons who are operating this business need to be notified so that they can amend their agreement. You guys are not debating anything. We're all on the same page.

So just let her. I think there's two things. One, need to have outreach. Two, let them know this is coming back for a second reading. Anybody wants to come and complain about it?

Yeah, we'd love to meet them, too. I mean, just so that if we could have a business, if we want to know where they're located, that they're open until 4 o'clock. I mean, that would be great for other people that want to go there.

All right. So are we all in agreement? Can we just move this one forward? Yeah. Okay. Any further discussion? Call the question. Did we have public comment? Yeah, I'm going to come back to that. We're not done yet. Call the question.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark. Yes. Deputy Mayor Guzman. Yes. Commissioner Kirch.

Yes.

Commissioner Scudo.

No.

Mayor Ryan.

Yes. Item passes four to one. Tom, you know what to do between now and second reading, and Mark, you know what to do in terms of outreach, yes? Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. At this time, we'll open up for public discussion, public comment on items that are not on the agenda. If anyone here wishes to speak on some item that is not on the agenda, please raise your hand and come forward or press five star on your phone. Is it on the agenda? Not kinda. It either is or it isn't. Yeah, that's on the agenda. Okay. Appreciate you. And I appreciate your patience tonight. I've seen you here all night. So hope you enjoy. You're from? Okay. Well, we'll do the best we can. Make sure you ask Davey about teacher of the month and why they're not doing that. Okay. All right. Any hands raised online?

No, sir.

All right. I'll close public discussion. All right. We've got folks here on 17A. Let's see if we can at least clear the house on those folks. Can I have a motion to move up 17A? Move it. Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. 17A, resolution of the City of Sunrise, Florida, approving a letter of intent, City of Sunrise development incentive agreement between the City of Sunrise and PCGP Holdings II, LLC, providing for a public purpose, authorizing the city manager and city attorney to continue negotiations and take further action, authorizing the city manager to execute an incentive agreement, swap agreement, and an agreement to assign an assignment, an assumption agreement consistent with the letter of intent, and providing an effective date. City Manager Mark Lebelski, can I have a motion? Motion by Deputy Mayor. Could I have a second? Second by Commissioner Clark. All right. This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter, please come forward or press 5-star on your phone. I see no one come forward or no hands raised.

I confirm no hands are raised.

Mr. Lebowski.

Thank you, Mayor. Mark Lebowski, city manager. The city is proposing to enter into a letter of intent with Pinnacle Housing Group to provide an economic development center for the construction of a mixed-use, multifamily housing rental development comprised of approximately 229 residential units. Fifty-seven of the units are affordable workforce housing for 120% of the area median income. The proposed project is generally located on the south side of West Oakland Park Boulevard between Northwest 64th Street and 68th Avenue. Pinnacle Housing has a successful track record here in Sunrise with the previous construction of Pinnacle at Avery Glen on Pine Island Road. The proposed project, called Inspire, is located within the limits of the East Sunrise Improvements Master Plan and the site was identified as an opportunity site in the master plan for redevelopment and specifically referred to this location as a highly visible site that provides unique opportunity for new and high quality rental housing. This redevelopment project could serve as a catalyst for redevelopment other nearby commercial properties that are in desperate need of investment. The properties within the project consists of two vacant undeveloped parcels. The city's incentive is comprised of the following. The city shall acquire a vacant land track, known as the racetrack parcel, within the proposed project site and provide to the developer as part of a land swap for a separate vacant land parcel consisting of approximately .75 acres of land directly adjacent to Northwest 68th Avenue. The acquired .75 acre parcel is intended to be utilized toward future redevelopment of commercial properties on Northwest 68th Avenue. As mentioned previously, 57 of the units will be restricted to affordable workforce housing. The developer is also providing city employees a first look opportunity to rent units within the project prior to the general public. Additionally, Sunrise employees shall receive a 50% discount on rental unit application fees after completion of the initial lease up period and to the extent there is a waiting period for the project, Sunrise employees shall receive a priority on any waiting list for available units in the project. Through a restricted covenant, Pinnacle is also agreeing to maintain the project as a multifamily rental development and shall not convert or permit the conversion of the project to a fee-simple condominium ownership for 35 years from the completion date. The developer has also agreed to substantially demolish the entry features on the east and west side of Northwest 68th Avenue at the southern point of the project and at the intersection of 68th and Sunset Ship. The developer reconfigured the entry features that are reasonably approved by the city and developer, and such work shall be completed within 60 days of issuance of the first CO. In addition to this LOI, a rezoning site plan and development agreement will be required under separate approvals for the proposed project. The project is consistent with the goals and objectives of the East Sunrise Improvements Master Plan and furthers the city's goals and objectives for economic development and the creation of affordable workforce housing. And that concludes my presentation, Mayor.

Okay. Any discussion from my colleagues?

Is the applicant here?

Yes. Come on up, Tim.

He needs to talk on the mic.

Can you give us your name, introduce yourself?

Yeah, Tim Wheat with Pinnacle.

How you doing?

Good.

So I had the privilege of meeting with you. I also had the privilege of voting for the Pinnacle First Project on Pine Island Road probably like 25 plus years ago. You know, as soon as I walked into that meeting and you were looking for monetary, you know exactly what I said right off the bat that I'm not going for it. And I said, if you want to walk, go ahead and walk. Because I just didn't feel like we needed to be subsidizing. So by the end of our meeting, you said that you'd be willing to swap property, that if we buy property, you'd be willing to give us property. And then I went further. So I said, we're going to spend probably about $500,000 plus redoing the two entrances at Sunset Strip and 68th and then the other entrance that we've been wanting to do it. And I said, well, since you guys are going to be there ripping up the ground, you're going to dig footers and you're going to pour concrete. Then why don't you go ahead and build these entrance features for us? So I'm glad to see tonight. that you swap the property you're doing exactly what probably all of us have asked for with regards to uh... city employees and city residents uh... not being able to swap the property uh... like some other apartment complexes have done years ago and then they swapped back and back and forth so i think that true affordable will be reasonable but i really want to thank you for Not just for what I asked to be put into here. I'm sure all of us had our own input of what we wanted, but I think those two entrance features and mark. You know, I was very hot headed when I went in there to make sure that. You know, we're not giving away and I say that because. 20 years ago when the residents didn't want racetrack gas station to go in. And this dragged on for years. This put a, you know, on the residents who live there, people who came out, filled this commission chambers about the fumes and the gas and, you know, I'm just saying, it didn't stop. And we knew that the residents didn't want it, and we pushed not to do it. So it did sit vacant for a long period of time. Then the family members who own the property obviously had their issues over the last couple of years so you could finally purchase the property, but... I think not having the gas station is huge. We could have only wished that the shop and center on the corner would have also, but that'll be for another day for us now that we have the property that's on the corner of 64th, so that if someday we could redevelop both properties together. But I really want to thank you for coming forward uh... and making sure that you're going to put into beautiful entrance features for the people uh... on the east side that are going to welcome this new development uh... and hopefully you don't congest the area but i know it's going to be you know a beautiful building right along oakland park boulevard on a well-deserved piece of property uh... especially for the residents i just want to make sure going forward whatever you guys are going to do as far as the wall and anything else Because we had this, a couple of the last developments that just came, especially the one just now that was built with Joe DiMaggio, that whoever's fence that you're going to take down on the property, that you work with them, that their fence will come up to your wall so that there's not their fence. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, if we could, staff, I mean, it's not in here, but I'm... I'm asking you, Do we need to put that in this in any way? Do we need to? I'm just asking, Mark, and asking Tom, if there's anything that we need to do to make sure that you will work with all the residents that have bought up to that property, that their fences will connect to your wall so that no one will have access behind there, unless you're going to need access back there if you need to maintain the wall. So I would just want to know if Shannon or... whoever, I mean, I don't know if they have anything submitted or what.

So just would caution the commission to get into details on the site plan. The site plan is a separate quasi-judicial item. The site plan is attached in conceptual form to this agreement, but it doesn't go into the level that we're talking about today. And I think that- But you understand what I'm saying, right, sir? Yes, I do. Okay.

Okay, as long as you understand, I'm sure when you go through the process, you will figure out what's best for the residents that we don't repeat the same problem we just had. Not that anybody meant to do it, but... we don't want it to be whereas you know the residents are just against the development and they said don't touch my fence and then now all of a sudden they're like oh why didn't you connect my fence so we did it on hiatus road i just want to make sure that we do this here so you understand what i'm saying i just i had to just put that out it's understood commissioner it's understood and in past development

activities of our company we've been pretty sensitive about that and we reach out to each individual neighbor and try to work with them some opt to have us take their fence out because then if we put a wall up like we would be doing at inspire they get the benefit of that as their rear property line too so We have experience in that area, and thank you for the kind words. We're very blessed to be a corporate citizen here in Sunrise and looking forward to doing it again because I was around, too, for Pinnacle at Avery Glen, and it's been one of our company's great success stories.

And if you could just make sure that maybe you go to one of the homeowners associations down there to tell them that you're going to be working with them, Mark, if staff or whoever wants to coordinate, so at least they know what's coming. Even though the signs have been up, but they were up, they came down, they went up. Now they fell down. I just I want to make sure that the residents know that it's now it's coming because it's been vacant for 60 years.

As a city, I'm saying for those of us who live through the racetrack issues. And I know Commissioner Clark lived through it on the Eastside Residence Association. We lived up here repeatedly for many, many meetings. This is a credit to each of the commissions before who stood strong to city staff who refused to agree and continued to fight back against that. And Pinnacle has a great track record here in the City of Sunrise, as I've explained to you. We were fortunate not too long ago that one of the aides to a congressional representative, grew up in the pinnacle that you approved and talked about how much he enjoyed living there. And so this is good work. You're a good partner in the community. We know that there's already been very significant efforts to address some of the layout issues and ingress, egress, and movement of traffic, and that'll continue. So we look forward to continuing to work with you, and thank you for that. Any further comments? Thank you. All right, call the question. Thank you.

Commissioner Scudo?

Yes.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark? Yes. Deputy Mayor Guzman? Yes. Commissioner Kirch?

Yes.

Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Item passes 5-0. We have a budget item. We may be able to release some folks. 16B, Commission Discussion or Action. That's 16B. Can I have a motion to move that up? Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. 16B, Commission discussion and interaction regarding budget transfer for the City Commission Office, City Manager Mark Lebelski, Lawrence Lawrence Administrative Services. Motion?

Move it.

Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. The backup is here. It's just moving some funds to get us through the budget. Anything further from that, Mr. Lebelski? No, Mayor. Any discussion from my colleagues? Go ahead and call the question.

Commissioner Kirch?

Yes.

Commissioner Scudo?

Yes.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark? Yes. Deputy Mayor Guzman? Yes. Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Item passes 5-0. All right. We've got the automated license plate reader, 16A. Can I have a motion to move that up?

Move it.

Motion by Commissioner Kirch, second by Commissioner Scudo. City Commission discussion and our action related to the automated license plate reader, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman. Thank you. Deputy Mayor, the floor is yours.

Thank you. So I brought this item back for discussion following the new state law regarding license plate readers on state roads. I also believe this provides an opportunity to take a broader look at our program and make sure we understand how it's operating today. This is not about being against or for the license plate readers. We all want a safe community. My goal is to make sure the program is effective, appropriately deployed, and has the proper safeguards. There are a few questions I believe we should answer for our community and for our own knowledge. And if it's possible to get the chief to answer these particular questions. Chief Ransom. Thank you. Some of those questions are exactly what are the guardrails? Who has access? And there's going to be quite a few questions, so I'll go over it. Just let me know. But again, who has access? How is it monitored? How long is the data retained? And who can it be shared with? That's just one part.

Sure. What I'll ask Deputy Mayor is I have a very short intro to kind of lay a foundation. And then what I would like to do is go question by question, if that's okay.

Let me finish all my questions, if that's okay. It's not that long. That's fair. And then we'll go over yours, and we'll just follow up.

Yes, ma'am. But it may answer your questions, is what I think he's saying.

I'd like to just get it out.

That's fine.

Yes, ma'am. Your floor is yours.

Thank you. The other questions are, how many cameras do we currently have in Sunrise, and how many are intended? When we originally discussed the program, the focus was largely on a strategic entry and exit point. Today, the network appears much broader. Is the current deployment consistent with the original plan, and are these the right locations? Also, is the program producing results? I'm sure you have those answers. How many cases has it helped solve or advance? How many stolen vehicles, for instance, or suspects has it helped identify? And do we have evidence that the cameras are helping deter crime? And lastly, I support technology that helps keep our residents safe. At the same time, public safety and public trust go hand in hand, which is why I wanted to bring this up to everyone's attention for that transparency. And my goal tonight is simply to understand what we have, how it's being used, what results we are seeing, and whether there are areas we can strengthen the program and it's possible.

Okay, thank you. That's a lot of questions. I may ask you to repeat some of those. But Mayor and Commission and the community, thank you for the opportunity to address what has become an important and in some cases, a deeply concerning issue for our residents. As the chief of police, I don't believe we should dismiss those concerns, and I don't believe the answer should ever be to trust the police. Trust is earned through transparency, accountability, and responsible conduct. The question before us is not simply whether we should have cameras. The more important question is how we should use the technology, what information is retained, who has access to it, under what circumstances it can be searched, how that access is monitored, and what happens when someone violates the rules. I believe we have an obligation to get all of those things right. ALPRs, or automated license plate readers, have helped law enforcement locate stolen vehicles, develop investigative leads, locate missing and endangered persons, and assist in solving some pretty serious crimes. These are not theoretical benefits. These are real victims, real families, and real investigations where having this information can and has made a difference. At the same time, the fact that a technology is useful does not mean it should be unrestricted. In fact, I would argue the opposite. The more powerful a law enforcement tool becomes, the more important the safeguards surrounding that tool are. That is the position I want to take tonight. I support the continued use of the automated license plate reader technology in the city of Sunrise by the Sunrise Police Department. but I do not support unrestricted use. I support reasonable and effective policies that define its legitimate purpose. I support restrictions on access. I support appropriate retention limits. I support documented investigative purposes for searches. I support comprehensive audit trails, and I support meaningful consequences for any employee who misuses the system, all of which are established in our policy. Every search needs to have a legitimate reason. Every user should be accountable for what they access. And when we have the ability to audit that activity, we should audit it. There is also an important distinction that I believe has sometimes been lost in the public conversation and ALPR or an automated license plate reader camera captures information about a vehicle and its license plate. It does not inherently identify the driver of that vehicle. It is not facial recognition. And the fact that a vehicle passes a camera does not by itself give an officer probable cause to stop that vehicle or establish that the person driving the vehicle committed a crime. The technology provides information. It is how we use that information that matters. We also have to recognize that the Constitution sets a floor for what government can do. Responsible policing should strive to do more than simply ask, is this technically legal? We should also ask, is it responsible? Is it necessary? Is it appropriately limited? Can we explain it to the public? And can we hold ourselves accountable for how it's used? Those are the standards I believe we should apply. I don't believe Sunrise residents should have to choose between public safety and privacy. I believe we could protect both. We can use the technology to help find a missing child without creating a system designed to monitor innocent people. We can use ALPRs to locate a stolen vehicle without giving individual officers unrestricted ability to investigate the movements of their neighbors, friends, family members, or anyone else out of personal curiosity. And we can give our officers an effective investigative tool while establishing safeguards that make misuse difficult, detectable, and subject to discipline. That's the balance I believe we should pursue. So tonight, I'm not here to ask the commission or our community to simply accept ALPRs because I say so. I'm here to say that we should use technology responsibly, establish safeguards, guardrails, audit, and hold ourselves accountable. Because public safety is our responsibility, but so is protecting the constitutional rights and the public trust of the people we serve. Those responsibilities are not in conflict. In my view, the best police department is not one that asks the community to trust everything it does. It is one that is willing to explain what it does, establish rules around what it does, allow its actions to be reviewed, and accept accountability when those rules are violated. That is the standard I do apply to the Sunrise Police Department, and that is the standard I believe our ALPR program does meet. With me here tonight are representatives from Vetted Security Solutions. That's our vendor in this space. The CEO, Ryan Barnett, and I are here to answer questions. A lot of those questions weren't answered, the questions you had. I wanted to lay that on the record for a foundation. If you could, I think I got answers to all of them. But if you could, line by line, I'd appreciate it.

Yes, Mayor. Sure. Okay. So my question, I'm going to go down quite a few. Who has access currently?

So currently supervisors and detectives within the agency have access to the system.

And how many roughly with that total?

It's probably a little over 30 between supervisors and detectives within the agency of the 197 members of the department.

And the data, I guess they can answer, but how long is it retained?

Sure. The data is only searchable to the user, that being supervisors and detectives, for 30 days. They would need supervisor approval to search the data beyond that. I think the question you're asking and the answer you're looking for is the data is archived for three years. So we do have the ability currently through the system to search three years. with supervisor approval, and that's regulated by state law.

So going back to the question about 30 plus people who may have access to it, my ask or discussion amongst my colleagues would be to put the guardrails particularly on that number and not allow that many to have access to it, just to ensure the public and many of us that we are properly authorizing who freely has access at any given time for the proper use. Not that I'm questioning it, but just because I believe the more guardrails we have in place, maybe the more the public may trust, if that makes sense.

Yeah, I agree. It's extremely important to restrict access. It's also more easily audited with less people having access to it. Supervisors and detectives, for the average road officer that has a legitimate purpose to run a search, having to go to their supervisor and explain the justification and do the search with that supervisor is a very restrictive step in that search process. The detectives that have access to it that use the system more often than most, given its ability to produce investigative leads They also have oversight of their investigations level supervisors to ensure that the program is being used appropriately and through the audit process to capture those times where it's not.

before i go to the next questions i don't know if that's something we want to stop right there to discuss go through your questions so the next question would be um how many cameras do we currently have across the city sure good question so the the contract allows for 159 polls 227 cameras in total now we just started this program about a year ago

and we're currently in the implementation phase. So our current numbers are 116 poles installed with 146 cameras on those poles. Some of the poles share cameras, never more than two per pole, but some of the poles do share cameras.

So of the 116 that are currently there, I'm assuming those were maybe like the high treats that were-

Yeah, not necessarily. So there's there's a lot that goes in the permitting process. So some of the county roadways require additional permits. So those are delayed for permitting purposes. The local roadways were more easily permitted locally through the city of Sunrise. So most of the most of locations that are up and active. In fact, all of the locations that are up up and active today are local roadways.

And so out of all the entry and exit points, do you know roughly what that total might be versus the 227 intended?

So I provided a list of all the locations to the commission, and I would have to go through the list to identify every major ingress and egress route to the city itself. I can tell you that some of those locations are in the county permit approval process.

Okay, I'm almost done with some of the questions. I'm sorry. Thank you for your patience. But in reference to the current readers out there that you've been utilizing, has it been helpful? What's the percentage? And then do you believe if we were to add the additional 146, would it really be helpful? Or if we don't, will we be stuck?

So the first part of that question is extremely difficult to answer from a percentage standpoint. I mean, I've provided the commission a list of cases, not just in the original presentation I did over a year ago in establishing this program of cases that we couldn't solve by not having LPRs in place, or that I believe may have been solved should we have had LPRs in place. We have had numerous success stories from a variety of investigations from, you know, very serious crimes to property crimes.

Okay.

And lastly, I'm just about to sum this up. Just as an example, I'm not a pill. We have on Sunrise Boulevard as we're entering Sunrise, and then of course going all the way north to Commercial. Specifically on Sunrise Lakes Boulevard, those particular communities, even on Pine Island, a lot of our senior communities, if you will, there are literally cameras like block to block to block or back to back, if you will. As an entry point and exit, I'm just thinking, where did the strategic part, putting those in there, instead of just the entry and exit, which would have been a sunrise and commercial, like how did that?

Good question. So we didn't just focus on the ingress-egress of the city in its entirety. We focused on major roadways. So I'm going to try to rattle them off. Off the top of my head here from, from east to west. And we'll focus on Oakland park Boulevard. You have 60th, 64th, 68th, Inverary. I've done this before university drive. Uh, you have 84th pine island road, 94th knob hill road, continuing west. Uh, we, we tried to, um, from a strategic standpoint, not just capture. major ingress and egress like uh like commercial and knob hill road major uh entry point to the city and exit point to the city we tried to capture the the major roadways both uh north to south and east to west at the same time to provide specific um say protections to the inner portions of the community Being able to identify cars that go in and out is great, but sometimes these crimes do occur and the suspects are related or local within the community. We wouldn't capture those ins and outs in those cases.

Last question, and I guess it would be to my colleagues. Hypothetically, let's say we don't continue with more than the 116 that are currently out there. How would that look like for our cases and moving forward and whatnot?

So great question. The way the program was created, again, was ingress, egress, and major roadways. If we stopped now, understanding that we haven't captured all the major points in and out of the city, and we haven't captured the major intersections throughout the city, there would be massive gaps within this program. And that would not be my recommendation to... to pause installation at this point.

All right. This is a topic that is worthy of the time being dedicated here tonight and one that is part of a larger discussion that we're all struggling with and that is technology in our lives. We're not struggling with technological advancement of the Walkman to the iPod. We're struggling with far deeper concerns, from AI and the impact on our economy, on our workforce, and even our own safety, to the expansion of technology tools used by both private and state actors. How many of us have walked into a store and surprisingly received a coupon or an email or a text from that store, and we wonder how did they know we were there? Or we've seen stories of grocery chains and other retailers who are deploying facial recognition, they say, to capture shoplifters. We fear the worst opportunities that we give big tech, the opportunities to know us in ways that we don't want them to, to tell us what we should read or see by algorithms they control and they inflict on us. Big tech has generated so many daily benefits to be sure, but there are so many deep concerns for our future. We're at a period of extreme discomfort with technology. We're trusting our institutions and our corporations is difficult to find or even maintain. I don't believe this discomfort is going to be resolved anytime soon. And tonight we're discussing a piece of technology this city uses and our neighboring cities have been using far longer than us and about the civil liberty values that we hold, that this city holds. And I want to be clear from the outset. I don't see these as two things pulling in opposite directions. To the contrary, The ACLU and the Brennan Justice Center, some of the most prominent and unwavering, unequivocal fighters to protect civil liberties, and as I'll outline in a few minutes, they recognize and accept the value of this technology and what it has for a community to protect for victims and for prosecutions. So even the ACLU and the Brennan Center can be a defender of civil liberties and still acknowledge the proper use of license plate readers in our community. And yet I've heard from residents, and we see in the national and local news, those who assume that two positions cannot coexist in the same person or at the same time. They can, because the law itself draws the same line I do. The starting point is not what I believe. It's what the courts have actually decided. In 1983, the US Supreme Court held that a person traveling in an automobile on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his or her movements from one place to another. The information from your plate is not private information. Florida law actually requires you to display that license plate in plain view on every trip, everywhere you go. And if you don't have it, you can get pulled over. It's a crime. It must be visible to the public. In fact, Florida passed a law that you cannot use license plate decorative frames or border stickers or clear tinted covers if they block any part of the license plate number or the letters. That's illegal. It's a crime. It can get you stopped. What the Florida legislature and Florida law says is if your license plate cannot be seen by the world at all times, it's a crime. And when you travel a toll road, the state of Florida uses LPR data to charge your account. They know exactly when you crossed the line. And we know that that's available to state law enforcement. Notwithstanding what FDOT did this past couple of weeks in the performative announcements from state government, they're using that information. They haven't restricted it from themselves. But importantly, Florida law, like what we have here, prohibits government from using that passive point of data to write you a ticket. Yet we know they could figure that out, right? You pass one toll. one time and you pass the next toll at another time and basic physics will tell you you cannot beat space and time. They can tell exactly how fast you're going yet they do not write you a ticket not because they can't figure out how to do it but because Florida law does not allow the passive point data collection to be used that way. We have cameras at entrances and exits of our residential communities both gated and ungated and they've been installed and there for a long time in our community. to protect the residents and determine who's coming in and out. The residents have demanded that. We exist with that. Those have been here a long time. A camera reading what the law already requires you to show is not surveillance of anything private. That's not me. That's what the courts say. And this principle has been tested again and again in Florida and against Florida cities. In 2021, a Miami-Dade resident sued the city of Coral Gables. arguing that its LPR program violated the Fourth Amendment and Florida's own broader constitutional right to privacy. The trial court rejected those claims, and the appellate court in 2023 also rejected that claim. Just last October, a federal court reached the same conclusion in a case brought by a resident challenging the use of LPR technology at the bridge in and out of the city of Marco Island. In that case, even the plaintiff's suing and complaining about the LPR technology conceded that they had no privacy interest in their license plate numbers and that no motorist has a privacy interest in their license plate number. Case after case has made clear, both in state and federal court, a motorist has no reasonable expectation of privacy in the information contained on his or her license plate, not under the Fourth Amendment and not otherwise. And to be clear, though, the courts have been distinguishing this passive collection from the fears that are legitimate, fears generated from the warrantless cell phone collection data targeting individuals, which shows the precise movements of individuals, or where there's no legitimate law enforcement investigative reason why a police officer somehow searched the LPR database or any other database that they have access to. In both of those scenarios, the deep concerns I share and you share are violations, but that's not this program. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that technology threatens some right on your public road because it doesn't. And I won't manufacture a crisis or a controversy to make it seem like I'm taking your concerns seriously. I'm also not going to react in a knee jerk way or listen to the loudest voices or look to where some cities and counties who do not have our issues. that reflexively terminate out of fear a legitimate law enforcement tool to catch criminals, give victims justice, find missing children and adults, and recover stolen property. We attract tens of millions of visitors to our community. We're incredibly fortunate to be situated along 595 that can take you from Fort Lauderdale to Marco Island, or 75 that can take you from Key West to Tallahassee, or that you can get to Miami-Dade County and Palm Beach County and beyond very rapidly. This infrastructure is part of what makes living and doing business here in Sunrise attractive. We're also home to nationally known attractions, what some would call hard or soft targets, the Sawgrass Mills Mall and the Ameren Bank Arena. Again, attractive for visitors and our own residents. And at the same time, we're a working class community with neighborhoods and enclaves located along major east-west corridors, Commercial, Oakland Park Boulevard, Sunrise, and north and south quarters from Pine Island to University, and we're close to 441. My point is we're not some rural community. We're not some rural county. We're a major destination, and the same features that make us attractive for investment and jobs and entertainment make us attractive for criminals who can flee quickly to other cities, other counties, and other states. But that being said, I take the concerns regarding this technology seriously. And here's what part I want. everyone who's concerned about civil liberties, all the residents, to hear clearly. The fact that a single plate read on a public road isn't a constitutional violation doesn't mean I think the program should be unrestrained or that's the end of the discussion. In fact, it's exactly the opposite, as the chief said. Some of these cases didn't stop at no privacy in your plate. They specifically distinguish this kind of momentary discrete capture from the sustained aggregated tracking the Supreme Court has recently found troubling involving warrantless cell phone tracking. But then noting at the same time that these technologies, these cameras provide only a snapshot of a vehicle's location at a discrete time when traveling, not a continuous record of someone's life. That distinction, passive versus active tracking, is important and it tells me where our responsibility begins. LPR program without retention limits, without access controls, without anyone checking to look at what anyone looked at and why, without supervisory authority, which is not even required under Florida law, is the kind of program that could eventually become an aggregated surveillance, one that the Constitution guards against. Searching that data by a police officer for some personal outline, as I'll outline in a moment, is not only a violation of policy in Sunrise, it's a crime. it would expose the city to lawsuit damages however a program with a hard retention cap consistent with state law and fdle guidelines named and trained users only supervisory authority for access a logged case number behind every search and mandatory audits keeps this as a tool that solves specific crimes And it stays away from that constitutional line or even the privacy concerns that are being raised, sometimes out of a lack of understanding of what the program is or just legitimate fears of big tech. This is what the policies of Sunrise Police Department and certainly my own expectations sitting up here are. That is what I mean when I can support civil liberties, not as a rhetorical hedge attached to a technological vote, but as a standing expectation of, as the chief said, how power gets used in this city. We didn't invent these commitments that are required or leave them to chance, and neither did the state of Florida. Under the Criminal Justice Information Services, often some people know it as CEGIS, just as the acronym. Under those guidelines and FDLE guidelines and Florida statutes, here's some important points. No deployment of data access happens without supervisory authority. Only trained or named personnel may have access to the data. To do otherwise is a violation of policy and law. Every investigative search is logged with a case number, with investigative access capped at three years pursuant to the FDLE guidelines. Your personal identifying information is confidential and exempt from Florida Public Records Act. It can't be released to the public or sold or handed to any agency outside the criminal justice system. The department undergoes mandatory audits of every access to the system, and the LPR cannot be issued or used to issue a traffic citation full stop. This is not how it's used. It's not how the state uses it, not how we use it, and it's not allowed under Florida law. I point out that the organizations most skeptical of this technology are exactly focused on the framework I just outlined. They're asking for that identical framework, and that's what we've agreed to. The Brennan Center for Justice has recommended access logs to specify that officers and a particular crime are being investigated, and regular audits to evaluate safeguard effectiveness. We agree. I'm not fighting those standards. I'm telling you, we already meet it, and I demand we keep it that way. And guardrails matter, but so does the reason we have the program in the first place and what it does and what it doesn't do. The purpose provides vehicle-based investigative leads, real-time alerts for wanted vehicles, stolen vehicles, amber and silver alerts, and assists in criminal investigations. It does not capture information. names and driver identity, addresses, phone numbers, biometric information, or facial recognition data. Appropriate and lawful information sharing is crucial to the effectiveness of the LPR technology. Fighting crime, catching criminals, finding missing children and adults in prosecutions to achieve justice all require sharing with authorized departments. The ability to share information with other authorized criminal justice agencies can assist investigators criminal activity missing persons and wanted individuals who we know will cross jurisdictional boundaries such sharing should occur only for legitimate law enforcement purposes and should be guided by applicable law policy and access controls the ability of law enforcement to share and to query across jurisdictions can help and has helped and I'll show you how to connect cases locate people in danger identify suspects who've moved from one community to another and that capability is particularly important in time-sensitive investigations. It is governed by clear policy, appropriate access controls, auditing, and accountability. Nationally, it's reported that agencies using LPR data report stolen vehicle recoveries are up 68 percent, arrests are up 55 percent, and productivity is up 50 percent, productivity meaning and I'll talk to you about an incident of this, every hour an officer isn't trying to locate a car known to be involved in a crime that's trying to hide itself is an hour not paying for overtime, an hour that an officer is spending doing something that's human, that only a human can do, or on another case. This isn't theoretical for the people it's helping. For the victims who got justice they deserve, or their property back, or for someone who found a loved one. Here's what the ACLU has said. License plate readers can serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose when they alert police to the location of a car associated with criminal investigation. I agree. LPRs are legitimate tools when used narrowly tailored for law enforcement purposes, such as identifying vehicles that are stolen, involved in a crime, or associated with fugitives. I agree. The Brennan Center has outlined the use of this technology and that it has had some very high-profile successes. Man accused of stabbing several people after breaking into a rabbi's home during Hanukkah celebration was found due in part to LPR devices. A Tennessee girl abducted by her non-custodial father was recovered when the license plate camera reader spotted his car. And the police were able to use information from an LPR to halt a string of random shootings on highways in Kansas City. These are the public defenders of civil liberties that we look to for the standards. who are fighting as advocates to protect us while acknowledging that there is value. And closer to home, I know this conversation is happening in cities across our state and counties across our state. I don't take that as noise. I take it as residents everywhere doing what they should, asking the government to justify itself. In some cases, there are cities who kept their systems working, Some have taken a pause. State government has ordered a pause on state roadways to no more permits, but they haven't said they'll stop using the data. The FDOT directive only halts permits on state roads that are in our city. They didn't stop using LPR for tolls or use for state law enforcement or for ICE or any other reason. Only those that protect our local businesses and our neighborhoods. And with all respect, that's not quality policymaking. That's reaction, and it's performative. I saw one city said there should be no sharing outside their city. I would note that when our colleague and our friend, Commissioner Nancy Mateo, was murdered, LPR technology from a different city was used to track and catch the suspect. This is from public reporting, nothing behind the scenes. After police discovered Commissioner Mateo deceased in her home following a wellness check, law enforcement issued a BOLO for her husband as a potential suspect. plantation, license plate readers captured a hit on a vehicle on State Road 7 in U.S. 441. This is from Coral Springs where she was murdered at the plantation. Using the LPR data, the Coral Springs Police Department, with the assistance of the Broward County Sheriff's Office and plantation police, tracked his pickup truck to an apartment complex and plantation. Based upon that data, officers placed the location under surveillance and witnessed the husband handing a bag containing a firearm to an associate. The husband was quickly taken into custody at the scene and charged with first-degree premeditated murder and tampering with evidence. If Plantation, in response to this discussion, had refused to share data for a legitimate investigation, which we can all agree, apprehending the suspect would have been at the very least delayed. The impact on the prosecution from that delay or not recovering a weapon After not recovering a weapon, observing the suspect handing it to someone else is not knowable by me. But we all can agree that's not ideal. And if you're the family, it's definitely not ideal. But we know in our own city, when we were trying to find a fugitive, because we issued an alert to find the vehicle, an LPR in New York hit on a license plate. And law enforcement was able to track him down. apprehend the suspect, and bring him back to Florida for justice. I say thank you to that community for not turning off their LPRs. And there have been plenty of cases that have been identified by the chief. I'm not going to read them all. 2026 homicide, using other agency LPRs and Sunrise, apprehending the suspect in New York. Homicide, June 2026, located in the city of Fort Lauderdale, using LPRs from Fort Lauderdale and Sunrise. Homicide, April 2025, using LPRs from other jurisdictions. Homicide, September 2024, using, again, LPR data from other jurisdictions charged with felony murder and other felony charges. Homicide, June 2022, when we had to rely on our neighbors for help because we didn't have LPRs. Arrested the suspect charged with first-degree homicide. Attempted murder, August 2021. LPR data showed the vehicle had been recently parked at a local hospital because the folks we were chasing were there to treat for their injuries that were sustained. Law enforcement identified that location. It was in a hospital in Sunrise because we didn't have one. All suspects were charged with attempted murder. April 2021, homicide. Again, captured because of LPR data from another jurisdiction. Homicide, October 2020. LPR is used to obtain a license plate of the vehicle and the path that the vehicle traveled before and after the homicide, that individual is currently serving life sentence without parole. And traffic homicides. September 2022, a traffic homicide after a vehicle struck a pedestrian and fled the scene using LPR from other jurisdictions. April 2021, officers responding. During the investigation, they were able to identify Traffic homicide defectives were able to use LPRs to determine the path that traveled by the suspect before the accident. January 2021, another traffic homicide on North University Drive. Or how about burglaries and other crimes? An occupied burglar using, again, August 2026, using movements from other jurisdictions and other LPRs, tracked him to Miami, where he was hunted down and a warrant was issued and he was arrested. Or a missing person, an endangered 69-year-old female. The LPR data was used to locate her in Miami and Davie Police locating her, returning her safely to her family. July 2021, an armed robbery in conjunction with Lauderhill, who we have been relying upon for years for help. Case after case, we had to call and say, we have a crime here. We cannot track the vehicle. Have you gotten a description on a vehicle that looks like this or a potential license plate with this? members of the Lauderhill Police Department Broward Sheriff's Office arrested and took him into custody. Or a lewd and lascivious exhibition with a minor in May of 2021. Again, using the Lauderhill Department's LPR system led them directly to the suspect and a full post-Miranda confession of the disgusting act that he committed. Or felony battery, and I can go on and on. How about the crimes that weren't solved? We still have a Sunrise Roadway tragedy case. That's a cold case. Where occupants were involved in a road rage incident. The passenger of one vehicle was shot and killed. That family is outraged we haven't been able to solve it. And it happened on one of our roads and we did not have LPR. Or Easter Sunday in 2022, a homicide, still a cold case. We got the make and model, but no footage of the license plate. Or I remember a possible aggravated assault where someone thought they were being run over and it was a description of a car that seems relatively unique. And for three or four days, detectives and police officers on overtime had no data about the car other than a description and went through records all over the county trying to identify every vehicle that could be possibly that looks like that because there was no LPR data.

Can I say something?

I'm not done yet. Leaving aside the identifiable value and the number of cases we believe were not solved because we didn't have the technology, and those that were solved only after extraordinary dedication of resources taken away from other law enforcement responsibilities, that doesn't end the analysis either. Because that's what law enforcement would say for every technology. It has value. Instead, we've been evaluating the systems because our department's been on the front line of relying on this technology for a long time, long before we had it, relying on our neighboring cities for help in catching criminals and crimes that happen here. I won't pretend that there's never been any abuse of this system, as has been reported, and reporting across the country, we've seen officers have misused the kind of access, checking on an ex or a family member or an acquaintance, And all those have been reported out of state. I'm not going to stand here and tell you it never happens. What I'll tell you is that every one of those cases came to light either because somebody reported it or an audit trail caught it. And the officers were suspended, fired, or criminally charged. This is not evidence that the system failed. It's evidence that oversight we demand is and can do its job. And I'd ask you to measure that against every other institution we entrust with sensitive personal information about you. We've seen hospital employees paid to illegally sell thousands of medical records and social security numbers and to sell that to criminal networks. And hospitals have paid large settlements when employees have stolen that data. We're playing whack-a-mole like all cities to catch those who are installing card skimmers, credit card skimmers on gas pumps, not just here in Florida, across the nation. And here, who has not had a credit card statement come in and identify a purchase of something large screen TVs in Wisconsin or something, then you were never there because someone got our data from a legitimate transaction we conducted. None of us proposed shutting down hospitals or gas stations over those crimes for those breaches of trust in our institutions. None of us stopped going to hospitals or doctor's office. We continue shopping even if we're more careful. What we expect is prosecution of those responsible and that our institutions remain accountable. Because the standard that no system may exist unless it's absolutely abuse-proof is not a standard any institution or business could ever meet. And what this program is not, it is not handing policing data over to a private company. We have cameras and software. Every decision that actually matters, who's authorized, who can access, how long it's kept, who it can be shared with, and how the audits are conducted sits with the Sunrise Police Chief. And that's all under FDLE guidelines, not in some vendor's boardroom. For those who say let's just reduce, and I'm not just talking at Sunrise, but across, let's just reduce the number or shut off. Having established there's no constitutional right being violated, having established the privacy protections that the civil liberties groups have sought and even added more with the supervisory oversight, I ask why? Why shut off? Why reduce? For what purpose? That's not actually the right question. The better question is, where? Where do you propose you shut it off? The police department has identified based on criminal data, crime data over the years, key access, ingress to our city, but also to our neighborhoods and our businesses that are vulnerable. Whose neighborhood do we shut off? To whose neighborhood do we send the message to criminals that they can go and commit crimes and escape more safely? Do we decide to reduce the cameras along Sunrise Lakes 1, 2, 3, and 4, an area that has been targeted, a vulnerable population that's victimized routinely with quick ingress, egress? Whose businesses and neighborhood do we communicate that we are unwilling to provide the same protection? When I look at this in depth, not reflexively or listening to only the loudest voices or those that aren't looking at the facts or the policies and the limitations, Or responding to distant abuses that exist in every technology, my answer is that we've already required this department to operate under retention limits, access logs, confidentiality protections, supervisory authority for access to data, which is a heightened policy. Proof of a valid investigative basis and independent audits, all of which exceed the constitutional demands. Not because some lawsuit told us, because that's the government at least I want. I stand behind your civil liberties. I stand behind this technology in the same breath because this is a city where those are not two different promises. They are one. When law enforcement says it needs a tool to better protect us and catch criminals, to help finding missing persons and to act as a deterrent, and when they've already agreed to all the safeguards sought and more, I will not be the one to explain to a victim or a family why it's taking so long to solve a crime or why we couldn't protect their neighborhood and solve the crime. the business or to find their loved one or return their property without legitimate and concrete reasons i won't be the one to tell them they deserve less protection from violent crimes property crimes and why the pursuit of justice was delayed as a broken promise or why our only hope is to rely on our neighboring jurisdictions that have kept the program i don't stand alone in this our own fraternal order of police issued a letter And above all the other values that I've talked about, they touched on one that's important for us. They say equally important, LPR technology can enhance officer safety. Not just officer safety for our officers, officer safety throughout the nation. Knowing that a vehicle is associated with a wanted person, an outstanding criminal investigation, or a dangerous incident, wherever that has occurred, can allow officers to approach a situation with greater awareness and preparation. Anything that provides our members, and I'll expand, anything that provides law enforcement with additional information before an encounter that can potentially prevent an officer or a member of the public from being placed in unnecessary danger is a program we need. Mayors in Miami-Dade County sent a letter to the governor and to FDOT. from Miami Beach, Bay Harbor, Bell Harbor, Aventura, Sunny Isles, Golden Beach, and Indian Creek Village. They face a problem that we don't face. Virtually every road they have is a state road. And FDOT's decision to shut it off has left them exposed. They wrote a solid letter saying they need this technology and want to continue the discussion so that we can solve this problem together. And finally, lots of rural jurisdictions Rural counties, I saw reported today, have shut this off. Some of the counties had eight or nine for the entire county. Some cities had nine or ten of these. I do not fault them. That is the expectation of home rule. That's what their residents want. That's what they want to do. But we are not a rural jurisdiction. The crimes I've outlined are not theoretical. This is not scare tactics. These are crimes that are people. These are our residents. These are people who live in our community who deserve justice and who deserve protection. So this is a worthy discussion. Don't take from my tone that I think that this should be short shrift. There are debatable issues. And I thank the department for going beyond the policies that were ever required by FDLE or called upon by the civil liberties advocates by requiring supervisory authority that has limited, as Deputy Mayor pointed out, to a core group because there shouldn't be a policy out there where just any road patrol officer can access without there being some justification, period, end of story. That crosses closely to the constitutional line. Chief, I welcome further discussion about the location. I understand that the county still has not approved some of these permits, but your support For this program and the work of your officers and detectives is making a difference in our community. To the other jurisdictions that have been helping us for years, I remain grateful, as I've said before. Each of them deserve thanks, wherever it was in the country, including our contiguous neighbors. Thank you, Chief. Commissioner Scudo.

So this is... This is like multi tiered I mean this just didn't start out by. People are just worried about the license plate readers so I mean it's political on one end there's governors all over this country running right now there are senators all over this country running there's Congress people all running so. Whoever they pissed off and flocked that started this, that they're after flock in general. So, I mean, everybody thinks that the only people that do this is flock. I'm just saying as a name. So now you have everybody that starts bringing in everything about, you know, we're looking at what they're doing. You know, just like when we started to do the red light cameras. So New York started the red light cameras like 20 something years ago. We didn't start them until 10 years ago. They probably were doing them more than 25 years ago. New York has speed cameras. We didn't start getting the speed cameras over the last couple of years right now. So all these cities went through, the major cities went through what we're seeing again now. So the LPRs is like the next thing that we're seeing. And it's mainly, they're gonna push it to you now to say your men and women are looking for their girlfriends, their boyfriends, someone who did something wrong and they want to investigate. So it's not, look, if Christopher Columbus, when he came here, had other than a compass If he was advanced and had Morse code, which imagine Morse code, how, right? Then there was lighthouses to try to see where people are coming from. Come on, we have GPS. You could put it in your phone. So now people are all worried about we're looking into whatever it is that they have with the LPRs. But yet every person in America walks around with a phone. If anybody wants to know where you are, like the mayor said, and I want to say to the mayor, you know, to both you and to Neil and I'm only saying this because on a night like tonight it's very nice to have two lawyers up here that are very detailed and know exactly the information to look for and look at and know the other side because regardless of what it is that you do I only may see one side because I'm sitting up here as an elected official representing the residents But they are doing the same as I'm doing, but then they look at the other side. What is right? What is wrong? And Commissioner Douglas is in the audience tonight, and when he was up here, he had issues with the red light cameras. So he saw both sides. At one point, we had three lawyers up here. So... Look, now we get to, you mentioned supervisors, because Commissioner Guzman asked you about, and you said supervisors. But so now to people in general that are thinking about this, because they're thinking of who has access to this. You know, they're thinking that every cop in our city has access. They could just go on the computer and put in somebody's tag number and figure out who and what or whatever. So... Is that the case that 196 of our police officers all have access to go into this computer?

No, sir. It's, like I said, supervisors.

Right. Okay. So now you say supervisors. So now in a normal person, is that a detective? Is that a sergeant? Is it a lieutenant? Tell me how it would start off.

So there's supervisors and detectives. The supervisors at the rank of sergeant, lieutenant, and above, to include the division commanders and the majors, deputy chief and myself, would have access to this system. I'm telling you, I would never use it. It's just not in my job description. But sergeants are typically here on an early promotion would be six, seven years. But our average supervisor is here for eight years. It's a seasoned member of the department. to reach that supervisor level. It's the same, a little less sometimes, as it relates to the detectives. These individuals are here maybe three, four, five years before they reach that rank. So these aren't the new officers coming in. These are officers that have been here for quite some time.

So as the chief, you feel comfortable in the amount of people that you have that are allowed to access this right now? Yes, sir. And they're only specifically assessing this into the computer system for the LPRs if it's an investigation or something. It's not like just I want to look up somebody's license plate. So I'm just saying. So if that's personal, I mean, look, anybody could do something stupid. No one's saying not. But if you have, like you said, if it's somebody who had eight years on the job, obviously that person doesn't want to lose their job. And then if they have to go to a sergeant, and the sergeant has to go to a lieutenant, and this guy has 10 years and this guy has 15 years, they're not going to jeopardize. I'm just saying, in a normal scenario, no one's obviously, unless you do can have someone that may, but you feel the 30 people that have access You feel comfortable?

Don't commit me to 30. It's about 30. But yes, sir, that's correct. I feel comfortable with the restriction being placed or access being restricted to supervisors that be sergeant and above and the detective division.

About 30. So now I know for just personal. So every time that the Lord Hill cops would come in my restaurant, and you all know this, and I would say, thank you. Thank you for letting us use your LPRs. And I would say we have nine, but none of them were even on, right? I'm just saying, up until how many years ago? Four, four, five years ago. And then this opened up, I'm saying for us as a city, only opened up that we had nine until Sawgrass Mills Mall came here and asked if we would be willing, if they pay for them, that they could put them on their property. And I'll just say, I'm going to go back. When I first got elected 30 years ago, all of our police officers, men and women, did not even have a computer in the cop car. So here, you didn't even have a computer. And the mayor said, imagine now going on a call Knowing that you're going to this home or this business and the person who owns it or whatever is a convicted criminal or a rapist or was whatever. You have all that information on hand. But imagine 30 years ago when I first got elected. They gave me a beeper. I'm just saying. They gave me a beeper for the city. They didn't have cell phones back then. They just were starting. I think it was a Nokia then. Then it went to Blackberry. So I'm saying all this technology that you guys have used to help you to get to where we are. We put in the red light cameras because we had T-bone accidents. We put in... The speed cameras now, because we feel in the school zones, you did a study that there was 13,000 in three days that people were going over the speed limit. And now the LPRs. I don't want to say it, but Sergeant Riker, right? They had the picture of this white car. And that's all they had. They shot and killed him, and all they showed all over the news, because years ago, the only way you could try to catch someone was put it in the newspaper, but there are no more newspapers, okay? Put it on the news, right? Which that's when they try to catch people by putting it on the news, but now they don't really, Crime Stop has very limited. So we're getting to where everybody now has a phone. So for all the people that are worried about us looking after them, but they're not going to go put their phone down. And if they don't have a phone and they're driving in their car, well, OnStar knows where you are. So how many crimes have you solved with OnStar? How many people have gotten stuck with OnStar and they could pinpoint where they are? And the mayor brought up. Because of someone's phone, we were able to catch a murder victim who committed a murder in Sunrise because of a phone. So, look, I want to commend Fort Lauderdale because they started along with Lauderdale and they have let us use their information. And I've always asked to bring it forward. And when we finally did, Sawgrass came here, and then after that, it opened it up to what you did. I wholeheartedly agree exactly how the mayor laid it all out. We're using it because 25 years ago, anybody whose car got robbed, do you know what they said, where it got robbed? Sawgrass Mills Mall. So anybody who had a car robbed, they said, I was at Sawgrass Mills Mall, they robbed my car. They didn't even go to the mall, you know what I'm saying? But they used it because they said, oh, that's a big parking lot. We'll just say we were at the mall and they robbed my car. So then all these smash and grab robberies, right? And then the Sawgrass scene, this was happening to them constantly, right? I mean, one day I was at Sawgrass Mills Mall. I was at Villaggio Restaurant with my family. And all of a sudden, all the people came running out of the mall. And I couldn't believe how fast the managers of the restaurant locked all the doors and stuck everybody in the kitchen. And I was, because of a smashing grab. And it happened to them. I mean, you guys know. I mean, it's happened, you know, hundreds of times. So now the mall gets shut. I'm just saying. And then now we can't get those people because we didn't have tag readers. So they started it here in our city. We helped by now installing ourselves. I mean, ring cameras. I mean, everybody's watching people's ring cameras, but how many times have ring cameras solved things that we needed? I have cameras in my restaurant and just this week we had another. You know homicide on University Drive. Individuals traveling over 100 miles an hour. Gentlemen going home. Gets killed someone doing over 100 miles an hour. Now our detectives go out do their job. And they go to all the businesses and say, hey, you got a camera? You got a camera? You got a camera? Can I see him? Seeing the guy went to this bar, then he went to that bar, turned around on university. So, I mean, look, I mean, the mayor said exactly, I hate to see when I'm driving, the guy next to me at the light has a license plate with the dark dome Well, you can't see his license plate. And I'm like, I always ask the cops. When you see that, do you just automatically pull them over? But then people get pissed that, hey, oh, just because I have the bubble, I'm allowed to have the bubble.

Then they start their, you know.

Look, we're not here to go into people's homes. We're not here to go into. But look, if you're doing something wrong, you know, it's a tool for you to catch them. You know, no different than if I don't want to put the E-ZPass in my car because I want to drive up north and I don't want to pay the toll. I mean, it can't happen anymore. I'm going to get hit at commercial, Atlantic, sample. So come on. I mean, for all the people that are talking about that it's invasive, it's intrusive, it's whatever, I don't feel that's why we're using it. So I'm happy to support this. Most of ours are on city roads. They're not on state roads. And what? They did this for a political reason. And that's how this all pretty much started. They're all running for office, and a governor feels like, hey, I'm running. If a million people in Florida or a million people in Texas got a red light camera or got a speed camera or got whatever, they're going to vote against whoever's in office. I mean, they're playing a game. And some of these races are close, and they're all using it for something. So... Whatever it is that you need as a tool, you know, I'm going to support because I've been here from the beginning when you had nothing. And if this is just another tool in your toolbox to help us to avoid with the red light cameras, T-bone crashes, rear end crashes, where, you know, we pretty much... helped a lot in that way. And when Chief Brooks first came to us and proposed this, it was the same as like what we went through with this. The same thing when we did for now the speed cameras in school zones, people could talk about it. People are still talking about it because now the school started and I hear it all the time. Oh, I just got $100. Oh, I just got $100. Okay, so it's just trying to tell you, you know what I'm saying? You got to be in a school zone. You got to slow down. You know, the same thing. If you're going to commit a crime, you're going to get caught. You know what I'm saying? And like the mayor said, I can't even believe, like, if we would have called Lord of Hill and Lord of Hill would have said, you know what, Sunrise? These are our cameras. We can't help you. And we don't want to support you. You're on your own. You know, if you don't have the cameras, come on. I mean... I think because of how many people have access to it, people could think that's a large amount. But how many detectives you have?

Currently 14.

Okay. So right there, that's almost half of the people who should have access to this. Then you have sergeants and lieutenants. So it's not like you really have anyone that shouldn't really have this access. So I think we're in the right direction of how you're doing this. The only thing I could say bad about them is how big the solar, and that's the other thing that people say. So if anything, that is the only thing that I hear. Because when those first started going in, everybody thought that those were speed cameras because, I mean, that's what it is.

They still do.

Right. And I would just say the last thing with the Sawgrass Mills Mall, imagine what we used to buy for surveillance. A scissor truck with the glass on top that we would raise up in one little part of the sawgrass to look out to see if we could see a crime or put it somewhere else. But that was what we had at the time. And times have changed to get something that's a little bit easier and not manned. Not that I'm taking away from manned stuff, but It's going to help you a thousand times over than putting 50 of those things around the mall because the people were robbing or stealing or robbing cars or whatever it is. So, I mean, technology is going to change. I'm 59 years old, and you know, I did not email or text until like last year. So I did make it 58 years of my life without emailing, texting, or whatever. But I see that now it is an easier way to communicate. So for you guys to have these extra tools, I'm more than welcome to support what it is that you need. And for the people that think that this is something where we're trying to invade their privacy, that's not the case and that's not what we're using it for. All right.

To my other colleagues, it was public discussion, but I'll open it up before anybody has any comments before public discussion.

I have comments, but I'll wait until public discussion. I'll wait until public discussion.

Okay. Okay. All right, I'll open up for public discussion. I know there are a couple of folks that have signed up, if you would. Jason, who's Jason? Okay, perfect.

His 20 minutes are up. He's really late for wherever he got to go.

Yeah, he's in trouble at home.

I was planning on going python hunting tonight, but I think I missed that opportunity. You can go get your horse in Davie and ride out there. All right, give us your name and your address, please, sir. My name is Ben Olson. I'm your neighbor from Davie and 11600 Southwest 21st Court. FLOC is already an aggregated surveillance system, and I have a bit of experience with the topic because I found out that I was illegally tracked using these cameras, as were dozens of individuals in the conservation world. So if you're asking why this is coming about in the state news right now, that is why. Just as some background, I'm also a fourth generation rancher in Hendry County where my family owns property. Just over four years ago, myself and my neighbors learned that the Army Corps of Engineers was intending to use eminent domain and flow adjustments to seize and flood more than 30,000 acres of privately owned primary panther habitat, my ranch included. Since that time, I've spent somewhere just under 4,000 hours unpaid fighting this project, the Western Everglades Restoration Project, and advocating for both private property rights and the rights of the critically endangered animals on these properties. In April of 2024, I released evidence that this primary panther habitat was being deliberately flooded out, despite these lands never historically having this kind of water on them, which I proved using surveys from the 1800s, 1900s, and 2000s, three centuries of evidence. In July of this year, I learned that just a few days after I released that evidence, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission illegally accessed my driver and vehicle information database, or David information, to obtain my vehicle information to begin spying on me utilizing these cameras. Just to confirm, the FWC has already verified there was no bona fide criminal investigation into any of us. As I said, there are dozens of individuals being illegally tracked, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists, conservationists, influencers, all for practicing constitutionally protected free speech in government meetings. But it's not just the individuals themselves, it's their families too. While I was fighting for my family's land, I was also living with my parents, taking care of my mother through early onset dementia. I got her David audit log back last week. FWC illegally searched a woman nine years into dementia to find information that they could then use to track her son using flock cameras. Including my father, the FWC illegally accessed our information 50 times. My family was searched on David because I was exposing corruption in Everglades restoration, pointing out that government officials were destroying tens of thousands of acres of panther breeding grounds with smiles on their faces, stories that don't hit the news but occur in state meetings almost every month. An internal network audit of Davies Flock Network for April 29, 2024 shows that mere hours after my family was illegally searched, the Davies Flock Network was accessed 11 times to track vehicles by the FWC for the same criminal investigation. Unfortunately, local municipalities such as yourself don't actually have access when another agency searches it. It comes back redacted to you. So I will have to somehow get that information from Davey. But from what we've uncovered otherwise, these cameras are routinely abused by FWC to track dissidents, for lack of a better term. One of the most blatant offenses found thus far was a file from Miami's 2023 FWC Commission meeting titled FWC Commission Meeting Intel and the Flock Data, in which commission's law enforcement officers tracked 46 individual vehicles of people who were going to speak that day. All because these individuals speak in the meetings. And make no mistake, your advocates who speak up in public meetings for the environment are your canaries in the coal mine. Or to make the metaphor a little more Florida, we're your wood storks in the swamp waters. Just as wading birds are an indicator species for the health and well-being of your wetlands, your advocates who speak up in meetings are an indicator sample for the health and freedom of your population. You need to remove these cameras. The FWC story is still developing, but that's why the state is moving right now. irony of all this is i was planning on running out the door to go python hunt with fwc staffers i missed it obviously but the biologists aren't to blame for their leaders since the employees of your police agency aren't to blame for the actions of state law enforcement officers but make no mistake i guarantee if you run a network audit on april 29 2024 you'll find the same fwc searches for myself and your cameras as well because i drive through sunrise like anybody else to go to the mall and just I didn't choose this life. I was farming and ranching when I found out my land was going to be stolen. I came into advocacy because I was pushed into it. But with that came responsibility. And that responsibility I found out is that for the last two years, it's been me and myself and my family being tracked by these cameras. And if we don't do something right now, in the next two years, it will be you and yourselves and your families. And Ms. Deputy Mayor, just to answer a few of your questions, unless your municipality is unique, State and federal law departments have access to your network wide and you can't actually see what they're doing with the information. Just run an internal network audit and you'll see just how frequently it's accessed. I also have an economics degree. Objectively speaking, when we point out how these cameras solve crime, looking at the actual analysis broadly, year over year there's zero correlation between an increase in these cameras and a decrease in crime. These cameras also have AI query abilities. I might be the only person stupid enough to drive a Toyota Camry out into the Everglades, but driving back into town, all they need to do to access to find my Camry is search dirty Camry, and they'll get pictures of any muddy Camry driving by, not just license plates. Mayor, with respect, four years ago my neighbors and I heard that we were the loud voices in the room, and we stopped 30,000 acres of panther habitat.

And I congratulate you on that. Sometimes loud voices are important. I agree.

I've been speaking a long time. I will shut up now.

As I said, I'm not going to only listen to loud voices. We're going to look at this the way it should be. And the abuses that you point out,

should be fully investigated there's no question this from an audit we found it from a whistleblower it's dozens of us all right but this is very systemic and i would encourage you to suspend your system like pembroke pimes pending investigation to make sure that you guys were not improperly utilized as well because this is systemic thank you very much for letting me speak i apologize for going no no i'm glad you stayed go talk to davey about teachers of the month will you talk to mr bergeron about the jason do you want to speak

Mayor and commissioners, my name is Jason Mejia. I'm from Sunrise, and I live at 11340 Northwest 30th Place. I support our police officers and giving them some effective tools, but public safety does not require giving any company a blank check or permitting citywide database of resident movements without restrict limits. We should not have to choose between safety and privacy, as you said before. But just next door, Plantation Mayor Nick Sordle has paused that city's cameras as well. Excuse me.

They're still operating. They've paused the expansion of it.

The expansion, yes. Which is like what I suggest as well. Because we have already, it's 226 cameras that were approved in 156 locations. I don't know if that's still going the same way. That costs approximately $1.6 million dollars. just for the first two years, plus the permit fees. Now, coming with the, excuse me, the issue of... No, take your time, it's okay. Of the property taxes that will be coming out of this, we might not have so much in our budget to provide for these things, could be one thing. Before the system continues to relocate or expanded, residents deserve a complete public accounting of it, including how many cameras are active, which vendors are operating them, how long is our information stored. She said three years approximately.

Under state law, it's three years. That's FDLV. That's a bit extreme. It is if it's not a cold case.

If there's no case at all, the As the gentleman that was just speaking, they could go and find him from where he was in certain days.

Listen, that's part of the legislative debate, and the legislature has allowed this. I'm not stopping your time, but one of the frustrations I think I have is the performative politics of this where they could call for a special session and address these issues. They could hammer this out as to what the legislative response is, and instead what we're hearing is that sometime in the future they might talk about it. It's important to talk about the abuses. It's important to talk about who's got access to the data. It's important to talk about private actors. But in the meantime, the question is, do we shut off and then announce, hey, on this state road, you're free to come and go? That's a tough issue.

Another thing that I was thinking about, because your speech really gave me a lot of thinking going on while I was here, kind of maybe changed or moved things around how I was feeling. However, I just feel that it's... No, no, stick with it. No rush. Anyways, we're talking about how the, or you were talking about how it's helped with auto, automotive... Traffic homicides? No, no, no, no, no.

Theft.

Theft. Well, just a couple years ago, my wife's car was stolen at 136 and sunrise outside of her office, middle of the daylight. And when she called, because she saw that it was being tracked on GPS, she called the police, told them. They said, oh, sorry, nothing we can do about it. It's out of our city limits now. They didn't even try to find it or help or pass it to somebody who could help.

That's frustrating. And don't leave tonight without giving your information because I want to understand what happened there as well.

Yeah. So there's that kind of thing that can happen. And you know what? Sorry, it's been a long night. I haven't had my dinner yet, so. You know what, I'm not gonna take up any other people's time to speak. You guys have said plenty, but I still think we should take a pause to think about, you know, a little bit more about how this can be misused, or maybe one other thing that I had for you, Chief, is that if officers aren't, they're not catching people until after the crime, Is it helping people who are about to commit a crime?

It's a good question. It could be argued that just the mere presence of it, and we've argued this internally for a number of years, the City of Sunrise not having a program and it being public knowledge that every agency surrounding us had established programs, but yet the City of Sunrise had none. i can't sit here today and say that all the criminals came to sunrise or or the reverse that the the existence of the program is preventing bad actors from coming in but i i don't think it's so far-fetched to believe that if if you have uh intent when entering the city and you know that the city is operating an lpr program you might you might think twice that's the argument i would make

It's a great question, right? So it's part of the struggle here as we talk about this publicly. If we said tonight, let's shut off in Sunrise Lakes Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Phase 4, very vulnerable populations. We're telling everybody, you're free to come and go. And we've been playing whack-a-mole on trying to chase people who committed crimes here. It's a tough issue now that it's here.

Well, if this has less work to be done physically, I mean, are we going to help your officers? Are they going to go and help the communities actually in presence or just kind of? waiting for the dispatcher to tell them, go get them.

We can't be everywhere.

No, I mean, I'm talking about community patrolling. There used to be, maybe a few years ago, in my community, there were bicycles riding around. Yeah, but what do you do at 2 a.m. at Sunrise Lakes?

We do that. If that was that simple, we'd have no speeding on hiatus. Every time we put speed out there, we put the traffic enforcement.

Beautiful black Mustang.

You like that. I like him, by the way. It's a nice car. It is. It's a Buick. But listen, the day he moves to Pine Island, you know what happens on hiatus. Everybody lights up again. He can't be everywhere in every corner. That's the challenge. You raise a good point, though. Thanks, Jason. Do it. Yeah, make sure you get the information so we can find out about that. Go ahead and give us your name and address. Mr. Mayor. Lift the microphone up.

Commissioners, I'm Sir Dobro, I'm a resident of Sunrise. Because of my background, I'm gonna redact my physical address. I come with a unique experience as a resident, and I only come as a resident, but my background is law enforcement, both as a policeman, as a civil investigator for the United States Treasury. Chief, thank you for everything you do, and your officers. What I heard tonight, I think we have a great system. in place. I think we have the security that residents are looking for, the limited access. Working for Treasury, I wasn't even allowed to give our own criminal division the private information or where we got it from. If I wanted to share it, we'd have to go to a federal judge and I'd have to explain it. And from what I heard from the chief, it sounds like that's what the process is. It's a great process. Mayor and Commissioner, I heard what you said. As a resident, it makes me feel very safe and very comfortable that the process and the procedures and the tools out there are working. The only thing that I would raise as a concern is who's the vendor? As we heard in the media, and it seems to be a lot more political than reality.

Major? Will? The acoustics in here, we can hear on the back row. Anything here? If you could just, it just resonates for us, even if the others can't hear it. Thanks, just a little distracted. Go ahead, Stuart. Didn't cut off your time.

No worries. If I'm not mistaken, I think it's the Flock Company that's in the news for having all these problems.

Yeah, but it's not ours.

Then maybe we should have looked at Flock and said, maybe we should have a different company. But as you just said, that's not our company. Should we have protocols that examine who has authority every so often? Should we look at the vendor every so often as a resident? That would make me comfortable as well. And I'm not gonna take any more time, but I thank you for bringing the system to our community because I had the unfortunate pleasure to say, grandma's never coming home again because I don't know where she is. I was a police officer in 1996 is when I started my career in Memphis, one of the worst cities in the country. I didn't have the tools. I had a little book that I had to look up. No computer. I had hoped that someone saw something and said, Grandma was over there. I had an injury. I had little tapes on. I was grateful that if I was found walking around somewhere that someone could do it. But if there's cameras like there is today, Oh, yeah, Stuart's walking down, you know, Poplar Avenue.

Maybe they can find me. Well, our LPR data won't do that for us. We don't get individuals' movements.

But the principle being is someone could find somebody that committed a crime utilizing the tools that are there. And I think as a resident, it's being utilized properly, safely, and not intrusive like George Orwell's 1984 book, which is something I had to actually read. So thank you for your time. I'm going to go back, sit down, and be quiet.

Thank you, sir. All right, anybody else who wishes to be heard on this matter?

I'm Evelyn Bryan. I reside at 2839 Northwest 63rd Terrace. I want to make one thing clear. I support our police officers and I support keeping somebody safe. However, I am not in agreement with the use and expansions of flock cameras, especially when many residents have concerns about being monitored and having their movements recorded when they have done nothing wrong. What concerns me more is the concentration of these cameras in and around Sunrise Lakes communities, where many of our seniors live, as well as our east side of Sunrise. That deserves a closer look and explanation to our residents about why these areas are being monitored so heavily. Why are we on 24-hour surveillance? I also believe that the presence of police officers in our neighborhoods is more effective deterrent to crime than cameras alone. Officers can see, respond, intervene, and build relationships with our community. A camera cannot do this. I believe our officers have should have tools they need to solve serious crimes to recover stolen vehicles and protect our community, but we can do that while also protecting the privacy and trust of innocent residents. I'm asking the commission to pause any new purchases or renewals until the city adopts a clear policy protecting residents' privacy, review how the city stores, access, and shares existing camera data, Give residents transparency about who can access information and how long the city retains it. Many sunrise residents are not comfortable with the level level of surveillance and the concerns to serve to be heard. Public safety and privacy should not be either or choice. We need more visible police presence in our neighborhoods not more cameras.

watching law abiding residents you speakers that's why it's said when people get misinformation bring it forward speaker

Hi, Nicole Pazos, 3107 Northwest, 107th Drive. So I have lived in Sunriser 22 years. I moved to the city. Me and my husband, we have bought two homes here. And the reason for that is because we used to live in Plantation. We want to raise our family here. And why we moved here is because of the presence of the police officers. There were tons of bike cops. There were cops on foot. There were even cops in patrol cars, visible police presence. You may not know this about me, but one of my degrees is in criminal justice, and I have a background in corrections and homeland security. I spoke to the chief the other day, and I asked him, what is the number one deterrent of crime? And that is visibility. I was telling him, the chief, I go to the gym every morning religiously at 4 a.m. I never see a cop anymore. That does not make me feel safe. However, what I do see are the cameras everywhere. I do not feel safe driving my car knowing that, God forbid, if something were to happen, I have no visibility of an officer nearby. To me, that's highly problematic, in addition to privacy as well. Not only myself, but many people throughout the country have this issue with privacy. Whether you agree it's an infringement on the Fourth Amendment or what have you, I don't really care at this point if you agree or not. And I heard everything that you said, Mayor, and well put, but we can agree to disagree on many things. However, what I will say is this, is that These cameras have the capability of putting people on a hot list. I believe the gentleman, the first speaker, actually described that, meaning that your car, a car, can be identified through this system, saying that you have a blue car with a red bumper sticker on the back, and every time you go throughout these cameras, you will be identified, and officers will be alerted. Not only that, I don't really have a problem with the officers knowing where I am per se. But what I do have a problem with is private companies knowing where we are. And I have a big problem with private companies making millions off the backs of the taxpayers and infringing on our privacy. That I have a huge problem with. We need better parameters when it comes to these issues. The parameters mean that not everybody can access our systems. Now I understand, through law enforcement, it has been beneficial to solve crimes. I don't disagree with that. However, I will say this. I work in the prison systems. And let me tell you something, there's cameras everywhere. So I'll say this to you is if these cameras are actually making us safe, then prisons should be the number one place where safety occurs. And we should not give up privacy for a little bit of safety. Benjamin Franklin said it because if you do that, you deserve neither. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Sure.

Commissioner Guzman for bringing the song. Good evening, ma'am, commissioners.

I heard Commissioner Skudo pointed to the fact that on matters related to cameras in our public spaces, I've shared my public views about them when I sat on the commission. The chief probably knows very well how I feel about some of these things. And part of that, as Commissioner Skudo pointed out, my former colleagues who are lawyers see these things from a bigger broader perspective you know the fourth amendment that speaks to privacy the mayor speaks to the fact that we have no reasonable expectation of privacy in public and that is true uh... however there's a spirit This country is built on this notion of freedom and, you know, personal liberties and all these things that were espoused. And as technology has changed, I do criminal defense myself. I know I've seen where courts have grappled with, you know, people have in their curtilage and what that means for what is public space versus what is private space. And when drones came in, they grappled with whether a police could use drone to get into what is deemed the curtilage. And sometimes even what is a curtilage wasn't, we weren't really sure what it was. We grappled with that. I think though I recall the genesis of this LPR and from what I recall seeing, the Sawgrass Mills Mall had the one trailer that Commissioner Skouda spoke about dating back over a decade. In fact, it was useless. When they came here a few years ago, I happened to look into how that was used and what review was done to determine its effectiveness and to what I was able to determine it was absolutely Not used for anything. And so sawgrass came here and they say, you know what? Post COVID all this smash and grab that's been taking place. And all across the country, swarms of thieves are coming into malls. And we need to make sure that if such a thing were to come to Sunrise, we'd be able to mitigate against that and make sure people know Sunrise is not the place to be. At that point, I raised my concerns and I said, no private company, no matter how much money they have and their economic impact, should be able to just walk into City Hall and say, I want LPRs for my private space, the roads lead into my place. And I said, look, if the commission feels that LPR is appropriate for our community, we should make it a comprehensive policy. And, of course, I believe I expressed my concerns about the privacy issues then. I wasn't on the commission when the bigger program was brought forward, but what was really indicated when this was first brought up by Sawgrass was we want to put them in the entry areas to our community. so that if a vehicle comes into our city, we'll get a hit, we'll be able to alert law enforcement and say, vehicle X, vehicle Y is in our city. We need to be alert to that vehicle. And I remember even bringing up this notion that are we going to go after a guy who has a warrant for petty theft from Hialeah, and are we going to put resources into that, or are we going to create specific fences around what do we alert to, what do we respond to, but the notion was we were going to be looking to put LPRs, Lauderhill had something, to determine when particular vehicles of interest were in our city. Now this bigger, broader program has come to the fore. I recall one of the things when I was studying the Fourth Amendment, they talked about using the least restrictive means or the least burdensome means by which to achieve an objective. And so courts even have said, look, it may be legal, but we wanna narrow it. And chief has said, I have a law enforcement prerogative that I wanna pursue. We believe this will be helpful. And I say, okay, it's the commission's job. It's the commission's prerogative to determine if that is something this community should use. But we also should balance that with the notion that we use the least restrictive or least burdensome means by which to achieve this law enforcement objective. And so the notion that, okay, we'll have these at the entry points to our city, and if there's a vehicle going in or out of our city, in or out, we'll be able to capture that. And tied with the red light cameras, we may be able to tell that this vehicle passed this intersection and so on. What are we seeing now? We're seeing hundreds and hundreds of cameras. And part of the problem is not just that law enforcement has domain over it right now, but there are similar things like David, driver and vehicle information database, only accessed by law enforcement. Maybe the state attorney acts as a prosecutor. Or other types of, even the red light cameras, only law enforcement. What we see now, and we ought to sort of look to where this is going, is that, I know we may not be using Flock specifically, but entities like Flock, they're selling this to shopping centers, they're selling it to Other businesses, they're selling to community associations and so on. And what that is signaling to us is that they're creating this bigger, broader surveillance platform. Do we need 200 cameras? Do we need 100 plus cameras? Absolutely not to achieve this law enforcement objective. I don't believe so. And what I'm afraid of is this slippery slope which we're sliding down. And it shouldn't be that it's support law enforcement by you have to accept hundreds of cameras. You can support law enforcement. You can support the prerogative. of achieving lower crimes and being able to apprehend suspects and also be mindful of the principles on which this country was built. And I'll say on another note, if the Commission chooses or determines that they want to move forward, they want to keep this, at a minimum, I believe it's this commission's prerogative, especially since the police chief is a charter officer, the commission directly supervises the police department. A policy ought to be written, brought to the commission by the chief, and the commission should sign off on this. uh... by based on the questions i saw come into the from the dice how many cops confused what levels of police officers are able to use it provides a defined supervisor is it first-line supervisor from sergeant up or is it's lieutenant if we are going to share this data with another police department does there have to be a specific active law enforcement case that they can say to us this is what we're investigating here's a police case number You know, all those things. I believe this commission, because you're charter officers and because the city manager cannot develop this policy, I believe if it were law to him, Fort Lauderdale or any other department where the police chief reports to the city manager They would sit in a conference room and they would hash it out. And I think the chief ought to be mayor I think this is important policy and this Commission should publicly put it in place and if there needs to be an adjustment in the future then the policy is adjusted, but I don't think that The police department, given the public concerns, should just be able to run however they choose. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Douglas.

Any other speakers? Any other?

We have a couple hands up on the phone.

Okay. Go ahead and release.

8100, you're unmuted. Hi. Good evening, everyone.

State your name and your address, please.

This is Sheila Alou, former commissioner.

Good evening, Commissioner.

Address exempt. Hey, everyone. I don't know if you guys can hear me. I just wanted to kind of get my two cents. I hear an echo every time I say something. Can you guys hear me okay?

We can hear you perfectly well.

Okay. Good evening, everyone. As everyone knows, I am 100% pro-law enforcement. Before I... Listen, I just want to give my input. You guys do what you want. Before you guys make any kind of decision, I don't know. Maybe you guys have already sat down with the Florida State Attorney, the Public Defender's Office, the Florida Police Chiefs Association. I would think that the city has already been given a policy by the police chief. I'm under the impression that it requires a subpoena to obtain LPRs I think they're instrumental in crime. However, we have all seen that they're being abused. And I can only say if anyone in my line of work abuses pulling someone's private information or personal information for personal reasons, that person is terminated. And I think What the problem has been is we have had an issue with people in Sunrise that have violated procedures and reprimanded. I don't think suspension for 40 hours is enough. I think the person should be terminated.

So I just wanna give my two cents.

If I lost my granddaughter, And the last known area she was was on Sunrise Boulevard going towards the Sawgrass Expressway. And I give you the time and the officer contacts the state attorney on duty and gets a subpoena and gets that information. Boy, I would want it. And I would want it for any victim for Sunrise and anywhere else. So... I just want to give my two cents that I hope that the commission, which I know you guys are, especially I know we have lawyers up there on the commission, that you are discussing this very important issue with all the players. And if I'm wrong, that a subpoena is not required, then that's a problem. I don't agree with a private company, but I really don't know enough about the private company, but LPRs are important. As far as To me, what's on the agenda is LPRs and LPRs only. You know, I'm not a proponent of red light cameras, never have been. I'm not a proponent of these block cameras. But if we're talking about LPRs in general, they are extremely advantageous. When we, when law enforcement needs to apprehend somebody and it's an emergency, and if it was your family members, You would want it. But I agree with Commissioner Douglas. There needs to be a balance. So if I'm not right that the commission doesn't have a policy, I hope you guys do so. And if I'm wrong that a subpoena is no longer required for an LPO, then that needs to be addressed. And I appreciate you guys talking to me and allowing me to speak. And I hope you guys have a wonderful evening.

Thank you. Next speaker, you can release.

8760. You're muted.

Hello?

Yes. Go ahead and give us your name and your address.

Hi. My name is Giovanna Kennedy, and I'm a homeowner in the city of Sunrise.

Your address?

I'm not going to give my address. Sorry. It makes sense.

It's actually required for us to get it for the record. I apologize. But if you're not going to do it, I can't force you to. I can't force you to, so if you don't want to, there's nothing I can do about it. Go ahead.

I just had a couple of questions, and I have concerns. I didn't know you guys were talking about this tonight, but I was listening, and I just wanted to ask the chief, like, how are the camera placements determined, and can residents request an area? Or is, like, how does that work? And also, if they're going to establish, like, a special unit force in the future, so it's easier to monitor the activity of whoever has access to all of the footages. And the reason why I bring this up is because currently we're dealing with a closure of Northwest 90th Terrace. And it's bringing a lot of unwanted traffic on Northwest 91st Lane. And we're getting a lot of illegal dumping as well. And we did put a camera system, a security system in our community, but we don't have any camera readers on the outside. So we're unable to pick those things up. But I don't really see any police activity back there either. So we're having a lot of speeding. We don't have any speed bumps at the moment. And on Sunday, one of the homeowners was walking her dog at night, and a vehicle that was speeding almost hit her and her dog. So I'm a little concerned with the amount of traffic that we're seeing now in that area due to the closure of the Northwest 90th Terrace. And I'm trying to figure out... You know, I don't know how long the construction is going to take, but it doesn't seem like there's a lot of construction going on right now. It's like they work on it and then it stops for a period of time for weeks and then they resume. So I just wanted to know as well, like how long is that going to take?

So let's do this. I know you don't want to give your address or any of your identifying information beyond your name, but I'd like to get your phone number so staff can call you and the police department can call you regarding the dumping. as well as this car almost hitting your neighbor and the dog. I wish there was an LPR there that we would have been able to identify the car. But I don't know how you want to do it. Perhaps you could, you have the number, right? All right. So Lourdes has your number because you called in. She's going to give it to the police chief and staff so they can call you directly. Is that fair?

That's fair.

All right. Thank you.

It's the neighbor that had the caved in. So thank you. Thank you for the time.

Can I get a name?

Well, it's not my station. It's my neighbor's. But, yeah, we're the Spring Tree West Coast. We can't talk about it, but Bruno, you know.

That's fine. Okay, so let's do this.

I wanted just to know about the traffic and everything that's going on and how that is going to be overseen. And if we can request replacement of cameras in certain areas, not necessarily on the road we're on, but it would help, I think.

All right, so again, they have your name and your number. They'll call you directly, okay? Is that fair?

Yeah.

All right, thank you so much. Next speaker, any others?

No, sir.

All right, I'll go ahead and close public discussion. Any further comments from my colleagues? I just want to add one thing. No, no, not yet. Nope, nope. Go ahead.

Oh, no, I thought she was done. No, no, no, no. Go, go, go. I thought you said you didn't have anything. No, no, she doesn't.

All right, so I'm glad that we brought this conversation back since we didn't actually have a conversation the last time about it. And so now that we have established that we are projected to have over 200 cameras in addition to the red light cameras, in addition to the school cameras, in addition to the fact that I was talking about how many cameras we have per square mile within this city, and within a specific area, I would still like us to have a deeper conversation about whether, wherever, whatever we do tonight about where the placements of these cameras are and reevaluate that particular structure. But my other concerns are the internal control of this policy. Who has the internal control of this policy?

chapter 46 the actual ALPR policy it's like like typical policy it's created by me it's approved through the unions and I've distributed I have distributed it I'm sorry I provided it to the entire Commission so y'all you you all have a copy of it but it's it's the police chief that that sets the policy that each of you have a copy of and when was the last revision on this yesterday

And we have that since yesterday.

You have the most current revised version of the policy.

So we have a revision of what this policy looks like. So my question is, prior to all of this happening, these amendments that are these policy points that you just laid out, were these amended to account for this discussion that we're having, or this was already in place?

No, so once the conversation months ago started to happen nationally, like we do with most policies, we pull the policy for review internally and we make any necessary corrections. Most of the revisions to this policy are administrative in nature. We've always had restrictions on use and we've always had, through the system itself, limitations on retention.

retention of information.

That's correct.

When we store this information and how long we utilize this information for and who has access to use it and who gives the ultimate decision when we need to use it for cross parties or cross cities, correct?

Per the policy, yes ma'am.

So my next question is, Since we have just recently updated this actual policy and you gave a list of approximately 78 crimes that have possibly been utilized from or current usage of these cameras, correct?

Ish, if you're looking at the spreadsheet.

Approximately.

That's correct.

And the 200 cameras plus that we have, The specific location of all these, because when I looked at it, it said it started in 2020. So we've been utilizing some version according to the crime list that I got. According to the list that I got that stated when these crimes occurred. I'm looking at the dates, and it said 2020.

Yeah, but they weren't ours. We used other people's LPRs. Okay, so I just want to just clarify, I'm not interrupting.

So we started utilizing these since 2020. So most of these crimes, my point is, it's not necessarily our cameras that were used to capture or utilize or solving these crimes.

That's correct. Okay.

So we have only been using these cameras. Do we have a number of how many of crimes were solved using our cameras?

Yeah, so I submitted for your review a separate spreadsheet um i could i could get staff to peel out what of the 73 were which investigations of those 73 were specifically benefited by the sunrise lprs but the sunrise lprs haven't been in use but for a period of months now this um this program is in its implementation phase and the Installation is ongoing as of last week.

Right.

So as these cameras come on board, they're becoming active and then effective for investigative purposes.

So my point is that we don't really have any data to say that the 200 cameras that we have are going to be in any way more beneficial at this current moment.

Well, I would argue that if any number of crimes... At this current moment. I would argue that if any number of crimes were solved by use of the current distribution of LPRs, that statistically additional LPRs would amplify that number of cases that benefited as a result. I mean, it's not an exact science, right? But it's, I think, statistically could be proven. And only time will tell, ma'am.

And so in your review of the usage of our policy, have we determined whether or not there has been any violation of it from our specific department?

That's correct. Our last audit, and we do quarterly audits to the system, investigations is handled slightly different. It's more of a more frequent audit for the detective personnel. But the quarterly audits we've committed to, the last audit was in March. think late March and there was no record of violations okay and I think most of that is given a restricted access I mean there's there's not a whole lot of individuals within the department that have access to the system and they understand I mean they're watching the news like we are they understand the importance they understand that there have been cases of misuse and they they're fully aware of what the penalties are and so I

You're saying that we are reviewing quarterly to figure out whether or not there have been any misuse of this actual program. And who's actually doing those reviews? Are the same people who have access to the report that's actually doing the auditing?

Yeah, so it's currently done by a sergeant within administration overseen by Internal Affairs, and they both report directly to me.

I have two more questions, but I'm going to pass it on.

Okay. Commissioner Kirch? All right. Commissioner Scudo brought up political gamesmanship. This is exactly what this is. It's very coincidental that one week before Florida does a 180-degree reversal was the Hope Grand Jury Report. And we are not discussing that. We are discussing license plate readers. Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, quacks like a duck. It's probably a duck. Law enforcement, police officers, you guys, law enforcement officers that enforce state statutes. I'm a criminal defense attorney.

I'm a law enforcement officer too.

I enforce the Constitution. It's my job. I've been doing it for 20 years. As Mayor Ryan correctly pointed out, this is not a constitutional issue. There is exactly no expectation of privacy and your license lay out in open public. I've spent a considerable amount of time viewing this issue, listening to residents, speaking with our chief, reading your emails. I tried to review this while we were here since it all came in today. And I've tried to separate legitimate concerns from misinformation. And I want to begin with something that is very important to me. I support the men and women of the Sunrise Police Department. Throughout my service on this commission, I've consistently said that our officers must have the tools, resources, technology, and training they need to protect our residents, to do their jobs effectively and return home safely to their families. That commitment has not changed tonight. automated license plate readers can be an effective law enforcement tool. It's been shown and brought up by Mayor Ryan through all these documents. They can help locate stolen vehicles, solve homicides, find missing and endangered people, identify vehicles connected to crimes, apprehend wanted individuals, and develop investigative leads. I do not dismiss those public safety benefits. I want our residents to understand that my concern is not an allegation that the Sunrise Police Department has abused this technology. In fact, I have reviewed the safeguards our police department has put in place. Access is restricted. Searches require a documented law enforcement purpose. and case number. Searches create permanent audit records. Audits are conducted quarterly. Users are trained, and misuse can result in serious discipline, including termination. No safeguards matter, and I commend Chief Ransone and our police department for taking this responsibility seriously. This issue is bigger than Sunrise. Once we participate in a system where information can be shared and queried across jurisdictional boundaries, my responsibility as a commissioner requires me to ask a different question, a question that I failed to ask when we implemented this program. Can I assure a Sunrise resident Information collected about their movement is protected everywhere that information can be accessed, not simply in the Sunrise Police Department. Today, I'm not convinced I can. We know that misuse is not merely theoretical. There have been reported cases in Florida involving law enforcement officers accused of using license plate readers, information for improper personal purposes. That is where this becomes an issue of a government accountability. I've spoken before about accountability in government. I believe accountability has to be applied consistently. We cannot demand accountability from one level of government while excusing another. Tallahassee encouraged law enforcement agencies to adopt this technology. State funding was approved for the expansion of license plate reader systems. Now Tallahassee itself has raised serious concerns about the potential for abuse and has directed that these systems be removed from state highway rights of way. If those concerns are serious enough for the state of Florida to reconsider where this technology should operate, and I believe they are serious enough for us to carefully reconsider how it should operate, But Tallahassee cannot encourage and help fund a technology, later identify serious privacy concerns, and then leave more than 400 cities, 67 counties, and hundreds of law enforcement agencies to independently determine what privacy protections are sufficient. This technology crosses jurisdictional boundaries. its safeguards need to cross those boundaries as well. Florida, Tallahassee needs clear and uniform rules governing who may access ALPR information, what constitutes a permissible search, how searches are documented, how long information may be retained, when and with whom it may be shared, how outside agency searches are audited, What happens when the system is misused? What transparency the public is entitled to receive? Now look what's been provided. The Broward County Chiefs of Police Association. Strong safeguards must also be included. Appropriate accountability. Suspected misuse should be reviewed promptly and when sustained. Addressing thorough, appropriate, corrective, and disciplinary actions. Joint Statement on Automated License Plate Recognition Technology. We welcome meaningful safeguards and accountability. Fraternal of Order Police State. The FOP does not support eliminating, banning, or unnecessarily restricting ALPR technology. Instead, we support establishing safeguards comparable to those already in place for other sensitive law enforcement information systems. Our own Sunrise Lodge FOP, we also recognize the use of any law enforcement technology must be accompanied by appropriate policies, safeguards, accountability, and adherence to applicable laws and constitutional . From the International Association of Chief of Police, same criteria, they want safeguards. But we don't have those. We don't have safeguards on a state level. We all want them, but we don't have them right now. I believe there is a fundamental principle involved here. Residents should not have to simply trust government with powerful technology. Government should establish safeguards strong enough to earn that trust. That does not mean choosing between public safety and privacy. I reject that choice. We should be able to give our police effective investigative tools and protect the constitutional rights and privacy of the people we serve. Responsible ALPRs require strong policies, regular auditing, supervisory review, and meaningful accountability. Consider there's really three choices before us. We can continue the program as it is, as it exists today, Terminate it we can temporarily suspend its use why meaning while meaningful safeguards are developed I'm not prepared to say this technology has no legitimate place in law enforcement The evidence before us does not support that conclusion I'm also not comfortable simply continuing business as usual a little legitimate questions remain about privacy and information sharing, and accountability outside of our jurisdiction. For those reasons, I would support a temporary pause while we seek clear answers and meaningful statewide guardrails. But I also want to be clear about what I mean by a temporary pause. I'm not suggesting that we turn these cameras off and simply wait indefinitely. I want us to establish a clear path for determining when they can responsibly be turned back on. I would be prepared to reconsider the use of this technology. We have meaningful safeguards addressing at least the following. One, outside agency access. We need to know exactly which agencies can access or query data collected in Sunrise, under what circumstances, and whether Sunrise can restrict or revoke that access. Two, auditing and accountability. Every search should identify the user, the law enforcement purpose, and the associated case or incident number. There must be meaningful audits capable of detecting patterns of misuse, not simply reviews conducted after a complaint has been made. Three, data retention. We should determine whether retaining automated license plate reader information for up to three years is necessary and appropriate. or whether substantially shorter retention period can accomplish the legitimate law enforcement objectives while protecting individual privacy. Four, legal standards for searches. There should be clear rules defining when automated license plate reader data may be searched, what investigative justification is required, and when a warrant, subpoena, court order, or other legal process should be required. Five, prohibited uses. The rules should expressly prohibit searches for personal, political, commercial, discriminatory, retaliatory, or other purposes unrelated to legitimate law enforcement or public safety. Six, consequences for misuse. There must be meaningful consequences when someone abuses the system, including discipline, loss of access, and referrals for criminal investigation when appropriate. Seven, transparency. The public should receive regular information about how this technology is being used, how many searches are conducted, how often outside agencies access Sunrise data, the types of investigations for which it is used, audit results, and confirmed incidents of misuse while protecting information that legitimately must remain confidential. Eight. Commission oversight and review. The Commission should periodically review the program rather than allowing approval of this technology to become permanent by default. We should examine its effectiveness, its privacy impact, audit findings, changes in state or federal law, and whether the safeguards we had promised are actually working. Chief Ransone, some of these protections already exist within the Sunrise Police Department, and that is important. I want to recognize that. Our department requires documented reasons and case numbers. Our department maintains audit logs. Our department restricts access. Our department conducts quarterly audits. The unanswered question for me is whether comparable protections follow our residents' information once we move beyond the walls of the Sunrise Police Department. That is why I believe statewide standards are so important. Sunrise residents' privacy should not depend upon which agency happens to access the information. I trust our police department, but good government does not ask citizens to trust every agency and every individual who may have access to a statewide or national network. Good government builds safeguards so they do not have to. Once we have satisfactory answers to these questions and enforceable safeguards in place, I am absolutely willing to reconsider the program. That is what makes this a temporary suspension rather than a termination. I'm not closing the door on technology that can help our officers solve crimes and protect people. I'm saying that before government exercised this kind of power, the rules governing that power need to be as sophisticated as the technology itself. Temporary suspension is not a vote against our police department. It is not a retreat from my longstanding commitment to public safety. It is acknowledgement that powerful government technology requires equally powerful accountability. When those safeguards are established, I would be willing to revisit this issue based upon the facts, the law, the protections that have been implemented, and the public safety needs of our community. My responsibility tonight is not to flock, it's not to Tallahassee, it's not to Washington, and not to any political position. My responsibility is to the residents of Sunrise to protect their safety, their privacy, their liberty, and their trust in the local government. So I believe a temporary suspension would be appropriate until the state guardrails are in place. Deputy Mayor.

Thank you. Circling back to the beginning of this discussion, I want to thank you, Chief, for all of the information you provided, very valuable information. Putting this on the agenda was not easy because I know it was a controversial discussion, and I didn't want it to be political, which has been mentioned quite a few times because that's just the season we're in. Initially, when I wanted to discuss this, it was because of the concerns clearly coming from the state, the concerns from the community, just as my colleague Commissioner Kerch stated, that we ultimately are working for the people. And while I, too, support our police department, in the six years that I've been here, I've never been against either of our first responders, this was one thing that made me pause and really think okay this needs to be discussed regardless of what direction it went the public deserved a an actual discussion because you know like commissioner clark mentioned we didn't get to have this real deep discussion like we're doing now i I'm not against this program at all, clearly, because it's been doing a great job based on the history. My main concern from the GET was the two that I mentioned, the amount of people that have access to it, and then also the amount that were planned at 227. But after hearing the discussion today, and hearing from my colleagues, and hearing from Commissioner Kurich, who I deeply respect as an attorney, as a commissioner, and hopefully future judge one day, he made valid points. And for that reason, I would like to make the motion to pause the program until we get to the answers that he had questions for. to my police in the back and to those that are listening. I respectfully appreciate all that you do for our community and public safety because it is clearly our top priority when it comes to our city. But there are just too many questions that I believe need to be addressed and put in place policy. And that's what all five of us are here to do is to ensure those policies are in place. Even if the state doesn't have them, we need to follow suit. for what's best when it comes to home rule for our city. So, I'm sorry to disappoint you because I know this isn't what you wanted to do at the end of this conversation, but I, again, am making that motion to pause the program.

All right. So, a couple of comments. It is political season. It's performative at the state level. It's been suggested it's a distraction. Perhaps that's true. But what The state government hasn't done is paused LPRs. What they've said is we can't put them on state roads. They're using it. They're sharing it. They're sharing it nationally. FDLE and everyone else is accessing it. The suggestion that tonight by reducing access to Sunrise is going to improve safety or protections is a false choice. But we've been led to believe that because rather than an intentional public policy discussion, much like what happened with Amendment 3 that occurred in 24 hours, rather than thoughtful discussion, which they could have done, which they could have called for a special session, they said, no, we're just going to stop the cities from putting it in. And in the meantime, they're going to continue to use it, and they're sharing it. They're sharing it off the highways, and they're sharing it everywhere. I heard one candidate who's running say, let's restrict in Sunrise Lakes. That's astounding. That's astounding to me. One of the most vulnerable populations who for years has been under attack. And the issue is, oh, we just don't have enough police officers in Sunrise Lakes. The suggestion that if we just add more officers, we don't need cameras. Were that the case, that would be so easy. It's not how it works. This concept that this was a comfortable, slow discussion where the mall came forward misapprehends what happened. We had license plate readers that didn't work at the mall. They were in the garage, and they were an old system that the only way you could access it was you had to go get a thumb drive and download it. It wasn't in real time. It was useless, and it was old, and it wasn't working. The mall came forward, and they called me. They said, we've been trying to do this for so long, but I was advised by staff I should come to you to talk to you and talk to each of your colleagues. I said, this is the first I'm hearing it. No, no, this has been going on for years. What was happening behind the scenes is that it was being killed behind the scenes. It wasn't being brought forward for a discussion. The department was under threat. And when we discussed it publicly about this issue of what kind of hits do we want, someone up here said, I don't want this to be for warrants for domestic violence because some guy slapped his girlfriend. I do. The standards that we put in here came from FDLE. Is that true?

Yes, sir.

Those are the state standards. You copied the policy from FDLE, correct? Yes, sir. That's what every department in the state of Florida is required to follow, correct? Yes, sir. There's not a lack of guidance. Now, there's other discussions that can certainly be had. I've heard this public discussion that these vendors are selling it. You know, all this data is being sold. It hasn't. Certainly, our vendors made it clear that's not the case. They don't. It belongs to the department. The contract says it belongs to the department. I don't know what Flock's doing. I know they've said publicly they're not. And I've heard the rhetoric out there and the reports and look at TikTok or something else and say they're selling it to shopping centers. That would be outrageous and is criminal. If that is the case, that's criminal. But I understand the concern. We're not selling it. Every department has access, has to follow FDLE guidelines. That are our policy. And Tallahassee hasn't turned this off. For all of this rhetoric coming out of Tallahassee about concerns and we're going to stop it in the state roadways, they haven't turned it off. They're using it right now. But it is worthy of a legislative discussion. In the meantime, what they've done is they've created this political issue at a local level where some cities have turned it off, some cities have refused access, and There's going to be cases where we live to regret that. I'm proud of the department and the work that you've done. I've talked with you, and you've given me assurances from the vendor. This is not being sold. Departments in Florida have to follow FDLE guidelines that have been outlined already, and it's published. It's not controversial. It's not hard to find. It's exactly what our policy is. So I hear the call for a pause. I'll ask for clarification after the other comments, but I don't really know what that means. And the answer is not as simple as more officers and less cameras. That's a bumper sticker. That's not policymaking. That's not what's expected of us. But if we get clarity on pause, I'm not prepared to support turning this off. I can't, and I don't care what happens politically on this. because I've seen the value of this. I've seen how long we've had to rely on Lauderhill. I didn't realize how hard this department had been fighting to get these because of the reliance, and we were one of the last ones to have it because of the pressure that was put on the department. It is not good policymaking to shut this off, in my opinion. If the issue is a Pause of further locations. I understand that concept as a bumper sticker as well. But it's not intentional. It's not saying this location and these locations remain exposed. We should include those, but not these. Can you live with this camera, but not that one? There's an intentional discussion to have there. That's worthy of it. And in deference to the deputy mayor, this has been developing at a rapid pace, right? The discussions on this, right? And you've seen some that just turn it off. And others say, we're going to stop putting more in.

That is a viable option.

But what I'm not prepared to do is tell that neighborhood, because we haven't gotten to because it was on a county road, you don't deserve the same protection as Sunrise Lakes. Or that that business community isn't going to be exposed. It's a worthy discussion. It just can't be done on the fly. So I'd be willing to entertain the discussion. Do you need four for this block? But if we're looking at a chart that shows us those that have not gone in that are on major thoroughfares, not small ones. These are county roads. And we're saying we're just going to stop putting them in. That needs to be intentional, in my opinion. Not just a response to concerns. Because if it has value for Sunrise Lakes today, and we're not going to turn off the whole system, then the next question is, who are we telling we're turning it off for? Let's at least be intentional about that. And it may be a middle ground position on that. But I'm not prepared to say that because I, in deference, we just haven't had that type of discussion with a GIS and say, Chief, do you really need North Pine Island and 25th Court? Do you have two others? That's the issue. But I'm not prepared to just stop without us intentionally knowing that. I just don't think that's good policymaking.

And to clarify, we're trying to decide what this pause looks like. It's not to completely turn off the program. It's more of the expansion part of it.

I get that, and that's the second one I said. If we're stopping the expansion, who are we telling we're not providing coverage? That's what I want to know.

But here's where I'm, this is where I was going to go with it, is that by pausing the program is for the chief to sit with us individually to share what those other locations look like. And of the supposed 227 locations, those that have not been installed that are important to be installed, for us to really see what those priority locations are. But I just don't believe in expanding to 227. I agree. And not only that, you know, like, again, going back to former Commissioner Mark Douglas, you know, at the end of the day, Chief is a charter officer, and a lot of the policies he's putting in place, yes, you have the autonomy to do that because of your experience, and that's why you're in your position. Things like this, you know, I believe we should have sat down or you should have had a conversation with us to say, hey, this is what we're going to do. This is the location that's going. They were just up and going. We had no clue until we saw them all installed. And, you know, I just feel like I would have been happier to have been a little more informed.

So I've allowed you to go to that. I hadn't finished my comments. Give you an example. Northbound and southbound Hiatus Road don't have it at 29th Manor. That's a gap. Right now. Under this proposal, we'll stop. That's freedom. Just go. Sawgrass Expressway on-ramp. Nope. It's not there. West Oakland Boulevard eastbound at Sawgrass Expressway. Nope. We'll stop that. That's a free one. As we go through these county roads that are left to be installed... North Pine Island at 20th Court. North Pine Island at Sunset Strip. North Pine Island at Sunrise Lakes Boulevard, southbound and northbound. We know where the locations are. What we're telling the residents is we're going to halt that. North Knob Hill Road at Commercial Boulevard, northbound, southbound. These are major roads. Sawgrass Expressway on-ramp at Pat Salerno. The arena entrance at Sawgrass Expressway. It hasn't been put on. Pat Salerno at Sawgrass Expressway. These are key locations. It turns out they were county. That's why they're back at the end because it takes more effort to go through the county permitting. So when we say pause expansion, North Pine Island Road at 44th Street northbound, North Pine Island Road southbound at 44th Street. There's some intentionality that should be taken. I'm not prepared to tell on those major roadways because the county's been slow to issue the permit. I'm prepared to have a discussion about do you need every direction? Do you need everything? But northbound and southbound on hiatus at 29th, which we know is a raceway. And by the way, if that vehicle had not slammed into another car and killed somebody on 25th, they would have been racing out of our community. And LPRs would have caught them at 117 miles an hour. The bad luck is they actually hit somebody. So I understand the pause. I'm not prepared tonight. Whatever the will of the commission is, it's fine. But without going through this list and saying, okay, I'm all right. Let's just not protect hiatus at 29th. I'm not ready for that if we're protecting all these other areas.

Discussion but what you're saying is that I am not supporting those particular streets. You just mentioned that's not at all What I said what I said of the 227 proposed Installations there has to be the streets that haven't been installed. There has to be top priority. I don't believe 227 Entry and exit points of our city right point of information One second know that I'm gonna finish this comment

And then I'll turn it over to you, because I know your light's on. I'm only saying that if we put a pause, the ones that are in white are not being put in. They may not be put in before the next meeting. So maybe it's not a big deal. But what I don't want to do is step out, me personally, step out and say, we're not going to install in all these white locations, white being the ones that haven't been done. And it says it, hiatus, northbound, southbound.

I think that's a pretty critical one.

But I'm only going to have the discussion. I'm just not willing to tell them to stop doing the work. And maybe, again, this is not your fault. We're all put in this position because it's been going like this, is to be able to say maybe it's not a timetable before that happens. Maybe it's four weeks, maybe it's eight weeks before it even happens. So we may be arguing over something that's not necessary. But I guess one way to know is to say, do you expect any new ones to be turned on in the next two weeks? We can hear you in the back. Are there any going to be turned on in the next two weeks? If the answer is no, then this is a bit of a debate over nothing special, if we're not turning off the system. Ma'am? So that's my point. Commissioner Scudo.

So I know you and Commissioner Guzman are going back and forth, but what Commissioner Kirsch laid out in his thing about the polls was not about the expansion of the camps i just wanted to say so now i'm going to just say for being up here for a long period of time and representing sunrise then also be in the delegate for broward being the delegate for florida and being a delegate for the national league of cities it's always been about unfunded mandates, home rule, what we know what we need in our backyard. Commissioner Kirsch now is going to be the new league president for Broward County. So whether this opinion that he has tonight is just his opinion for here, or this is going to be his opinion where he'd want to spread throughout the county. And it's no disrespect to you. You're looking at the law side, and I said that before about the lawyers, and then the way you do your detail is about how you're going to be a judge, because you're just looking at it as a whole. And I respect that, and I understand that. So don't take no disrespect, because we're allowed to disagree. Commissioner Guzman and Commissioner Kirsch And like I said, Commissioner Guzon, this is no disrespect. They've been just recognized for home rule. Home rule. We know what we need in our city. We know what our men and women of the police department need as far as tools. Because over the years, before me and going to be after me, we're just going to move this along. I want to apologize to you. And I want to apologize to the men and women of the police department. And to the families in this city and outside of this city that have been robbed, stolen from, murdered, raped, domestic violence, whatever it is. You only said 78, 73, whatever that number is. regardless of whether they're Alcammers or someone else's. If that's just what you solved, there's 31 cities in Brown, plus the county. So if we're at 70-something, how many of you think it helped in Lauderdale in the amount of time they've had? How many of you think it helped in Fort Lauderdale in that amount of time, right? No one is saying about safeguards. And this is where I'm apologizing to you. Because I voted for this, just like the rest of us. And if we didn't have the right information, we should have not voted for it. Or we should have questioned what your safeguards were, or whatever it is. We should have asked these questions before. But it happens. You just said it's only been a couple of months. Fort Lauderdale has been doing this for years. Their safeguards might have been from 200 cops, right, down to whatever 30 cops or sergeants or supervisors, whatever you want to say, because they had time to figure out. Lauderdale the same. We're going to be no different. I understand Commissioner Kerr said a pause. You know, I say that, and the mayor, all of us. Yeah, I could think of a pause. You know what I'm saying? But then, that's like telling people to come here and do whatever it is they want. And I know they're not saying, shut them off, shut them down. But, you know, years ago when we would have armed robbery in phase one, two, three, and four. We'd have people knocking on the doors and saying, could I use your bathroom? And then go in and rob their house. Go in with kids and say, oh, could my kid use your thing? I mean, we've had everything. So over time, we try to prevent this stuff. This is like an unbelievable tool that we have That has benefited. I mean, I'm just saying all these cities. I don't know what the pause is. I would love to bring you guys up to the podium. Because we could either hammer the shit out of you. Okay. Which maybe we should have done that. Okay. That's where I'm going to say I'll fault myself. But I trusted my chief. to figure out what company and what safeguards or whatever. It's no different than when I could look over at the chief in fire that in the beginning, we didn't have the automated person who would pump your heart instead of me giving you mouth to mouth. We didn't have it. We weren't the first one who got it, but we got it. So I'm saying, you know, there are things that Take time. We've only had you for a couple of months. So if you hear from what we said, if you hear from what you see hearing on the news, you hear what Commissioner Alou said, right? I mean, she's a prosecutor. She does this stuff on a day-in, day-out basis. If she was totally against it, she would have been ripping, roaring, and telling us to go whatever. but she knows that it's a tool that actually works, okay? Peggy, you know, be a little bit respectful, okay? Good, just be respectful. Who cares? Just be respectful. We could hear every word. We're trying to concentrate and you're interrupting. It's very rude, so stop.

All right, we're gonna take a break.

It's so rude. We're taking a break. No, I'm not gonna take a break. She's just a rude person. There's nothing you could do.

All right, let's keep the comments focused, please.

I want to give you whatever it is that you need. What the pause, like I would say, let them operate the way they are. Commissioner Guzman said you should meet with us individually. I think that's a great idea. I think it's something where we're at a point now where, like, I started on my first thing. It is 100% political, okay? Not here just locally, but just nationally. So for whatever it is, that's what it is. It's not we could do it. It's election year, governors are running, Senate, and I said all this. That's what the problem is. You know, now residents get involved. So we want to make the right decision. We don't want to give up a program that's working. If you've got to tweak it, we're going to tweak it. The questions that were asked by all of us, can somebody outside of the city take the information? And then Commissioner Kirsch brought that up. And he understands because he's a lawyer. And when he would go to court, or Commissioner Douglas, they know what they could use and how they could use it. I mean, it's understandable. I mean... People do something wrong, they have a right to prove that they're innocent. But here in America, you're innocent until proven guilty. So I don't know what the pause is. So Commissioner Guzman said about the expansion, that's not what I heard from Commissioner Kirsch. I just don't want... us to pause something that we know is working not in just our city and everywhere else and I say this because and everybody hit on this about Tallahassee they could have done a lot of different things they could have lowered our homeowners insurance and car insurance and health insurance but yet they went after property tax okay they went after our twenty five percent in the water because we're pumping water to outside our jurisdiction, but because Tallahassee couldn't do this and because the governor had an issue with someone, now that took away from us. So what I'm saying is Tallahassee doesn't make the right decisions. And if what the mayor said, if the Florida Department of Law Enforcers made this and you guys followed this, and I'll agree with what Commissioner Kirsch said about All the people that he read off, FOP, PBA, sheriffs, their main concern was, like you said, the people that are going to have access to this. So whatever you have to sit with them and sit with us and hear what we have to figure what it is. I mean, there's no difference, I'm saying, there's no difference when we have first reading of something now And within the next two weeks, that comes back to us and we have to tell them, these are the safeguards. I met with my commission. These are the safeguards they want. It's either you do it or you walk and we get somebody else or whatever it is that wants to have the safeguards that we have. But I am not going to vote for a pause that's going to delay. I don't care what Pines did. They paused it, they whatever. I mean, hey, sometimes you have to have, you know, in order to take a stand, okay? So I have no problem and none of us are doing anything wrong. None of your men and women are doing anything wrong. So you set a timeframe. I'm not trying to add or subtract from whatever it is. But I mean, we all know deep down that this works, right? Whether we believe it works fully, half, whatever, it's working. And if we asked for every city's what crimes and what things, cases that they've solved, it would be in the hundreds or the thousands. It wouldn't be like five or six or 10 or just our 70. We're not the only ones or Lord of Hill is not the only one. So I'm saying if we could work on something as far as the short pause, like a first reading to a second reading, and come up with something that is beneficial to all of us, then pausing something total.

Here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a biological break. But before I do that, I want to be really clear. We have to have a civil discussion. I don't want us to find like the rest of the country. Everybody here honestly believes their position. Nobody's evil or wrong. That story of FWC doing that is outrageous. It goes back to COINTEL, what the FBI did to the Black Panthers. It has abuses and institutions have abused. This is a legitimate discussion. It doesn't make the other person bad. We're struggling with it. For some of us, it's like, how do we turn this off and then something terrible happens tomorrow? I don't want to get that call. I'm having a hard time with that. For others, it's like, look, this is a big civil liberal. It's personal to me. I feel like I'm being targeted. These are legitimate concerns. We have to have this discussion with civility. That's all I'm going to ask for the rest of this meeting. We're on break for five minutes.

So, since we have had this program, I have been voicing my opinions to the chief, correct? About holding the information, how long we're going to have it, who is monitoring. This is not a new conversation to you and I. Maybe we have not done this publicly, but this is not a new conversation. And when I last brought this up to talk about how could we really look at where these are actually in place, can we limit them, nobody wanted to hear me. So to hear we are at this very point again tonight, the same conversation like four weeks later when nobody wanted to hear this conversation, we could have saved ourselves all this time and tonight we could have been talking about what we have already evaluated. I just want us to be really giving everybody the same kind of space and time to really say all the things that they really wanna say, because sometimes it feels as if that we are just going around in circles about things when we really don't listen to everything that everybody has to say. So that's one of the things I wanna point out. As it comes on to the different levels of emotions that everybody's talking about, I really want us to So evaluate what we're doing based on residents' points of view. We want to really keep that into the conversation and not necessarily just look at what is happening in the state of Florida, what is happening to anybody else. It's how are we really protecting the safety of our residents. And that is why they did bring that conversation in the first place. is that yes, they wanted to make sure that they are being safe. They were more concerned about how many of them that they see in the city and the look and the feel of it. And so while we're talking about all these different things and we are focusing on the major issues of how this information is, getting outside of our city, I really wanna circle back to points of location of these cameras. What does it look like for these cameras within our city, and how can we really keep our residents as safe as possible? So those are the areas of really focus for me, and that's kinda really where I wanna circle and stay at.

All right. Yeah, just to be clear, since you've raised nobody wanted to hear you, at the time it was raised about a couple of blocks of where there thought to be too many. And it wasn't that nobody wanted to hear you. It was talk to the chief and talk about it. At that time, in your defense, there wasn't this national discussion that was rolling down on us. So I acknowledge that. I also acknowledge what you point out, that a lot of what we're dealing with here is the look and feel. There is no doubt that these solar cameras, solar-powered, right, good for the environment, look intimidating. And folks forget where the red light cameras are. They're there. We put signs up. But they forget it. It's not prominent. But we would have had the same discussion if we'd had the solar on that. And so some of this is important because the look and feel is not – superficial it's actually making prominent what we should be discussing as we struggle with the technology as the state ignores these issues about how to do it but to be clear anybody who accesses our system from the outside has to put a case number correct yes sir so there's a way to know we can certainly audit as we go forward we can get a report if you will so to speak how many times we're getting because they have to that's FDLE standards that's what's imposed on everybody even naturally to access they have to put something and I think to your point that's how you find out whether it's FWC tracking you right so there is there are these safeguards that we're struggling with that are valid and worthy of more discussion so I'm interested in hearing from from Commissioner Kirch and Deputy Mayor again on what pause looks like to them so we're clear about what we're talking about and And again, in both your defenses, pause has been publicly used in so many different ways. And so it's unfair to assume what you mean by it. Commissioner Kirch, and then.

I'll be happy to clarify, but I want to ask the chief a couple questions.

Chief, how long would you need to do the following?

Evaluate the program in whole. Conduct a audit or survey of the other ones. Make sure that their policies align with ours Doing the same things according to FDLE standard right they have to have the policy. I want to make sure that Get with the Commission update your findings How much time

I think the most difficult portion of this is going to be to schedule time independently with each of you to discuss the complexities, the individual questions that you all have.

That's not Commissioner Kirch's question. He's really asking, what's it going to take to find out from the other 31, do they have FDLE-compliant policies? This is something that chiefs need to be – You can't be the chiefs and say we're in support of safeguards and then not know if they're there. That's, I think, one of the reticence. So that's one. And then two, to evaluate the system on concerns you've heard here. and to take those into consideration, both in terms of perhaps location, existing and otherwise, as well as the safeguards from external intrusion, if you will, and how you intend to audit that.

I think to be safe, to accomplish all of what you're asking, I would say 60 days. About two months. You need two months to do that. Just to be safe. If I can get it done sooner, I will, but I just want to give you a safe number. I appreciate it.

So what I would be thinking as a pause. I want that information. I would say we pause the expansion portion of it for at least 60 days. You can run your data. I'm not saying kill the program. Run your data. In 60 days, I want to come back and make sure that I have the assurances that the eight criteria that I pointed out are being met.

Let me ask you this as a friendly question on that. When I look at northbound, southbound hiatus, 29th. 60 days of permit, Mike. Let me finish my point. The question I have to the chief is, and maybe the county halts all the permits anyway. It makes no difference, right?

Maybe they answer the question for us.

But right now, they're not doing it. Do you have an estimate by location of when you expect? My point being, if it's moot, then I don't care. And I don't know if you're prepared to answer, because we didn't raise this with you before, but I'll give you one example. It's unlikely in the next two weeks you're going to be installing in any of those that are currently not there. Is that fair to say?

That's correct. I mean, the permits have been with the county for quite some time. Surprisingly. So it could be next week. But through this process, through this pause, I could definitely meet with the commission individually and go through each of those locations.

See, I would hate for a permit to come out on northbound, southbound there. Now, it may be that there's other coverage north and south of there that I feel comfortable that it's okay if you pause that. But it's about which way a car goes coming out, right? Because it's east-west right now because that's city road. without having some clarity as to what the expected time to understand the county could tomorrow do it, but I suspect not, because that's not how, with due respect to the county, that's not how things work. What I'd wanna know is whether you could, within that period of time, start delivering to us the expected installation dates So that if any of us say, wait a minute, timeout, this might be one that we want to raise, that we could do that. Taking it as a friendly amendment to it. I want to hesitate that if there's an intersection. Because if you came back tomorrow and said northbound, southbound, that hiatus and 29th is now approved. My next question to you would be, do you really need it? And if so, why? Because if the answer is no, to your point on locations, then let's not further prompt this. But if your answer is yes, you're going to have to justify it to all five. Does that make sense what I'm suggesting? So they'll be bringing it back to us for approval whether they go or not. Exactly. So the point being is that the department would have to say we really need this. And if you're going to prompt a public discussion on it, you better really need it. Right. And I think that that I'm not sure whether that would be fair to you, but but I think it would protect against one of my fears that I wake up and we could have put it in, didn't go in and something terrible happened. And it may very well be. There's no other northbound, there's nothing else interfering at 20 after 29th Oakland Park and. in hiatus. Maybe we're good enough there, right? That's the kind of analysis I think we need, which meets part of what you were asking on existing, and maybe that's still worthy of having. But that's how I would say it as a friendly amendment.

I would want to know, I mean, I want some more evaluation on what Commissioner Clark is bringing up on density of these cameras. And also, I think you give me all these. We have the Broward County Chief of Police Association. They need to be contacting the state of Florida and our legislatures on state guidelines.

Every one of these on this side. We need to round these people up, get policies and procedures for state guidelines.

State Return of Order of Police. Turnover Police Sunrise Lodge number 80. Reach out to your locals, your Congress, local state reps. Get some state guidelines.

But don't ask our Congress people because we're in the minority. We need to get the others that are in the majority. I'm talking our state reps. Right. That's what I'm saying. Get the majority.

International Association of Chiefs of Police. Guidelines. State guidelines. If you can convince me that. You can meet those eight criteria. Like I said, I'm only asking that maybe we don't even need the pause. If we get to that point to where I'm comfortable with the eight guidelines, then maybe in 60 days I don't come back and say, hey, we need this pause. I would accept Mayor's amendment if it's working. I didn't make the motion, but I would agree with the Mayor that before you put in another camera in the ground, I think I want to know about it so we can have that discussion.

Understood. I think that's reasonable.

Again, I'm trying to find a working solution that balances everyone's interest in privacy as well as concerns. And that's, I guess, if that defines what I'm meeting by a pause.

I just want to ask also to this. They're not calling a special session, right? That means we'd have to wait until January, February. No, I'm saying we're not going to get an answer from Tallahassee unless they call a special session, which they're probably not going to do. Daniels and DeSantis and all of them saying this is a hot button before the election and in the end of October we're going to call a special session to get the last of the voters to go nuts and figure out I'm just saying so I'll agree with you there But if it's January, February, March, I don't want to be waiting for them because... I don't know. I'm 60 days. Okay. Let's see where we're at in 60 days. But I'm saying, what answer do you want from Tallahassee?

I don't expect an answer from Tallahassee.

Okay. So you want just the local...

Chiefs and unions. I want our law enforcement organizations reaching out to Tallahassee, explaining the problem so that this does get resolved.

I'll agree with you. I agree. On a statewide level. So all of the unions should get together, write the same letter with the same safeguards so that all of you do whatever FDLE is doing and better. I'm saying, right? I'm saying and better. Obviously, the cities that are looking at this and opting in and opting out, it's the same thing. Everybody should be on the same page. But you guys got to, you know, you're just one company out of the multiple. Now, you all got to be on the same page. I'm saying.

Yeah.

So, look.

The industry that provides the hardware and the software has really screwed the pooch on this. This was coming. and they could have gotten out ahead of it. The reported abuses, the things like that, there should have been a position. I'm not talking about our vendor, because I know you've been providing information, but as a whole, this discussion. Second, the legislature is well aware, and FDLE has been well aware, that these are being utilized and being used intensively. The question of making sure the standards are there. CJIS requires standards for David. There's all sorts of, and I think, What happened was the injection of who houses the data. We own the data, but who houses it is an issue. And then the third issue is that legislatively, it needs to be clear. I think it's clear from FDLE. I think it's clear from all the guidelines, but this is part of the clarity that's necessary, is that they cannot be used for any other purpose. And then fourth, the audit logs are there. If somebody next door is use you know, taking a hit on something going on and sunrise they got to put a case number in and we have to audit that and make sure that's legitimate with our departments and the chiefs have to agree to this. If they want this this tool they're going to have to agree to these things that there's a request from sunrise to say. send us the information on these hits over the last quarter that have been coming out of your department. Were they all legitimate investigations? Have somebody certify it.

That goes to every department.

That's fair. If you want access to ours, you've got to just prove to us that it was legitimate. And if it was misused, that you did something about it. That's part of the concerns that are coming. And this could be worked out, right? This is policy that can be

dealt with and it's easily handled because the departments want this so this is not a burden on them but who could be i'm saying i'm asking a question and they would know that you have to tell me the answer i'm just going to ask who gets exempt from this who gets exempt from coming in and taking their information where they said gets redacted and that we don't know who's assessed that's part of the discussion that's part of the discussion we have to have and we need some answers on that but and and listen

It could be the feds. It could be state agencies who are complaining, you know, and the state level complaining about it. And yet we're the ones sitting here locally trying to solve crimes and catch people. And then some state agencies abusing it, ruining it for all of us. So they need to address that and how to audit that. And I don't, as I sit here tonight, I don't know how to do it, but it seems like it's a doable thing and it should be. Deputy Mayor, sorry.

Are we going to wrap this up? I know it's getting late, so I'd like to again put the motion to not necessarily pause it indefinitely, but the expansion part of it as we sit down to discuss what those locations look like moving forward.

Well,

I think there's consensus here, what we're talking about. That is, no new installations without justifying. If one gets permitted, you've got to bring it. You've got to justify it. Second, got to work in the next 60 days, the eight points and the additional points, including working with the chiefs. I have some ideas on this, and I've been frustrated the chiefs didn't respond quick enough on this. what they need to do and agree to do. And maybe it becomes a model for the rest of the state. I don't know. But we need to do that. That's working on what I said at the last point, which is making sure that when we get hits that we are able to request an audit there. Right? Because that's part of the concern. Is somebody else doing it? And we don't know. Okay. Can you get that done in 60? Yes, sir. Is that the direction? I'm going by what... Right.

That's going to come back to us. Each individual one. But he's going to meet individually with us over the next 60 days.

And he needs to evaluate. Right.

It's easy. You have to evaluate each of the locations, whether you need it. Northbound, southbound, eastbound, westbound. Understood. I know you went through it. This is not a criticism. This is what you chose based on data that you already had. But it's a fair point to ask about it. Is that Yes, sir. Okay. Do you need more guidance as a charter officer than what you've heard from the five of us? I think that was pretty clear. Okay. Any doubts amongst my colleagues? All right. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you.

And thank you. Appreciate you guys being here for this. All right. We've got some more business to do. City Manager's Report. You're done?

I thought we were doing emails. No, not yet. You're done.

You want that tonight?

Mayor, I'll be brief. At the February 10th city commission meeting, we discussed the In God We Trust addition to the city logo. There was a request to add a logo underneath on top of the dais here. We provided that. I've also provided the commission two additional options with putting the In God We Trust over top of the... The entry into the green room is for consideration. And at this point, if the commission would like to give direction, we could proceed. Or if you need more time, we're happy to do that also.

Yeah, I didn't like any of the logos overhead. I just didn't. I didn't think any of it. I just thought it looks added. I'm OK with over the door. I thought that was prominent enough for those that are here. But that's just me. I just thought it looked.

I like the one underneath, straight across that has the same backing. Just be done. That's just, I don't think the one over there, it's just, it looks like it's away from everything.

My wife always said, choose your battles wisely. I'm not going to fight for this one. That's what I said. I mean. What, Mr. Belsky?

It's really, from.

I'll let you guys decide.

It's really a commission decision. From my perspective, I would say that anything by the logo seemed to me like it was a second thought. That's why we put the option over the door, so it seemed like it was something that may have been planned. But it's really a desire of the commission.

Okay, what's, Deputy Mayor, Commissioner Clark?

I like the door. Door's one, all right. What do you like, Scooter?

I don't care.

You don't care? You like door?

What do you like? I'm open. Whatever you all decide.

I go for the door then. There we go. There's the door. We got a consensus.

But with the backing. Door with backing. Yep. Right.

Thank you.

Anything else you want to report before we do your review? No, Mayor. Sean is saying no. It doesn't fit. Start it. Start it. All right. Don't be. Don't be. Sean, you want a longer discussion on this? Seriously? City Clerk's Report.

No report, sir.

All right. City attorney's report?

No report.

Thank you, sir.

All right. We have lots of evaluations.

May I suggest, given that the city clerk is not here, it would make sense to have this at another night.

No, put it on Felicia. We're ready to go after you right now. All right. Based on the hour, are we in agreement we can push this? As long as it's okay with the charter. All right. All right. Now reports. Everybody, charter's okay? Chief, that says no. Other chief is asleep. Okay. Deputy Mayor? Deputy Mayor's report.

I just have two things to share in reference to Hispanic Heritage Night. I am hosting another event at Island Space for the Hispanic culture for September 25th, and I will share the details. Everyone's welcome to join. And last but not least, I'd like to formally share that my son has completed boot camp and is officially a soldier.

Yay!

And his girlfriend tapped him out right there on the field, and he proposed to her.

Oh, wow. Here we are. Wow. Yeah.

All right. No babies yet. I was just going to say, any other announcements along with that one? No.

All right. Assistant Deputy Mayor.

Mr. Kirch. Just with the early voting, I'm going to bring it up. I had the opportunity to go out there early voting in August to spend some time out there in the heat. One of the concerns I had was at some of the polling locations. One, schools being open during that. We had the bomb, or the threat, not bomb, but the gun threat at Piper. I guess the city clerk should be here since she probably does some of these, but I don't think holding elections in schools on those days. It's not comfortable for people wanting to go campaign outside the 150 mark in a school area. So I would ask the clerk to look at these polling locations in the future. Number two, when my son was at phase four, They kicked him out saying it was private property, and the statute clearly says you're allowed to campaign.

This is perennial. This happens all the time.

So there needs to be some sort of letter that goes out to these polling locations. They do it every time. If it's on private property.

Yeah, no, they have to.

They have to allow the campaigning there.

When I was doing the voter protection, that was one of the big calls. They won't let them through the gate, right?

So it's one of those that I think our city clerk needs to address us with an election coming up.

So here's what I would suggest as a friendly one. I think we need to find out from Joe Scott what he's doing about the school issue because it's a constant problem. We're asked to balance a lot. One of the key components of voter protection is that you don't flood the voter sites with law enforcement, right? It scares some people. It's not appropriate. And yet we're putting them in a school where we have the obligation to flood the zone if something like that happens. So this is an issue that I think we can, I'm happy to raise it with him as well, but I think we need like tomorrow to reach out to Joe Scott's office and ask him, what is he doing? What's the plan on schools? And then to your second point, to reiterate that the training that must go out to schools the gated community, it's Kings Point, it's Sunrise Lakes, it's all these different places throughout the county, that if they have a voter location in there that they have to allow access. It can't just be for residents. It's one of the features they like to give their residents, but they can't restrict access. So we'll make sure to put together a formal communication on the complaint that was identified and ask what their response is to that.

Is that fair?

Then I'll waive the rest of the report. All right, Scooto.

No, I just have one thing. Oh, God. No, it's a longtime resident, Jack Joyce. Longtime resident of Sunrise passed away. He was a coach in the city for a long period of time with his daughter and his son. He was an avid golfer at Sunrise Springtree Golf Course. He worked there also. So if we could just remember Jack Joyce and his family who passed away last week. So to the Joyce family, we pray for you. And, you know, Jack was a great guy. He was a great coach, probably taught hundreds of kids. And we just pray for your family.

That note, no report. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Seconded by Commissioner Skudo. All in favor say aye. Aye.