City Council - Regular Meeting

All right, I'm going to call to order the City Commission meeting of Tuesday, April 14th. If you wouldn't, Ms. Bravo, please call the roll.

Mayor Ryan. Present. Mine unmuted. Deputy Mayor Guzman. Here. Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark. Here. Commissioner Kirch. Here. Commissioner Scudo. Present. City Manager Mark Lebelski. Present. City Attorney Thomas Moss. Present. Administrative Services Manager Lourdes Lawrence. Present. City Clerk Felicia Bravo. Here.

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 and comments 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 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 I'll call upon speakers at an appropriate time. I'll also open up for public comment at an appropriate time and ask anyone in person or by phone wishes 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, but please be sure that 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, your address, and what you're here to speak about. I'd ask that everybody on the call please mute your phones to avoid any background noise. If you're experiencing technical difficulties, you may call 954-578-4792 at any time, and our staff is available to assist you. As we do before each meeting, it's an opportunity for us as a community to gather for a moment of individual and collective silence, a moment of silence that gives us the opportunity perhaps to reflect upon the things that we're here to talk about tonight and the grace that we have to be able to do it. It's an opportunity for us to maybe think about those in our lives who are going through challenges who can't be here with us tonight. It's also an opportunity for us to always reflect as a community that we know, especially in the state of the world today, that there are so many that are serving our nation all over the globe. Many, many in harm's way and many more in ready support. And we've seen that line of demarcation between ready support and harm's way evaporate. And so we know that there are so many on the front lines putting their lives at risk. And for each one of those, there's a family back home, hoping they come home safe and soon. And so we always make sure we take a moment to reflect on the grace that we have to be here and the gratitude we have for those who serve our country. It's also an opportunity that we're going to ask the community tonight to include in their moment of silence and your moment of silence, The loss of one of our colleagues and great leaders here in Broward County, Nancy Matea Bowen, who was murdered on April 1st in her home. Many of you have read about it. But for those of us up here who worked alongside Nancy, the vice mayor of Coral Springs, we got to know her not just as a happy and humble person, but the brilliance that she possessed and the light that she was. She was an environmental scientist. She was passionate about community. She was passionate about changing the world for the better and doing it in a professional and courteous way. She believed in listening, hearing what people had to say, and being their voice when they didn't feel they had a voice. For each of us up here, we worked alongside her in different ways. For me, every month I got to sit down with Nancy and work alongside her in the Solid Waste Authority of Broward County sometimes twice a month. Her leadership there was like her leadership elsewhere, always incorporating what the community deserved and what we all expect of each other as leaders. She's a true loss. On the day that she was murdered, she had called and left a message to tell me how excited she was that she was getting ready to run for Congress. And for some of my colleagues, they had direct reach-outs as well, She was excited about the next stage of her life and being a leader for the entire community, and she is going to be sorely missed. Having done this in the years we've been up here, but we do have a proclamation that we want to have delivered to Coral Springs. Let the Coral Springs community know that our hearts ache as well. Normally we deliver these proclamations in the well, we do it after the pledge. I'm gonna do it tonight first so that when we stand for our moment of silence, we reflect not only on Nancy's live, but on the lives of so many others who are lost to domestic violence, the survivors who are able to break free the fact that there are so many in our community hurting because of the loss of Nancy. Whereas Vice Mayor Nancy Mateer, Coral Springs, Florida, was born on September 4th, 1987. Tragically passed away on April 1st, 2026, leaving behind a legacy of service, compassion, leadership, and purpose. Whereas she made history as the first black and Haitian American female commissioner elected in Coral Springs, first elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024, earning the trust and admiration and respect of her community. Whereas on December 4th, 2024, she was appointed by her fellow commissioners to serve as vice mayor, a role that she carried with grace and vision and an unwavering commitment to the people she served. Whereas Vice Mayor Matea's life was defined by her passion for public service, her passion for environmental stewardship, her passion for inclusiveness and advocacy for those who had no voice. because she always wanted to ensure that all felt seen and heard and valued. Whereas she believed deeply in creating a community where everyone had a seat at the table and where every voice mattered and her leadership consistently reflected those values. Whereas prior to service in the Coral Springs City Commission, she led environmental justice efforts across the state of Florida, working to strengthen community resilience and improve environmental conditions. Whereas as an environmental scientist and a former member of the Broward County Soil and Water Conservation District, she advanced initiatives in water quality and sanitation and public health and disaster response, including efforts related to hurricanes Irma, Michael, and Dorian. Whereas Vice Mayor Mateo envisioned a future rooted in sustainability, resilience, and innovation, inclusion, championing initiatives that supported environmental responsibility, small businesses, community empowerment and opportunities for future generations. whereas her commitment to service extended across numerous boards and organizations at the local, state, and federal levels, including her role as liaison to the Broward Solid Waste Authority, the Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, the Charter School Advisory Board, Environmental Sustainability Committee, the Multicultural Advisory Committee of Broward League of Cities, and the Broward County Climate Change Task Force, as well as her service with the Florida League of Cities. Whereas Vice Mayor Matea earned her Bachelor of Science from Florida Agriculture and Mechanical University and a Masters of Health Science from Johns Hopkins. Her impact was recognized throughout numerous honors and awards for her leadership and her advocacy. Whereas her legacy will continue to live on through the lives she touched and the values she embodied to champion sustainability, to lead with inclusion and to serve with compassion. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with all of my colleagues on the City Commission, do hereby honor and celebrate the life and legacy of Vice Mayor Nancy Mateo, recognizing her historic leadership, extraordinary contributions to public service, and her unwavering commitment to humanity. Our City Commission expresses its deepest condolences to her family, her friends, her colleagues, entire coral springs community during this time of profound loss so when we stand for a moment of silence if you could among the other things that you will think about please hold dear nancy's family Deputy Mayor, you'll give us the honor of presenting this to the Coral Springs Commission.

Yes, I actually have a couple things I'd like to say in reference to Nancy was not just an elected official to many of us. She was a really good friend of mine. This is really hard for our circle of friends that got to be with her often over the past six years since we were both elected in 2020. It's really difficult. You know, even just this week, putting together a guest list, I was writing down all the names, and I wrote her name in to attend, and it just reminded me all over again that she's not here for a selfless act. I will say her family doesn't want anyone to remember her of how she passed, but to please remember her of how she lived. One thing about her is she led with grace, humility, compassion. Putting aside all of her accolades as an elected official, as a person, she was just... an amazing woman, a young woman that I admired her so much. Even though she was younger than me, I was just like, wow, how about the brilliance at her age and all the success at her age. She had so much more to give back to, not just our community, but across the state. She was internationally known. She had so much more to do, and so it's so sad to know she's not here, and I... Keep her family in our prayers. Friday is her funeral, so I know it's going to be very difficult for the entire community all over again since we'll all be together. I do also want to share one more thing. We did have another loss in the City of Sunrise. Jennifer Coleman, who worked with Family Central, as well as a member of the PLTI, which is the Parent Leadership Training Institute through the City of Sunrise, passed away this past week from hospice. So please keep their family and friends in our prayers. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

All right, we have a number of terrific presentations. Before we begin, we have a few items of business. I have the consent agenda 4A through 4V as in Victor. Do I have a motion? Move it. Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Deputy Mayor. Any polls from my colleagues? Any polls from staff?

No polls, Mayor.

Anybody in the public wish to have any items on the consent agenda removed from the consent agenda 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 no hands raised?

I confirm no hands raised.

All right. Go ahead and call the question on 4A through 4V as in Victor.

Commissioner Kirch?

Yes.

Commissioner Scudo?

Yes.

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

Yes. Those items pass 5-0. All right. We have a very special presentation tonight from a young lady who is already a leader in her own right. McKinley Cascio is a Western High School junior who has a number of other roles, including a member of the JROTC, a strong advocate for issues that are important, and she also happens to be Miss South Florida Teen, competing to be Miss Florida Teen. She's here tonight to present. on the issue of autism, something very close and personal to her. And so if you could, please give her a big sunrise welcome to McKinley Castillo. Go ahead and introduce yourself to all these lovely people here who are excited to hear from you.

Good evening, mayor, commissioners and members of the city staff. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. My name is McKinley Castillo and I'm here to present safe at home on the spectrum. A community based safety initiative designed to protect children with autism and support their families. I'm a junior at Western High School and a proud resident of Sunrise.

Yay!

I'm also honored to share that I was recently crowned Miss South Florida's Teen with the Miss America organization, which has given me the opportunity to advocate for these issues that deeply matter to me. But most importantly, I am a big sister. My younger brother is autistic, nonverbal, and requires constant supervision. He has significant support needs and will likely need lifelong care. That's why my understanding of this issue comes from. Because of him, I've seen how much work it takes just to make a home safe. The locks on doors and windows aren't there to keep people out. They're there to keep my brother safe inside. Safety in our home is not something we think about once. It's something we think about every minute of every day. And while every autistic child is different, my experience has shown me something important. Families with higher support needs are often carrying the greatest responsibility with the least support. Autism exists on a spectrum. Some children need minimal support. Others require constant care and supervision. But across that spectrum, safety is a shared concern. Many children may wander, access unsafe spaces, or interact with their environment in risky ways. And while the level of risk may vary, every family deserves access to tools that help keep their child safe. Autism now affects one in 31 children in the United States. That means thousands of families and communities just like ours. Some children can communicate clearly. Others cannot call for help or understand danger. Some families can advocate loudly. Others are overwhelmed, just trying to get through the day. But every single one of these children, regardless of where they fall on the spectrum, deserves to be safe in their own home. For many families, safety is not a one-time concern. It is constant. It can look like checking locks, monitoring doors, and worrying about water or everyday household items, because it only takes a moment. One unlocked door, one missed sound, one second. And while these risks can affect many autistic children, they can be especially serious for those who need constant supervision or cannot communicate danger. The stories shown here reflect a pattern we see far too often. Families doing everything they can, loving their children, watching them closely, putting safeguards in place, and still facing risks that they cannot fully control. This is not about neglect. This is about reality. Because no parent can watch every second. No caregiver can do it alone forever. And too many of these families are too overwhelmed, too exhausted, or too busy caring for their child to come into rooms like this and ask for help. So tonight, I'm here to do that for them. And for every family you don't see here tonight, there are many more at home right now doing everything they can to keep their child safe. Families raising children with autism are already managing therapy, medical care, and daily responsibilities. On top of that, they must often pay out of pocket for basic safety modifications. And the families who need the most support are often the ones with the least time, the least resources, and the least ability to advocate for themselves. Safe at Home on the Spectrum is a community-based initiative focused on prevention. It supports families raising autistic children by helping them access essential home safety modifications. This program is designed to serve children across the spectrum while recognizing that some families may need additional support based on their child's safety needs. This program would operate through a partnership-based model. The city would collaborate with local nonprofits, community organizations, healthcare providers, and businesses. Together, these partners would provide funding, resources, and education. This includes access to door and window locks, alarms, appliance locks, and furniture safety mounts. This model keeps the programs sustainable, community supported, and focused on prevention. These tools may seem simple, but they change everything. They create safer environments for children across the spectrum. and provide critical protection for those who need it the most. Because sometimes a simple lock or alarm is the difference between a close call and something much worse. The City of Sunrise has already shown a strong commitment to safety and quality of life. This initiative builds on that by supporting families who may not always have the time, the energy, or the voice to advocate for themselves. Safe at Home on the Spectrum is designed to be scalable. It can serve as a model for other cities. showing how communities can come together to support families and prevent avoidable risks. This is more than safety devices. It's about making sure every child with autism, no matter where they fall on the spectrum, has access to a safe environment. And it's about supporting families who are already doing everything they can but cannot and should not have to do it alone. I respectfully ask the City Commission to consider directing staff to explore the feasibility of the Safe at Home on the Spectrum initiative. including partnerships, funding opportunities, and a pilot program here in Sunrise. With your leadership, this can become a community supported initiative that protects children and supports families across the spectrum. Families like mine don't get to turn safety off. It doesn't pause. It doesn't wait. It's constant. And for many families, it's carried quietly behind doors without help. Safe at home on the spectrum changes that. It says to those families, you are seen, you are supported, and you are not alone. So tonight, I'm not just asking you to consider a program. I'm asking you to consider the families who are doing everything right and still need help. Because at the end of the day, this isn't just a program or policies. It's about whether a child is safe when the door closes at night. Thank you for your time and consideration.

All right, come on over here, McKinley, and first of all, give you an opportunity to be introduced to all of the commission. What did you guys think? And McKinley's mom and her brother are here. If you guys feel comfortable coming up, please come on up. Let's give mom a big round of applause. So to give you, yay. Getting big. Mom, there's plenty of people to take photos. Just come. We'll take that for you.

Never gives up taking photos.

So to give you some background, McKinley emailed me and said she had this idea for an initiative that was based on a very personal issue for her and began the process of presenting it, put all of this together, including not just the PowerPoint but the principles surrounding it and what the ideas were. She then presented it to the AIM Board, our Accessibility, Inclusion, and Mobility Board, thanks to Commissioner Scudo, that is making such a difference here in this community. So she had a dry run with them, and they had amazing ideas on how to even build on this, how to build partnerships, start a 501 , warning her not to let somebody else take it over, make sure you're running it, all great advice, all as a lead up to wanting to time this. for tonight as we recognize autism autism awareness month here in sunrise and i will say this is a and i don't know if there's any relation when she started doing this and working with me she was not miss south florida teen she is now so i'm pretty sure that's because of me um But I guess her mom and the family think otherwise, I guess. I don't know. But the really important thing here is, and we're going to talk about autism more broadly as we recognize Autism Awareness Month, is that this is an idea being generated by someone in our community who is not even entitled to vote yet. who is coming up with a great idea to help make this world, our community, better. And it's an example not just for what McKinley's doing, but for every young person in this room or anybody watching, that you can come up with a great idea and make a difference. You don't have to wait until you've got a label or a title, although if you're a Miss South Florida teen, it does help, right? But she was able to do this, so... I know that part of, and some of you folks are out there, are going to be thinking, how can I help? And I know before she leaves tonight, some of you will be giving your name and number and be able to give some help. So I'm going to turn over mom just real quick and just to explain why this was so important, even for you.

Well, gosh, Riley is seven years old. He is nonverbal. He's never spoken. It's something we still hold out hope for. A very long time ago, he was probably three, we had a really scary moment. He disappeared. We were at a park and we looked around, we couldn't find him. And it took us, I don't know, a good three minutes, which felt like three hours to find him. And that's when I really realized something sums up with this kid. And ever since it's been this ongoing journey of how to keep him safe. So McKinley's really kind of taken the reins and has thought up this amazing idea. So I'm really proud of her and proud of all she's done and continues to do to advocate for her brother and other autistic families.

You know, each time we get e-mails and text messages, and we had gotten one of those text messages or e-mails, and it said, I was at Willoughby Park. My kid was in the splash pad. And the parents and kids, every time they would go outside the splash pad, they would leave the gate open. So she said, I'm a mom, my kid was autistic. I would get up, go over to the gate and shut the gate. And she goes, I had to do this like 10 times. And she said, well, all the other parents were looking at me thinking that I was just a mean person that because I left the gate open, this woman was getting up and shutting the gate. It ends up being, she was shutting the gate because like you said, her kid wanted a bolt. We talked to Kevin over at Leisure Services, and now with all the parks and all the splash pads, we have those latches that when you open, it'll shut and lock. So it was like for $75. It comes from a parent, so... We understand what it is that you're going for. We started the AIM board as a city for inclusion, mobility, for all residents. So this was part of it, but we truly appreciate everything that you're bringing forward. So on behalf of the Scudo-Masliano family, we'll donate $1,000 tonight.

Wonderful presentation you know it's awareness to an area where sometimes individuals overlook because they don't necessarily have it at their home and the fact that you're a big sister bringing this forward shows that you care about other families and it's so good to see this initiative and I'm so proud of you and I'm so proud of your family for even coming up here and just standing with you in unity and solidarity.

I mean, blown away with the presentation. You did absolutely fabulous. 13 years ago, when I first got on, a young boy by the name of Diego Avageneda. was on our swim team, and one of the swimming mates had autism. And he came up with the idea that he came and pitched just like you did to the commission, say, you know what? We would like to do a program called Autism Swims. We bring children in. They participate, learn how to swim, get comfortable in the water, how to get to the side. And that program's been going on for, since its obsession, it's been taken over by a sister, a younger sister, Sophia. So I am so proud to support this program. I'm so proud that you've come up and reinvigorated our interest and interest back into supporting this idea. And I'm incredibly proud and in awe of your commitment to this. So thank you.

Thank you.

So it is definitely true. You have brains and beauty. Congratulations on your accomplishments as a pageant queen. And this is definitely important, what you're doing for the children. As a young person, I am blown away when the youth advocate for something so passionate. successful and you have so much going on for you I know that we as a commission will continue to support you as you bring this project forward across the entire community and even moving forward in your pageant please keep us posted because I'd love to see where your future takes us takes you

So we're also here to recognize Autism Awareness Month. So if you're here in support of Autism Awareness Month or just want to be supportive, come on up so that we can all show to the millions at home how many people are here supporting this. So if you're here for Autism Awareness Month, please come forward. Let's give them all a big round of applause. We have our chamber.

Hey, how are you? Hey guys, how are you? It's nice to see you. Thanks for being part of this.

That's awesome.

Yeah, you brought it today. Yeah.

All right, so, and that's a very important card you just got. Don't lose that one. That's Baptist Health. So everybody's here for a different reason. We know why McKinley and her family. Who wants to speak on behalf of some of the other organizations?

Come on, come on.

I know you do. Come on.

Good evening. So we're actually here from Village Elementary. They were here to support me for Teacher of the Month, but they're all special program teachers, whether it's pre-K, BSE, or autism teachers. So they're here always. It's all my fun. Talk to us about why it's important.

Come on. You're Teacher of the Month. You're going to be recognizing you and everything.

Why, what's important? The safety?

Not only safety, but the work that's being done to raise awareness, you know, to educate folks, right? Because sometimes they don't know the questions to ask. They feel embarrassed. They don't know, right? Oh, of course. So talk to us a little bit about it.

Well, I mean, I'm going to commend... Tell me your name again.

McKinley.

Miss McKinley. She's kind of like me, an advocate. It's very, very hard to speak up on behalf of just the parents. I think that even as educators, we go through it on a different level, but as a parent, again, we watched them. I knew when you came in, we saw them run. Your heart jumped when he ran away. I said, oh, he's just going back to safety. He went back where he originally went. But a lot of people, you know, they don't realize that the story he told us about the park, those are small things that make such a big difference. Our principals here, we just ask about putting locks. We're a city of sunrise school. But on the gates, because those are things that, again, we're bolting all day, and it's just fight or flight. They're having the time of their life. But we're more concerned whether they're a car or if someone, you know, if he or she's going to get hurt. If other people understand because he's non-verbal, you know, how can he express it? Hey, I am lost. I think he's just having fun. But it's very important that everybody knows more about it, or at least early detection. That's why I said we have pre-K teachers. It starts early. Again, if the parents see it, they're putting those things in place and they team up with the school. I was like, that was funny that we were here. And I was like, hey, it just kind of goes hand in hand. So that supports you. But again, we do the same work that you guys do. We were sitting, putting things in place. My job is a little different because I'm trying to make sure that they know and as well as the parents. But I'm doing dual duty right now. So I'm running. I would have ran behind him, but that's my role. Look, and so, again, we're here. Mom always wears sneakers, as you can tell. This is my cute outfit. I didn't have this on today. Again, we look like this in jeans and T-shirts. But definitely, we're here to support you. You can come. You guys can come here. You guys want to use our school, you know, make improvements, because we take our babies as well from pre-K all the way up through fifth grade. It's hard work. heart from our heart. And so it's constant. Okay. I'm done. Good job.

All right. Anybody else here to speak on, uh, from any of the autism on the autism awareness or our presentation? Okay. You want to do it now? I mean, yeah, come on before we do the proclamation. That's what we're here to talk about.

I was going to make this speech. Thank you, Mama. That's because we're matching in the same blue. I made a speech, because this is very special. So I just want to say, obviously, good evening to everybody, the city of Sunrise, the mayor, Jeopardy, my Chamber of Commerce, who's here representing, and my village, who's all back here with me. Today's going to be a little bit of emotional, more emotional than what it was because they've already sparked my tears. Not just because today's about a proclamation, but because of what it represents. Nine years ago for us, none of this existed. There was no Autism Hero Project, which is the organization, nonprofit that I run. There was no programs, no grants or scholarships like the ones we offer. No collaborative partnerships, no stages like this. There was just a little boy who I loved very, very much. And I loved him so much that accepting the world as it is was never going to be enough for me. So I decided to make a decision If the world wasn't built for him, then I would help build one that was. And that love became our nonprofit, the Autism Hero Project. What started as one voice, one story, one fight, has grown into a movement that has now crossed state lines and planted roots right here in Florida. After years of making history, nine years in Illinois, we are so proud to bring our nationally recognized programs to this community, programs built on access, inclusion, education, and dignity. Our mission is simple, but it carries weight. We prepare kids with autism for the world and we prepare the world for them. Because the truth is, families don't just struggle alone because of autism, but they struggle because systems fail them. So we decided to become the bridge and to date, We're about to turn nine, and we've already provided over $350,000 in medical insurance grants for children to access life-changing therapy. We've trained over 1,200 first responders and placed more than 600 sensory kits in the hands of those who show up first in moments of crisis. Through our Heroes Unite program, we are changing what safety looks like for autistic individuals, and we've awarded education scholarships to autistic adults because their stories don't end at 18, even if the supports do. We've created inclusive events where families who once felt invisible can finally breathe and feel seen. And through the Blue Envelope program that we launched in over 60 communities in Illinois and a few here in Florida, including Sunrise, we are turning traffic stops with autistic individuals and drivers and children on the spectrum who are in those vehicles into moments of understanding instead of fear. But what makes today extra special is that Sunrise didn't wait to see if we, the Autism Hero Project, were worth it. You guys just moved in, you listened, you leaned in, and you acted. From Deputy Mayor Guzman, thank you, to your police department, who right away implemented the Blue Envelope program, to the Chamber, who has welcomed me open arms and supported us, to the mayor who I saw in action just last month, the heart that you have. You all embraced us and you chose action over optics. And now this is how change begins. Although we received many, many proclamations here in Illinois, excuse me, in Illinois, this is our very first proclamation in the city of Sunrise here in Florida. And for that, we're very grateful. And I can't think of a more meaningful place for this to happen because it doesn't feel just alone like a partnership, but it feels like Sunrise's family, and we're just getting started. So with that, I just would like to invite the whole community out. On April 30th, we are officially doing our ribbon cutting at Arc Culinary that lives in Arc Broward. From 5.30 to 8.30, sips and bites are included. If you want more about that, Sunrise Chamber will send out that information or you can look at it at our website autismheroproject.org or on our social media channels. But I do want to say on behalf of all of the families, thank you for this proclamation. On behalf of the parents still fighting to be heard, the child who deserves access, the adult who deserves opportunities, and every community willing to do better, they say it takes a village to raise a child. But I always say it takes a child with autism to raise the consciousness of that village. Thank you, Sunrise, for being that village. And to the little boy who inspired me to start this all, I love you. This one's for you. Thank you.

So it's my honor on behalf of the commission to declare autism awareness month. Um, and I'm going to ask the two stars to come forward here. There you go. Um, um, um, whereas autism, come on, everybody come forward.

Come on.

Whereas autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that can cause significant social communication behavioral challenges. Autism is the fastest growing developmental disorder among children in the U.S. There's often nothing about how people with ASD look that sets them apart from other people. People with ASD may communicate, interact, behave, and learn in ways that are different from neurotypical people, but learning, thinking, and problem-solving abilities of people with ASD can range from gifted to severely challenged. And whereas a diagnosis of ASD now includes several conditions that used to be diagnosed separately. Whereas in 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that approximately one in 31 children in the US is diagnosed with ASD. Boys are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, and autism affects individuals of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Minority groups are often diagnosed later and less frequently, and there is no single medical test to diagnose autism. Whereas ASD can sometimes be detected 18 months or younger, by the age of two, diagnosis by an experienced professional can be considered very reliable. However, many children do not receive a full diagnosis until they're much older. This delay means that children with ASD might not get the early help and supports they need. Whereas research shows that early intervention treatment services can improve a child's development. Early intervention services help children from birth to three years old learn important skills. And services can, as we've heard, can include therapies to help children talk and walk and interact with others, communicate and control behaviors, including physical aggression and self-injury behavior. Whereas City of Sunrise has specifically been involved in promoting autism awareness by sponsoring organizations and events that target services to this community, such as Autism Swims and the Autism Speaks Broward Walk. Whereas in the City of Sunrise, a part of our continued effort to better serve our residents, the police department has incorporated an autism awareness program within Project Lifesaver. Through this program, our hope is to expand our database and improve police responses with individuals who have autism. Once enrolled, individual will be issued a Sunrise Police Autism Awareness Magnet and a sticker that can be placed in cars and windows and doors to alert any responding officers and working on the Blue Envelope program. Whereas in honor of Autism Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise, the police department wraps a patrol vehicle with vinyl decals with an autism awareness logo in order to make a difference for families in bringing attention to those living with autism. The vehicle is meant to attract attention in order to promote autism acceptance and awareness and help the City of Sunrise connect. with those on the autism spectrum in our community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with my colleagues on the Commission, do hereby support and encourage all residents and businesses to celebrate differences and become more inclusive of individuals with autism. And we do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Autism Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise. Thank you to the Chamber and all these folks. There's yours.

Hang on one sec.

All right. And if Miss South Florida T could just stay back for a second so the commission can get a picture with you so we can prove that we know you when people ask. All right, one more time, big round of applause for everybody. And McKinley, there's a lot of folks with business cards here. Make sure you don't let anybody leave without grabbing one. Okay, ready for the next? Somebody read.

Proclamation D, Proclamation proclaiming the month of April 2026 as Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise, Mayor Michael J. Ryan, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman, Assistant Deputy Mayor Latoya Clark, Commissioner Neal Kirch, and Commissioner Joey Scudo.

All right, come on, make some noise. Come on up here, Juan. And if you're a veteran, if you could come join us up here. as well. I truly appreciate that. Come on up and join us. Come on, let's round of applause for our veterans. So the City of Sunrise has for many years now been incredibly supportive of the Paralyzed Veterans of America organization. And again, not for optics, but because we know the great work that they do and the support of the veterans here in our community that we know that this is a calling for us. And so from wonderful opportunities to present at July 4th, right, where we have thousands of people, or when, you know, the chamber plays us in a game and we beat the heck out of them in the city versus chamber... Quiet back there. Chamber events to support our veterans. The community support is sustained and throughout the year. So we're here tonight to talk about the important work that's done for paralyzed veterans and to talk about why it's so important. And with us, Juan is here to help talk to us about that tonight. Juan.

Yes, Mr. Mayor, thank you for all your support that you've been giving to us through many years, and I appreciate it. I'm going to make sure that this proclamation is going to be in a good, good place for the PVA, okay?

Thank you, Juan. Let's give him a round of applause. And to give you a sense, on July 4th, when we have our concert at the Amerit Bank Arena and there's 20,000 or more people there, the crowd all gets riled up in support for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. We make sure every year that everyone is reminded of the great work that's going on, not just for conflicts of the past, but even as we are here today, we know. that there are young men and young women who have been exposed to incredible harms that end up in Landstuhl in Germany and on their way here for recovery, and many of them need that support when they get here. So it's my honor on behalf of the Commission to declare Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise. Whereas residing within the boundaries of the City of Sunrise, many of our neighbors have served as members of our armed forces and in doing so have honored our community with exemplary dedication. And whereas it's important to recognize the sacrifices made by our community's veterans who are paralyzed, And in the City of Sunrise, we encourage all residents and businesses of the city to honor our paralyzed veterans because they personify the highest ideals of service to our country, the sacrifice of self and perseverance in overcoming adversity. Their stories of hardship and triumph provide life-affirming lessons for all of us. I encourage the people of the City of Sunrise to observe and participate in activities associated with Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Month and reflect upon the sacrifices endured by our community's veterans who are paralyzed. There are many in our local community, and there are many service organizations, particularly those serving youth that seek involvement in worthy projects. And the Paralyzed Veterans Awareness Month meets and surpasses the standard of dedication and continued commitment to our community. So now, therefore, I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with all of my fellow commissioners, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 is Paralyzed Veterans of America Awareness Month in the City of Sunrise. And I ask you, if you don't live here, make sure your city is doing the same thing. Let's give them a big round of applause. All right, one more time, big round of applause for Juan and all our veterans who are here. Yeah, sure.

Can somebody read the next one?

Why don't we do it?

F presentation, presentation of the Teacher of the Month Award for April, 2026 to Haley Bates from Sawgrass Elementary School and Sheena McNair from Village Elementary School, Kevin Picard, Director of Leisure Services.

All right, come on, Teachers of the Month, we know you're out there, come on. Sheena, come on, you gotta come back up with all your supporters too, bring everybody up. Yes.

How are you? How are you doing?

Congratulations. That's awesome.

Come on, come on, come on, come on. I'm right here. I'm right here.

How are you? Nice to see you.

All right. So come on up, you two wonderful people. So the City of Sunrise, about 16 years ago, began recognizing a teacher of the month every month.

Come on, you guys gotta, teachers come up from here, come on, come on.

Don't be sitting in the back of the class, we're gonna call on you. And the idea was that as a community, we know how important a strong public education system is, but we also know it begins in the classroom. And it begins with a story, well, a fire in somebody's soul that says, I want to be an educator. That sense of excellence and empathy, of commitment and compassion, of that educational leadership. And even though the city controls nothing in the schools, we have no real involvement, and I've said it many times, You can call us about the car loop. We can't do anything about it. We'll, we'll do the best we can and advocating. But even though that's the case as a city, we know that we need to take time to recognize our teachers. And I suspect that we are the only city in all of Florida that does this every month and have done this for the past 16 years. And you'll see tonight why it's so important for us to take that time to recognize excellence in our classroom. because it does make our community stronger when we're not just recognizing the individual teachers, but really what they represent is the highest ideals in education, particularly now when it's so important to support our educators. So I'm going to turn it over to Kevin Picard to introduce our award winners this month.

Thank you, Mayor. Kevin Picard, Director of Leisure Services. It's simply my honor to get to introduce you to our outstanding winners of our Teacher of the Month program. I'm going to read some comments provided by the school administration. And then fair warning back there, I'm going to pass the microphone to you. So there's your warning. Okay. We're going to start with Sawgrass Elementary School. Sawgrass Elementary School proudly nominates Haley Bates as the April 26th Teacher of the Month. Haley Bates shines as the City of Sunrise's Teacher of the Month, bringing heart, dedication, and genuine connection to everything she does. She builds meaningful relationships with both students and parents, creating a classroom community where everyone feels seen and supported. Ms. Bates' commitment extends far beyond the school day. as she is a familiar face at every family night event, always eager to strengthen partnerships and celebrate her students' worlds. As an aspiring leader, Ms. Bates continually seeks opportunities to grow both professionally and personally, inspiring those around her with her drive and her unwavering passion for education. Congratulations. Village Elementary School proudly nominates Shana McNair as the April 26 Teacher of the Month. Ms. McNair is a proud graduate of Broward County Public Schools, having attended local schools from elementary through high school. She and her husband, Cecil McNair, also an educator, are the proud parents of three children, Jayla, Payden, and Bryce. Ms. McNair has dedicated nearly 21 years to serving her community as both an educator and an advocate for students with disabilities within Broward County Public Schools. Her experience spans general education, pre-K, and special programs, supporting students with varying exceptionalities, including VE, IND, and ASD. Her commitment to students with disabilities is unmatched. Three years ago, Ms. McNair was instrumental in launching the ASD program at Village Elementary, bringing invaluable firsthand knowledge and effective instructional strategies to support student success. This year, she proudly serves in dual roles as an ESC specialist and ASD coach. In recognition of her outstanding dedication and impact, Ms. McNair was selected as Village Elementary's Teacher of the Year. We are proud to have her represent the Village as the City of Sunrise Teacher of the Month. Congratulations.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Nicole Finkel. I'm the proud assistant principal at Sawgrass Elementary School. And truthfully, thank you. When we think of Miss Bates on behalf of Mr. Dakotas, the principal, and I, the main word that comes to mind is relationships. We've been so fortunate and lucky to actually watch Miss Bates grow throughout her career. She was an intern at Sawgrass during her last semester in college, and she just stood out so much that we ended up hiring her right after she graduated as an intern sub for the rest of the year. And she just impressed us so much that the following year we were able to hire on as a full time teacher and the last 2 years we've really been able to watch her grow this year specifically. We put her in 4th grade for my teachers out there, you know, intermediate grade level is not for the weary and she has just shined. Like, you couldn't imagine her data really reflects the relationships that she's built with her students. She has some of my more frequent flyers in my office that this year I haven't been able to see as often because she has built such amazing relationships. And we're so proud to give you the honor of Teacher of the Month this year at Sawgrass Elementary School.

Good evening, everyone. I am Mrs. Haynes. I am the proud principal of the village. And I am just truly delighted to stand here with Ms. McNair. And it's so fitting that this is also April Autism Awareness Month. And little did we know about the presentation at the beginning of the meeting. But Ms. McNair, when I say that she has really shown passion for our students with disabilities, she's given me some clarity and understanding and helped me to understand our children with varying exceptionality. And so we are so grateful and so proud to have her to represent our school. And we know that She will continue to impact the village in ways that cannot be said. So we are delighted to have you here. Thank you, Ms. McNair.

So I told you that this would be worthwhile for you to listen to because it reminds us in classrooms all throughout our community and throughout our nation, there are great teachers who are inspired and who are inspiring in the word relationship. It applies to both in developing that relationship with children and their families so that children who learn differently, who sometimes may have challenges, are entitled to the grace and the beauty of what education can do and to achieve the best in themselves, however that's measured. And that's your ability to do that without judgment and to do it with that focus of identifying the relationship that you need to have with that individual student, not with the class, but with the individual student to tease out whatever it is that's going to make them a success, however they ever measure it, is what we're celebrating here tonight. And I know there's lots of teachers who feel that way. We just get to celebrate you all tonight. And as I tell the teachers, you've probably not seen these presentations, but there's some really small print. You won't be able to read it from here, but it says, now having accepted this, you're not allowed to leave the City of Sunrise or any of these schools. It's on video. It's here. You've accepted it. You can't back out of that. And so it's our opportunity to really secure that relationship with you. I like that, huh? Full circle. Anyway, let's give them a big round of applause for them. Family is here.

Come on up, everybody who's here in support of these teachers. Come on.

And we can't forget how much the families give up, right, because it's not a 9-to-5 job, as we all well know.

Yes, yes, of course.

Hey.

Hey.

All right.

Where are the stars? You guys got to come forward. Stop sliding to the back. Miss Bates, come on. There, get forward. Let's go. Keep going. Keep going. Yes. All right. We're going to have to try to squeeze it. I'll go to the back here. All right, one more time, give it up for these teachers. Okay, with the autism awareness shirt, can you guys just stay backwards, take one more picture with you all.

We wear blue.

All right, one more time, big round of applause.

Good job.

We're going to move to Proclamation L, Proclamation proclaiming the month of April 2026 as Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month and April 29th, 2026 as Denim Day in the City of Sunrise. Mayor Michael J. Ryan, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman, Assistant Deputy Mayor Latoya Clark, Commissioner Neal Kirch, and Commissioner Joey Scudo.

All right, we have some folks here. Andrew, are you here and still boxing? Yeah, come on up.

We're not letting you get away that easy. Come stand here.

All right, so this is a heavy topic, but it's an important topic. These are the type of conversations that we have to have in our community, and we're fortunate to have some voices in our community that stand strong on these issues. So I'm going to hand it over, Angie, to you. Sure. Go ahead. Introduce yourself to the millions at home. Tell them why you're here.

Good evening, everyone. I wrote this down. My name is Andrew Garcia. I'm an undefeated professional boxer, and I'm the founder of Anstil Boxing Gym. On behalf of myself and everyone at Anstil Boxing Gym, I want to thank everyone here for recognizing the importance of Sexual Assault Prevention Month. We're grateful for the work being done in the community to bring awareness to such an important issue. And as a small way to give back, we'd like to invite everyone here to join us for a free self-defense class at Anstalt Boxing Gym. We're located at 4541 North Pine Island Road, Sunrise 33351. And thank you again for this recognition, and we look forward to seeing you all at Anstalt Boxing Gym. Good job.

The importance of this, right, is it's important to have this dialogue of the entire community because too often this topic is relegated to just speaking not about prevention but talking about how do we support victims after the fact. And so your work in the community of wanting to not only teach self-defense but situational awareness and teaching all the things that come with that is an effort to try to make a difference in the community. And it just happens that I look like the perpetual before picture and he looks like the after picture, right? So, um, we, we are really grateful that you're here and to accept this. It sends a message to young men about the importance of having these discussions, uh, for their sisters, for their friends, for their family, for their moms, for everybody in the community. It cannot be relegated to just one gender. When we're talking about this, it has to be a community response and I appreciate you doing that. So, On behalf of the Commission, I'm going to declare Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month here in the City of Sunrise. Whereas Sexual Assault Prevention Awareness Month is a time to draw attention to the prevalence of sexual assault and educate individuals and communities on how to prevent it. Whereas sexual assault at its core is a devastating abuse of power, one that affects people of every age, race, sex, gender, identity, sexual orientation, national origin, and socioeconomic background. And whereas according to recent national statistics, Every 68 seconds, an American is sexually assaulted. One out of every six women has been the victim of an attempted or a completed rape in her lifetime. And one out of every 10 rape victims is a male. The majority of victims are under the age of 30, whereas sexual harassment and assault and abuse happened in all communities. And that includes online spaces. We're all spending more and more of our lives online. And unfortunately with this increase in virtual connection comes at a cost and increase in online abuse and harassment. Whereas consent and boundaries can be violated online in many different ways and trauma of online abuse is all too real for many survivors. Whereas sexual assault prevention awareness month's 2026 theme is 25 years stronger, looking back and moving forward. This 25th anniversary milestone commemorates the history of a movement to end sexual violence while focusing on the future prevention, healing, and action. And for the past 25 years, Peace Over Violence has run an inspiring and powerful community opportunity to practice solidarity and support sexual assault victims with their Denim Day campaign on April 29, 2026, in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. The campaign began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped the person who raped her to remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. The following day, women in Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the victim, and Peace Over Violence developed a Denim Day campaign in response to this case and the activism surrounding it. Now, therefore, be it resolved that I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, together with the City Commission, do hereby proclaim April 2026 as Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Month and April 29, 2026 as Denim Day in the City of Sunrise. And I urge each resident and all our businesses in our community to support victims when they reach out. disclose abuse, to stand up and speak out against sexual assault by changing the culture and the attitudes that allow sexual assault to proliferate. Together, we must work together as a society that upholds every person's right to live free from sexual violence. Andrew, thank you for being here. And I just want to take a moment because your humility in focusing only on this, because I know lots of folks are going to have questions about how you introduced yourself and you didn't spend any time on that. It shows where your focus is, and we truly appreciate that.

Let's give him a big round of applause.

Thank you, Andrew, for being here. I actually got an opportunity to meet somebody from your gym sometime this past year. And when he shared what you offer as a business, but then also the self-defense class for women, that right there stuck for me. So I'm actually happy to share that I have a group of my friends who are paying to join a class. And we appreciate your generosity. But I look forward to doing more with your gym. And we do the shameless plug. Please talk about what you do there.

Address, website, how they call.

Okay, so yeah, you can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and Still Boxing Club. Our address is 4541 North Pine Island Road, Sunrise 333-51, and call us or text us at 561-648-6612. All right, good job.

Give him a round of applause. All right, one more time, big round of applause.

Presentation of Youth Athlete of the Month for April 2026 to Josiah Collins and Violet Warren from the City of Sunrise Travel Baseball and Travel Softball Program, respectively, Kevin Picard, David, Director of Leisure Services. Come on, make some noise.

So like teacher of the month the city sunrise Commission has for many many years recognized some great student athletes in our community and. The real genesis of it wasn't to recognize youth who are great on the diamond or the pitch or what they do on the court. It was really about who they are as individuals and what they are building in their own lifetimes already. And it really was meant to, and you'll see again, to really make us all feel like we're a bunch of sloths at our age that we don't really accomplish that much when you see how much these kids are already doing. And it's a real challenge. Our Leisure Services Board is... And they have to go through all of the nominations. And so what you see here tonight before you are just two young people who a lot of nominations came in. And the Leisure Services Board said you both were deserving of the recognition by the city. And so these are some great young people. We're going to turn it over for the introduction and then to the coaches. So, Kevin, it's all yours.

Thank you, Mayor. Again, Kevin Picard, Director of Leisure Services, along with our Deputy Director of Leisure Services, Maria Little, and as Mayor Ryan shared, our representative from our Leisure Service Advisory Board, Ms. Lorelei Boyden. I just got the honor of reading some really cool things about you guys, okay? So your coaches submitted nominations, and as the Mayor shared, y'all were selected. So I got the easy job, but you guys get to stand here and smile and try not to be too embarrassed, okay? All right, we're going to start with Miss Violet. Violet Warren is a 12-year-old participant in our Sunrise Travel Softball program. A few comments from her coach. Violet brings dedication, discipline, and heart to our team every single day. She is the definition of a true athlete. She is committed to constant improvement, is always coachable, and relentlessly hardworking. What truly separates Violet is her character. She leads by example, demonstrates sportsmanship, and represents our program and the city of Sunrise with pride and integrity. Congratulations. Josiah Colon is an 11-year-old student at St. Gregory Catholic School and a participant in our Sunrise Travel Baseball Program. A few comments from his coach. Josiah consistently shows what it means to be a true athlete. Dedication, discipline, and putting in the work both on and off the field. He shows up, puts in effort at practices, and works to improve his skills. He leads by example, stays focused and never backs down from a challenge. As a player, he supports his teammates, brings positive energy and always puts the team first. He accepts feedback, learns from mistakes and applies corrections quickly. For the season, and I'm sure this was just a little lower because it was written a while ago, but his batting average was 419 with 13 hits, 15 runs scored, four doubles, and 14 RBIs. Josiah is also a straight-A student. His younger brother, Adrian, looks up to him. And no matter how busy Josiah is, he always takes time to show his brother how to do things properly. He is an excellent role model. And I'll share a quick point of personal privilege. I've seen Adrian on the field too, and he's going to be up here soon getting an award in the near future. So congratulations, Josiah.

Throwing a wallet at you. There you go. I know, right?

A little something that... You're going to have to move quicker next time on that.

There you go.

A little something about Josiah is at the end of October of last year, he complained about elbow pain. An MRI revealed that Josiah had literally elbow. Essentially, it's a severe sprain of the UCL, which recovery time takes about maybe three to six months. Even though he was not physically able to play on the field due to his injury, Josiah still showed up Josiah showed us what the true determination looks like. While dealing with Little League Elbow, he never gave up. He never missed a practice. He supported his teammates and trained as hard as he could. His effort, his attitude, his commitment reminded us that strength is not physical, it's mental. Josiah, your perseverance inspires us all.

Keep pushing forward.

Come on up, family. Let's go. Come on. She won't come up if you don't take her phone. So... Come on, come on, come on.

All right.

So, you know, what you heard tonight isn't just about what it means to go and perform routines or what you've learned in practice, but it's the mental side of it, the life lessons that they're both learning already. And playing at this level is so hard on the families as well, right? It's travel. It's brutal, right? And... It's at an elite level. There's a lot of pressure. But both of these young folks are really focused on what it means to be part of a team and what it means to rise above the challenges, to realize that life sometimes isn't going to be easy and you're going to have to work harder through it and you're going to have to help those around you because you can't be a success if everybody around you is not being a success. And these life lessons aren't really about baseball, although we're now going to say we knew them, right, when they both are getting some big contract or something. We'll be like, yeah, yeah, we gave them an award and all that. But it's really about the life lessons that are going to carry you through all sorts of other things in life. And we want to be part of that journey. So as you go forward, keep us updated. Let us know what's going on. Send us, you know, autograph balls and things like that that we can prove. Don't do that, actually, because I have to report it as a gift. So don't do that. But I just want to say to the families and to the coaches, thank you for inspiring us tonight. And to these two young players, Violet and Josiah, we're just honored to be here with you, and congratulations. Let's give them a big round of applause. One more time, big round of applause and a big thank you to our Leisure Services Board.

H, presentation of the quarterly award of excellence to Navin Ramda, deputy city attorney. Thomas Moss, city attorney's office.

All right, you don't hear this often. All right, you don't hear this often, right? Come on up here, Tom. Where are you going? You've got to talk about this guy. Recognizing one of our assistant city attorneys and the excellence.

And, you know...

There's so much that goes on in the city. You know, we see parks and we see all the things that are provided. But behind the scenes, there's an enormous crew that has to make everything work. And every park that's ever been opened has come across the city attorney's desk in one form or another, multiple times sometimes. And every event that we put on has come across the city attorney's desk at one point and sometimes multiple times. And the issues that are important to our community and often result in ordinances or protections, and even strategies to better protect our community come across the city attorney's desk. And so it's a rare opportunity, um, you know, because whatever Shakespeare said about the lawyers, right tonight, we're getting to recognize and celebrate. So Tom, thank you, mayor.

So this is a great example of teamwork. Um, Navin does a tremendous amount of work with all city departments, um, uh, reviewing contracts and agreements and purchases. And a large number of items that are on the agenda have gone across Navin's desk. And he spent hours and hours working on these items. And it's great when other city departments and Navin's coworkers in other departments take the time to acknowledge his efforts. And I think it's a good example of how great the city can be when the departments all work together and dedicate themselves to these important issues. So thank you to Kevin and your team for nominating Navin for this. And thank you to all the departments that acknowledge Navin's hard work. And congratulations to Navin.

All right, come on forward.

Congrats.

I know you wanted youth athlete, but.

Good job, congrats.

All right, next.

Katie.

I want to presentation I, recognition of service time and dedication for employees that are retiring from the city of service awarded to Kim, I don't know how we're going to replace you, Sibner, Assistant Director, Code Compliance Manager, Community Development, Francisco Hernandez, Firefighter, Fire Rescue Department, Shannon Lay, Director of Community Development, John K. McNamara, Fire Chief.

All right. Start.

I'm Shannon Lay, Director of Community Development. I also have Megan Caffold, our Deputy Director. I think Scooto said it well, Commissioner Scooto. I don't know how we're gonna replace Kim because we're not, she's one of a kind. I will tell you that, she's one of a kind. So I have a few words, but I can tell you for Kim, these words don't even express half of what I could sit here and say about you or a number of people in this room could say about you that have worked with you. So for those who don't know Kim, she's been with the city for over 35 years, and she has a really inspiring story because her growth started from the frontline as a code officer, and she rose to where she is today, where she is basically the division director of code, which is a very important job, and she's very independent, and then she's very good at what she does. Her leadership style and her deep roots in our organization have made her a cornerstone, and I think that was shown here by the expression of our team, working pretty much with all departments. At one time, she was in the police department. I know she was key for Chief Brooks. She's key for us. She's worked when building was a separate department. But every department in the city she works with and I think knows who Kim Simner is. She is deeply respected. And when I say respected, I mean that. She's deeply respected by senior management and her peers alike. It was just this morning, I want to share something with you, that the city manager referred to Kim as one of the most professional people he has ever worked with. And I can't agree with that more. Kim is truly your model employee when you talk about professionalism. There's a lot of people that they say, oh, they don't get upset. I don't think I've ever seen Kim upset. She always maintains her composure. She's been put in some tough situations, throughout her career, actually a number of tough situations throughout her career, but she perseveres through it. She maintains her positive. She carries out the task as much as she may not agree with the task, she will carry out the task. She will never complain. I don't think I've ever heard a complaint from her, ever. She's a model employee. In addition, the city manager also said, you are one of the most, if not the most knowledgeable employee in the city. and that's why I like to refer to you always as the walking encyclopedia, and you go to her office, and she has all the encyclopedia manuals that are her notebooks, Kim Simner's encyclopedias, and we're keeping those because we're going to try, but we'll never be Kim. as you have an unmatched ability to recall procedures, pull out a policy from, I don't know, 1994. Here it is, Shannon, and this is what happened on this date. She will tell you exactly what happened and she has all the notes to back it up and the paperwork to back it up. um lastly i want to personally thank you um kim has supported me throughout my journey here when i started and when i i've risen up through the ranks um she's been a mentor to me even as the director she mentors me and she may not even realize she mentors me but she does and i am going to miss you because i always say no matter what i'm doing call kim she'll give us she'll let us know where it is or where to look So I am going to miss you tremendously. I know all the staff is going to miss you. I know Megan's going to miss you. Everybody's going to miss you. But we wish you the best. You well deserved in the next chapter of your life with your grandchildren in South Carolina. But don't forget us because you're still a friend.

Thank you, Mayor. So this evening I have the opportunity to say thank you to a man that's going to be retiring from Sunrise Fire Rescue after almost 26 years of service. It's Frank Hernandez, or as I affectionately call him, Panchito. Come on. Just want to make sure. I know some Spanish, but I've had the great opportunity to work with Frank since he got hired here in Sunrise. We worked many years sporadically, obviously, on the fire trucks and rescue trucks together. These last couple years, I've had even a more unique opportunity to work with Frank on a daily basis, being the fire chief and And him transitioning from the fire side of operations, where he joined our support services side in a non-shift division, or capacity rather. And I often tell people, the fire chief, it's kind of like riding a unicycle. I get the opportunity to pedal it in which direction it's going. And that wheel, it's a 24-7 operation. It never stops. And we have all these different divisions. Our operations division kind of gets the The limelight because they're running the calls, rightfully so. And the other divisions play an important role. But the division that Frank worked in for these last several years is called Support Services. And I tell people all the time it is the hub. There's not anything that happens on a daily basis that even the fire chief is not going to their office needing help with something. We can't run calls without having working fire trucks. Our men and women can't perform their job without it. the station being functioning correctly or the equipment on the trucks. This division, it's like leisure, man. It could probably use 100 more people to make the thing work on a daily basis. It is constantly moving. Frank, in that division, he might be a firefighter, but it has no title when it comes to the influence he has had in making things work for our department. He will be missed. He reminds me regularly. He says, come on, man, you got to pull some strings. You got to keep me here. He says, if there's anybody who can do it, you can do it. But he will be missed. He's a good friend, a good employee to have. And I wish him all the best here next month when he leaves us.

I'm going to pass it around. Both of you, please come in the middle. We want to celebrate you guys, and it's a heavy heart for all of us. Kim, you've been described as a professional and all that. You've been an advisor. I mean, so often we'll come to you and you'll explain to us why something has been the way it's been. And even if we think we want to change it, there's an explanation as to why maybe it's not that simple. And it's not just for us. The number of times, you probably don't even know this, but the number of times that I'll hear from a resident, a business owner, and they'll say, you know, I talked to Kim and she explained to me what this was all about. They know you by first name. That's how... integrated throughout the entire community you have become. And they know to call you, right? Because they'll get the balls and strikes called. You'll call it just the way it is. If it can be done, it'll be done. And if it shouldn't be done, you'll explain why. And you always do it in a, in a tone that's professional and, and gives them the dignity of being heard. And I know it's, you know, it was being said, there was some rough rides or some folks, uh, that don't see code is the most important thing in the community. If they had no code, they'd be thrilled with it. But we know it's also like talking about Frank. It's the mortar that keeps the community, the quality of life, the way we have it and your commitment and knowledge. I mean, the only other historian in our community is this one right here. And between the two of you, you know everything about this community. And so losing you is not just, you know, you know. losing somebody behind a desk or somebody who knows a few things it's you've seen this community grow you've been part of that process you've advised the city management on what makes sense or doesn't or when changes need to be had to be more realistic and you've gotten known by everybody the chamber knows you and i even if you don't realize it the folks in the community are going to miss you as well and and what you've done is set the standard though for anybody else coming through that this is how you treat code and even though you were in the police department you were very careful this wasn't enforcement this is out there to make a difference for the community and so wherever you were stationed you kept the same professional dignified attitude and and we thank you for that let's give her a big round of applause And, you know, the chief summed it up. You have all this experience out there in the field and exemplary. But then to bring it in house because you understand how all this works and to make it happen and all the changes that have been going on. And you've seen these changes over 26 years in this department, in the technology, in the training and everything has to happen to make sure every truck and everybody is equipped with what they need. You're the glue that's kept it together. And the community doesn't realize that, right? As the chief was saying, they'll see the truck pull up and they'll be, okay, great, you're taking me away. But there was somebody back there that they never got to meet. And it was you. That was making sure that when the call came and they were running, they had everything they needed. And as we've asked for more things from whole blood to other technologies and to make sure everything is there and available to keep us safe, And like, I don't have to worry about it because somebody like you was there. That's what the community really should be thanking you for tonight is that we took for granted all that you were never, you never stopped worrying about. every day. And for the chief to say, this is the one person I have to go to every day. It really says a lot. And I can't believe he couldn't figure out some way with Lebelski to keep you here, right? There's gotta be some way, right? But really just want to thank you, not just for the years of service of saving lives and all that, but on your role on every call, whether you even learned about it or not and the role you played in protecting our community.

I'm going to start with you because you're right here and we're finishing with you. But when I first met you, it wasn't like Frank. It was Miami. I'm from Miami. Almost like Shannon. It was at the 305. But 26 years, so you know. We go way back. 72 was the nicest fire station that the city of Sunrise had. pretty much when you probably first got here. The problems that you went through and then now you watched how this whole department grew. The men and women, the benefits and the things that they have today that all of you guys fought for, your dedication, your commitment. Like you say, going up the ranks. Not that many guys want to go inside. A lot of guys like to stay outside. But you get that experience to go inside, to work along other great people, to figure out what it is, like the mayor said, and what the chief said, what you need for equipment, what you need for fire trucks, the one blood and all this other stuff. I mean, like I went to McNamara at one time. I was at an Outback. And one of those machines, the guy dropped right in front of us. And I seen Coral Springs come in with that machine was pumping for the guy on his own. And I said, like, for just that one piece of equipment and then for all the other pieces of equipment that we don't know about that you guys have provided for the residents and provided for your staff and for your employees, we don't even know about.

We only know about the big ticket things.

So for your dedication, your commitment to the city, you're going to be missed 20 years of service. I can't even imagine how many calls you ran in your lifetime, how many bells you heard, and how many stories you have heard with all your men and women. I wish you the best. We love you. Now, to Kim. Oh, my God. 35 years. So I would just say, if you were with the police department still today, for the people that don't know, we had the building department, code was getting very difficult. Some of the calls that code officers were going out to, because it was code enforcement, was very confrontational. So I would just say to the chief, Weir's videos, Sparky's videos would be nothing if we had code enforcement videos. How exciting those videos would be today when you go and knock on someone's door. Excuse me, your fence. Excuse me, your sidewalk. Excuse me. I could just imagine what those residents on the other side would be answering back to our code enforcement. Then it went back to the building department. And then it became code compliance to make it nice. But truly as the director and like you say you moved up my brother-in-law jackie he started off in code enforcement you know in the lamello days so very tough department it's very uh one-on-one with resident and sometimes you know residents may not take it the right way or so you know but you have definitely moved this department to the right direction. Like they said, the knowledge that you have, the institutional knowledge that you have, that's why I say, unreplaceable because to get someone new, we're not seeing, when they're here for 35 years, they will have that knowledge like you have. But to get up to speed and to fill your shoes, you are truly gonna be missed and we love you. I wish you the best in your retirement.

Frank and Kim, you both have served this city with the utmost professionalism. You both have been civil, not only with the colleagues, but in the residents, and you each have a unique ability to get the job done and exceed expectations. Both your institutional knowledge is unreplaceable. You both have paid integral roles in parts of the organization that really make Sunrise that special place, make it shine. I thank each of you for your long-time service. I wish you the best in your retirement. You always have a home here, and thank you for everything you've done for our city.

It is everybody's bringing you back, but I'm bringing you forward. I want you to enjoy your retirement. Both of you have fun. Enjoy all the things that we deprived you of because you were doing all those extensive work and having all that knowledge. I wish you all the best. And if you want to come back and visit us, I see which one of you are going to call them first.

But have a great time enjoying.

I echo all of my colleagues' sentiments. Everything I've heard about you individually have been all professional. I thank you for your commitment and dedication, like our commissioner just said. But as a commissioner, on the other side of it, as an organization, it just makes me feel really good to know that we, as an organization, are able to sustain our employees for as long as you all do, and others as well as your colleagues. So I thank you from the City of Sunrise, and I also want to wish you the best retirement. Thank you.

All right, you got family, friends? Come on up, let's go. Come on. They should say it with their mind. Yeah, you start.

Yay!

We're going to read K. Proclamation proclaiming the month of April 2026 is Child Abuse Prevention Month in the City of Sunrise. Mayor Michael J. Ryan, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman, Assistant Deputy Mayor Latoya Clark, Commissioner Neal Kirch, and Commissioner Joey Scudo.

We have two different ones, but they're basically almost the same.

It's good. We're going to get somebody up on is Lauren coming up on the zoom. Not in the meeting. Are they on the call?

Is it a 954 number? It's me.

Hi. We're walking on the highways and byways here in Melbourne, so we couldn't be there via Zoom, but we're here telephonically.

Okay, thank you for being here, Lauren. The floor is yours. Help us to understand why this is so important, not only for our community, but across the state and across the nation.

Well, thank you. We are in the middle of this 1500 mile walk across the state of Florida. April is child abuse prevention month. It's important for everyone to know one in three girls and one in five boys may become the victim of child sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. However, 95% of abuse is preventable with education and awareness. And so during the month of April, We walk all this way to connect people in their communities with services. We partner with child advocacy centers, rape crisis programs, to let people know the resources that are available to them, bring about awareness, and help survivors become thrivers. Back home, we have an incredible resource. The Nancy J. Cotterman Sexual Assault Treatment Center saved my life in more ways than one. I simply wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for the work that they do every single day. And that is a very real reality for survivors all across our state, but certainly in Broward County and the City of Sunrise. And you all recognizing this helps see survivors bridge the gap and let our community know that we stand 10 toes deep to protect every child, every survivor, and we will fight tirelessly to protect them and enable them to become thriving survivors together.

Thank you so much. Let's give her a big round of applause.

And you're here with, okay, and starts counsel.

All right, so is Ms. Brown here, the executive director? Come on, come on up. You were being waved up and you were like, nah, I'm good right here. Do you want to say a few words about Lauren's kids?

Why don't you come up here in the middle as the executive director? Yes. um actually uh as lauren was saying she's out right now uh on the trail walking from key west all the way up to tallahassee and uh trying to bring awareness to this very important cause so we greatly appreciate the city of sunrise for honoring us give yourself shameless plug how do people find out about talk Thank you. Uh, it's Lauren's kids.org. Uh, please feel free to go on. Uh, Lauren is there and you can watch Lauren walking every day. We have it live streamed. Uh, it'll be through the end of April until May 1st, uh, when she'll be in Tallahassee to finish the final, uh, days of the walk. So we're very excited about that. So, and I, for that, I brought you all Lauren's kids rally tell. So there you go. So,

thank you so much that's great fantastic come on give a round of applause hello everyone and thank you again mayor commissioners vice mayor who is an alumni of the guardian ad litem office And I just want to share with you that we at the guardian ad litem office, we work very hard every day to reunify families and we represent our children who have been abused, abandoned and neglected in court and in the community. And we couldn't do this hard work without our volunteers and we have a few of our volunteers here, and we just want to make a note also that this week is volunteer appreciation week. So I want to thank each and every one of our volunteers for going out, being there for our children and for even attorneys who are pro bono attorneys, um, in our office and shameless plug. I just wanted to say, if you are an attorney and you're looking for a pro bono opportunity, You can do that at our office. We also have volunteer opportunities and mentoring opportunities. So for those of you who say, I don't have the time, become a mentor for a child that is aging out of foster care and be that person that they can turn to for support. So if you're ever interested, go to guardianadlatum.org. And once again, thank you, not only to our volunteers, but to all volunteers that give back to make communities strong. Thank you.

Round of applause, come on.

Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everyone. On behalf of the Children's Services Council of Broward County, I want to thank you for signing the proclamation and for providing this additional support. As a tax-funded organization within your community, we always want to make sure that our services are being advertised and that the community is aware that we have services out there for children and families. Our website is cscbroward.org. You can look up our vast services. They range from family strengthening, special needs, diversion prevention, and after school, ranging from elementary all the way through high school. And again, we are the Children's Services Council, csc at cscbroward.org.

I have been a guardian ad litem for the last five years. My name is Melody Locus, and it's definitely a labor of love. I love what I do. I watch the children from babies up until five years old, the current case that I'm on, and you become part of the family. It is definitely something to look into if you're interested.

Good job. How do they volunteer? How do they volunteer if they want to?

The first thing you do is just go to guardianadlatum.org and you'll see there is a tab that says volunteer. Just fill that information out and we'll get right back to you and give you the next steps. And the first step will be to attend one of our information sessions. And we do have two tomorrow. So if you go there now and register, we'll get back to you so you can attend.

Let's give her a round of applause for that. You know, we're here to talk about Child Abuse Prevention Month and to celebrate the volunteers who give so much. And what we've heard tonight is it's not just advocacy, right? It's also hard work. It's being there, as Senator Book said, in that moment when somebody needs life-saving help. It's being there as a volunteer to try to help reunify a family, if that's possible, to be the support, the voice for a child who maybe can't fully enunciate what they're feeling or what they need or the protections. They can't even visualize what that needs to look like, and to take that home with you all the time. It takes organizations that are out there in the community like CSC providing funding and getting good providers and making sure that their supports are there, and it takes a community. to support all of these organizations through, not only through the tax dollars that go to CSC and to other groups, but also through the commitment of generous donors who also provide the support. And so we're here to talk about child abuse prevention, but what we're also really talking about is how all of us can play a role in that. And that in our community, we're blessed to have such people like you all who are fighting for these children and fighting for these families. So really, really well done. Yes, I know. And that's the example, right? I know you're already so busy. I don't even know how you do it. But it obviously, as you said, and you used the word, it's a labor of love. And you have in you that sense of empathy and compassion. That makes this possible. So thank you for that. And for all of us who think we're too busy, I think you're here to tell us you're not too busy. You could do it. Right. Whereas Florida's bright future depends on healthy development and well-being of its children. Whereas adverse childhood experiences, including abuse and neglect of children, can have severe and long lasting consequences for children's families and society as a whole. Whereas every child has a right to a safe, healthy, and happy childhood where they are supported in achieving their educational and developmental milestones. And whereas research demonstrates that parents and caregivers who have strong support systems and access to resources are more resilient and better equipped to provide safe, nurturing environments for their children. Whereas it is essential for individuals, schools, community organizations, and local governments to prioritize children and take action to support their physical, social, emotional, and educational development. Whereas organizations such as Lauren's Kids work tirelessly to prevent child abuse and help survivors heal by providing education, advocacy, and support services to while empowering communities to recognize and report abuse. Whereas Lawrence Kids raises awareness through impactful initiatives, including publication of educational books and the annual Walk in My Shoes campaign, a statewide walk that brings communities together to stand against child abuse and support the survivors. Whereas Child Abuse Prevention Month provides an important opportunity to encourage all Floridians to participate in activities that strengthen families and communities and creating environments where children can thrive. Now, therefore, it be resolved that I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, together with my colleagues on the Commission, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2026 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in the City of Sunrise and encourage residents and businesses to recognize this month by dedicating yourself to the task of improving the quality of life for all children and all families. Let's give them a big round of applause. Thank you for being here. And we have a separate proclamation celebrating the Guardian Ad Litem program that we'll present to you as well and celebrating our volunteers. And we thank them and we ask our community to celebrate our volunteers as well. Come on, make some noise for them as well. All right, one more time, big round of applause for these folks. All right.

All right.

Okay, ready? Read? Yeah.

M, Proclamation. Proclamation proclaiming April 18, 2026 as Arbor Day in the City of Sunrise. Mayor Michael J. Ryan, Deputy Mayor Jacqueline A. Guzman, Assistant Deputy Mayor Latoya S. Clark, Commissioner Neal Kirsch, and Commissioner Joseph Scudo.

All right, Arbor Day. Where's our Sustainability Advisory Board? Come on up. All right, so we're here tonight just to celebrate We're here to celebrate trees in our community, right? Arbor Day. The City of Sunrise through its programs has for many years provided, and we see it at all these events where people come and get their trees or their shrubs. They get something and just recently, One of the residents said, I was in line at the post office and he said, I have to show you my mango tree and how well it's taken. And he was very interested to hear about composting because he's been doing his own composting and he was selling how important that was. But to see the people at these events line up before they're getting food or anything else, making sure they get in line to get their trees and then seem to all walk out to their cars, some of them sticking out windows and everything else. But it has a real impact because people are going home and they're planting that. So I'm going to turn it over to Rodrigo to talk a little bit about the program and then to Kerry.

Thank you, Mayor. Rodrigo Dicas from the Director of Utilities. So I'm just going to say a few words and then I'll pass over to our expert Kerry, which is our sustainability officer. This is the 38 years that Sunrise is being recognized as Three City USA and is a major accomplishment for the city. So behind the scenes, the public work staff, the sustainability team, they do a lot of work. to make sure that we have good mature trees and they're preserving our urban forestry. So we'd like to invite everyone for our Earth Day next Saturday, April 18, and we're going to have a three... This Saturday. This Saturday. This Saturday. I say next Saturday. And yeah, this Saturday, April 18, I say the right thing, right? Here at the campus and it's going to be a phenomenal, a phenomenal event. So I'll let Carrie give a little more of the details and hope to see everyone there.

Gosh, thank you, thank you everybody. I didn't expect to speak, but I'm really, really excited for this Earth Day. It's probably, if I can say this, I think it's gonna be our best one yet. It's gonna be here on the municipal campus. We have over 700 trees we're giving away, lots of different ones. We're focusing on the endangered Florida panther, so you get to come out. We'll have lots of activities for every age, from young kids all the way up. My mom can come at 87, so please come on out. Enjoy the day. It's going to be hot. Dress for weather. Yeah, come and have some fun.

That's all right. Good job. All right, give some applause.

And I want to thank our Sustainability Advisory Board for their work, not only on Earth Day, but the work that you all do all year long and committed to helping our city make steps forward to make sure we're as sustainable as possible and resilient. And all these new projects like composting and all this other, how important your role is going to be in making sure we're delivering. So it's my honor to declare Arbor Day again here in the City of Sunrise. Whereas in 1872, Sterling Morton proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the planting of trees. Whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska. Whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world. Whereas trees reduce the erosion of our precious topsoil by wind and water, cut heating and cooling costs, moderate the temperature, clean the air, produce oxygen, and provide habitat for wildlife. And whereas trees in our city increase property values, enhance the economic vitality of the business areas, and beautify our community. Whereas the city wishes to encourage residents to plant trees and help in the greenery of sunrise by getting involved in the soil planting and memorial tree planting programs. Whereas the City of Sunrise has been recognized for over 38 years as a Tree City USA by the National Arbor Day Foundation, and we desire to continue our tree planting ways. Whereas the city increased its commitment of resources for urban forestry through implementing several innovative programs and projects, and was awarded the Tree USA Growth Award by the Arbor Day Foundation to recognize its higher level of tree care, 700 going out on Saturday. First come, first serve, right? That's right. Okay. Now, therefore, I, Michael J. Ryan, Mayor of the City of Sunrise, along with my colleagues on the Commission, do hereby proclaim April 18, 2026 is Arbor Day in the City of Sunrise. And to Rodrigo's point, it is the very next Saturday that exists that it will occur, right? So that was his point. This Saturday, the very next Saturday, the one that's coming up fastest. So thank you for them. Let's give them a big round of applause, and I'll let you accept that on behalf. Thank you. All right, good job, well done. All right. Since we were just talking about Arbor Day, let's move up the composting matter. Okay, let's move up to city manager's report. If I can have a motion. Motion by Commissioner Kirch, seconded by Deputy Mayor. Okay, Mr. City Manager, 10A, City Update on Pilot Composting Program.

Thank you, Mayor. Mark Lebowski, City Manager. At the March 24th, 2026 City Commission meeting, the commission discussed composting and directed staff to evaluate composting program options. City staff researched composting programs within neighboring municipalities, and we propose to create a pilot composting program here in Sunrise. We are recommending the program to incorporate the following components. One is to identify a dedicated drop-off location right here on the City Hall Municipal Campus. The pilot program will serve up to 50 residents. And participants will be required to attend a Composting 101 training by city staff along with our selected contracted vendor. Participants will be provided starter materials, including a small city-branded collection container and compostable bags. I believe Carrie has a sample that she can bring up here to show everybody.

Yeah, bring it.

But while I continue, she'll show off the examples. The city would then purchase a secured collection container to accommodate a 64-gallon collection container with electronic individual access codes for each participant. We would utilize a contracted vendor for twice weekly pickup collection from the dedicated collection container here on campus, and then they would deliver that to an offsite location for processing. The vendor would then provide compost material back to the city for use and distribution. The city would look for opportunities, or provide opportunities, excuse me, for each participant to receive the composted materials. any excess material we would be donate to a city school or you'd be utilized directly by the city uh... the estimated cost of the pilot program we've got fifteen thousand dollars which would include the picking up the materials here we're seeing here the contracted vendor uh... and also for the collection container uh... if the program is supported by city commission staff would negotiate a contract and we would recommend with filthy organics as the vendor for a twice weekly pick-up collection from the secured location on city campus. Filthy Organics is one of the industry leaders in composting, and they currently manage programs in surrounding municipalities. And Dustin is here also if the commissioner has any questions for him. So that concludes our presentation, Mayor.

Okay. First of all, I want to thank staff for moving forward on that. Carrie, we can't see you back there behind the composting bins. Come on up so we can just – I just want to thank you. Come on up to the podium. That you know we're we were fortunate right there were other communities that have been working on this have worked out the kinks right next door and plantation they have what is virtually identical program and the key elements that we heard tonight are from. the word that we heard both in actually all three from Southwest ranches to, uh, plantation. And of course, in my conversations with the vice mayor, uh, tear about what coral Springs experience was and what they're doing. And there's lots of other communities that are doing it this past week. Uh, the Florida Panthers, uh, had a big press release announcing all that they're doing in the sustainability area, including composting and they're working with a filthy organic. So there's a lot of, synergy here in terms of how we go forward. I think there's some lessons that were learned from let's just take plantation, for instance, in location. I give staff credit. One of the things that they had to do is, I think, change the location. Fortunately, this machine can be easily moved if that turns out to be the case. Second, the workshop and continued education with the folks who sign up. Maintaining a wait list because inevitably there's going to be a wait list for it. And as folks either drop or not participating with the electronic monitor, you know who's really coming and who's putting in. And then this is the first step as we look forward to how these programs can be economically expanded. Some cities have found some experiences where they began charging and they had a drop-off of participation. So this is an opportunity for us to really test in our community how our residents feel about it. And I suspect we're not going to have a problem with the first 50 at all. I'm sure we'll have a substantial wait list. I'm supportive, and I thank staff for moving forward. Anybody else in on this in terms of you're just going to come back at the next meeting with anything you propose, right?

Yes, Mayor. We would bring back a contract for the vendor at hopefully the next meeting or no later than the first meeting in May. Okay.

I just want to know, what about in bulk? Could I just ask you?

Justin, can you come forward?

I'm just saying, like, what are you doing as far as, like, bulk? Okay. Like I'm just saying, like as far as say, if we did household hazardous waste, right? And then we had like a four yard dumpster or eight yarder and people wanted to bring stuff. I'm just saying, or are we going to put a four yard dumpster or eight yard dumpster? Are you going to do stuff like that? Or you specifically want to do this minimum?

So why don't you come forward?

Like the mayor said, if you're doing stuff with the Panthers, right, obviously you can't be giving them five-gallon buckets. You've got to be giving them like a four-yard or an eight-yard. What are you doing for that?

So they get 64-gallon trash cans with lids, right, rolling trash cans. The challenge with food waste is it's very heavy. Right. So anything larger than a 64, frankly, when a 64 is full, sometimes it's over 400 pounds, so it's not safe for anybody to eat that.

Right, right.

Um, so, but that's, that's the way we collect right now is in those. So we're not doing, you know, one.

Okay. So good. So then we have the option to go up to the bigger cart.

If we wanted to, once we get, there's a, right. Well, I'm just saying, yeah, there's a couple of things, Ron, the, what plantation, I think others have found, right. Is trying to minimize contamination, uh, is a big issue, right? If folks just drive up and start throwing stuff in, I think this has been your experience that if it isn't controlled somewhat either staffed or dealt with in this kind of electronic fashion, it can ruin a whole load. And so part of it's getting the educational process and, and following what, you know, folks like Dustin can handle in that, that that's one and two. As we get to larger, it is more challenging. The Panthers are even at 64. How many times a week do you go? I mean, a month do you go out to them?

Twice a week at the Panthers, but we're doing six bins per, I guess, visit right now.

So it's a pretty big amount. So he's just starting.

It's a lot. No, we've been doing them now for close to six months.

And they're only doing how many bins?

So I think four to six, twice a week. So they're only doing their back of the house right now. They're starting off slow like most people do.

No, which is good. I'm saying like how could we, like I'm a restaurant, and there's thousands of restaurants. I'm just saying.

It's very easy. Restaurants, we give them a 64-gallon can. You guys source separate in the kitchen. If you want to do it in small bins, if you want to bring the can into the kitchen, some restaurants do that. And then we service you at whatever frequency you need.

So maybe we could talk to the chamber or something. You know, not that they have every restaurant, but I'm saying they have some restaurants. But we could figure out how we could roll this with commercial because...

Absolutely. For restaurants, I think it's worth noting that they're able to generally reduce their regular haul.

Right, that's what I'm saying.

It's extremely helpful.

Oh, believe me, I know.

And to that point, and you know... We pay by weight. Correct. And the Panthers, what they've... pointed out and look at they're obviously concerned they're on the edge of the Everglades they are concerned about sustainability but the bean counters are behind this the folks that are looking at numbers say this works and so as a result that's really where you start that's what I'm saying I would like to see from the Panthers how now business restaurants could relate to what the Panthers are doing and how they're make their saving and

And the haulers are behind it, too. Right. I'm not taking business from them, frankly. No. They're improving when they bring us in. Right. JP's happy with us.

Yeah, I'm saying all of them, even some of the city tech people know who you are. They've all said great things about you.

So I look forward to it. It's great. You'll come back. Yep. Sorry. Sorry, go ahead.

It's okay. Question for you. So I was talking to my children about this new pilot program that we were looking to do, and they were like, oh, mom, we've been doing this forever in school. And they shared how some of their teachers have been doing this in their classrooms since forever. So my question to you is how or if you've ever thought about expanding into schools? Has that been a question or a thought?

It's always a question. So we currently work with North Broward Prep, which is not a Broward school, as we all know that, right? and doing that, but we also work with South Plantation High. So we started out doing their culinary school. That was just two bins a week that we were collecting from them, but they've just recently expanded and adding one into the cafeteria for back of the house there. So as far as we know, that's the first Broward County school contract.

So Hyper High School, since we're doing this in Sunrise, I think it would be great to maybe partner with them because they also have a culinary department in the school as well. So just something to think about.

So we've already had some Zoom conferences to talk to them. And we've included South Plantation, the student leader over there, to have the discussion because for a few reasons. One, there's obviously bureaucratic issues that have to be run through with the school. So they've done it already. We know we can duplicate that. And Principal Piper is 100% on board. The second part is you need to create a sustainable program of champions and educators on this. When you're only back of the house, it's much easier. easier right when you start moving it out then it becomes a challenge because you have to prevent against contamination but piper high school is 100 involved and and to just give you the synergy of how this happened we were talking about this as a city program it just happened they contacted me because some of their field space has no ground cover And so they were looking at it as we could be doing composting, get fill, put it on the ground. And so they're motivated for two things. One, they're motivated to try to figure out how to build this partnership at the school. And then two, they wanna work with the city to say, anybody who's not collecting what they want for their own personal farming in the backyard or whatever, Piper says we want it. And so I think that's part of what Mr. Lebelski's presentation was, is that we can work with the schools that need it most. And I think that that's gonna be, Piper's probably top of the list there, not just because they can manage some of this too, but because they're talking about, not just for planning, they're trying to patch up some bad ground. And so that's really a highest best use of this material.

So I think it's- Now you just mentioned that, to Kevin and to Mark. if you guys could really reach out to Piper high school because their baseball program, the football is destroying their football, their fields and whatever the school board just did to their fields. It's horrible. They can't even run on it. So if there's any way that we could help them in any way, um, If you guys could reach out to them and see what it is. They just don't have any equipment. They just don't have anything. So maybe like when we're doing something at our field, if we could help with PIPA.

Commissioner Kirch. Just supportive of the program and look forward to hear from staff how they're going to implement it. Hopefully it goes well and we can expand the program. Assistant Deputy Mayor.

And I know we're talking about Piper High School, but I had the opportunity of touring some of the elementary schools, and they are doing farming in part of their classes. And so if we can reach out to all schools in Sunrise to see who needs some of this compost so that we can really be a benefit to the entire community.

Absolutely. All right. Well, good. Thanks, Dustin. Appreciate you being here. Thank you, Mr. Lebowski. You need anything else from the commission on that? No, Mayor. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Carrie. Thank you for bringing the buckets too.

All right.

7A, voting delegates, commission discussion. Wait, why don't I go to open discussion? Anybody here for open discussion? Any matters before the community that you wish to speak on? If so, please come forward or press five star on your phone. I see no hands raised. Can you confirm?

I confirm, no hands are raised.

All right, I'll close the open discussion. All right, voting delegates. Commission discussion on our actuary selection of a voting director, alternate, and second alternate to the Broward League of Cities General Membership or Board of Director meetings. City Manager Mark Lebelski, Lawrence, and Ministers. Move it. Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirsch.

All right. I'll nominate Commissioner Kirsch since he's running for the board or is on the board. I know you have to probably maintain.

Second. Second.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Do we need an alternate and a second alternate? Alternate?

Who wants alternate?

All right. I nominate Mr. Clark. Mr. Deputy Mayor has been nominated by Commissioner Kirch. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. Second. And we need a second alternate. Deputy Mayor?

Sure.

Okay. Somebody to nominate?

Nominate.

Okay. Commissioner Kirch, second. Second by Assistant Deputy. All right. Any discussion on that? All in favor say aye. Motion is approved. All right. Thank you. Let's move 12A through C. Public hearings. Got a motion to move that up?

Move it.

Motion by Commissioner Skoda, second by Commissioner Kirch. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right. Commission discussion or action or a second reading of an order to the City of Sunrise, Florida amending Chapter 2 Administration Article 2 City Commission Division 2 meetings by amending Section 2-33 Agenda Preparation Format Procedure to revise the procedures for consideration of rezonings to conform to state law, providing for conflict, providing for severability, providing for inclusion in the city code, and providing an effective date. City Manager Mark Lebelski, Thomas P. Voss, City Attorney. First reading, City Commission meeting 3-24-2026, passed 4-0, Kirch absent. Do you have a motion? Move it. Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter, please come forward or press 5-star on your phone. If you don't want to come forward, can you confirm no hands are raised?

I confirm no hands are raised.

All right, I'll close the public discussion. Any discussion from my colleagues? Call the question.

Deputy Mayor Guzman? Yes. Commissioner Kirch?

Yes.

Commissioner Scuddo?

Yes.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark? Yes. Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Item passed is 5-0. B, Commission Discussion Interactionary. First reading of an ordinance of the City of Sunrise, Florida. Amending Chapter 5, Finance and Taxation. Article 5, Purchasing and Contracting Divisions. Division 3, Procedure by Amending Section 5-179, Local Contractor Preference to Conform with Amendments to State Law. Providing for conflict. Providing for severability. Providing for inclusion in the City Code. And providing an effective date. City Manager Mark Lebelski. Thomas P. Moss. City Attorney. I have a motion.

Move it.

Motion by Commissioner Kurtz. Seconded by?

Second.

Seconded by Assistant Deputy Mayor. This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter, please come forward or press five star on your phone. See no one come forward. Can you confirm no hands raised?

I confirm no hands raised.

All right. We'll close public discussion. This is an item that, again, Tallahassee is shoving down our throats. To give some context, based on my reading of how this began in the genesis, we have the well-intentioned protection in here to prevent three or more than three projects with the city at any one time. The folks in Tallahassee who proposed this change to state law, which we have to comply with, forcing us to delete that were, I think, of the mind that these were provisions that some communities implemented in order to spread contracts around without giving any thought to the idea of protecting communities from too many contracts with any one person. They saw this as, call it what it is, that these were efforts by communities to diversify and create diversity in contracts and to try to spread it around and to the detriment of of companies that had the capacity rather than understanding that there could be beneficial protections as we saw and we saw even here tonight with West Construction in limiting. So they never took into consideration the legitimate protection for our residents and our taxpayers and our community by implementing this. Talk to Tom, there's just no way to avoid deleting this. That being said, I've talked to staff about, and to Tom, about trying to institutionalize what we were trying to achieve and what we did achieve through the protections of the limits by mandating that in the procurement process if a contractor has open development projects with us that are more than three, same provision, that they are forced to provide a basis to conclude that they have sufficient staffing, that they're not overextended either to this city or other cities, and that they have sufficient financial capacity to deliver on the projects. Um, so the idea is not to, we can't do anything about this provision. It's gotta go. We won't be in compliance with Florida law and we'll just get sued over it. But what I've asked staff to do is to come back and report to the commission on whether or not we can implement, uh, procedural protections that require. the staff to make sure in the procurement process we're trying to achieve the same thing, which is to ensure again they have adequate staffing, aren't overextended either to us or other communities, and that they have the financial capacity to deliver on the projects. In talking to staff and to Mr. Moss, it would be in Section 5, it just wouldn't be in this Section 5-179. It would be in a different provision. And assuming that was the will of the Commission to move forward with that drafting, that they would be prepared to come back at a future meeting, hopefully the next meeting, with language working with procurement, working with Mr. Lebowski and working with Mr. Moss to institutionalize those protections

uh... going for such a just a quick summary that i i just have a take this is that the mayor lights on okay so i mean in one way we could hurt ourselves because in the water and waste water sometimes we have the same company doing multiple yeah so sometimes it's working out benefit just so happens When we went out for a bid for the parks, it didn't work in our benefit. But how are we to know? I'm just saying, like, here that, you know, West was so nice. He came to the podium in his jacket and told us everything we wanted to hear. You know, that don't worry about it. I will come every single week and I will tell you every week. I'm just saying. So, I mean... you know, sometimes, especially in the water and wastewater, those contracts are more than, you know, what, so I'm just saying. Yeah, I know, it's. I'm not, I agree with you. I hate when someone ties our hands in something like this. Right. But we're already doing it now, saying the water and the wastewater. It's just we experienced something else when we were developing something.

Obviously, they're developing something too, but that's their niche.

Obviously, West is going to say that was his niche, but it was a big difference of a niche. He was building, I mean, it was a lot of different things. When we deal with the water and the wastewater, it's usually a specific. So could we do something where?

Well, we're not going to be able to put limits, right? So there is this observation from staff that while it was well-intentioned and it tackled the west problem it was a bit of a hammer to kill a fly right sledgehammer where it was maybe just a little too blunt to your point it was capturing some folks that maybe we didn't want to cut off so i think in a sense we were probably gonna have to revisit this anyway uh once we got by the west problem but now we can't put a we can't put an absolute bar threshold limit but what we can do is no matter who that they simply have to be able to establish In the procurement process, they have, again, the staffing, they're not restrained.

They have to be responsible.

Correct. And that's how we'll define responsible.

Right. Exactly. But how could, okay, you're going to figure out how to make it be responsible.

Mark Lebowski, City Manager. So these are excellent points, and we've already had some of those conversations with staff. I believe there's language we can put in there regarding assurance that whoever the low bidder is has to demonstrate they have sufficient capacity to deliver the project, and that's just not based upon projects they have in Sunrise. It would be across their entire portfolio.

Well, I'm saying, because here, last meeting, we had someone that got awarded but then didn't want to provide insurance. Another person... was the next bidder. He didn't want to put up a bond, I'm just saying. But those are different. We now have to find... Yeah.

Right, without cutting off. We don't want to create a barrier. So it turns out to be an opportunity, and so working with Tom, they'll come back. But we don't really have any choice, unfortunately, on this one, and we'll use it as an opportunity to make a difference. Okay, any further discussion on it? Call the question.

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

Yes.

Commissioner Skudo?

Yes.

Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Item passes 5-0. All right. C, Commission discussion or action. The first reading in ordinance of the City of Sunrise, Florida, approving the amendment to the Uniform Signage Plan for Amarant Bank Arena, providing for conflict, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. City Manager Mark Lovelsky, Shannon Lay, Director of Community Development. Motion by Commissioner Skudo, seconded by Commissioner Kirch. This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter, please come forward and press 5-star on your phone. See no hands raised. Can you confirm?

I confirm no hands raised.

All right, I'll close public discussion. Any discussion from my colleagues? Call the question.

Commissioner Skudow?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Mayor Ryan?

Yes. Item passed 5-0. Motion to move up 16A and B? Move it. Motion by Commissioner Kirch, seconded by Commissioner Skudow. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Aye.

All right, 16A, resolution of the City of Sunrise, Florida, approving settlement agreement between the City of Sunrise, West Construction, Inc., and Philadelphia, Indemnity Insurance Company and Providing Effective Date City Manager Mark Lebelski, Thomas P. Moss City Attorney. Do I have a motion? Motion by Commissioner Kirsch. Seconded by Commissioner Scudo. 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. I confirm no hands are raised.

I confirm no hands are raised.

I'll close open discussion. I mean public discussion. Any discussion from my colleagues?

I just want to say make sure that it's fully... That if they decide that they're not going to continue to pay the monthly, that the bond company is totally responsible.

That is correct. Okay, thank you.

Every penny.

Well, I just want to make sure because sometimes they only do cutouts.

Yep. All right. Any further discussion? Call the question.

Commissioner Kirch?

Yes.

Commissioner Escudo?

Yes.

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

Yes. Item passes 5-0. B, Commission discussion or action regarding budget transfer for the City Commission Office, City Manager Mark Lebowski, Lawrence Lawrence, Administrative Services Manager. I have a motion by Commissioner Escudo, second by Commissioner Kirch. This is a discussion or action item.

Mr. Lebowski. Thank you, Mayor. So in the current budget for the City Commission, there is a line item for subscriptions and memberships. There is a shortfall in that area that has to do with the constant contact. And the constant contact subscriptions are based upon The number of email signups and then also not not all the Commission Utilizes it but there has been an increased use of that across the Commission So there is not enough dollars in that budget line item staff is recommending to you utilize salary savings or transfer To be able to to handle that shortfall, which is approximately things like four thousand dollars And then we will hand we will then address that Structurally next year's budget. Okay any discussion on that item?

All right, hearing no objection to that, Mr. Lebelski, you'll move forward with that item, right? Yes, Mayor. Okay, thank you. All right, I'm going to move up 17A through D. Yep. Motion by Commissioner Kurtz, seconded by Commissioner Skudo. 17A, Commission Discussion, Interaction Rate, Board of League of Cities, Broward League of Cities, 69th Annual Installation Gala, Potential Sponsorship, Commissioner Neil Kurtz. Motion. Motion by Commissioner Kurtz, seconded by Commissioner Skudo. The floor is yours, Commissioner Kurtz.

Yeah, we have the annual dinner coming up to where we... Swear in the officers, you know, I'm be second vice president this year Our first vice president this year coming up with an eye on being president next year I'd like to Look I don't As much as Broward League of Cities wants us to be a presidential sponsor. I don't think in there historically we've done that but I think 5,000 would be a fair amount to sponsor was done in 2022 and However, we've gone with the $3,500 amount in the last three years. So whatever the will of the commission is, I'll go with it.

Okay. Any discussion? Okay. Got the direction you need?

I believe so, yes. Okay, perfect.

All right, thank you, Commissioner Kirch. Thank you. All right, B, commission discussion on our action regarding a seasonal nativity scene. Deputy Mayor Jacqueline Guzman, come to motion. Motion by Commissioner Escudo, seconded by...

I brought this up a few times before in reference to having an activity set or displayed during the holidays and we got a survey from the county I think we all have it here in our desk but if you want to take a look and see what other cities are doing and their displays and they actually have more than what I was requesting so I'm curious to know if and how you'd want to move forward well

My family started one Catholic church when we lived in Brooklyn in our backyard. My family was one of the first 150 people who started All Saints Church. I'm Catholic. I went to St. Thomas Aquinas. I went to St. Francis Cabrini. I have no problem supporting the nativity scene, but I just don't know if we support that What else is gonna come? So I have no problem supporting the nativity scene. I mean, in the beginning when we did the tree lighting, there's someone that's in the audience right now, wanted to see more like we all did. Even in the Christmas tree, each year when it was proposed, it was supposed to have one tier more each year We haven't added to make the tree higher because it was temporary where we were doing the tree lighting because we were in the midst of building City Hall and the parking garage and the amphitheater. So we did it this year. We don't know what next year brings until I guess Sean and Emily and Mark and Kevin and all of us figure out what we want and where we're going to put the tree and where we're going to do everything. I'm not saying I worry. All I'm saying is I don't know what, besides a menorah, they're gonna want.

I mean, are they gonna want to add a dreidel?

I have no problem. Kwanzaa, I don't know what Kwanzaa has and what they would want to add. I don't know what, I'm just saying. So this is a matter of space. It's a matter of, I mean, whatever. So, I mean, I guess, I mean, you look into what else everyone else could add, how much space we have available, because we don't want to add something and then we say we don't have enough space to add something else. So do we know where we're going to have the holiday celebration next year? Is it in the same exact spot? You were saying you wanted to put a tree on top of the hill. I don't know if the ground could handle it. Are we building a second phase with the stairs? And then you're going to put a cement podium where you could put another tree? I'm just saying. So that's all I would say. I'm supportive because I'm Catholic, and I'm not saying it just because I'm Catholic. but I just don't know what, and I would support whatever other than that. If the menorah wants to add a dreidel and if the Kwanzaa wants to add whatever and so forth.

So, I mean, it's just- If I can just add to what you're saying, if you don't mind. I'm not trying to interrupt you, but- No, go ahead. I actually like what the other studies have done by having all of these and not just the nativity, so the other ones as well. But, you know, From the outside, for me, just seeing how we as a board operate, you know, throughout the year, we're always putting out messages like happy Passover or happy Easter or all of these things. And it's like it's pretty much the same symbol. It's just a different kind of time of month that we're incorporating or engaging in these particular things. So. With the recent change to our logo, which I've been supportive of, I think this is also kind of in the same range of going in that direction, especially if other communities are doing it. And there have not been any issues with those particular cities that have moved forward in this direction. So I understand the concern that I've heard before as to what else might come. But I'm willing to take that chance because I don't see that there has been an issue before.

Commissioner Kirch. And I've always looked. Being Catholic and a member of All Saints, I've been approached many times from All Saints about why the city doesn't do a nativity. I've always been advised through legal counsel that we couldn't, but I've had the opportunity to speak with Tom, and I guess the opinion has shifted to where it looks like it's permitted and it's being done throughout the four hour period. I'm supportive of the idea. But before I can get behind it, I'm going to need to know the financial component. Is this stuff we're renting? Is this stuff we're buying? I'm going to have to speak with Tom and say, all right, if we do a nativity and we're spending this many dollars on this, do we have to spend this many dollars for a different religion or a different? So I think there's a lot of slippery slope aspects that could come out and end up creating problems. So, again, I'm for it, but before I can agree to it, I'm going to need more, I mean, finalize it, agree to finalize it. I'm going to need the financial component. I'm going to need to know, is this stuff JP's building? Are we buying it? Are we renting it? It's got to be substantial in size, so I'm sure there's going to be a large dollar component to this. So that's my comments on that.

I also want to know what our financial cost is going to be as we're talking about adding additional trees and probably even a little bit about the layout too of how that's going to look because while I'm supportive of the cause of having this particular being added in, I'm also, I don't want it to be so congested that we lose the accessibility to making sure that we can really utilize this as a holiday event for everyone.

So I don't want us to overly do things where we kind of lose the emphasis.

So I kind of want to see that, what's going to cost us, and maybe even see some of the layout of possibility of where these things would be all laid out throughout the campus.

So first of all, I want to thank staff or whoever put together the survey. It was very helpful. A little more than half of the cities don't have it. But those that do are seemingly very careful to make sure that it includes multiple religious and cultural displays, which I think is critical. And I don't think that was ever a doubt that that was what the proposal was. there are a number of different models in that in some cases the city relies on community partners to supply the nativity scene and they drop it off and they pick it up at the end and they are responsible for it um and i it's the same for some of the donated menorahs and and other things so there's a couple of different ways for for staff to do it it's not going to cost i'm not worried about the the spacing issue because i think frankly We've got plenty of space out there, but I do think that we're going to need to make sure that we're not being selective in it, that we engage, as many of the cities do, with the local religious communities to make sure they're an agreement on it as to what its size and presentation is and then work with either community or otherwise we got a little bit of time here it's not not that big a deal in terms of. What it's going to take so if it sounds like you're getting direction from this Commission to move forward with one of these but create a policy so we clear about this, so everybody knows. This is what's happening and then you'll have to just decide whether you're reaching out to whether it's all saints or others, if they wish to. provide part of that, and then, you know, to the Jewish community, what do they want to see in it? The Kwanzaa celebration, what is that? You know, many of the other holidays, religious recognition don't fall on the same date, so it's not really a big issue. Diwali's at different times, and Ramadan's at different times, so I'm not sure that's going to be an issue at all, but I think, uh, in combination of taking whatever written policy, some don't have written policies. It's just a practice, but written policy. So everybody knows what it is. Um, second that we've engaged with our community partners to make sure they're there's buy in there, that they're in agreement. Uh, third, that you have some sense of sizing. I don't think space can be issued, but report back on that. And if it's going to be purchased by, you know, the city. you know, then it becomes a whole ordeal of, you know, what's the right one? What's the right size? What's how many, you know, what do we want for the nativity scene? He's like, was bitches JP building a, you know, no room in the end type size, you know, barn for this, or is it something more modest? So there's some work to do, but I think the direction is, is clear. Do you need any further direction from us?

One point on you checking. How do we handle the issue then for say, you know what we want to display for Ramadan or Dali? Yeah. I mean, I think we're now – that's one of those slippery slope items that's going to come up once we start putting these types of displays out.

And historically, I think the legal point wasn't so much that you can't have it, although I think there was some debate on that. It was more that if you're going to do it, then you're going to end up having to do it for all. And I'll bring the commission back. You know, there was a period of time where some commissions were beginning their meetings with a religious blessing. And, you know, the Supreme Court cases on this were absolutely clear. Be careful. When you start doing that and you open it up, the next meeting, it's going to be spaghetti monsters.

Right.

It's going to be right. And it was absolutely clear. I remember talking to Skip Campbell when he was mayor and outlining for him that. The fact that they were doing that, they were going to walk right into this, and they did. And they got sued, and they were going to have to have spaghetti monsters. So the point's been... you know, be careful. You could find yourself later. But if we're presented with that, then what you do is you simply deny it to everybody at that point. If we're going to have some sort of, you know, satanic people saying, well, we want to celebrate, you know, we'll address that. And I didn't think it would happen, but it did. They went to Coral Springs. I think they went to, they may have gone to Pompano and Deerfield. And they were presenting.

It was crazy.

What do you mean when I just proposed to do In God We Trust, people were telling me that they want to come here and put up

So, listen, it's something you're just going to have to be aware of. But for right now, the direction, I think, is to generate a written policy, get yourself, you know, kind of prepared that it's going to be this holiday season and what that looks like in terms of sizing and fairness to all. Any further direction?

No, Mayor, that's good.

Thank you. Okay. All right. Let's see. Commission discussion interaction regarding City of Sunrise issue proclamations lists the full names of all commissioners, Deputy Mayor Jackie Guzman. Can I have a motion? Motion? Move? Motion. Deputy Mayor, do I have a second? Assistant Deputy Mayor. Okay, floor is yours.

So we talked about this at the last meeting, but Commissioner Kerch, you weren't here. I just shared some samples of other cities and how they've presented their proclamations to people they've invited. There's several options, and I thought it was something that we could possibly move forward in Upgrading or changing how we put the names on the proclamations based on either one who has put it forward I know a lot of us we usually put the same things forward, but even just having your names at the very bottom Just to show that all of us, you know are supporting this particular proclamation Makes no difference to me I'm in the same boat as you

I like the proclamations, but I'm mostly concerned about business.

Right. So happy the way it is. If you want it on there, it doesn't as long as we're not. I mean, if we have to read it each time that, you know, I'm not sure that's really what your purpose is. It's just to get it. We've added it to the agenda. So it's read every time in reading the item. So it doesn't make any difference to me whatsoever.

So.

If we don't want to be, like...

This has been the issue. That was the reason why it probably was not that way because it requires a survey and it then requires a production of different types. And generally speaking, we haven't had that. We did have a couple of occasions where, you know, someone didn't sponsor, didn't want to be involved with, didn't agree with. But, you know, I think we're seeing from... at least the agenda items that seems like everybody's on every one of these so far. But if you don't want to be, that will be certainly prominent.

I have had others that have come to accept proclamations ask why our names aren't on there, especially if a particular one of us invited them for whatever reason. So that's why I decided to ask.

I mean, it's fine. It's either way, but just be aware.

I've been here for so long. I've never really ever wanted to put my name on the proclamation. I don't really care. It's just, it's a city proclamation and you're the mayor. It's really ceremonial that he's the one who would sign the proclamation because he's the mayor.

For some, it's a little more personal.

I know, but we all could have something personal. That's something different.

But not just for me. I'm saying for those individuals that are coming to accept it. They're taking out of their time. They're advocating, whatever it is that they're...

So who do they care whose name is on it? If their mayor is signing it, he's the mayor of the city. He's signing it. They won't come here because I'm signing it.

I've invited quite a few, and those individuals coming forward, they're happy to not just accept it from all of us, but sometimes it's personal to them when each, and I'm not saying me, but if any of us are inviting so-and-so. For some people, it's important to them.

I mean, I get it. Some people have questioned that as well. I just don't see, I mean... The one that we present publicly should be the one that has an official seal from the mayor. I don't see why we need to alter that. But for the if we wanted to give a personal one, can't we just give a personal? And I know but I'm saying it I mean the one that we're given publicly should be the one that comes from the Commission and the mayor and You want to do something?

personal I will tell you that the proclamation did not always have and my colleagues on the City Commission for almost the entire time it just said mayor. I asked to include that because I knew it was all my colleagues, but I also was mindful of the issue of how do we make sure everybody's okay with it. If it's declaring somebody's day because they're reaching 100 years old, I don't think I have to call around and talk to everybody and see do they need, right? Everybody's going to be like, yeah, that's great. It's a great idea.

Compromise that we put the signatures at the bottom.

That's not a proclamation.

No, I'm just saying, I mean, maybe it's... Whatever you guys want to do, I really...

I think it's taking more time than it's worth, so if you just tell me what you guys want to do.

I'm just asking for us to just put the names at the bottom. That's it.

I'm happy the way it is.

And I have no objection. It's just that there's... I don't necessarily want all of it. I don't want to be on every last one. It's my thing. So that's why. As we can...

All right. However you all want to do it. That seems like three or saying leave it as is. I'm I'm just I will sign whatever generally is put in front of me. I'm like. Colonel and mash just put in front of me.

OK, I have a few other. comments I'd like to share in reference to the proclamation and the process on how we do this. And I'm going to say this as kindly and professionally as possible because, unfortunately, we can't talk to each other individually for Sunshine Law. So what I'm about to say and share is coming from my own feelings, and I'm hoping that it's receptive the right way and not felt like it's being attacked because it's not my intent. When we put on a proclamation and invite a particular organization or person to accept that proclamation, a lot of times they're taking time out of their schedule. It's important to them what they're advocating for. And I'll give you a perfect example tonight for the autism proclamation. We had three separate organizations here for the same initiative, which is great. But I highly feel that it would be nice to allow those individual organizations to have their moment to speak and to shine without combining everyone at the same time. Because when it happens, and it's happened too often that I've seen, it gets chaos. I feel like it's rushed. Those other individual organizations don't have their opportunity to speak on what they're initiative is and i personally don't think it's fair another thing and just a couple things so if you want to take notes the other thing too is that when i i'm not i'm just saying this is my i'm taking notes go ahead i'm i'm transcribing as you go and actually this is part of my other topic is you know when i do make things or comments or i'm down there on the floor and i'm People want pictures, and I'm saying, okay, can they get pictures? And again, this is my observation. I'm not trying to attack, but it's not right that you roll your eyes, you look at the colleagues because you're annoyed that I'm asking for a picture. Everyone should have that opportunity, and I don't think it's fair that you rush me when I'm saying, hey, can we get a picture, or hey, whatever the case may be. But when you have, I'm not done, I'm sorry. But when you have particular items on the agenda that you're passionate about, I personally, and I can't speak for others, this is again myself, I never feel like, oh, how long is this going to be? Or, oh, why are they spending 20 minutes on something? Everyone is here. We as commissioners are here, whether it's for two hours or five hours. I know we don't want to be here for five hours, but I feel like everyone should have an equal amount of respect and time, regardless of what their initiative is, who brought it forward. And I don't think it's fair that I feel the eye rolling and the botheredness and being rushed. And lastly, when you read the proclamation, you never, let me not say never, nine times out of ten, You just invite whoever's speaking for the proclamation, you give them the opportunity to speak, and then you read the proclamation. You don't say, whether it's to me or my colleagues, if they brought someone forward, Commissioner Guzman, would you like to speak? I'm constantly, and I don't want to have to do that. I don't want to have to be like, Mayor, I'd like to speak. Mayor, I'd like to have some. Mayor, I press a button. Mayor, I wish you could give me the opportunity to say, you know what, Commissioner Guzman, you brought so-and-so, would you like to speak? Just out of courtesy and respect, that's all I'm asking for.

Sure, absolutely. Okay, so on accepting the proclamations, yeah, it's fine. Oftentimes, I find that we will have a month, and for some reason, some business is being asked to come and accept it. I don't know what their association with it is, but it's a business, and maybe it was something done in the community and said, oh, why don't you come? And that's just part of it. It's not even an organization that's... doing anything, but we let them be recognized. We give them shameless plugs. If there were three and somebody didn't get to talk on autism tonight, that's unusual. Generally, whenever somebody's here, I have the list and I hand it to everybody to make sure they speak.

I'm saying individually.

And I do. And I ask them if they want to speak.

They were all up here at the same time. We had the beautiful pageant.

Can I finish? I didn't interrupt you. Didn't you tell me take notes? Don't say anything. Just take notes. we'll make sure that everybody who's on the list who's here to accept will get an opportunity take as long as you want on pictures and what i'll do from now on is i'll hand the microphone to everybody and everybody can just can just speak i don't care how long we're here makes no difference to me so if you felt that that you wanted to be able to speak on those issues because you invited somebody absolutely no problem look forward to it and we'll we'll absolutely do that i know That's fine with me. Commissioner Kirch.

I care. I care how long we're here. We cannot have 13 proclamations with people waiting all night and drag it out for four hours and then expect staff to do city business until 10 or 11 o'clock at night. So, I mean, 13 of them on tonight, fine. They're all worthy. But there needs to be some efficiency into this.

I agree with you.

It's not fair. You want to do teacher of the month and you have these teachers sitting here till 738 o'clock to get their award. So whatever we got to figure out, I do care about the time. I am cognizant of not only our time, but staff time. They got to be here tomorrow morning as well as the people who are receiving the proclamations.

So and I do try to take it in consideration, you know, when staff, you know, Laura and I work together on the order. And I try to think through, and everybody wants to go first because they want to get out. But sometimes, you know, you can't. And you've got 13. You've got to make some tough decisions. Arbor Day had these people here. That's it. And I don't know. Is it more important than others? I don't know. But I have to make some judgment calls on it. It's hard and so I'm we've always moved up when somebody is going to be leaving or they've got a time commitment. We always do that. We adjust not a problem at all. Whatever you guys want. So I'm happy to hand over the mic and ask everybody, not just who. And I may not even know who invited, because it doesn't say that on there, but sometimes I can guess. And then anybody else who wants to speak? Sure, I'm okay with that.

Okay, so now next month, I'm going to go look up May month. And I'm going to add five things so that I could get up and talk five times on five different proclamations. When June comes, I'm adding 10 myself. You add five, you add five, you add five. We'll be at 30. I mean... Alternatives.

Let's do special city commission meetings for proclamations. Right, just for proclamations.

That way city staff isn't sitting here. A proclamation was always you're honoring whoever or whatever organization. They came up, you recognized them, and that was it. But now it's more and more and more and more. And, like, if... I hear you. If you want to speak on an item, then if Neil puts one on and Latoya puts one on and Mike puts on two and I put on two, then each of us are going to have a speech over and over and over. It just gets repetitive. I'm not getting to the point. The woman who spoke tonight for both of them, You know, the young girl brought in her kid, you know, her brother, and we seen exactly what it was, and we gave her the time to speak, but it was her time to shine. The other person was doing it as a business, okay? So I'm just saying.

What business? It's a nonprofit.

It's a business. A nonprofit is still considered a business. So what I'm saying is whether she's a business or this other lady was a business, And then they brought up the blue envelope. I didn't even know nothing about a blue envelope. So it would have been nice for the police department to tell me about a blue envelope that I wouldn't have to hear it about at the city commission tonight. So that's a different, you know, look. If anybody comes to anybody in the city, any of the department heads and wants to propose something, at least bring it back for the rest of the commission. Don't display it at a commission meeting when I never even met the lady before in her life or my life. And I didn't know if everybody else met the person and then introduce a program that I don't even know nothing about. And I've been in the city for 47 years. So, I mean, it just would have been nice for someone to let us know something else. But it's the same thing. Come up, get your presentation, and that's it. It's not about making speeches and things like that. It never was that. So if you guys want to change it to that, then let's decide if that's what we're going to do. Every time there's a proclamation that we're all going to get to make a speech on that proclamation.

I think you're taking it out of context. That's not at all what I said. That's not at all what I said. Everyone got defensive.

I simply said it would be nice if... You specifically said, you said that we eye roll. You said, I mean, these are things that you just said out of your mouth.

In reference to the mayor, I wasn't talking to you. So you're taking it personal. So maybe it's an action that you do.

Obviously, he rolled his eyes to somebody then. So, I mean, look, I'm not trying to sit and argue about people with proclivations. We are happy as a city to honor whoever wants to come forth with a proclamation. But it's not about people's businesses with the proclamation. Receive the proclamation, advertise the proclamation that you got from your city. But I don't think it's a time for the mayor or the commissioners to be up here making speeches about every single thing. Because then we could be here all night. I promise. Next month, I'm putting 10 on. So just be prepared. I'm putting 10 on, and I want to speak at 10 different items.

That's not going to be fair. I believe you're being disrespectful and sarcastic.

No, it's not being disrespectful. There's 13.

It wasn't about having five individually. It's not even what I'm saying. That's not at all what I'm saying. It is what you're saying.

You want to speak every one.

No, it's not about me speaking. All I'm saying is just to be acknowledged and for everyone to have a fair amount of time for them to speak. And I'm saying that the mayor, and I'm not, again, I just want you to understand. I can go back to other commission meetings recorded. When you have something on, you allow as long as you want them to speak, and then you speak on it, which I respect. All I'm saying is to please give that same respect in return for myself and others that would like to speak when they're here as well.

Absolutely.

I'm going to open it. One more point, mayor.

Yes.

How many years you been here?

15.

15. How many years we've been doing Teacher of the Month? 16. 16 years. So when you get to the podium, do you get up there and say, hi, I'm Mike Ryan. I'm the one who started Teacher of the Month. Do you start it off like that? I never. Do you say that every single time?

Never.

When you give out an Athlete of the Month, Do you say Commissioner Scudo is the one who started Athlete of the Month? No. I mean, who cares? It's something that we proposed. It came to all the mayor and commission. We all voted for it. That's it. It's done. I don't need to be recognized every single time a kid or girl gets Athlete of the Month to say Scudo started that program. Because it wasn't really Scudo that started the program. I took that program from Tommy Rosano and Margate. So, right. I'm just saying, so I'm not saying I'm not taking credit for it. I proposed it. The city voted for it. It's on the agenda, but it doesn't say every agenda. Commissioner Scudo's athlete of the month. It doesn't say that I don't need to be recognized for it. I mean, I think that's the point I'm trying to make. We don't need to be recognized for something that. We're just introducing. I didn't come up with that idea. And a lot of ideas that come from residents that we propose up here came from residents or came from businesses and came from employees. But we don't have to repeat it every single time.

So listen, I don't think that's the point. Obviously, one of my colleagues has asked for the opportunity to be heard on any one of the proclamations, whether they I won't know whether they originate, but just because they invited somebody. And that's fine. So that's what we'll do. And I'll open it up to the entire commission to offer comments. And we'll whatever time it takes, it takes. All right.

We'll put intent on the next meeting.

All right. Any further discussions on those items?

I would ask that we be cognizant of the amount of proclamations that are going on. And I do try to push an agenda because it's not fair to everyone.

So even now, just to give some context, and we said 13 tonight, but I also asked staff to push once to the next meeting, which I've been doing regularly for the last few years, which has resulted in, you know, many times the second meeting also having a bunch of resolution, which is fine. We'll get them done. There are some rare occasions where a proclamation is requested and it's signed and it just gets mailed out. It isn't presented, but The vast majority are being presented in the well, and I do, and I am mindful of the time, and even this month, it was just, I couldn't push any, there wasn't any way to push anymore. I tried, but there was no way to get them moved.

Should just be the exception, not the rule.

Okay, then I have one more thing I'd like to add to that then.

Okay.

There are other cities that do workshops with certain initiatives or programs or pilot programs that are being implemented, whether it's for the month, the quarter, for the next budget. We... I've been here almost six years. I can count on one hand when we've had workshops. We only do commission meetings and then we put everything all in one meeting and then we have these long meetings X amount of times a year. So if we're talking about not giving these proclamations or whoever in the community is doing a great job, we're highlighting them, whether it's a business, whether it's a teacher, whether it's an organization, a resident, a youth, a senior, a 100-day person, If we don't want to give our community that recognition and time, then maybe we need to split up how we're putting other city business forward and maybe work on X amount of workshops a year instead. And I understand we all have different jobs and some require the time and it's difficult. But at the end of the day, if we're talking about we don't want to be here, I don't want to be here for five hours. I only want to be here for two. We're here for the community. We're here for the proclamations. We're here for the recognition. We're here for the city business. We're here for various reasons. And I feel, again, I'm not trying to attack just observation. I feel it's being selfish of me if I'm saying I don't want to be here for more than three hours.

I didn't hear anybody say that, and I don't think you need to lecture anybody about it.

I'm just saying my observation. You might like to say what you'd like to say. I'm sharing my feelings and thoughts.

Yeah, but you're feeling our thoughts are valid for you. I'm just saying that there's nobody here that said that they're not willing to do that or that, you know, no one, no one. Can you let me finish? Nobody has a monopoly on caring about this community. And we don't need a lecture about the business that we're here to perform. We all know it. And irrespective of your comments, I know you feel that you're here for the community as well. I don't question that. So whether you want to propose workshops, feel right ahead to come forward and suggest what you want to do. But I don't know what other city you're talking about. Perhaps it's Tamarack. I have no idea. But it seems like we're here to get the business done. When we need a workshop on visioning or we need a workshop on something, we've done it. So I don't know what else. We're going to add a third meeting. And just to be clear, a fair amount of staff is going to have to be there for that. So it's not just, you know, our time, it's overtime, it's time and staff taken away from they're not going to be in the office on time, or they have to, you know, now come in the next day. And workshops can tend to be because it's not getting business done. A bit of a just a freewheeling, you know, discussion without real direction, because you got to come back in order to give direction to staff, you got to come back and do the meeting. You want to propose a workshop on something? Absolutely. And it's been proposed over the years by individual commissioners when necessary, but to institutionalize, you know, monthly or bi-monthly or every six months, a workshop just for the purpose of it. I, I don't, I can't see it, but I'm, but I'll keep an open mind.

Well, then I'd like to propose staff to do a survey on which cities in the Broward County are doing workshops and what workshops are being conducted.

Here. Fine. We do workshops. We do workshops, right, but go ahead and add it to whatever you want. I'm fine with staff doing a survey. Go ahead. Got that, Mr. Lebowski? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. Any further on that item or next item? All right, D, Resolution of the City of Sunrise, Florida, updating Resolution No. 11-183 as amending which identifies charitable organizations, nonprofit entities, fundraising events, and city events that are formally approved by the City of Sunrise for purposes of charitable solicitations under the county's elected official code of ethics and providing an effective date. City Manager Mark Lebelski, Thomas P. Moss. I have a motion. Move it. Motion by Commissioner Escudo, seconded by Deputy Mayor. This is a public hearing. Anyone wishing to be heard on this matter, please come forward or press five star on your phone. I see no one come forward. Confirm no hands raised.

I confirm no hands are raised.

All right. Mr. Lebowski, which two charities are being added?

Thank you, Mayor. We have the Autism Hero Project and the Miami Rescue Mission. Okay.

Any objection to adding those on from any of my colleagues? Mr. Moss, what's the reporting requirement for fundraising for these charities if we do that?

Well, under the Broward County Code of Ethics, there is no reporting requirement once the organizations are officially approved by the city. It's an exception to the reporting requirement.

And the city doesn't have any reporting requirements? no we just follow the broward county code so we don't have any idea of what any individual commissioners doing to fundraise i don't think if there's no reporting how do we know how much somebody's gone out to ask businesses for money to support a particular cause right now i'm not aware of of how anyone would have that knowledge or even what businesses were solicited to contribute correct Is that something that other cities require? Do you know, one way or another, Mr. Lebelski? Mr. Moss? I'm not aware. You're not aware either way? All right, well, perhaps we should. Can we do a survey of all the cities?

That's a great idea.

Yeah, let's do that.

Go ahead, do it. Is there a way to implement something to track this? We need more employees. Staff time.

Well, it's not just staff time. It's solicitation of businesses for donations. So it's two level, right? It's how much are staff being asked.

It's not about donations. If I can just.

I'm talking about it. I'm not talking about it. I don't know what you want to talk about it. I'm talking about it. I'm talking about making sure that businesses are not being asked to donate to certain projects, at least know who's being asked, right? Going to every chamber member to ask them for money for a particular event. How do we do it? Maybe we can't track it. Yeah, yeah. So let me, what's on here is just approving two.

Since we're on the topic.

So I'm kind of moving away. Sorry, I apologize. I didn't mean to interrupt, but I wanted to clarify. It's not something you're voting on tonight. Sorry, Commissioner Kirch.

Yeah, and I think we should look at updating this list. I know a lot of them. They seem a little bit outdated. That's probably true. I have been on here for 13 years, and the first six or seven years, we updated it twice, and now we're doing it about twice every year. So I think there's a lot of things on here that needs to be vetted, whether they need to stay or go. I don't know which ones, but I see we got Kiwanis Club of Fort Lauderdale, Kiwanis Club of Central Broward, Kiwanis Club of Sawgrass Sunrise. or kumanas clubs. They may be all stay, but I'm sure there's some on here that may not even be around anymore. So I would look at it and see what, if there's anything that can be deleted.

Okay. All right. So anyway, we're on the item of the two charities. Any further discussion on those two charities? All right. Call the question.

Deputy Mayor Guzman. Yes. Commissioner Kirch. Yes. Commissioner Scudo.

Yes.

Assistant Deputy Mayor Clark. Mayor Ryan.

Yes. Item passes 5-0. All right. City Attorney's Report.

No report. Thank you, sir.

City Clerk's Report.

No report, sir.

Mr. City Manager, do you have any other report beyond what you offered earlier?

No additional report, Mayor. All right. Deputy Mayor.

No report, because whatever I share, I don't feel is receptive. So I'll just keep my thoughts to myself.

Okay, Assistant Deputy Mayor.

I lost my paper with all my notes. It's somewhere. But I just wanted to say that Nobby Elementary was voted the best elementary, so I think that's a great thing for our city to have that being recognized out. And I don't have my notes. I don't know what happened to them. It's somewhere in the building. I have to find it.

all right the podium all right commissioner kirch no report the golf course they're uh painting all the columns they're painting the fences they're painting everything out there so kevin stay on them, and then if Mark and Sean and Rodrigo could make sure that the contract that I put in the asphalt is going back to fill in. He keeps having excuses. I mean, I don't know what it is, but could really Rodrigo and Mark really stay on them to let them finish putting all the dirt and grass back up to the car paths? Because here we just put all this money buying golf carts. We just now put all this money into the car paths. And now the car path is much higher than the side. And now it's like they're going like off. So until the contractor that was a good amount of money that this gentleman received, but now it's to the end. He's way past the time. He was supposed to be done in December. It's January, February, it's March, now it's April. So Rodrigo, please, Mark, please make sure that before we have a rollover with the golf carts, if they haven't already happened, Okay? They're in some points very high. So unless you guys go out there and drive it and see it, then you'll be on this guy or girl, whoever the owner of the company is. But I think three, four months passed now. I know he's doing other jobs. But here again, working for us, finish the job. The last thing that I have, we had a sad situation this weekend. We had a shooting with a death. It was someone in a wheelchair, shot seven times by a security guard. Now, I had talked to staff, I had talked to the chief, I had talked to Tom. I didn't have a chance to talk to Shannon, because Shannon was working with the team already, because I already made my phone calls. My thing is, you know, we have the 4 o'clock licenses, and the cops are there. But now this was a banquet hall. A banquet hall opened past 2 o'clock in the morning with two armed security guards. I don't know what banquet hall that we've ever gone to, okay, besides Hard Rock because it's a casino, that would have armed people. So my question to the chief was, When we used to do details and some businesses wanted to have armed security, the chiefs, whether it was Brooks, whether it was Rosa, whether it was Ransome, didn't like the fact that there was armed security next to where we had detailed offices. We don't know whenever something happens where our police officers are trained. But when he's out in the parking lot and then all of a sudden sees somebody from the back, that shirt does not say security, but sees a gun, you know, we're trained. The other guy is not trained. And obviously this guy, for whatever reason, I don't know what training he had to shoot someone in a wheelchair seven times. So my question to the chief was, why is it that if there's armed security in the city, that they're not, or what they have to do to register with us so we know what they have, and how can we do that? Because it didn't seem fair that a banquet hall that's been in the city for probably 50 years, which used to be like Justin's Caterers, where it was just for parties, but I mean, even we know, we have Sunrise, we have Nob Hill Hall, we have Flamingo Hall, we rent them out. There's no armed security. And usually by 10, 11, 12, they're wrapped up. I don't know what kind of clientele or what kind of parties they're having or whatever it is, but they have two armed securities for a banquet hall. So I just really want staff to look into this and what... You know, what we need to do to help ourselves that we don't have this, where does the authority lie? How could we have the police department or the building department you know, have these banquet halls register or whatever, who they have, who the people are. I mean, it's just so random, you know, that we wouldn't know that that's going on in our city. And what time are they allowed to stay open to banquet halls? This is probably something that we probably haven't revisited for a long time. So, I mean, it's just... To talk about it, to bring it up, to see where we're at, see what's old on the books, what needs to be new on the books. And if someone has a four o'clock license, I think it's the discretion of the police to decide whether a police officer should be there. But I know businesses are trying to save money, I understand that. But you're open till 12. And now you want to stay open until 4. You should have some type of security. And I think it should be a minimum of one police officer. that they're allowing this license. And I know it's the discretion of the police department, but that should be something that we should revisit. Because if you have one place who has one or two or three, but then the other place has none, but then something happens at the other place, now those cops that are paying detail at one place have to go to the other place. I'm just saying, I think we just need to let, I'm just bringing it up. I'm not directing them. I just brought it up and asked them. To see what it is that we have Shannon. I know you got a lot on your plate. It's just something that. Because of what happened this weekend. You know. To get a phone call at two o'clock in the morning. Or whatever it is to. You know know that. something happen um you know in the city that you know somewhere could be preventable if if we can right i'm saying right we can't you know you can't account for a guard who does something and won't comment on it obviously he's been charged why a banquet hall would have a be able to be open until four in the morning yeah i'm not sure why do they have armed security that's what i'm saying yeah apparently it was a birthday party and why they why a birthday party needs that is problematic but i think staff's now having to go back and look at

how these got generated, what is grandfathered, what can we do on any one of these things, including ours. Now, sometimes a banquet hall doesn't have the liquor license, so it's people bringing in the liquor, right? And so it doesn't really lend itself to the 4 o'clock issue.

But if you have a 4 o'clock, you cannot turn it over to somebody.

I understand. It's a matter of also figuring out. You know when when can you trigger even if somebody's been grandfathered on some aspects of this one can be triggered so it's going to require staff code. And, and the police department to sit down and look at this intense I know they've been doing that obviously I wasn't aware they got calls from you, but i've been calling them, that was my first reaction is the same as yours. Why the heck did a birthday party need an armed guard, and what time were they going to close? So there needs to be a full inventory. I know staff's already started that, I think, with Shannon's group to try to figure out who qualifies as these banquet halls, then figure out how many are we, and then what are we looking at, which ones have liquor licenses, which ones don't, what are the hours. We can't have them circumventing what we've protected in the 4 o'clock, which was to prevent promoters. right to hold events which that's where the chaos is at the same time we cannot have our police department being those security guards we want to encourage them if they need it to have that armed guard but because we can't and i know you're not proposing that you're proposing hey they may need a detail right but then and this is the same thing that i also mentioned chief it sure would be good to know when you arrive up on a scene are you expecting to see armed security or not so there may be something there in registration that can be done or may not be able to be done depending on what tom's looks at but i think This has opened up a conversation that we have not had and haven't had happen because there just hasn't been anything that went on like this at these banquet halls. They've been used traditionally for weddings and birthday parties and celebrations. But as we know will happen, if given the opportunity to give this out to promoters and figure out how they're going to provide liquor, you know, circumventing, we need to make sure we're not allowing that to happen. So, Mr. Lebelski, you've already begun that process. Is that right?

Yes, Mayor, and I appreciate the comments from the Commission. We've been evaluating this yesterday and today, and we will likely be evaluating whether or not we need to do an amendment to our extended hours license because, as you had mentioned, most banquet halls, they do not have a... liquor license that they utilize in a caterer that has an extended hours, which there's probably a gap in our code. Has a liquor license.

Yeah. Has a liquor license, not extended hours.

Correct. Sorry, has a liquor license. And there is likely a gap that we need to address in our code regarding that.

Yeah, I mean, can they be open until 6 in the morning? Because it's a party, you know?

There's no restriction in hours of operation for a banquet hall today. Where we would want to address it is probably through some sort of license for extended hours. Okay.

Deputy Mayor I just want to remind everyone of the facts of this case there was no alcohol related issue to this particular shooting right and so for my church when we do have events and we have individuals that there's a lot of people we do have armed security so I I don't know how we're going to control that. And if we are doing shut-ins, which is that we are praying until like 6 a.m., we are there all night long. So I just want to make sure that we are really conscious of what we're talking about, of how we really want to dive into this regulation of lockdowns. check-in for individuals who are having armed security come to places.

I want to make sure that the armed security people that are coming into our city, that was what I asked Tom and what I asked the chief, what training do these people have and how, well, I'm saying.

I know, but we can't, they have to get a license through Florida Department. Class D is unarmed. Class F is armed. Class M is a manager. There's all sorts of licensing that goes on. And they have to go through, like, Class D is a 40-hour training. The next one up for armed is another. So they also have to be associated with a company. So there's already that vetting going on. I don't think we have the resource to do it. But to your other point of should we know who's here.

But how do we know that they're with a company?

That's what I'm saying.

I don't know how we do it. How could we have them register their company and the people that are going to provide in our community? Because I guess it's put that you don't have to go get a license to have a carry. So the guy could say, I have a carry license, right? And he, I'm your arm security. That's what I'm saying. I'm not saying anything about the church. I'm not, I'm saying that I'm saying is what training did this person have? And why can't we have them register with the city, whether it's their company or It's no difference with the towing when we used to have the towing. You had to be registered in the city so that you could be allowed to tow. If you want to provide service to businesses in the city, especially armed, I mean, that's something like you're putting my cop against somebody else in the same shopping center because when Hot Shots was there and they had details and now you have that guy with armed security, I'm not putting my cop, my man and woman, In a place where he doesn't know who that person is. He's been there at 11 o'clock. She's been there since 11 o'clock doing her detail. And then all of a sudden at 12 o'clock, here comes these two armed security guards showing up for a banquet hall. They don't know that. I'm just saying. I just think it would be, you know, just something. You understand what I'm saying, okay? I don't want to put our men and women in a bad spot if we're all in the same. And we had it in my shopping center. We had police detail next door. The Spanish police decided to get armed security. No shirt, no nothing, just a gun sticking out. Me, as a person of a business in that shopping center, was uncomfortable, okay, that I am seeing this guy. And this was before open carry. So... It's different when you have a business and you walk out the door and boom, you're confronted by someone with a gun. It's not a good feeling. I walk out, I see a Sunrise cop. I know he has a gun. Different story.

So staff needs to look at that.

You know what I'm asking for. I discussed it here tonight, just whatever it is that we could put in that we know who's coming in our city with a gun and is providing security to our residents. I mean, I don't think it's very difficult to do. Nothing against a church or whatever, and I know people at parties. It shouldn't be. How many? Well, how many do you have? Well, then you should register every single one of them. So at least we know you have guns. I don't think it's a lot. Okay.

All right.

So let's have guns. They should be read.

All right. So let's have staff look at it. And there's complex laws and oversight on this. So come back and report to the commission on this. In the meantime, we need to look at the issue of the extended hours and whether to bring them under and whether we can do that on a grandfather. No report. Motion to adjourn. Motion by Commissioner Kirch.

Seconded by Commissioner Scooter. All in favor say aye.

Aye. Adjourned.