##VIDEO ID:Zzd1oK6jmFg## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e something into the mic e e e good evening everyone good evening everyone I want that on the recording so you may notice a new look this is the new look commission congratulations to all of the new Commissioners and uh let's move forward the same way we've always done I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask the city clerk to call the role mayor Weinberg here commissioner a here commissioner blman here commissioner Bloom here commissioner fredin pres commissioner Cruz here commissioner olinsky here Mr PES here Mr Myers here you have a quorum oh the new ones you all did that perfect that was wonderful all that practice paid off so for the Pledge of Allegiance tonight we have several members you may notice the average age of the attendees is a little bit younger tonight which is a wonderful wonderful thing I'm I'm going to ask the members of the donof for Avatar high school student government boards to come up and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please and when you're done don't sit down come up here we're going to do a nice group picture with this city seal with all the new commissioners Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all come on up and while they're coming up I want to acknowledge also it's the first meeting with our new city manager Brian Pages welcome okay let's get these chairs out of the way okay half here and half here come I know but you know just putut yourselves in Commissioners work yourselves in and um photographer will tell us what to do I think two RS anybody don't make with my hair whatever he says whatever he say ran Robert you want to come in Alisa you want to come in you're always all welcome everybody come on in to go side with the people that a little bit here you can see what you look like on that big screen there yeah actually he can get everyone nice big smiles on three one two three don't go anywhere just like that pretty sure my eyes were closed two more so your eyes are closed open them up if your smile is one second come on come come welcome got you I don't usually any and I'm going to do one more beautiful and actually one last one perfect thank you all so any of the students that leave we know it's because you're just going to do your homework we understand you're more than welcome to stay okay item three it's a big moment big moment at least for one of us that time has come I guess it's been 6 months that's right and now we announce our new vice mayor I'm pursuant to resolution number 20224 the new vice mayor for the next six months and the winner is Rachel s Friedland I know you're very surprised you should be very proud do you want to give a speech great job hold on we're gonna do it official couldn't be more proud oh wait okay uh item four Mr manager any additions or deletions to the agenda I have none okay some uh special presentations there's a couple of proclamations that we're going to be sending out so I'm not going to read them we'll save a little time but I want everyone to know that um I signed two proclamations for um the month of November um lung cancer awareness month so be aware lung cancer awareness we want to stamp it out lung cancer bad very bad um also November is well November 30th this Saturday November 30th small business Saturday try to spend your money at small businesses family-owned businesses stay away from the huge box stores this Saturday give them your business it's very very important okay thank you um next Employee Service Awards Mr manager Police Department Jim has dedicated 20 years in the Traffic Unit and doing many things that many of you will see him in the mornings over by the school helping the children cross the street over at Aces at 188th he's there every single day for school doing that and he enjoys doing it it's a dedication and to the safety of our kids but another thing that Jim does that many of you don't know is for almost 20 years Jim has been our traffic our hidden run traffic investigator and for those of you you know it could be something as minor as you go into a parking lot you come out to your car and there's a bumper that's dented I can assure you that most other police departments that you would go to would just take the report and that would be the end of it but not with Jim Jim is dedicated his life to making sure that the victims of hit and runs whether they're injured these minor parking lot accidents um that the perpetrators are brought to Justice and he does everything that he can through video coming in staying late hours working these these cases and bringing them to an end going to court and making sure the offenders are prosecuted so Jim is is an incredible asset to our department uh have tremendous respect for him I've worked with him for many many years and I just want to congratulate him on 20 years of service and hopefully 20 years more so you want pictures anybody here anybody want we up front come just a little bit tighter together that two I'm going do one more one last one St just like that you tilt it like back the um the frame yet tilt it a little yeah perfect just like that thank you app thank you Jim [Applause] congratulations the next award I would like to present is a 15year service award this is for Sergeant Brandon Worthington Brandon if you come up please I can say that uh Sergeant warington has kind of a special place in in my heart because we kind of follow the same career path uh Brandon has been a k9 Handler here in the department he's been a leader on our SWAT team and I can tell you in Long enforcement the two most dangerous and training intensive things that you can do are SWAT and canine and Brandon has risked his life countless times uh searching for for robbery suspects homicide suspects with him and his partner having to rely on them and also in charge of our joint SWAT team with North Miami Beach how many countless hostage rescue situations barricaded subjects people with guns um that Brandon has been responsible for organizing a leading the teams uh to successfully all of these missions and he's been a tremendous job doing it Brandon was also in our training unit it was responsible for training our new officers coming in here and the proper tactics and and how to best serve the community he has dedicated his life to service and uh most recently I think his biggest challenge and he would agree is he is the father of a one and three-year-old and uh that that's his a biggest challenge to come and I'm very happy for him and congratulations yeah and get a little B closer together CL and one last one and one of the best ones for last this uh is a 10-year service award for I would say the best municipal clerk in Dade County Alisa Horath just Alisa your dedication and commitment to the City of Aventura and to making all of our meetings run so smoothly and I can't thank you enough just a little bit about Alisa she started her her Municipal career back in 1986 um in Bal Harbor where she was started off as a police dispatcher she worked in the building department she ended up being executive assistant to the city manager and then she became Deputy City Clerk and then city clerk over there for eight years I think she came to us she was also the in the in her profession she's achieved the municipal clerk award she's worked for Dade or she's been on the board for date County for their resolution committee and most importantly she's city clerk now and she's I can't than her enough the best sitting PL and U I say the mayor if you you the commissioner would like to say anything I'll invite um any and all Commissioners to make a comment I want to say I think I'm the only commissioner up here who was part of the commission when we hired Alisa but commissioner Billy Joel is out here I see him and he was also part of the commission Billy Joel you may not know this but he's the longest serving commissioner in the history of avator so um I have uh just so people understand there's three Charter officers meaning there are three positions in the city that are filled by the commission we hire the City attorney the city manager and the city clerk and um we really got this one right uh we did um take her away from bal Harbor I still often apologize to my friends on the council over there but life is tough and um we're so happy that that you are here and you really make as the new Commissioners will find out you make us better you remind us when a report is due you tell us when well me in particular when I did something wrong on the report and I my math was bad whatever it is you let me know and um you're so organized you make our meetings run so smoothly I know nobody will disagree with me but I congratulate you and thank you for that was wow 10 years that was so fast so um anyone I see uh uh commissioner blanchan you've properly clicked in thank you for learning so quickly and then commissioner Bloom I want to say you're the super clar can you I agree with Howard I mean you made us better we we Excel in math now and commerce and dots and putting the click in the right way and I remember going at 10:30 at night during election early voting and had to fix my report and send it to you just to be on time I didn't want to disappoint you and let me tell you you really are amazing thank you I would like to thank Alisa for keeping us on schedule making sure that we stay out of trouble with all of our filings that we get them all in on time uh but most importantly you've really been uh a friend and you go above and beyond your duties and uh really appreciate having you in the as part of the team Madame vice mayor I just want to say that we are looking at one of the hardest working women in this building and probably all of our city and our state and she's amazing but she's incredibly shy so all of this attention probably is driving her crazy so I just want to say thank you you are the best the best commissioner Cruz sorry I want to Echo what uh previous Commissioners have said and just say Alisa you are such a champion always extremely helpful um you are the consumate professional that we can all always count on always with a nice smile humble as can be because you do the work of probably three people um and more importantly you're just a wonderful person and the only thing I would quibble with with uh with our what our um city manager said is he said you're the best Miami dat no I think you're probably the best in the state if not the country so thank you for all your great work commissioner a of course a few of us are new to the scene but I'm working with with her in the election process process makes it easy she sends everybody reminders if you sent the form in and a month later she looks it over and it's incorrect you get something to let you know and I know uh I'll speak for the three of us who are new that we're eagerly looking forward to continue working with her for a very long time thank you commissioner olinsky and last but not least but I've had the pleasure of working with you over the last I think 10 or 15 years just random interactions from the school or and now a lot of interactions from the election and you are superior and I told you that all the time so at 10:30 at night I got answers to my questions and at 8:00 in the morning you were there fixing everything I needed to do and that follows through with all of the activities we did together so I can appreciate the sentiment that they've had being being on the commission I'm excited to have you by my side helping thank you thank you everyone okay item six the consent agenda the manager any commissioner want to add want to uh remove an item from the consent agenda seeing none I'm going to ask for a motion to approve uh commissioner Bloom seconded by commissioner Cruz and by the way for the new commissioner it's the same thing you use your touchcreen if I'm asking for a motion and you want to be the motion maker or second it you just use your touch screen I'll recognize you um let's have a roll Lo call vote commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes commissioner olinsky yes commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes vice mayor fredin yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes okay uh first reading of an ordinance item eight Madame clerk if you can read item eight please an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of aventur Florida amending ordinance number 20237 which ordinance adopted a budget for the 2023 2024 fiscal year by revising the 2023 2024 fiscal year operating in capital budget as outlined in exhibit a attached here to authorizing the city manager to do all things necessary to carry out the aims of this ordinance and providing for an effective date thank you I need a motion to approve commissioner Bloom second and by commissioner orlinsky uh Mr manager you want to review this please sure thank you mayor this is our year end budget amendment which we must do for our financial policies and our auditing practices this amendment addresses several projects that were previously approved and other items that were discussed with the commission all of these projects are covered by additional revenues received in fiscal year 2324 or by state and federal grants that we received and some significant items include over $2 million that the city transferred to Aces to eliminate their fund balance deficit due to the slow Esser reimbursement process and we anticipate the full reimbursement of these monies in 2025 I can also report that we have just received $800,000 from the Miami day County School Board of towards these funds so we're well on our way to receiving the uh the full complement of the reimbursement uh the next item is the police department budget increased by just over 1 million the uh majority of this was if you remember about 900,000 for the police pension and this was for 14 affected members of the police department back in 2003 and the uh the commission gave us direction to negotiate with the pension board the union and the affected members and I can report that we successfully negotiated the terms and all of the officers were made whole in the uh pension process and that was one of the uh the major expenses the remaining um monies in that fund were due to the recent flooding expected flooding event that we had here in Aventura uh for the overtime expenses towards the the police handling that event the other significant increase in capital expenses was Founders Park which included playground resurfacing both at um Peace park at waterways and over at Founders Park the new basketball courts that were just built and will be opening soon field Turf enhancements lighting and the pickle ball courts and we were able to offset all of those costs through are additional federal and state Grant monies that we receive to pay for all for all of these uh those projects and lastly our community service programming I can thank Kimberly for having some of the most po popular programming here in the in the city this requires an amendment due to the cost of higher enrollment and our after school care our dance programs tennis programs summer care programs and these increased programming expenses were offset by the revenue we received and the en enrollment fees and as indicated in my memorandum I Rec the commission adopt this ordinance and I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone may have thanks so you're saying the city has pickle ball courts yeah just just a couple any um comments or questions from any commissioner seeing none I'll open it for public comment any members of the public who want to comment on this specific issue item eight seeing none I'll close it and um I'll ask for a vote please commissioner a yes commissioner blatman yes commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes commissioner olinsky yes vice mayor fredin yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes Madame clerk If You Could Read uh the resolution which is item 10 a resolution of the city Commission of the city of aventur Florida accepting and adopting the election results of the November 5th 2024 for municipal candidate general election for City Commissioner seat 1 and special election for the City Commissioner seat 2 as certified by the canvasing board and attached tier two declaring the qualifying unopposed candidate selected to City Commissioner seats three and five without necessity for further conduct of election process for those seats as certified by the city clerk and providing for an effective date motion to approve commissioner Cruz seconded by commissioner Bloom I don't know if there's anything you need to review but you're more than welcome to Madam clerk right we received the um canvasing board certification of the election results which you all know um Gustavo blman was elected to commissioner seat one and Cindy orlinsky for commissioner seat two in the general and special elections and candidates for commissioner seat 3 Clif a and commissioner seat 5 Rachel freom are both unopposed or un elected by operation of law uh so presenting that certification of those results for your approval of this time thank you any commissioner have any questions or comments on that seeing none I'll open it to the public I item 10 any public comment seeing none I'll close it for comment and um I will ask for for a vote commissioner Cruz yes commissioner rinsky yes commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes commissioner Bloom yes vice mayor fredland yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes okay thank you item 11 any members of the commission have anything to report on that they would like to uh commissioner Cruz and also this applies to the city manager and the City attorney also if you have anything to say commissioner Cruz so uh over the last week we had a a big project where we had 150 people from the Gaza envelope men women and children that a lot of more survivors of the October 7th attack uh they were here for nine days uh did a lot of beautiful events got close to our community and the reason I mention it is because on Sunday we had a walk around the circle like we have every week There's a group that walks around the turnbury circle to uh raise awareness of the hostages being held still 101 hostages in Gaza as well as the plight of Israel and what's going on and to support them uh but we had the 150 uh people from Israelis that were here from the Gaza envelope walking with many of us in the community um vice mayor fredland was there and I was there and and it was really amazing amazing it it was several hundred of us that were walking around the circle with Israeli and American flags which demonstrates the strength and unity of this community and support of Israel and of each other and it was really a blessing to us and to the people that came from Israel to see that we are all strong and United uh and unwavering in our support of the state of Israel and I wanted to thank the uh police department uh Chief bent and the the police department for providing for an escort and even some live music uh while we were doing it and it just uh I'm sure it gives all of us I'm sure I speak for all of us i' say it gives us tremendous Pride to be in such an incredibly wonderful city thank you thank you uh commissioner blanchan I was uh touched by the amount of people that were on the walk I want to thank loving moms also for making that event unique and Paul I want to say that the additional um event at night at The JCC which you were part of as well was incredible I mean everything that day was a humbling experience from the walk to the AMC event to The JCC event it was incredible and I and I want to congratulate you for being almost everywhere every time when we have to to do what's right thank Youk you I was a pleasure to have you there as well and and this whole commission is really fully engaged and we look forward to working with everybody here let me thank the police chief and the city manager and the avator police department the walk you're talking about uh as soon as they uh caught wind of it they jumped into action and make sure that um Public Safety was number one and they're always always always ready willing and able and it's always greatly appreciated uh vice mayor fredlin I just want to share something and especially to the residents maybe that are at home and listening um our organization which is not part of the city but it's an organization I founded with uh mayor Weinberg former mayor Enid Weissman and our friend Evan Ross called aventor cares is doing a food drive for Thanksgiving where we are collecting um items that we will be delivering on November 26 to the homeless shelter and if anybody is interested in helping and helping with this food drive there's an urgent need locally besides all the wonderful things we do for Israel but there's an urgent need locally to help people in the homeless shelters they're asking for sugar canola oil frying oil salad dressing oatmeal mixed vegetables in cans corn collared greens blackeyed peas so if there's anybody that has donations that they want to help with please reach out to me um you can reach out to me here at the city or through my email r freedland at the city of avent.com we are asking for donations that we can be delivering to the shelter thank you thank you commissioner Bloom uh just a couple of things um I believe we do not have a meeting in December is that correct okay so I just wanted to put it on everybody's radar that we have our annual Winterfest event that is going to be coming up uh where we do our annual tree lighting and uh kanuk lighting so look for information on that on social media as to the dates and times um the other thing I would like to um bring up is the aventur Police Department working with the aventur police department Community Ambassador panel and the aventur police department Foundation APF I don't excuse the acronyms but anyway we're all going to be putting out um a box to collect toys uh for the needy uh downstairs in the first floor in City Hall in the lobby and I believe that box is going to be out there uh after Thanksgiving so um start thinking about donating toys for for children and um hope to see you at the Winterfest thank you thank you and I believe it's December 4 correct at 6 p.m. 7 I it's hard for me to count 700 p.m. it's a lovely ceremony we like to tree we like to manova it's great and uh commissioner Bloom you're doing a great job with um cap as if you weren't busy enough you've taken that on and we greatly appreciate it Mr City attorney I just wanted to mention the schedule for uh the 22nd uh we we have a workshop uh first and we were going to go to lunch uh the manager had scheduled lunch but we have to reschedule that so we're going to go to do the ethics training right after the workshop and for those of you who are new to the commission you have to do two hours of Ethics training within the first 90 days so if you can't make the uh you know the 22nd Workshop we'll have to come up with a different date for you for those who have been in office the entire year you've got to take the two hours by the end of the calendar year so if someone can't make it let me know it's fine with me if you appear remotely uh you probably get more out of it if you're in person uh but remote works for me thank you at this time if there's no other reports from the de I will open up for the floor for public comment uh someone that would like to discuss an issue that was not discussed tonight you have three minutes I'll ask the City attorney to explain public comment please in the process if anybody wishes to speak you have three minutes uh it's to go is to speak on items that weren't on the agenda tonight and it's on matters that are uh within the jurisdiction of the city and it's not a back and forth between you and the commission it's just 3 minutes to speak anybody want to speak seeing none oh I see one come on up Sir name and address please good [Music] evening just make sure that that microphone button is on uh green when you push that button okay uh my name is uh Pastor Lorenzo Johnson Senior um my address is 6340 Northwest 200 terce Miami Lakes and uh I'm uh CEO and founder of community youth against violence organization um I'm here today to briefly uh just stick my head in the door just to be able to uh at another time come back and and talk and and discuss uh we're working with a u initiative a countywi initiative in which we uh call operational team curfew and we wanted to be able to make it powerful because we we've been meeting with all the municipalities and all and this is a county initiative with jsd Juvenile Justice Center and develop accountability not to not to just chase kids down but just to make a make a mention that it is a curfew where parents could be responsible for their children as well as you know there may not be a lot of action as much as going over here but we know that the bullet don't have no jurisdiction and the travel and the kids are all over the place so what we're trying to do is with this initiative is a county wild initiative from Florida City all the way to the county line and we here today just to Sol list to see if avature will look at it uh we do I did give out some information uh uh if any any more document information that we can be and we we of want to also meet with the the police department which we've been meeting with all the chief of police departments and the County Commissioners and the City commissioners but the county this is a countywide initiative in which we feel that if everybody's in and when we do the ribbon cut on this we want to say that everybody we locked in everybody in the whole day count is in on it so there is some uh particular and some information that I I did get to you guys early I don't know if you got a chance to actually look at it but we want to have the opportunity to come back and because we want to set this initiative at least before February of next year we want everybody in we've been meeting with all the municipalities throughout day County and there's what 36 of the municipalities we have met with at least about 12 municipalities and everybody said they in on it so we want to see you know after we sit down and have a conversation we want to see if you guys will be a part of this this initiative that we have thank you very much and let me just make a comment first of all thank you for the work you do I'm sure that our manager and our police chief will interface with you I'm sure that we'll participate um I just had a question if I'm wondering if you have been in touch with the Miami day County League of cities so that if you speak at one of their monthly meetings you'll hit up almost every city at once um and this is our league of representative I'm sure she would get you an invite if that's something you would like to do love to do that some time yeah they move the location of different city every month but they usually have an agenda and I bet they would put you on it yes sir and you have an opportunity to and then you have an opportunity to speak to all the cities at one time it's a great idea thank you mayor I'll be Happ we also setting it up with the uh the police departments too the chief police as well but we've been we've been you taking our time meeting with individually but that would kind of like help help get us connect you with the PBA yeah and I'm and our chief is a board member of the chiefs of Police Association so it's all going to will be helpful thank you so much for coming this evening thank you for having me thank you anyone else want to come up here and thank the commission for the getting you out of here in 40 minutes this evening okay seeing none I'll ask if there's no other business I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn uh commissioner Cruz second my commissioner bloom all those in favor stay I I any opposed we're adjourned