##VIDEO ID:rQOpV_fmagw## 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 e e e e e e e e e e e turns it on power e e good evening good evening let's call this aventur city Commission meeting the first one of 2025 to order and um let's have a roll call Mayor weberg here vice mayor fredin here commissioner a here commissioner blman here commissioner Bloom here commissioner Cruz here commissioner olinsky here Mr FES here and Mr Myers here you have a quum thank you let's rise for the Pledge of Allegiance is Stella donon Gonzalez here if you would come up and lead us testing okay I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you thank you okay any deletions or additions Mr manager yes thank you mayor I'd like to formally request the uh deferral of items 6A through 6D on the commission meeting agenda for February 4th 2025 this deferral will be addressed later in the meeting when the items are read into the record okay thank you uh let's start with um special presentations we have a proclamation uh is Robbie etkin here is stort Greenberg here okay which who's here Robbie I'm Robbie come on up come on up if you just stand here stand up here for a moment this Larry Larry how are you Larry Larry yeah and I saw you at the event so I want to thank I want to thank you for being here we want to recognize jafco because it's a true Ely amazing incredible organization that helps so many young people and of course their families as well and so we actually have a proclamation and I have a commissioner a vice mayor and a commissioner on either side of me that I want to help me read it because they're big big supporters and fans of Jeffco as well so vice mayor you start whereas Jewish adoption and family care options Jasco has provided high quality services since 1992 to Children and Families in Need regardless of their religious or cultural backgrounds and whereas jafco Works tirelessly to strengthen families and to ensure that every child has a safe nurturing and loving environment in which to grow and whereas graph jafco offers a wide range of programs including foster care adoption services family preservation and services for children with developmental disabilities making a profound and lasting impact on countless lives and whereas the organization's dedication to Empowering Families and advocating for vulnerable children demonstrates an unwavering commitment to South Florida and the Aventura community and whereas the City of Aventura would like to recognize the outstanding contributions made by jafco and its staff volunteers and supporters applauding their role as a Beacon of Hope for many now therefore be it resolved that I Howard Weinberg as mayor and on behalf of the city Commission of the city of aventur Florida do hereby Proclaim January 14th 2025 as jafco day in the city of aventur congratulations so first if you guys want to say a few words you're more than welcome then please you'll come up here and we'll take a picture and we'll actually give you this to take but I just wanted to say that um uh I've been fond of Jeffco for I hate to say but it's over 20 years but uh about 21 years ago my wife and I were planning to uh adopt a baby from Siberia and I called jafco I don't even know why I was calling them I was just calling them because I needed to talk to somebody about bringing a baby home you know it was a little different than adopting a a dog you know and um it's been 20 great years my son is 23 years old and he's amazing and we have two other children right after that thanks to Hashem blessed us so I just always had a warm feeling about Jeffco when I saw the video last month of what you're doing and by the way and you'll probably mention this but it has nothing to do with being Jewish it doesn't matter which God you pray to or anything like that maybe none it's do you need help and it's such an amazing amazing organization and you literally save lives so I really appreciate everything that that is done there and that's why we wanted to do this and the commission wanted to do this so I've said enough you guys great thank you so thank you mayor Weinberg and vice mayor fredland commissioner Bloom for your dedication to jafco and thank you to the City of Aventura for supporting the life-saving work as you heard a little bit about on behalf of the board of directors staff volunteers and most importantly the children of jafco I deeply honored to receive this Proclamation jafco provides essential care safety and support to Children and Families in our community who are impacted by abuse neglect trauma and developmental disabilities and we believe every child deserves a place to belong and it remains our privilege and our responsibility to continue to offer our highquality services to any child and family in need this recognition today honors the collective effort of many dedicated individuals who laid the foundation have contributed to our Vital work over the past three plus decades we are particularly grateful for the incredible love and support from the jafco Adventura chapter for over the last two decades looking ahead to the future we remain steadfast in our commitment to making a positive impact in our community for the next 30 Years and Beyond so on behalf of jafco past present and future thank you for the meaningful recognition okay come on up and by the way you're all welcome we have plenty of room up here come be in the picture don't be shy please [Music] h yeah me get oh no no hold on yeah all right everyone right here perfect big SM and one two three one more one two three and one more good thank you e ER things get very out of control on jafco day in Avent okay moving on Stella donon Gonzalez from Don Silver high school he did a wonderful job on the pledge and um Dr mcke you want to come up come up here and um tell us about Miss Gonzalez you should both come up come on up you coming up awesome I'll give you a a hint of her wit is her good friend over here Sonia asked from where would you like me to film and she said every side's my best side so which is true those of you who know Stella loves Stella um we have come to love Stella the best way of evaluating the success of a high school is to determine or observe what opportunities students have when they graduate and then colleges will evaluate US based on how those students do as ambassadors of our school when they get to their next step uh Stella has earned 100% bright excuse me questbridge scholarship to Yale University so we're so proud of [Applause] her for this honor she competed with top student students from all over the world and again it was a great decision by a very smart group of admissions officers so we're so proud of you Stella and now you get to hear from Stella Duran wow hello everyone thank you so so so much for taking the time out of your day to be here to celebrate such an immense achievement with me I would like to take thank my friends and family for the invaluable lessons that they have taught me and I would also like to give a very special thank you to my school Don so for Aventura High School whoop whoop and the City of Aventura really the city of Excellence I would like to thank them for the numerous sacrifices that they have made in order to ensure that their students reach the success that all of the The Faculty at our school knew that we were capable of all of the funding all of the decisions that you lovely people have allowed them to create have truly allowed me to have to be here right now and celebrate such an amazing accomplishment they say that it takes a village to raise a child well it also takes a village to get that child to Yale and I would like to thank each and every one of you here I would like to uh extend a very warm thank you to Dr mck I remember right before I became a freshman when I was still picking out my schedule he contacted me to do a zoom call to arrange my classes and at the time I wanted to be a surgeon because gry's Anatomy was my favorite show and he said you know a lot of people tell me that they want to do these great things and be successful but looking at you and truly talking to you today I truly think you can do it and I've held those words with me throughout my four years of high school and I hope to make you proud but 360 right back to my mom the innumerable sacrifices that you can make I could keep everyone here until 10 p.m talking about them so I'll keep it short and sweet thank you so much for everything that you've done coming here from Puerto Rico just to give me the education and the future that you knew I could have and I hope I made you proud thank you so much and good night thank you and congratulations Stella this will be the third year third graduating class this year of Don sver high school and it is just thriving doing wonderful than thank you to the staff it it's filled with amazing students every single year and it's going to continue on that Trend it it just so happens that um I'm from New Haven Connecticut so I just want to tell you Stella um right across the street from the Sterling Memorial Library where I assume you'll be spending all of your time is um Toad's Place a world famous bar in nightclub which I assume you'll never be in but um if by chance you see the sign on the street um keep in mind that your mayor used to mop those floors that is a true story anyway we're very very proud of you thank you so much and thanks for coming tonight okay Mr Mr manager any special recog any Employee Service Awards yes we have one and mayor and commission and distinguished guests it's always an honor to recognize one of our police officers and this is truly one of aventura's finest and I could I think I could say Isaac is the only homegrown born and raised in Aventura police officer and a quick story is when he was a young man he was at Temple and during one of the high holy days and he ran into our chief of police here that's in the uh the audience before he was Chief and saw and saw him knew he was a police officer and asked him what does it take to become a police officer what do I have to do so the chief had told him these are the three things that had to do get his education go to the academy um had to have a clean record and a a couple of other things so Isaac took that to heart um that's what he wanted to do he had a uh a strong Focus became a police officer but he first went to the city of Key West uh worked there for a couple of years and when the opportunity opened up for an opening here in Aventura he uh he jumped on that opportunity and came here so there's two things real quick that that distinguishes Isaac in my eyes and knowing him for many many years is service and dedication and service to the community and service to his organization because he was as soon as he came here he was a field training officer went into to our U became a departmental instructor worked for our rapid deployment team and now he's in our personnel and training unit and because of his affinity and how much he loves his community he's been personally responsible for recruiting 25 police officers here and doing their backgrounds to the Aventura police Department which is which is an incredible Milestone incredible Milestone so I want to thank him for his service it's a privilege to have him here in the city protecting all of us and serving and uh the most important thing this is his his his son two and a half right yeah that's uh wanted to come up and see Daddy so let's take a picture together thank you thank you for your service e thank you I [Applause] and Stella before you leave you want to come up here and take a picture with the commission come on up come on up come on up and if your mom wants to join you e e e e okay let's move on to the consent agenda does anyone on the commission or the manager want to remove an item from the consent agenda if not then I'm going to need a motion to approve commissioner Bloom and seconded by commissioner Cruz and I'm going to ask for a vote commissioner Alinsky yes commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes vice mayor fredin yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes item six zoning hearings uh quasi judicial public hearings this is um second reading of an ordinance I'm going to ask the clerk to read 6A an ordinance of the city of aventur Florida amending chapter 31 Land Development regulations of the city code of ordinances by amending section 31145 Town Center zoning districts to create section 31-45 F Town Center North plan development tc5 District to provide for a new zoning district and related regulations and standards providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code and providing for an effective date Mr manager mayor at this time I'd like to request that the item be deferred to the February 4th 2025 City commission meeting agenda I need a motion to defer the item to the February 4th 2025 City commission meeting um I make the motion Vice may move by vice mayor fredland seconded by commissioner Bloom vote please commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes commissioner olinsky yes vice mayor Friedland yes and may Weinberg yes motion passes okay 6B please madam CL an ordinance of the City of Aventura Florida approving a small scale Amendment to the Future land use map of the City of Aventura comprehensive plan pursuant to Section 163 3187 Florida Statutes to redesignate an approximate 26.5 acre attractive land on the northeast corner of biscane Boulevard and Northeast 213 Street identified by folio numbers 28-12 34-01 9- 0011 and 28-1 2 34-19 0021 from business and office to Town Center providing for conflicts providing for severability providing for inclusion in the comprehensive plan and providing for an effective date mayor again May I'd like to request that this item be deferred to the February 4th 2025 commission meeting agenda can I have a motion to defer to February 4 2025 commissioner crw seconded by commissioner Alinsky let's vote commissioner blman yes commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes commissioner olinsky yes commissioner a yes vice mayor freand yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes 6C please and ordinance of the City of Aventura Florida amending the official zoning map by changing the zoning designation of an approximate 26.5 acre tract of land on the northeast corner of biscane Boulevard and Northeast 213 Street identified by my folio numbers 28-12 34-19 0011 and 28-12 34-19 0021 from community business district B2 and medical office District M Mo to Town Center North plan plan development District tc5 providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code and providing for an effective date Mr manager mayor again I'd like to defer this item to the February 4th 2025 Commission meeting agenda um sensing a pattern I need a motion to defer to February 4 2025 uh commissioner blanchan moves and commissioner Bloom seconds vote please commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes commissioner olinsky yes commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes vice mayor fredin yes and mayor weberg yes yes motion passes 6D please in ordinance of the city of aventur Florida amending the official zoning map by changing the zoning designation of an approximate 3.7 acre attractive land east of the northeast corner of biscane Boulevard and Northeast 213 Street depicted on the location map in exhibit 1 and legally described in Exhibit 2 from medical office District Mo to community facilities District CF providing for severability providing for inclusion in the code and providing for an effective Mr manager thank you mayor again I'd like to request that this item be deferred to the February 4th 2025 commission meeting agenda motion to defer to February 24 February 4th 2025 commissioner a seconded by commissioner Bloom vote uh roll call please commissioner Cruz yes commissioner Linsky yes commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes commissioner Bloom yes vice mayor fredin yes and mayor Weber yes motion passes okay item seven first reading on ordinances there are none item Eight Second reading uh Madame clerk item eight please an ordinance of the city Commission of the city of aventur Florida amending ordinance number 2023-24 2024 fiscal year by revising the 2023 2024 fiscal year operating and capital budget as outline and 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 can I have a motion to approve commissioner blanchan seconded by commissioner Cruz uh Mr manager can you review this item thank you mayor this is our year-end budget amendment that we are required to do for our financial policies and auditing requirements this amendment addresses several projects that were previously approved and other items that were discussed with the commission and all of these projects are covered by additional revenues we received in the fiscal year 2324 or by state and federal grants that we received some of the major items include over 2 million that the city transferred to ases 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 received um $890,000 in reimbursements so far from the county and we continue making progress on this reimbursement the police department budget increased by just over 1 million the majority of which was to resolve the police pension issue involving 14 officers the pension board and the police Union there were also increases in police overtime due to the significant flooding event we experienced earlier this year the other large increase was in capital expenses for founders Park which included the uh playground resurfacing new basketball courts field Turf enhancement lighting and the pickle ball courts additional federal grants and miscellaneous state grants were used to cover these overages as well and lastly our community services programming requires an amendment due to the cost of higher enrollment in our after school care dance programs tennis soccer and summer care programs and the these increased programming expenses were offset by corresponding Revenue that we received for these programs thank you any public comment from anyone uh on this issue item eight seeing none I'll close it for public comment and I will see if the members of the commission have any questions comments no then let's vote commissioner Alinsky yes commissioner a yes commissioner blman yes commissioner Bloom yes commissioner Cruz yes vice mayor Friedland yes and mayor Weinberg yes motion passes okay no resolutions item 10 any members of the commission or the manager or the attorney oh I look this way and then this way um commissioner Bloom uh I just wanted to give a very quick shout out or recognition to the aventur police department for their um amazing uh service during the holidays uh there were two events that the police department spearheaded the a uh a Target uh shopping opportunity with underprivileged kids from our community uh where the police department literally took a group of kids shopping through Target and let them pick out their uh their holiday um gifts and that was very special I'm sorry I couldn't make it because I was sick but uh but I heard that it was wonderful and also the police department spearheaded a holiday toy drive we had a lot of members of the community that came out to uh help collect toys and volunteered and funny enough the toys went to benefit the children of jafco so uh again just wanted to thank the police department for always going above and beyond to serve the community thank thank you anyone else no okay then may unless the members of the commission uh okay I'll defer to them a couple things I just wanted to bring to your attention you may be aware of it but the governor is calling a special session from January 27th to the 31st and uh the uh issues that he wants the legislature to deal with combating illegal immigration condo regulation agricultural relief and response to natural disasters replenishing the myfe Florida home program and the citizens initiative petition process uh in addition to that there was just a bill filed to uh further preempt housing I I don't know any details but uh that's something that will be heard at part of the regular session so uh we'll monitor that obviously the city's lobes will monitor all these uh activities as well but I just wanted to make sure it's on your radar screen I suspect you know condo regulation may be the big the big one in Aventura and some of us or maybe all of us will be up there in Tallahassee to fight for what's right any one else up here yes commissioner so thank you I'm going to do it twice so I was reminded by a commissioner Bloom but um February 23rd there is an amazing event happening in Aventura called the Ellie's Army dirty socks 5K wathon it's our seventh year and I'd like to invite our entire Community our entire commission um to please join me uh my husband and I have chaired it for seven years and I sit as the president of the foundation so it's near and dear to my heart um I'd like to welcome the entire Community to join us thanks thank [Music] you vice mayor this announcement is actually really for everyone who's watching at home because I think a lot in the commission know this but an organization that I helped found um with mayor Weinberg called aventor cares has partnered with Charter Schools USA to help bring donations to the victims of the wildfires in California and our two wonderful City Schools aventur charter school and danso for aventur high school are doing collections and we were asking any members of our community to drop off donations either at the schools or to contact me directly um we are requesting new clothing diapers and school supplies as we have partnered with two schools in California our two schools have adopted three schools in California to help them specifically and if anyone's listening watching us on our live stream we're going to go back on our YouTube my number is 7543 6024 it's 7543 6024 if you don't want to drop off at one of the schools in the city I'm accepting donations at my home and we will be collecting until Friday at 3 p.m. to send everything to California to help from our city thank you thank you anyone else up here okay in which case we'll open the floor for public comment does any member of the public want to speak on a topic that you want us to know about okay seeing none that means everybody's happy so I will close public comment and ask if there's any other business seeing none I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn commissioner fredland SEC uh vice mayor fredland seconded by commissioner rinsky all those in favor say I any opposed we are adjourned under seven yes wow good job