--------- Bill second and final budget hearing for Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 is called to order at 6:48 p.m. We've already had a momentation and pledge of allegiance. Madam clerk, can I please have a roll call, please?
Roll call. Mayor Nickerson, here. Vice Mayor Martin, present. Council person Urban, present. Council person Lightoot Ward. Council person Winters present. Also present for the record, Jananisha Kobe, village clerk Christ village manager and in lie of attorney ger,
attorney Johnson. Have a motion to approve the agenda. Moved by counc. You have a second. Second. Second by vice mayor Martin. All in favor say I. I. I. Say nay. Hearing. Now moving to the good the first good and welfare. This is good and welfare where you can talk about
anything on the agenda. But we're going to move right into the items where you can talk about anything on the agenda regardless. Okay. Moving on to I have go ahead. I have a few questions, a few concerns about the budget and um I did a lot of
press play and replay and repeat on YouTube over and over again listening to the meeting two weeks ago and there was a lot of things said that are really untrue about the budget and I want to make sure that they are on the record that uh there were things that were not
said correctly to our citizens. Um the first one I'd like to bring up here is at the uh the uh 1 hour and 28 minute uh timeline
in the YouTube video. uh a resident brought up a salary increase that was negative -2% before this budget hearing at the first time it was looked at and then suddenly it was 8% at the second one. Uh basically I
requested to know why it changed and that's I was told by the accountant that's what the amount is. The contract is for the manager's account states 8% annual increasement. So that's what the number is. So, I told them that I didn't
think so and I'd like the next meeting to review the contract. That review was not put on the agenda for the next meeting like I requested. Um, in fact, when I looked it up, I have the manager's contract in front of me. There
is no mandatory 8%, there's no mandatory 3 plus% plus 5%. It is all according to the council after the review process is taking place. The review process is taking place at the moment and does not finish October. I'm not sure how many
other contracts or problems were mistakenly made like this where we are allowing things to go into a budget that go tens of thousands of dollars by an accountant that says that they are mandatory when in fact they are not
according to the contracts they were written for. And this is one of the reasons I will not be voting to approve the budget today. I was the only one last time that did not approve wanted to approve the budget because there were fallacies in that as well. And I hope that the council will listen to some of
the residents who will speak today about this because we want to make sure we are clear and that our budget is not made by whims and fairy tales. They are by actual facts and numbers. Thank you very much, Counc. Anybody else good in welfare? This is
for anything on the agenda. When we get to the agenda items, you guys will have a chance to speak also. Seeing none, moving on to the resolutions. Um, Mr. Attorney, if we could read into the record the uh final adoption of the advalorum.
Thank you. Resolution number 2025-28, final adoption of advalorum's second reading tax rate 2025 2026. A resolution of the mayor and village council of the village of Elportile, Florida of Miami Day County, Florida, adopting and
approving the final mill rate for fiscal year 2025 2026 providing for incorporation of recitals providing for an effective date. Thank you very much. Um just for the sake of transparency, uh just wanted to point something out really quickly for
this uh adorum item that we're discussing on um actually yesterday Uh, I got some information about property value assessment. Um, and it was lowered. Our property value assessment originally was assessed at
$411 million. It was lowered 21 million. There was a $21 million reduction um with the property value assessment. It was lowered to uh 390. And so I just wanted to point out just for the rec just for the record that
originally we went from 8.3 to 8.2, then we got a reduction of about $40,000. But because of this new property value reassessment reduction, we're going to
be losing a total of about $27,000 that we thought we would have coming into the budget. Just wanted to point that out. So, okay, Mr. Mayor, I have a question on that. Can you expand on what the reason is for that reduction?
Yeah, so the thank you very much madam vice mayor. The reason for that reduction is the kavista development. The kavvis development was uh originally appraised much higher but because the owners of the kabisa development they applied for which we didn't have
knowledge of they applied for um affordable housing tax credit and it recently went through and therefore then they had to reassess the property value for the kabista and that's where you get the $21 million reduction.
So, just know that when we when we did go from, and I'm not saying, let me put on the I'm not saying we should raise taxes back to 8.3, but when we originally went from 8.3 to 8.2, we were under the impression that we were only going to take a $40,000 hit, but now we're going to take a $27,000 hit from
what we originally thought. So, just kind of keep that in mind, you guys, as we're going through things because, you know, we all want things to happen and there's all there's things that everybody needs to it needs to make. But if you're talking about, you know, we want this fixed, we want that fixed, we
want that fixed, we now have to think about it where we have 27,000 less dollars to fix these things now. Okay. Just kind of keep that in mind. So, I I have a comment. I I I don't think um at least I would not like to go
back on what it is that I've said. So if we've said yes, we can accommodate that amount. Um to a certain extent, we have to see what we can do to honor what it is that we've represented to the villagers. The question that I have goes
a little bit further back though. Um, I wasn't involved in the negotiations with Kavista as it related to their agreement um for the development, but I recall one of the big things that you were stating
was that they were not going to build affordable housing. So, was that ever memorialized within their contract or site plan agreement? Um, was that ever anything that the attorney app on? I'm just wondering why we're currently in
the position of them um applying for this credit without knowledge to the village and having such a detrimental impact on what it is we relied upon when making the decision during the last meeting. Yeah, madam manager, we discussed this
with them. Um we were told numerous times that they wouldn't go for affordable housing. Um but it was never put into their contract. Madam vice mayor. Okay. And when we negotiate these agreements, I know I wasn't part of it, but is the was the attorney, I know that
he's not here tonight, but was the attorney there at the meeting? Um, I just usually am accustomed to it being more than a wink, you promise, and it's something that's more of a binding part of of the agreement. Yes.
So, was the attorney was present? Yeah, the attorney was part of negotiations. Okay. Um, this is this is good to know and I think underscores I don't agree with the Councilman Winters very often. Um, but I
do think this really makes it clear the need for us to put forth a schedule for evaluations for our charter officers. um and for us to have a more robust conversation on the
type of representation we are receiving and the type of guidance and counsel um because these things are important and I think what we see tonight we see that they have real consequences. So I am
I am very much reluctant to go back on something that we've said. Um but I also understand that um in my experience I would if we are representing that there was not going to be affordable housing I
would think that there would be something that would make that a binding part um of the agreement and I would love to hear from you know from the attorney as to you know I guess why things didn't shake out like that. Um
but yes, thank you very much, Madam Vice Mayor. Any other questions or comments from the council? Yeah. Um so I would just like to remind everybody that workforce housing
and affordable housing, neither of those are qualified as lowincome housing. So, just a reminder to the general public that the terms affordable housing and workforce housing are generally cover
for builders to show good faith in making affordable housing. But this is not how the reality works out and this does not help low-income individuals. I believe that um
Well, anybody else from the council moving to the audience? Anybody from the audience uh regarding this questions or comments? Come up and say your name and address for the record. My name is Ken Bington, U developer at the Kavista, 471 Northeast 83rd Street.
I didn't come here uh to discuss this topic, but I do have some background that would be very helpful for you all. uh in regards to this. So um when the development agreement was drafted and and signed the live local act which you may be familiar with did not exist.
These tax credits are a function of the live local act. So we could not have negotiated something that didn't exist at the time that we crafted this development agreement. So, um, if there's any illusion that potentially we suggested we wouldn't build
affordable housing or we wouldn't apply for credits, this program didn't exist. So, we didn't know of it. I don't think we misrepresented ourselves. Um, so these credits again are a function of a live local act that
uh was enacted during Kabista's construction if I'm not mistaken. Um, all 282 units of the Kabista qualify for workforce housing as deemed by the city of Miami. So, these are individuals that
make a I think it's 120% of the median income. These are people that are making like 60 $70,000 a year. Um, we're proud of that. Um, whether you deem that as low income or affordable, um, the city of Miami does. So, that's uh that's how
we got this credit. So, it's hard for me to uh to think how we could have thought through that years ago when it didn't exist. So, uh hopefully that makes it a little more palatable for you. I I appreciate that. I appreciate the context. It's all about the context, but
I do have a follow-up question just so I know how to correctly place this thing in my mind. Um there at some point, and I could be misremembering, so I apologize if that's the case. I do remember there being a very robust discussion about uh this
wouldn't be uh affordable housing or low-income housing. Was that ever mentioned during from what you can remember? I know this was a while ago. Yeah. So you are you're kind of pulling back this goes back to conversations with Jason Walker, Claudia Kabillos.
Yeah. Um, prior to this administration, um, we have always suggested that the Kabista was going to be market rent apartments. Um, we thought that this community by virtue of where it was located would
ultimately fall into kind of the workforce housing income bracket. Um, we had some familiarity with that because we own property nearby, not in the village, but on 85th Street. So, we just thought that rent would suggest that workforce housing. If you wanted to get
into an affordable housing program in the city of Miami, I don't think you had it here in the village for our development. U we could have, if we were in the city of Miami, worked within certain parameters and gotten maybe additional density, additional height, right? You would have had to earmark
your project specifically for that. Now, I can't speak at length for the city of Miami affordable programs, but that really didn't exist here. So I don't remember every conversation we had specifically about Kabista in regards to affordable workforce, but my memory is
that it's always been, you know, the goal to provide market rent without forcing us into, you know, specific number of units catered to affordable housing. Okay, that's that's good to know and thank you for thank you for clarifying some of
that. The the supplemental question then is for the mayor. Do you remember any conversation to the like or represent representation of such that this would not be and there's nothing wrong with Fort Wild at all. Um and I do think that especially in Miami Day County that's a very big issue and people need places to
live in quality places to live. We need to make sure that people aren't out here being slum lords. All of this is just about um the veracity of something that was told and something that was relied upon, not necessarily any sort of opinion as to the desiraability or
appropriateness for affordable housing because folks need places to live. With that being said, what do you remember about it, Mr. Mayor? Yeah, I remember uh distinctly uh a few times, madame manager, that we would be negotiating and we'd be in the meetings
and I specifically said um for Alberta, I just don't believe that affordable housing was what Alberttow was. And I was adamant about madam manager not wanting affordable housing in Elberttown. And I was told every time that I brought it up, madam manager,
that yeah, like yeah, we we we agree that yeah, you can add something to it. Also that he and what was said was what he said it would be market value and it would not be affordable housing ever because that's something I did not want in Alberta. And let me just say for the record, Madam Manager, before you jump
in, um, for affordable housing, and this is why I didn't want it. First of all, is affordable housing part of of is lowincome housing a part of affordable housing? Yes. Low-income housing is a part of affordable housing? Affordable housing is a broad term encompassing any
housing that is priced below 30% of a household's gross income. Next question. Is section 8 housing a part of affordable housing? Yes, section 8 housing is a form of affordable housing because it uses federal money to
subsidize rent allowing lowincome individuals and families to live in a decent safe housing um in the private market by paying only a portion typically 30% of their income towards rent. And that is why I did not want affordable housing in Elpertal and I was
adamant about it. Madam manager, the floor is yours. Yeah, thank you. I just want to also bring um bring us back to this is the kavista, not the launch. And Mayor Nickerson um and I worked with um the Bingtons on the launch. Kavista
was negotiated by attorney Norman Powell and former mayor Clyde Kubio. I was the city manager at that time, but that was a different uh attorney, different legal matters going on. That was in TW that was in 2019 2020. So it was a different time as Mr. Bington said about the
affordab you know I guess tax credits but I do recall even then that there was mention that affordable we didn't want you know that to be what this these um units would be but especially that was uh brought home when we um discussed the
launch right and that is consistent with kind of how we've brought these projects forward right so we have not gone after affordable housing we haven't gone after section I will say I believe in in this county if a section 8 tenant applies to
your building you have to do the background check you have to consider them and if they can apply and they can fit your requirements you have to allow section 8 housing so we would never turn away a section 8 tenant um I don't think
any landlord can do that legally um but when you start to use terms like affordable housing workforce housing In section 8, depending on what municipality you work in, it has different definitions and it can change the project significantly. And so our
projects, I don't believe, have ever been earmarked or I don't think we've ever suggested that they were going to be anything other than market rent. Um, but we certainly have had conversations about this affordable workforce, market rent, all that.
No, thank you for all the information. And I also, you know, someone's income does not determine whether or not they are a worthwhile tenant, uh, productive member of society, all of those things. So 100%
right, uh, that is my position. In addition to that, my position is that even if it was another council, another mayor, another attorney, um I think that this representation has been
made so many times in subsequent meetings that whomever it is that is responsible for giving us sound advice um should pull folks aside and say, "Hey, you know what? that contract that is not what it says or there is an opportunity for something such as this
to happen and it shouldn't be a situation where we are now um essentially blindsided and it does make us look a little bit crazy up here um and I don't appreciate it. So even though it was a whole another set of
individuals that were responsible, the representation was made so many times that it could have been corrected at some point. And now I think we are experiencing the real world consequence of that um that o maybe it's not an
omission but that lack of clarification. Um and I don't appreciate it but at the same time I do think it's important for us to not uh blow with the wind. We said what we were going to do uh which was lower the military rate. I think we stand by that.
I think I assume that the real world consequence is going to be that the amount that we thought that we would have in re reserves that will be reduced. Um and I think this opens up the floor for another conversation about
how we do these evaluations and how we um analyze these opportunities that are in front of us. I too had a a agenda item that's not currently on this agenda. I'm assuming maybe it will be on the following agenda, but I also think
another conversation about how we place items on the agenda um is also in line and I'll hold it for our 7:00 council meeting. Anyone else? Name address for the record.
Augustine Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st Street. Um, I'm going to say a few things that don't want to take away from number one that $21 million less stinks.
Um, that said, Mr. Mayor, uh, I I for a living, I approve loans for things like this type of project. Not this project. I'm not involved in that, but it's not unusual for what happened to
happen. Live local act is from 2023. Um, in addition to uh real estate tax uh assessment reductions, there's also sales taxes that the developer gets refunded on building materials. So, in addition to the savings on the property
tax itself, there's also a refund they'll get once the thing is built uh from the state. So, it's it's pretty lucrative. That said, it also probably reduces the amount of rent that they'll be able to charge because there is a range that you must collect rent at
which probably is not what they had in mind when they paid for what they paid for the land. Um, again, not a point in favor for $21 million less. Just kind of trying to uh and I'm I'm a little upset. So trying to
calm myself down talking it out sort of inevitable uh kind of thing that happened there. It would be good to know if the other project has a similar plan so we're not caught off guard on that one and any other subsequent ones. Um
I do I I heard loud and clear a different whole different group of people were involved in the uh initial negotiation. I do have a question. I don't know who it goes to, but our attorney that we retain, do they have uh
attorneys who do real estate for a living? That's a very specific uh practice with a lot of nuance that you have to have the expertise to negotiate documents like this. Um, also if it's a money matter to retain a real
estate attorney, it would not be unusual to have the developer who's negotiating cover the cost of a retained council to represent the village. Um, that's a cost that could be passed on as part of the conditions to enter into the negotiation
in the first place. So that wouldn't have to come out of our pocket. Um, so I I think I had one more thing to say, but um, anyway, uh, I'll stop there. I would just like to know if the our council has, uh, folks who do that
for a living on staff. Did the mayor, if I may, go ahead. Uh, yes. To answer the question, not only does uh Greenspoon Martyr, which is the firm retained by the village, have real estate council, uh but they also
have council that that works specifically on development deals such as this. Quick quick point. So the city attorney wears a village attorney wears a tremendous number of hats, but also the village attorney
would have to be the one to tap out and say, "Hey, well, I I need this expertise, so I I need a real estate attorney or I need to outsource this." So yes, you would need someone with that expertise, but you also need your village attorney to be tapped into the
level to say, "Hey, in order for maximum protection, I will I'll I will tap one of my fellow attorneys that's a real estate professional or someone else." So he is the hub um just so we are all on the same page as far as what his
responsibility is on this. Thank you, Madam President. Velvet Connelly, 355 Northeast 87th Street. Um, so I mean obviously I am shocked to hear that we are losing uh $27,000 out
of the budget and I guess I'm just trying to figure out at this point um how that money can be recouped, why that is now on the village to you know, receive the the weight of
that. Um, and the developer, you know, I definitely appreciate the context as well that these programs weren't available at the time that the uh contract was negotiated, but at the same token to have an impact like that on the village is is like not acceptable. Um,
and that's not an uncommon situation in real estate development. uh sometimes you know some solutions that I know are are common in situations like that is developers can do what's called a pilot which is payments in lie of taxes right which is a voluntary payment that they
make in order to acknowledge that they've had a significant impact on the village's budget um even as the village we could try to secure maybe some state or federal offsets like the maybe I don't know the community development block grant or you know I don't know how
everything is set up with the the village of what you guys would qualify for, but I'm just trying to find ways that this money can come back into the village where the answer is not actually, oh, we just lost, you know, $27,000 evaporated or we go back on the
millage rate. I think there are some other opportunities there. And I think you and I, and another, you know, option or question that I have is can this,000 be negotiated into the second project where it's recouped that way. Um, so I
don't know what the answer is, but I just think finding a solution that involves the developer taking some accountability, um, and sharing that responsibility with the village, as well as maybe looking for some state, uh, and federal funding to assist with this so
that we can have that same money that we expected to have in the budget this year. Um, and then and then we can move on from there. You know, I think as well learning the lesson that as we go forward, these things need to be
memorialized in contract that it can't just be a surprise to the village. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hello everyone. Kathy Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st Street. Perfectly well said by the previous resident. And I
agree, we just can't automatically just say, "Let's bring our reserves down." That's not just an acceptable answer. I know we're getting to the end of the month, but we have to start looking at reducing our expenses. Many of the residents have spoken many times about what are the opportunities to reduce expenses, and we haven't gotten one line
item. I haven't seen one thing go down since we started this process. Um, I appreciate the millage rate being kept at the lower rate, but there are a few line items that we can consider and I think we should strongly talk about it tonight. So, for example, police budget,
very necessary. I greatly appreciate their work and their support, especially in my specific street, but maybe this time we don't approve the ATV, that special equipment, maybe something we defer to next year. residents have been
asking time and time again, where are the stats? Where are the statistics? I can't hear in good conscience say, "We need that vehicle." I don't have the data to back it up. Where is that information? We've been asking for it. Perhaps
if we got the information, we could make an educated choice, but again, we don't have that. We started this process very late. I understand we're very small village, but we need to start these meetings earlier to be able to have very thorough
conversations and time to look at the data and the information to make decisions and recommendations. I would really like if we start this process earlier next year potentially around May start our workshops and start looking with time and being able to ask the
questions understanding what contracts are expiring with time. So we have to do the RFPs and look and make the right decisions. We're still pending the list of open projects. What are the things that are not expected to come in every single
year so we can plan accordingly? We need to take a hard look at ourselves and what we're spending our money on because we now have lost $27,000. We have to look at reducing our expenses. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I'm George Alvarez, 165 Northwest 88th Street. I'd like to echo what some of the previous residents uh have said uh uh Miss Connelly uh and Ms. Ramos and Mr. Ramos.
this um waiting so long for RFPs, waiting until late summer to look at the budget. It's irresponsible. I'm not saying that there aren't good reasons that it happened, lack of human capital to get it done, but there's
there's there's good reasons, but can be bad excuses at the same times. So, I'm hoping that the council, and I'm going to kind of hold you to it, these things that our fellow residents are saying need to be addressed. These things that councilman Winters and Vice
Mayor Martin are saying need to be further addressed. If there's any greater example of the absolute and I I I I cannot underscore irresponsibility of signing a contract
for a major development without looking at all of the possibilities. Uh yeah, if if if you haven't read everybody, I'm just going to briefly take into the real estate section. It's been great in Miami. It's been
great. And uh anybody who bought property one year and sold it a few years later was all of a sudden a real estate genius. But those same people, in this case, the village of El Pertell
signed a contract without considering that all that money into high-end condos would eventually start washing onto the shore in trickles and then the tide would eb out again because so many buildings are now on the market.
And the owners of these buildings are quite rightly, quite intelligently, quite sensibly looking to turn them into low-income housing. I don't think there's anything wrong with low-income housing, workforce housing. But there are implications to the Live
Local Act within one mile of any such building. So here's my idea. I think it's time for the mayor and council
to re-evaluate our legal obligations and what might be our next proactive steps. This is not this is not a condemnation of of of of the launch itself. I appreciate the
context. The builder is doing the smart thing and I I get it. But it is a thing that has implications that have not yet been discussed at any meeting I've ever seen. So the fact that Mr. Bington is here is is a a curiosity. It tells me that something involving
that building was spoken about and that has brought him here tonight. But regardless, as I've said, I think he's doing the smart thing. I can't blame him. But we have to now make as diligent
a move that we can make. That's due diligence legally and politically. So I'm not getting a lot of eyeballs from the deis and I'm going to take that
is that you understand what the implications are and how we might have to be a little bit more forward thinking not just as a you know not signing a contract that that being a cautionary tale for us to move forward that's
ridiculous that's irresponsible I think we need some we need some diligence on this one, guys. So, I'm counting on you. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Anyone else from the audience?
Augustine Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st Street. Um, I was going to bring it up in the next meeting, but it kind of feels like now is a good moment. Um, there was a
variant or type of a subcommittee put together, albeit small and anonymous for uh the RFP regarding the waste. Part of what we've heard from the village is there's a limitation on human
beings who can do certain amount of work. There are a number of residents present. It's it's not the room's not wallto-all. Um but if you notice it's a lot of the same people who have been coming more and more often especially over the last six to nine months. Um
there are a lot of people who are very interested in what's going on. uh and and if there was uh a subcommittee for different topics, you'd have I wouldn't say a lot of volunteers, but I think a lot of the people here would volunteer.
Uh so if there's some amount of uh busy work or leg work that could be done by some outside of the village payroll, I I do think the subcommittee would be a tool um for getting that work done and also hearing the residents in the
process and involving us earlier. I I think you get two birds with one stone. Um I don't know what the process would be. Uh it seems like there is a way to do one with the experience last week um and have it covered things like planning
and zoning, finance, uh bunch of other things that I'm not able to articulate because I'm still really upset about the other thing. So just if we could get an explanation as to what it would require to have subcommittees formed, if you
guys would consider forming them for that purpose. Um because sometimes things get missed. Uh madam vice mayor I understand did the attorney has to tap out but I I think we can't just depend
on the attorney to know when to tap out because sometimes you don't know what you don't know. So I think this is an expensive lesson and there has to be a bit more proactive approach um when negotiating things of this size.
Thank you. Thank you very much. I do agree and I just a little comment. The the attorney should know what he doesn't know. Um the and I say this all the time as far as like what this is and what is contemplated. The city attorney and the city manager should have a very
broad knowledge and idea of what it is is required for some of these things that we're discussing. And um this type of deal shouldn't be novel and I don't think it is novel. I think it's something that routinely city attorneys
um they encounter routinely they know what the expertise that will be needed what to look out for. So I don't think that this is something that requires, you know, just kind of a tremendous amount of external input because I do think this is part of the job. And I
think if you um and I invite you guys to do that, just chat with other city attorneys and other municipalities about um just routinely what they encounter and whether or not this is something that is routine. I think you'll see that this isn't something that is novel that
required um you know just kind of some sort of external guidance. I think this speaks more to um just really being present and really executing the tasks that honestly we're we're paying the charter officers a large amount of money
to do these tasks. So yes, I love resident and village input and I think you guys have so much value to add. Um but at the base level the charter officers should be performing their jobs effectively so that the villagers can
then appine on things that are novel or innovative um that add value or bring the community closer together. I think we need to hold our charter officers to task. Uh and I don't think that that increases the burden on the villagers. I think what it has to do, we have to do
is create a paradigm within which we are effectively evaluating our charter officers and ensuring that we are receiving the benefit of the bargain that we are handsomely paying for. So that's where I stand on the charter
officers as it relates to resident input. I do think that we should have some of those committees and I I remember the young lady that uh spoke before you did. She spoke about uh kind of tackling these issues before these
budget issues and I do think that's where a finance committee the finance committee that we had in place would be really useful. So we can continue to talk about these topics but while we talk about the topics what I really want to stress as well is though we are
subject area ma uh experts in our lives right whatever we do we know how to do it very well uh but we also have to give the police chief the city manager the benefit of saying hey well they might be subject area experts as well and give them an opportunity to opine on some of
the things that seem really you know easy for us I mean I don't know what the ATV does, but I do think that the police chief thinks that it is a very important part of what it is that is something that is going to enhance our safety in
the village of Elportal. And that's something that he can continue to talk to you about and we can continue to finesse and see if it makes sense. I just uh am always very hesitant to usurp my understanding or take my understanding and just assume that I
know more than someone who has been doing this for quite some time. It doesn't mean that I don't have something valuable to add or I might have a new perspective. But I also want to be very respectful of the information that is being given to me as to how it is to
keep us safe. Um, so I do want us to always continue to find ways to be involved. I think the subcommittees are a big part of it. I think we should get a regular schedule as well on meeting with the subcommittees and we should have a very open process for residents
to sign up for the subcommittees that they find interesting. Um, and on a larger scale, everyone that's in this room, I think it's very important that you guys gear up to either run for office, to take the seat, to um, learn
all of the things that come with being in this position and do it your way. I think all of you guys should continue to be involved and you should continue to stay at these meetings. If you hear something that you don't like, I think you should stay involved. Talk to the council members. talked to the city
manager. We're not I can only speak for myself. I'm not going to be up here forever, right? I started doing this thing because I was pregnant and I was not working and I wanted to use my brain and I wanted to help out and I think it's a valuable thing for every resident
to serve their community to serve their neighbors. I think it's a valuable thing that you're doing tonight. I think you need to stay plugged in, join the committees, and run for office. We're not going to be here forever. But if you believe, like I believe, that we
shouldn't be here making $60,000 or we shouldn't have charter officers that are popping in here, falling asleep, not telling us about significant parts of our contracts. If you believe those things and those things really, you
know, keep you up and say, "Hey, that's not right." you should gear up to run for the office and protect what you think is the right and the good, right? Um, but also I do want to say that I'm hearing you. I just want to say we also
have to understand that we have content area experts that are giving us good advice and sound advice on the budget. We might not agree on it, but it doesn't mean that we have to change it overnight in this meeting. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. Yeah. So, this is a little bit of a head
scratcher. Oh, Kenneth Bington, 471 Northeast 83rd Street. Um, so it's a little bit of a head scratcher for me. I'm not here to discuss this. I was here primarily because we were on the news last week. I'm sure some of you saw that. I just wanted to hear if there was any fallout from that. But, um, I
thought the property taxes would be a benefit to the village. I really kind of thought going from a million-doll project years ago to 70 plus million on property taxes would have been helpful. Um, you know, raise your hand if you've
ever asked for an appeal from the property appraiser, right? Many of us do that. Um, we asked for an appeal. Um, in fact, they had assessed our property as if our property was operating at 100% occupancy. Now you all know this is new
construction. In fact, at the time of the assessment, we were 50% occupied, right? So, not only are we getting a reduction in value due to the live local act, we are getting a reduction in value because it is the right thing to do. We were not a fully
occupied building. We were brand new. And you know, I'm sorry that uh that that change in value has had some impacts to the budget that uh that's concerning. I'm sorry you're going through that. We've always operated
under transparency. We've had a great relationship with you guys. So, um I'm sorry that you're going through that, but but I do feel like it's fair for us to fight for every dollar to reduce our property taxes when they were assessed inferely in our opinion and the property appraiser agreed with us. So, um, you
know, let's look at the property appraiser and Ronda Santis if you're not happy with the live local act. We just kind of pursued those avenues. So, anyways, thank you. Thank you very much. Augustine Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st
Street. 70 million is great. Uh the the question is timing sir. Also I'm sure many people have appealed their taxes some successfully. I assure you none of our properties are worth what yours is before or after the reduction. So I
think the comments that you heard before are all disappointment in the absence of $27,000 to the budget. Uh thank you for your words. Um, but till now I think
everybody accepted the fact that what you did is perfectly allowed. Um, I I I'd ask that we just move on with the residents and their comments going forward. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Anyone else? No. Pace 206 Northwest 91st Street. Um, you know, I I understand that Elportal historically was a residential community and that the taxpayers always seemed to be the only source of revenue for our
our bills. Um, I'm very appreciative of the Kavista. I'm very appreciative of other businesses in the community. I think that hopefully from a instead of focusing on this little theme right here, the greater theme should be
diversification could help us here. Okay. I think that hopefully this council and uh led by this mayor looks at the totality of the circumstances here and realizes that we can't always put our eggs in one basket.
Hey, if it wasn't for the kavista, we wouldn't even be having this conversation because that revenue wouldn't be available. All right, none of it, much less some of it. Now, uh due to the reduction, I think we also have to look at our approach toward other businesses in the community, what we're
doing in terms of of of everything in terms of an inviting environment. Um, I can tell you today one of our constitutional officers uh compared the business that I'm associated with right on Main Street, USA, Northwest Second Northeast Second Avenue, um,
commercially zoned uh, to the same thing as a as someone's bedroom in an Airbnb or a car that drives by in a residential area in terms of noise. Okay, that business employs people who live in this community. that business takes care of
kids who live in this community. This business plays high taxes, okay, significant taxes, you know, toward the overall thing of the community. And the fact is is that I just I just get the the the feeling that we're not looking
at the totality of the circumstances here is that we need more than just going to the well on the residents. We got to bring in some more businesses here. We have to bring in we have to create a more inviting environment if we're going to stay competitive. Hey, you know, just a two years ago, Elortell was the best place to invest in real
estate in in in Miami Day County. It's it's almost every year. Why is that? Because we've created a pretty great environment here. I think we have an opportunity now, especially with some future development. And I agree that, hey, if you don't have the right people on the right seats on the right bus,
that you're not going to get good outcomes. And so, you know, some of the outlandish things I've heard, uh, comparisons, analogies, and things trying to compare our business to to things that are just, you know, just not even relevant. And the amount of money
that's trying to be exacted out of certain entities here in in in the city and then others that are completely ignored in terms of standards and codes and so on. Like, we got to rebalance here somehow. And so, I just I just hope that that's considered by the council. Appreciate you guys. Thank you. Thank
you very much. Anyone else from the audience Connelly, 355 Northeast 87th Street. Um, I want to second, you know, uh, what my fellow resident is saying as far as, you know, obviously El Pertal is going
through a transition and we're going from being a small village to the potential of whatever we can become. Um, but and I think in line with that, we have to be willing to to change, right? Because a lot of times I hear the
conversation keep going back to well the charter says this and the way it's done is like this and the way it was set up was like that. But I think when those things were put in place, it was a very different village. And we've really outgrown a lot of the ideas and a lot of the rules and a lot of the ways that
things have been done. And we need a village that can support greater commercial infrastructure. And at the end of the day, that's why I keep just one band, one sound on. We need to be able to discuss how to bring in revenue to the village. We need to have more
active conversations, not just about balancing, you know, or or uh, you know, dying down on our on our expenses. That's one way to go about it. But another way to go about it is how do we bring in more revenue? How do we make more money? And how do we get people in
the right seats that are experts? And just to be clear, real estate development is one of the most complex things out there. So to think that, you know, somebody who's in one job is just going to know the complexities of real estate development, that's not
realistic, right? As we grow, as times are becoming more complex and we're dealing with more complex businesses and industries, we need people that have greater skill sets and specializations on certain things, right? And all of
that is in line with us having a greater vision for ourselves as a community. And so I hope that we can really get on board from that standpoint as the community even when we have these conversations about should we increase the wages of the you know the the
council and all that. I think like like the gentleman said we have to see the bigger picture of those things. We have to incentivize right the right people to come to the right seats to contribute what they have so we can grow right and so I don't think it's about penny
pinching I that's my perspective I think it's about innovation I think that we need to have better you know opportunities available in this village and in order to do that we have to be willing to do some things that we haven't done in the past differently
than how we've done it um and I just hope that we can come to that agree agreement that we really do need to grow and expand from where we are um and not just like you said nitpick on all these little things which really just kind of keep us in the same spot.
Thank you very much. Anyone else from the audience? Yeah. Sorry. And last thing was just also about the uh the developer. Um, you know, I'm really appreciative that you're here and I want to be clear. I'm
not suggesting that the burden should be on you either. I understand in your business, you have to fight to keep the cost, right? What I'm saying is that I think there we we need to acknowledge this symbiotic relationship of us all being in the community together that
when things like that happen, we need to shoulder the burden. So, it's you coming to the table with the other people involved in the community for us to find a solution so everybody can win. And I think the answer is how do we make a win-win where it's not somebody left
holding the bag? To me, that's the answer. Thank you very much, M. Anyone else from the audience? Daniel Roa, 60 Northeast 86 Street. Uh, I just kind of feel like uh I also agree
with my fellow residents that are talking about diversification and also the fact that we have very little data to make our decisions. Uh, I was looking so apparently there's some kind of conference in October about smart cities here in Miami. I don't know if if we're looking as a city to be
there. I thought that that made kind of sense to me when I saw it. Maybe I could look into it. But we really do need to to take a look at a city in a smarter way with data, taking a look at all the fact that the businesses can't stay open. I remember when there was a
doctor's office that they invested a ton of money into getting their their building ready to have their business and then they just couldn't they just couldn't stay there. Uh so again there shouldn't be a reliance on a single business to pretty much sustain our city. I like we just need to be a little
bit smarter about it. I know we can because we have a very capable group of people and our leadership in our in our city. So that's that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Anyone else? Seeing none, we're going to bring it
back to the council. Um let me first just say so this is about the adalorum rate right this is what this is about the next item is going to be about the budget itself we'll talk about the budget itself for the next item um and this doesn't make it you know necessarily better but I just want want
to clarify that the $27,000 loss is not $27,000 from the budget as far as what we had last year. We still got a bump. We just didn't think we just thought the bump was a lot larger than what it is. All
right. So, I know it doesn't make, you know, big difference, but it makes a difference. Whereas, I don't want people to people to think that we're leaving here thinking we're getting $27,000 less than what our coming in rate was from last year's budget. It's not like that. Okay.
So, it's kind of like what uh Mr. Pace said. If the kavisa didn't exist, we wouldn't be getting anything. So, now we're just getting less than from the kavista. we thought we would be getting. That's what the difference is. Okay. Um it's back at the council. Uh do I have a
motion? We're now at 8.2. Um do I have any further discussion, questions, or a motion for the current 8.2 or any other suggestions for the mill rate? I just have a little comment. Yes. Whenever we talk about uh our amazing village, which this is an amazing
village, we always I I think sometimes speak in the context of like we are up and coming. We are getting there, but we've already arrived. Like this is an awesome place to live and businesses are aware of that and developers are aware of that. Um and I do think we we do have that secret sauce of still feeling like
a very very small community but having all of the great amenities of like a really big city. So um with that being said, I think part of how we can maximize is changing the our perspective on ourselves when we are developing um our or negotiating our public benefits.
Those numbers need to be very high, much higher than we've seen before because it is an amazing privilege to develop here. Like this is a great community to be in. So for us to for us to really maximize we need to have the professional staff
that is aware who believes like what we believe that this is a gem who is aware on how to get those numbers up who's aware on how to get us uh the benefit of our bargain and those are the people that are in the room and should be in the room negotiating on the front end
advising the council and us kind of driving those conversations. That's a very big opportunity right there when you're talking about money that you're able to bring into the city and also how we market. Mr. Pace was talking before about um businesses and attracting them
to Elportal. Well, that is the job of some of our charter officers. For sure, the elected officials as well. we go out and we're mouthpieces, but um they are the ones who are really in the seat to kind of drive this conversation on how we market what we are and what the
vision is, how we execute on the vision that we put forth. So, I would encourage you when you're kind of deciphering all of this information to for sure talk to each other, but also make sure that you're holding your charter officers feet to the fire as it comes to being as
excited about Elportal as we are. uh we don't have to look to Miami Shores to see how they've done things or any other municipality really because we are something so very unique and I think poised to be uh to continue to be one of the premier municipalities in Miami date
county. That's why I care about it so much. Um as it relates to when I talk about the charter and what we were um that's a binding document. If you want to change what we are, you need to go out to the villagers and you guys need to vote and say, "Hey, we want to be
something different." So, my emphasis on that isn't necessarily to stay in the past, but just to be realistic about what is possible without there being this large scale um inclusion of there being a vote to change things. If we wanted to change what type of government
we are, that is what we would need. And you can ask any attorney that is that is it. Um, also I really want you guys to be very savvy. There was a time when there was a a pay increase proposed and
everyone came out. Um, and I was the one who pulled it off of the consent agenda because what a consent agenda is is that you can say yes, I approve the consent agenda and everything is passed, right? Unless someone pulls it off of the consent agenda. So, I pulled it off of
the consent agenda because I think fundamentally this is a part-time position and folks should not be making $70,000. Everyone was up in arms. Councilman Herbomb and I, we went ahead and and did I think did what needed to be done. Uh,
Councilman Life Award uh went ahead and and said no, that's not how we contemplate things. Councilman Urban put it off for a year. Don't be fooled, guys. it can come back in a different form with someone proposing different numbers, someone proposing it in a
different way. Um, be alert, be vi vigilant, right? We I might not be on the council forever. Maybe the next person that replaces me doesn't have the same aversion to this. pay attention to the people who stand up on that mic as well and tell you to think outside of
the box and be innovative and um move money into areas of the budget that are controlled by the council. Sometimes people state their intentions um through what it is they advocate for because maybe eventually they anticipate a run.
If you want this to remain a part-time council position and if you think that the majority of your budget should not be going to salaries for individuals who are on this day, if you think that good work can be done by paying the staff for
the city or enhancing the staff in the city, um then you should stay engaged, keep coming to these meetings and pay very close attention to what is being said and by whom. because the threat is there. That's all I have to say.
Thank you very much, madam vice mayor. Any other questions or comments from the council? Seeing hearing none. Uh we're at 8.2 millillage rate. Yeah. I move to adopt the rate of 8.2. Moved by council person. Do I have a second? I second. Second by Vice Mayor Martin. Madam
clerk, please have a roll call, please. Roll call. Council person Winters. Yes. Council person Lightoot Ward. Yes. Council person Irv. Yes. Vice Mayor Martin. Yes. Mayor Nickerson, yes. Motion passes 5 to none. Thank you very much, Mr. Attorney. If
you could read resolution uh 29. Resolution number 2025-29. Final adoption of the budget for second reading fiscal year 202425. I'm sorry, excuse me. That that's actually a typo. U final adoption of the budget for second reading fiscal year
2025 2026. Very good. A resolution of the mayor and the village council of the village of Elportal, Florida of Miami Day County, Florida, adopting and approving the final annual operating budget of 5,534,065
for fiscal year 202526, providing for incorporation of recitals, providing for an effective date. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Um, coming to the council first, uh, questions, comments regarding the budget? Yeah, just real quick. So, um in terms
of the adjustment from the um uh tax issue, uh the way I have it is a 6% uh decrease out of that out of the adarm. Is that right? Am I calculating that correctly?
Because in my mind, I'm like, let's just apply a 6% reduction to every single line item and then from there decide uh which line I was to maintain but uh that's the way I have it but I'm not a
mathematician or an economist or an accountant. Uh, and so, um, so if the advalorum was at four, yeah, I did I just did a couple numbers. I took the 410 million, I subtracted the
21 million. I figured out what that percentage was and then I took the uh 27,000 proposed out of the uh, you know, um, Adalorum, listed it, and kind of both of those put me in the ballpark of between uh, you know, 5.1 and 5.9%
somewhere in there. I'm calling the 6%. So, um, so in my mind, looking at this budget, um, I'm not opposed at all to a flat 6% reduction across the board of
every single line item. Um, uh, outside of that, I'm also happy to have a discussion about where any reductions uh, might be available. Thank you very much, Congress. I
remember also you all that the overage that we were getting from um the you know the higher property values that was going into the reserves. So you know we can go and figure out if you
want to go line by line or 6% across the board but we can also simply take it out of the reserves. Um so if you want to find a quicker way and then figure that out later. So it's different ways, but I just want to make sure that you understand. And mayor, if I could just on that
point, um I certainly take the uh comment earlier from one of the residents uh regarding um an avoidance of defaulting to the reserves. And um so I was discussing with a friend of mine,
he's an engineer for Rolls-Royce. They build um uh remote uh power plants for you build a factory in the middle of a jungle, you need a power plant for it. So, he's he builds power plants for Rolls-Royce. And uh he's uh he's from Germany, but he's we kind of became
friends because we're kind of weather nerds. Um we uh with my daughter's activity, we were talking about the weather as part of the activity. And so, we kind of became friends because we love talking about the weather. And so he was kind of concurring some evidence
that I saw that Tornado Alley, which I grew up in, has actually shifted now by almost 200 miles east. I don't know if you guys realize that, but if you hear about tornadoes uh east of Ohio, that is unusual. It's very unusual. And the tornadoes were happening in eastern
Colorado aren't happening as often anymore. Tornado alley has shifted almost 200 miles to the east. So, what does that have to do with us? Well, I'm looking at my Max Tracker tracker app from Channel 10 News and Max Mayfield. My favorite app. I'll tell anybody in
the world to get it. Although, this year is different from last year. You can feel the people that they've fired and the equipment that they have given up in terms of satellites because the information coming out of this app is woefully less than it was just six
months ago. That is evident. However, as I'm looking at this thing, Gabrielle thankfully is turning to the north at the middle of the Atlantic like most of them do. But there is a happy little orange blob coming right behind it. All right. Uh and that happy little orange
blob uh contains now the cone of concern the entirety of the Bahamas chains. If the path of the happy little orange blob stays to the south of the orange blob, then we are going to have the potential of a major storm that's category 3 or greater in our neighborhood within the
next 10 days. It is my unprofessional understanding. Yet, I sit here and I make decisions that similar to tornado alley shifting 200 miles east, it seems to me that the peak of hurricane season is shifting
later. We have basically three systems in the Atlantic right now, which is right on schedule for this time of year, perfectly on schedule for this time of year. But this is the first ramp up that we've seen this season, which stands to
reason we're going to have a few more weeks of this, assuming we survive the next little happy orange blob that's out there right behind Gabrielle. Stands to reason there's going to be one or two more threats. facing that, I would be unbelievably reluctant to
diminish what seems like daylight right now of having some reserves, which we've been without since Irma. And Irma is the reason we don't have the reserves any longer. I am just wildly reluctant uh just wildly reluctant to to
just give up the first chance we've had at some something that looks like reserves for the first time since 17. Thank you very much, Council President. Um, anyone else from the council? Yes.
Few things here. So, since we're talking about this budget we've talked about for weeks now, there's been many items that have been brought up at other meetings with no responses. Um so the the first part would be we've I've
already mentioned where the uh the budget hearings took place uh before the manager and clerk's contracts were up for review and according to their contracts uh they have an automatic I'm sorry not automatic that was a wrong word they have a extra amount of money
that they can make if the council agrees to it. So if you look for instance at the manager's contract from a few years ago, she was making $85,000 at the her first time she worked here. Now it's $155,000 after her 8% raise every single year. This raise is only supposed to
happen according to everyone here on the dis actually voting for it. And I have not been given a chance to vote for it. I have not been able to even have it put it on the agenda to talk about this. This is just one of many things. And of course, when we talked with the
accountant, the accountant uh claimed that it was mandatory. It had to happen, which was a flatout lie. And I have the exact points where you can look it up on YouTube if you would like to see. Uh another point would be that I asked about a text messaging service that got
approved. It was a resolution here at the council. The council approved uh between five and $8,000 for a text messaging service. uh when they approved this it was supposed to be uh activated by our charter members. It was never activated. In fact, it was
misappropriated to another AARP fund or a ARPA fund. So the time stamp 37 minutes and 22nd seconds they admit that the funds were taken and used for something else other than what the council booed mo for. They stated that
these were used for other ARP item ARPA items um which the ARP items were never uh agreed by or spoken with the council before they were spent somewhere else. Why was this resolution not actually paid for and activated this text
messaging service? Well, not only is that a problem at the time stamp three 38 minutes and 20 seconds, we said, "Well, how much were the funds?" Our accountant did not even know. We're not playing around here with ideas and things. These are real contracts. Our accountant is supposed to know what the
contracts are and how much they are paid out for. Um, so now the fund is not there. Uh, and we don't even know where it is. It's not on the budget. It's supposed to be a fund that goes every single year for a text messaging system to inform all the
residents what's going on. But it's on the budget. I asked last week, "Where is on the budget?" They said, "Let me know later." I still don't have a response. So the question is, you know, why is it that we do a resolution here that are not being fire followed by our charter members and then the money is being
allocated to other areas? I think everyone here should be a concern because this is one of many areas that are being misandled. Next, the loan payoff. I asked last week about paying off the loan. I said that I would like to not pay interest and if we're possibly able to pay it off
because there's only around 90 to $100,000 left out of a $5 million budget. Let's save a few,000 just so that we don't have to pay the interest. Right. Well, it's time stamp 52 minutes and 60 uh and 59 seconds. There was a a thing where it said they asked if there
was a we asked if there's a penalty for paying off the loan entirely early. The account responded he did not know. We he said he would get back to us and we still don't not do not know. I do not know uh where the accountant is today. I would like to ask him why we do not know
what the payoff penalty is still for a second or third time because it's something that we have actually kind of talked about among the council members here in front of you that would be a nice thing to do. So with everything I just spoke about I I'm getting very
frustrated and I shouldn't be. I should be very much calm and forward thinking to make this all work out. But I'm I'm like you. I'm a citizen here. I live here and I want to make sure that this government is running correctly and we are keeping them on our toes. I
appreciate everyone that came here today, everyone who's come and talk up here because this does not happen without your input. Um, if you would like to um have us review the contracts of these uh charter
members, please send emails to everyone. Let us have an abundant amount of emails that say, "Please review the charter contracts immediately. We do not want to see the funds misappropriated or we do not want to see these things being passed." We need your help because there's only so much that we can do on
our own when we're one of many voices. Thank you. Thank you very much, Council Person Winters. Anyone else from the council hearing? Seeing none, moving on to the audience about the budget. Um, anybody from the audience?
George Alvarez, 165 Northwest 88th. Um, what is the reason that the CFO is not here tonight on the night that we are this is our ultimate discussion of of of the budget?
Our CFO is not present tonight because of the high holiday. He is observing talking about Oh, Francis Seagull, 214 Northwest 91st Street. Talking about liabilities,
the audit report for September 30, 2024. I know it's a year old, but I don't think we pay down that much. There's an item on the looks like a balance sheet on
page 12, but it's not actually a balance sheet, but it does say a net pension liability of over $2 million. What is that about?
Uh, is there a figure that's countering it to reduce it? That's over $2 million for net pension liability. What is being done with that figure?
Thank you very much. Uh, Miss Sego, try to get you an answer. Alexandra Vasa, 120 Northwest 36 Street. Um, I have a couple of questions uh following up with Mr. Winters. Uh, just
um question about um the salary of the manager and also his frustration. In many occasions we have found uh ourself into a position where we have to
take like last minute decisions because uh everything is last minute. I understand that it's a small um you know city so there's not a lot of uh you know they don't have a lot of assistance but at the same time that requires more
planning. With that being said, if the if the salary increases are based on performance, I'm honestly I have to say that the performance is not adequate. That is point number one.
Another place where definite s savings can can be you know done is the police budget which has doubled in four years at a pace of 25% each year is definitely a you know some place where you can definitely look um ways to save and um
you know in agreement with minister and there's definitely you know reserves here are not optional um we need a little bit of cushion here because from what I understand, the last time that anything happened here, we ended up
having to borrow a lot of money that we're still trying to pay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Hello. Uh Adam Simon, 360 Northeast 85th Street. Um, I think I mean obviously I have I have a lot going on, but I would like to hear
from the council and the mayor um if you guys support council person winter's um effort to review the contracts for the city manager. Thank you. Thank you very much.
We're We we'll answer. I'm getting all the questions, then we'll answer. Marilyn Brooks, 400 Northeast 90th Street. My question is, is when is the UFO going to be here to be able to let us know what's going on?
That's one of my questions. We're I'll answer I'm going to answer all the questions that we'll answer all the questions. Okay. What's your next question? No, that's just it. Okay. Thank you. It will pace 206 Northwest 91st Street.
I I I I I share the sentiments with the fellow residents about prior planning and you know outcomes. I mean you know today was a Miami Dade school holiday. Today was a large religious holiday for a big population of of of Miami day
county. Um the fact that the CEO I mean the CFO is not here at the budget finalization meeting is just not is just not correct. like I mean I I recommend that you guys you know postpone this
meeting until he he's present. Um I also in looking at the budget and um I'm sure I mean I know that uh that the mayor and and council uh been winners have sort of empathized with us and what's going on
in terms of code enforcement here. But, you know, for for the community, the fact is, if we're talking about, especially in the age of mass shootings and, you know, pretty violent crime, you know, cutting necessary equipment to
deal with a mass shooter versus sort of two code enforcement officers, which seem to just have a rotational shift around my commercial property, and we have hundreds of properties are out of compliance that they don't do anything
about. I I personally think that hey, if you're looking for to cut something, maybe you need to start with that. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Questions, comments from the council, I mean from the audience about the budget regarding the budget.
Daniel Roas, 60 Northeast 86 Street. Um, I just uh wanted to ask, was there any changes made to the budget after the suggestions of the past few meetings that we had? And if so, is it clearly delineated in any doc that the document is presented? Sorry. Um, that's it. Uh,
I just kind of feel like we gave suggestions. for example, you know, the the police budget is probably one of the places where we can maybe find some funds, but it seemed like it just went in in one ear and out the other with regards to that. So, I'd just like to
see if there was any changes made or anything whatsoever. Thank you. Thank you very much. Marlin Brooks 400 Northeast 90th Street saying that we are in so much financial problems.
Whose idea was it to redo the T lot and why? Anybody else questions, comments? Okay. Hearing seeing no more public comment. Okay. All right. Let's bring it back to
the council. Um, Madame Manager, if you could uh ask the CFO about the pension um Miss Seagull said she saw in the older Yeah. about 2024 audit. Um,
Miss Bosa, Miss Bosa mentioned the police budget, which I'm sure we're going to discuss, and the salary increases. Okay. So, for the um, we have the manager, we have the clerk, and we have the attorney. For the manager and the clerk, uh, their
contracts, they do have in a performance uh, percentage, but they also have a cola. They have a cost of living percentage that they get regardless. So the 8% is not all performance. Um it's it's for for the clerk it's five and
three. She has a 3% performance. And for the manager is is obviously it's three and five. The manager has a 5% performance. But the rest is cola. It's cost of living that's in their contract that they get regardless every year. Okay.
And we'll get to the police budget. Um Mr. Simon. Uh, yeah, I have no problem with contract review. Um, absolutely. I have no problem with that. So, we can bring that up in a in a future meeting. Agreed. And I know he wanted to hear
from each of the council persons individually as well. It seemed to understand where we all stood on that. And so, I'll just say for myself, I um definitely uh support and believe it's important that we would have annual uh reviews of all three charter positions. And then on my end that say yes, the
entire meeting I've said uh that it's important for us to be evaluating all of our charter officers, not necessarily because there's an issue or just to highlight something bad, but also to figure out like what they're doing or what are the amazing things. It just we need the information so we can make an
educated decision on this. Yeah. The only thing that I would say is um when we're doing these contract reviews, we need uh the attorney to look at them because I know that for for a lot of these contracts, I know
that usually when you do a contract review, regard depending on what the language is in the contract, you're temporarily breaking the contract. Yeah. Depending on Yeah. So, some some people were shaking their head. Yes. Up and down. Some people were like, "What
are you talking about, Mayor?" Yeah, depending on the language in the contract as far as breaking the contract, there may be a penalty for breaking the contract even temporarily because for some contracts, not for all, but for some contracts, it's almost as
if you're putting the um when you break it to review it, you're putting it kind of back out to bid. and the same person can be hired, but you might be putting it back out to bid. So, it depends on the language in the contract. I don't have it in front of me
right now, but the attorney would have to look at that because if that's the case, then we have to decide if we then have to hire the person on like a month-to-month basis until we figure out you come up, Miss Bos. I see you looking at
Yeah, I'm very confused. Yeah. But, Mr. Mayor, wouldn't we be able to essentially I mean, we don't have to term it a review, uh, but in some way, shape, or form, allow the council to at least
digest the contract in its totality, even though we're not necessarily engaging in an RFQ process, RFP process, whatever it might be. So, if there would be a way to simply adjust the language of what the process was of looking at it to avoid terminate review, which might
trigger some action within the contract, uh, that would be worth knowing from the attorney as well. Yeah. And it might not the the word review might not trigger anything in the contract, but I'm I don't have the contract in front of me, so I don't know. So, I just wanted to just say that just like full transparency. That's the only thing.
Right. So um yes, following um your logic, if part of the contract is performance, at least that review is still part of the contract. You're not breaching anything. You don't need to hire or rehire because still part of the contract.
Yeah. Not that any any position anywhere, you sit down in front of your boss and you tell them what you did or you did not and see if you got that grace or not. That's that's normal. Uh the other thing uh last time I requested a copy of those uh the
compensation plan and uh what I was sent was the was the contract from 2018 for the for the manager and then two contracts that were not well contracts but they're not signed. So those are not contracts. So if we could have you know
like current documents that would be great. Thank you. Thank you. I can send you that contract. My contract actually was revised last year, I think it was, and it was like a three-hour meeting for it, but I can send you mine. Absolutely. No problem. The one that I have for the manager is the 2018. Hers hasn't been
reviewed since then. And for my part, I like to say that I only did my 5%. I did not do the 3% because I felt that the it was up to them. They haven't done that review. Okay. Um
so the CFO uh when he'll be available it will be uh late tomorrow I believe and uh for the rest of the week. The reason why and we can have another meeting but the reason why we have to continue to
talk about the budget and discuss the budget is legally we have to pass a budget by October 1st. All right. Yeah. Why are those? So, so, so September 30th.
September, September 30th. Yeah. Well, yeah. October 1st, the new budget kicks in. The new year kicks in. So, we have to pass a budget by then. So it was it's better to have more meetings and to get the adjustments or changes
and have the debates than to have this meeting even though the CFO being here have this meeting on like you know closer to the 30th to where then maybe that night it's a night where things
still need to be thought about or have or or not changed right away or things like that. So, it's better to have more meetings for this final budget hearing than to not. Okay? So, it's better like that. And since Tuesday is always usually our government night
every month, it's good to have a meeting Tuesday. Now, we have to have another meeting Thursday or whatever. We can do that. But, um, but it's good to have this meeting on a Tuesday because we're used to having our meetings on Tuesdays. Always better to have more meetings than not. Mayor, I don't mean to interrupt, but there's also a compliance that we
have to follow. We have to follow the trim. There's certain guidelines, there's certain laws that have to be followed, like the trim that I had to advertise for today's meeting. That's a costly that um there has to be days. That's why I told them the CFO and the attorney have to get together and um
interpret that law that the rules must be followed. So, there are certain days that have to be done. There's certain time frames and also between them that we have to be in compliance. Thank you very much, madam clerk. Um, as far as the tot lot, that's something
that, uh, I push for. That's not taxpayer dollars. There's no taxpayer dollars used for the title. Okay. Um, as far as Mr. Pace, the CFO, uh, explained that code enforcement, yeah, that's something and that's more of an administrative thing,
but Mr. Um, pay said if there's anything that we should look to cutting in the budget, we should look at the uh code enforcement versus police is what his his point was. Mr. Roas, um, as far as the police, Madame Manager, was anything discussed
with the changes with any changes in the budget as far as the police or anything like that? Not not up until now. Right. Nothing's been changed, Mr. Up until now. Um, any other questions or comments from the residents? Come on, back up. Miss,
say your name, address again, Miss B. Alexander Basa, 120 Northwest 86 Street. Um, I would like to get more clarification. Whenever someone says in your case about the Todd lot that doesn't come from taxpayer dollars, I think that would be beneficial if you
say also where is it coming from? because if it's is revenue that could be allocated somewhere else. Um yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. The top lot is coming from development agreement funds. Okay.
Development agreement funds. All right. Not from taxpayer dollars. Okay. Um I don't know if if uh the chief you have to say anything right now. I mean we need to discuss where we're going to cut from. I think um is what we're at right
now. You want you come come Alita 12 Northeast 90th Street. Um are you aware that lately most of the citizens have received so many violation notices and uh I'm also hearing more and more that they are getting traffic
tickets going in our neighborhood. Now while um it's it is very important that all of us maintain our properties and all of us apply to the code of Alport including the traffic tickets. There were some changes were done in
terms of the speed that the citizens that live here for a long time they were not aware. So therefore, you know, the same citizens driving at all time in the same speed, they were ending up with tickets because the the speed uh limit
was reduced. So that was one reason. But I'm not quite sure what's going on. It's like we are hiring more people so those people can start giving us violations, citations, traffic tickets, and everything. And
then it becomes a rotation. So, we're paying more on taxes. We're paying more on on terms of paying more staff to be here and work for Elportile for our city. And then we go to this back to citizens and we're asking them for more
um violations, citations and things like that. And then we're giving them tickets. So, it's becoming like a circle which I've heard from many many many citizens. That's why I wanted to put it to I don't know have you heard from your neighbors or from your you know um
because I've heard many many people that have expressed that especially this during this summer something must have happened which we will find out by discovering more and more uh requesting more transparency on what happened this
summer because there were m more violations, more citations, traffic tickets. So that's I wanted to make you aware I wanted to understand that um we do not want to develop as a city a
system that basically we hire more staff so we punish more of our citizens because what would be the purpose right we've created this triangle which I think that's also it's raising a little bit this this wall between the city and
the citizens and you feel the frustration that is coming. Taxes are going higher in in their own way, but also other expenses are going higher in their way. So, I'd like you to, you know, I don't know, discuss with your citizens or anything, but thank you.
Thank you very much. And you mean code enforcement violations and then police tickets. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Thank you very much. All right, you guys. Anyone else from the KCA? Say your name, address again
for the record, please. Adam Simon, Northeast 80 uh 360 Northeast 85th. Um so uh on the lady's last uh conversation regarding tickets,
um I sent an email to all of my council members, mayor, city manager. Um, some of them responded, some did not, which I appreciate the ones that responded. Um, but I would like to know definitively
who authorized the police to write traffic tickets to residents for parking in their own swailes. Um, I asked the mayor. He had no idea.
I'm pretty sure the council can't do that. I don't know if the council knows the answer to that question. Also, one of the tickets that you you got, uh, Mr. Simon, was from Miami Dade County police. One was from Miami Dade. One was from El
Portell. Um, when I asked the El Portell policeman who drove by my house one day, I stopped him. I said, "Hello." I said, 'Why are you writing parking tickets for residents who park in their own swailes? He said, 'We were told to enforce this
law and we have to do it. So I never got the answer to my question. So I would like to know who authorized the police to change the law because my understanding that law does
not exist. Um, so I want to know what happened and why and if it's still current. Thank you. Thank you. The um the parking in the swell. I know there's a cold situation that's been
always been an ongoing thing uh with the parking in the swell. As far as a um as far as a ticket that someone can get for parking in the swell, is it based on simply parking in the swell or does it
have to do with something else in the outside expired tag or something like that? Like how does that how does that work? Especially in regard to the code because I know the code is you need to fix the code also, but how does that work? And there is there has not been any change to any law with regard to the
soil. Who are you? I'm sorry. Who are you? Alejandro Mendes, chief of police. There's not been any change with regard to the law in the soil. Nobody's authorized me. We're authorized as officers that are certified for the state of Florida. It's an enforcement
action. Can be an expired tag. Could be uh that you parked there over 24 hours. It could be that you're you're facing the wrong direction. You're partially blocking the sidewalk. You're partially blocking the street. It could be several different infractions. If we're targeting anybody, we're not targeting
anybody. If we get a resident's complaint asking us to look at a specific location, then we got to go look at it. And I tell my guys, look at this location. I'm getting complaints. The same way you're unhappy about getting the summons or the ticket,
they're unhappy that they need to call us and make a complaint about specific vehicles. frequently committing the same infraction that we go out and target anybody. We have no need to do that. None at all. I can tell you that wholeheartedly.
May I ask you a question, Chief Up here? Hey. Um, I actually received multiple uh emails and and contacts from residents that all received tickets for park on the trail on the exact same day all over Elortal. It's almost like they decided to do it that day. And I know
I've been here for 13 years and I've never heard of this before. Was there anyone that asked for tickets to be looked at for the swale that day? If that happened all specific on one day, it was probably a response to a resident's complaint that came in. I turn to my supervisor and I tell them to
inform the officers to conduct to conduct enforcement with regard to that. If they see a violation, they they issue the infraction and if not, they don't issue anything. So, I would definitely like to know if that was the case. If you can uh finalize and formal formal
make it into a formal um email that just says, "Hey, this was what was requested of us. This was the citizen that did not give an anonymous complaint for that because the gentleman that just spoke up there. I I know where he lives and his house actually predates Elportal. Elortal is after Sherwood Forest was
developed. He's got a piece of uh concrete in his front yard meant for parking. So he parked on the concrete in front of his house that was put there for parking decades ago and he got a ticket for it. Why else is that concrete there except for a place of parking so you don't have to ruin dirt or create
erosion problems. So it doesn't make a lot of sense. Specifically what the infraction was that he was cited for if it was just it could have been that he was parked there over 24 hours. But parking in your front yard on the concrete in this because it's the swale is not allowed. Correct. You can park in the swale any day that
you want. just not over 24 hours and you can't have an expired tag. Your vehicle has to be uh set to all per uh parameters uh facing traffic so on and so forth. Not blocking the road, not blocking the sidewalk, etc. Correct. Mr. Mayor, if I may, I'm I'm
sorry to interrupt. Um but pursuant to uh Elportal Code section 24-B 15 D3. Parking is prohibited in swael and
village rights of way except that a parking space for one vehicle will be permitted in the swale provided that a variance is applied for and obtained. So there is no variance that has been applied for or obtained. It is per se prohibited to park in a swell uh
pursuant to portal code. So, if that's the case, why Adam Simon 360 Northeast 85th, why isn't it enforced for everybody consistently? If that's the case, number one, and number two, my 85-year-old mother got a parking ticket
for being there for three hours. It was a parking violation. It was not an expired tag, and I got one. Also, I've lived here for 13 years. I've parked every day for 13 years. I drive a big truck. I have a a driveway that fits one
car. Every day for 13 years, I parked in my swale. In fact, the city manager once told me that the the residents are responsible for upkeep of your own swale. So, if that's the case, if we're
responsible for the upkeep of our own swale, which is fine, no issues with that, why can't we park in our own swailes? So, why do we allow other vehicles to park in front of our houses without consistently enforcing the law? If that's the case, you can't you can't
enforce the law when you want to or when a resident complains, you're either enforcing it or you're not. So, p pursuant to the code, uh residents are required uh are responsible, excuse me, for the upkeep of their swell. Uh
but in addition the uh the provision in the code that prohibits parking on the swale uh does not make mention of expired tags or or any other uh qualification. It is per se prohibited to park in the swale unless there's a
variance that has been applied for and obtained. Well miss and followup question if that's the case what is the purpose of the swale? Well, let me let me just let me jump in real quick and you guys can answer if
you want to. I think that where we are is we need to correct the code to fit the reality of what's going on.
Because if if something's on there, if something's on there where it's quote unquote illegal in a sense, but we don't enforce it, except for every once in a while whenever we enforce it, then maybe the reality of what's happening today,
which is people have more cars. Um the driveways sometimes are not large enough for all the cars and things like that. And so, and therefore, we need to update the code so that it's no longer illegal. And I think that's something we need to do like ASAP. And
I I would appreciate that because it's true. I mean, if it's not legal to park in your swale, the city should provide guest parking for residents, right? Because that's like saying you can't have company. Where are they going to park? There's no there's nowhere to
park. So, you either have to figure that out. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you very much. I have uh really quickly, Mr. Johnson, what you said was very correct, but in Alberta, I believe we have some grandfathering provisions here because we have uh properties that
predate a lot of the code which allows them to have a parking space in their front yard that was not done through a variance because it was done before the variance was required. And I believe he's one of them because that properties in that area from 1930 and this didn't come till 1937.
So technically there's many many properties in that little tiny area that were before the code was there. So we grandfather them in and they basically the code enforcement does not usually enact or enforce that. At least since I've been here they they haven't enforced it but they they allowed to be grandfathered in.
Well if I may a couple things there is no mention in the code of any grandfathering. Right. So at the point that a property comes within the boundaries of Elportal that particular parcel is subject to the code of Elportal relative to enforcement. I mean
you know there is a speed limit that is enforced but not every vehicle that speeds gets a speeding ticket right ultimately if this is a question of why there was a ticket issue. The reason why there was a ticket issued is because pursuant to Elportal code it is illegal
to park in a swell. But one other uh potential remedy in in the meantime while we wait for you know any particular uh code uh corrections or uh changes to be made is that folks who want to park in the swell can simply
apply for a variance and under the code if they apply for a variance and they're granted a variance they're going to be allowed to park in that swell. Thank you very much you all. Um just just to Noel Pace, 206 Northwest
91st Street. A point was made about complaints being made and complaints being made about residents and so on. I I am very concerned about that. Even the state of Florida was very concerned. They changed the law just a couple years ago that you can no longer make
anonymous complaints against your neighbors. And that is because to me and I mean if you listen to the feedback tonight, okay, where this has become sort of a self-licking ice cream cone, right? Again, we're going back to the well, the residents, the taxpayers, and we need to generate more revenue so we
can, you know, cover these higher expenses and so on. And so now there's more, you know, code violations, more citations. But there's also a weaponization of this by certain residents. And for for whatever reason,
there's been, in my opinion, a serious lack of judgment, okay, and reasonleness in applying and looking at the facts here where where we have enabled people to target other residents or other businesses, uh, you know, with with
unreasonable code violations. And again, I I think that, you know, if we're public safety, if you don't have safety, you don't have anything. But when it comes down to it, if you guys hear the feedback from us here, you know, you got to cut somewhere, I'd probably start
with code enforcement. That's it. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Um, yes. Um, Alexandra Vasa, 120 Northwest 86 Street. Um, understanding that this is um there's probably going to be a zoning
meeting to discuss the swell. I um it's something that it cannot be okay. We're going to approve everybody to park on the swale or pave them because we have a big problem since we don't have adequate u you know system to
collect all this all the water. We definitely need all the green space that we can to absorb the flooding that we're having to. Thank you very much Miss B. Thank you, sister. So, yes, this was about the budget. Let's get Let's get
get back to the budget. I appreciate it. No, you're good. You're good. Oh, that's what you were going to say. Yes, that's what you were going to say. Um, any other questions or comments, you guys out there? I have a few more I should say. Well, let me let me finish out here real quick, Mr. Um, Council President Winters, I'm coming right to you. Any
other questions or comments from the audience, you guys? All right. Uh, Council President Winters, we're back to the council. The floor is yours. All right. Wonderful. Thank you guys. That was wonderful. What everyone said makes a lot of sense. And as most of you know, I've been working on this bill of rights for Elportal. And one of mine is
a grandfathering section that cannot be infringed by the council. Meaning if you have something here that's been before they has a code, you don't need to spend $800 for a variance just so you can park in your front yard. So I want to let you know everyone needs to support that so we can continue to have El Patal the way
it has been, which is beautiful, shady, and full of green. Um, next is um I did speak with u Mr. Johnson, our attorney tonight, which by the way, you've been amazing. I've really appreciated everything you've
done. Um, and uh I I I like it when I see you here. You're you're very intelligent and I appreciate when you bring Yes. Yes. Um I I looked over quickly, which not quickly by myself. I've looked at this over a hundred times, but with him, uh Mr. Mr. Mayor,
the manager's contract is not mandatory 3%. It is permissive, which means that we still needs permission to get the 3% or the 5%. And that was according to what u when Mr. Johnson looked over the contract with me a few minutes ago when I sat with him.
So is is your suggestion that we have a meeting Yeah, it depends on I mean um you know the attorney would know better. So right here it says for the manager's contract um based on satisfactory performance and
based on approved budget of the council. This is based on yeah based on satisfactory performance and based on approved budget the council may consider up to 5% increase after the first full year of employment but then it has a comma and a cost of living and merit
increase of 3% for each year of service after the first year. So depend so and the attorney how the attorney would read it but so you it could either be in my opinion it could either be read you know that the council may consider up to a 5%
increase after the first full year of employment and consider a cost of living and merit increase of 3% each year if you want to say that use a consider for both. But if you don't use a consider for that second part of the
sentence after the comma, then it reads the council may consider up to a 5% increase after the first full year of employment and a cost of living and merit increase of 3% each for each year. So it depends on how you read
that. The way I've always understood it from when she was first here as vice mayor when the contract was first brought in was that the cola cost of living is automatic for employees. But then performance is is is merit
based. That's what you decide if the performance um percentage should be applied or not. I don't know. So that's up to the to to legal to decide that. But I understand what you're saying, Council Person Winters. um how you're saying it could be read to considering
5% and considering the cost of living and merit increase cost of living. So I understand what you're saying. Um Mr. Attorney if you want to chime in or we're good like you wanted to say something for a second. Oh no I'm good.
Okay. So, mayor council, I was just looking around here and it for for those of you who may not may not actually know why we don't park in the swell.
It's the law. Parking in the swell is often discouraged or restricted by local ordinances in Miami Day County and surrounding areas due to damage to the swell's drainage. That's what the swells are for, their drainage function and potential safety hazards.
Though rules vary by municipality, key regulations in clo include not pling sidewalks, parking in the direction of traffic, and not leaving vehicles for extended periods. Some areas permit temporary non-commercial parking on
swells, while others prohibit it entirely. Always check your specific city or county rules as swells are typically public property and essential for managing storm water. That's all the
swell is for. But parking in it, you're messing it up. Don't park in the swells. Oh, that's law. I didn't make that up. That's law. I found it. All right. Okay. Thank you very much, Council Person.
All right. So, let's get let's let's get back to the budget, you guys. Um, so back to the budget. I wanted to finish the statement I was coming up with u with the multiple contracts with obviously there they're not being read correctly with the permissive versus
mandatory extra payraises. There's multiple contracts here. they're in question. And I don't think it is is honorable, logical, or with any value that we pass a budget today when we have this many uh
things that are left unsaid. I think we should motion, well, I'll motion now. Let's I motion to move this to a future date which is desired by the mayor and the clerk that works with our schedule,
whatever the requirements are. So, so that's what I was getting to. Uh, Council Person, uh, Winters, um, the next feasible day for uh, the next two feasible days, but I'm thinking I think it only boils down to one. Um, we'll see everybody feels
the next two feasible days to finalize the budget and we can use tonight to discuss, you know, these issues now that we're here. No, but Mr. Mayor, if I may, the the I'm sorry. Go ahead.
I mean, I was going to say Monday the 29th, which is the last day, but I don't know if that's too late because it has to be completed by Monday the 29th, but is that Monday the 29th by 11:59 p.m. where it has to be finalized and completed. So, I'm not sure.
The issue is notice. But how many days do we need? It's it's a different that's the notices is not like when I do a public notice for a hearing for us. This is also it goes by the trim. That's why I said the trim has to be read. Um you have to allow enough
days from the first meeting to the second meeting. There has to be a 15-day. There's certain um rules that apply. If not the state the state looks at that. They look at the trim. They asked for us to give them the advertisement. Okay. So that is more that's why I told
the CFO and the attorney once the military change it that they need to sit down and look at what was more feasible because I can't interpret that law but I know there's a law that we must follow and comply with. I know that can I ask a question? Go ahead.
So so what's what is the the consequence of of not meeting that date? I mean do we get a really mean letter from the state or something or like what's the what's the impact? And I think that's important. I think that's relevant here. The attorney will be able to answer that, but I know that the budget has to be in by a certain date legally. I don't
know what the penalties are for it. Um, the attorney may know if possible, I don't want to take any penalties for it. What I would suggest if we can't do this because we can't have another hearing because it's not enough time. What I would suggest because we are discussing
the budget, um, the review of the contracts, that's another thing. That's a later date. If we're discussing budget and how much should a line item be in the budget? Council person Winters,
as far as the budget goes, do you have a motion for what you feel like the line item should say in the on the manager's line item budget? Well, I'm not just looking at the manager. This I was using as an example.
There's multiple areas that possibly have the exact same infractions and it if not reviewed, we don't know where it's actually coming from. What do you know the other um Well, is it just the charter officers or are you saying there's other
Well, that's that's one thing is to look at the charter officers because they all have different wordings in their contracts that allow them to get uh the raises. But, of course, we have to give our evaluation which isn't even due till October 1st. So, we're supposed to pass
a budget here using their giving them raises on evaluations that aren't due till after the budget's done. It doesn't make any sense. So, you want me to vote to get rid of everyone's raises? I I don't know that that's what's needs to be done because they might deserve it.
Maybe they don't. I don't know. But all I can tell you is that no one's voted up here or talked about it. All we've been told from the CFO is that they are mandatory. And now we find out they're not mandatory. This is our second budget hearing. All right.
As far as the budget having to be completed, do you feel like Council Person Winters, do you feel like you cannot vote for this budget as is without any reductions that you may see should possibly take fit?
I cannot vote for this budget as is. That is correct. Okay. Is is there any other questions or comments regarding the voting of the budget from any other council members? Can you repeat that question for me, please? Yeah. Are there any other He said Council President Winter said he can't
vote for the budget as is. Are there any other concerns from any of the other from Madame Vice Mayor or any other Yeah. Can't hear you. I understand. what you're saying. I understand. I understand what you're saying. Does anybody on the council have
any concerns regarding the budget where they can't move forward with the budget? I mean, the short answer is is yes, of course. Um, that's the short answer. Yes. Okay. And I understand that Council Person Winters has a uh, you know, a
problem with the the salaries. Council Person Bomb, earlier you said as a suggestion, I I would add I would add to that list of concerns the the the lack of recommendation from the CFO
regarding how to move forward on the $27,000 deficit that we just learned about basically in the last few hours. So that like is the top of the concerns because in that discussion I think is partly where the the chartered raises uh
whether it's cola or uh or performancebased doesn't matter that that discussion is in my opinion couched within the discussion of what to do about the $27,000 shortfall that we've just discovered. And so um and and so
to keep it short and sweet um yes that creates uh massive um reluctance to to just plow forward uh regardless. Um I think we're definitely missing critical information from the CFO tonight.
Okay. I concur with council purpos and I'd like to add that there's also things missing from the budget that we know are supposed to be there like the text messaging service we talked about earlier and last week we were told they would find it and let us know and it's
still not there. So without the CFO to explain this, it's going to make it very difficult to pass a budget when suddenly we might have to add X amount of dollars to the budget in a week or two when we find out that it was just they forgot to put it in the budget. Yeah. Well, well, I could say let me say
something about that. So, for example, um not everything has a line item, right? Usually things that have a line item are things that are usually continuous or things that you're focusing on for that year. We can still do a text message um text message program, which has already
been done through resolution. Um that money could be pulled from the general fund for that program. Doesn't have to have a line item. It's not like if it doesn't get a line item, it's just dead in the water today. I can put that on the on the agenda next meeting and then we can pass it as a council and then we
can pull the money out of the general fund. So So it doesn't have to have a line item necessarily to move forward. I'm going to go to the first part of this. Who was supposed to implement that resolution for the text messaging? Well, text messages are I mean the resolution was was I brought the item,
the resolution was passed and then it goes to the administration. Which part of the administration was supposed to actually enact it and has not enacted it? That would be somewhere administration between the the chartered officers. I mean um
I really don't have that I really don't have that that answer for you. Like you know what is the purpose of the council then? We we tell the charter what to do and then they don't do it. I mean this is a big problem. This is just one of probably many and we're just starting to catch them. So I I also asked last week
I said what line item is this budgeted into? I asked it specifically at a 37 minute and 20 second mark at YouTube of village of Elportal. You watch it for two minutes here. I'm asking there where is it going and no one has the answer where where is this? Because the money
was allocated. It was pulled aside. It was supposed to be there for this item. And you say it's general budget but they couldn't say that last time either. We need the CFO to come here and explain why things are are are missing, why things are not being told where they are. And there there's there's just way
too many questions right now on this budget to to pass it the way it is. Okay. So we have to first establish which I think we've already had the answer to and this dep this determines
how we move forward tonight. Madame clerk once and for all is there any other date that we could have another budget meeting a budget hearing? That's why I defer to the attorney. In
my understanding I'd like to say no. I don't have enough knowledge for me to say absolutely 100% yes because that part comes from the law. Um unfortunately the attorney we have today is somebody covering it does he's
actually researching it as we speak. I was he was looking it up to see if we have enough time. I know that the time frames I know that after today it's three days that we have to send it to the state and um they wait for everything including the we would lose
like seven I think $7,000 in advertisement that means we would readvertise so um based on Florida statutes both the uh the trim statute under 200 uh 065 5 uh
and the uh statute of governing budgets for municipalities 166 uh 241. There won't be enough time to notice a new meeting. However, uh what can be done is this meeting can be continued
uh continued in which case new notice will not be required. It will simply be a carryover of the same meeting. However, um the requirement that the budget be approved before September 30th
would still remain. There you go. Let me ask you this. Uh Mr. attorney, if we we pass it, but we we you know, we stay compliant, we pass the budget, but can't we do a um
a budget amendment after the budget's passed? If we if there's anything that that people want to discuss or adjust, can we do a budget amendment even after the budget's passed or is there or is there a certain time period after the budget is passed that we have to bring
forth a budget amendment or what about something like that? Let let me do some research on that. But but my initial surmise is that no, you're not able to do that, which is the whole purpose for the September 30th deadline for the uh for the budget passage.
Mr. Mayor, that's um he's right. I I had to deal this with this for five cities. You missed the date, September, and October comes, you're in violation. But what does violation mean? Does it
mean we have government shutdown? From what little research I've done so far, this the consequence seems to be that uh the actual for example the funds that the county would have control of being like the ad valerum uh would be
withheld essentially until budget would be passed. It doesn't seem that there's explicitly a fee or a fine or a financial penalty attached. Uh but it does seem to be uh very clear that any and all services uh could very well be
disrupted uh for lack of release of funds basically uh until the budget would be passed. What is the as far as the council goes? Seems like we have two choices.
Um, we can pass the budget tonight as is and we discuss because Mr. Attorney, correct me if I'm wrong, but when budgets are passed, you can't have
budget amendments after they're passed. But so, but but is there is there a time period? Let's say, you know, the bud the new budget kicks in October 1st. Is there like um a time period of you have to wait three months or you have to wait six months before you introduce any sort
of budget amendment or is it that you can introduce it the same month as the new fiscal year kicks in in October or whatever? I'm I'm reviewing the statute now. It's one of it's one of the two. Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to be a filler while you research. I'll just a completely different topic.
I do think that we have we've we've seen this budget before. We've talked about uh a lot of the details. Um I also think we had questions and we had an opportunity to approach the CFO outside
of this meeting. Not saying that his presence is not or absence is not vitally felt tonight because I do think it would be better if he if he were here. Um but maybe there is a route by which we can address some of our
concerns. I think one of those issues that I'm hearing from you, uh, Councilman Winters, is about the budget, uh, for the or the salaries for the charter officers. And I I do think that's a big issue. What we could think
about is we're approving this amount in contemplation of someone having this salary, but we're also doing the evaluations right after that determine whom it is that is going to receive those salaries. So if your issue is about performance,
um I I think that will be remedied in subsequent meetings as we do these evaluations, as we talk about how we want our charter officers to function and whom we want them to be. Um so maybe that will allay some of your fears. I
think looking at the number, you can think to yourself, hey, I'm not really I I don't know if this is true and you're not satisfied, but you can think I'm not satisfied. This number seems outsized. Um, maybe if we depersonalized it and just thought about, okay, well, if there was an ideal city manager that is
functioning in the way that you think a city manager or city attorney should function, would this be a reasonable salary? Um, maybe that might get you there, right? Because from what I understand and from what we've discussed through robustly is engaging in an evaluation process. So, I'm not sure if
that's going to help you, but I think the attorney is ready. Yes. Thank you. So, one of the two statutes previously mentioned specifically um Florida statute 166 uh.241
and that is subdivision that is subdivision 8B states that uh a governing body may establish procedures by which the designated I'm sorry, excuse me.
is Florida statute 166.241 subsection 8 which states that the governing body of each municipality may at any time within a fiscal year or within 60 days following the end of the fiscal year amend a budget for that year as follows.
So it basically allows for amendment of the budget within 60 days after the fiscal year or or dur during any particular fiscal year. Good to know. Thank you. Thank you very much. So I I would like to respond to the vice
mayor. I really appreciate what you said and um I will put on the record that I did ask the CFO these questions and I received lies back and then I just called them on the lies because they told me it was mandatory. I pushed up the timestamp of the YouTube video of where they said it and how they said it.
So me being proactive, I was there. Not only that, I also asked on the dis last week that we put on the agenda today to review the contracts and they said, "Well, you can't do that by vote. You need to do it by an email." So I sent an email and I requested to have it on the agenda, which it is not on the agenda.
We would not be in this predicament now if they actually put it on the agenda. we'd review the contract right now and we'd be able to go through this very quickly and finish up. So there there's a lot of things that we're we're we're doing here that just don't make sense. So I cannot tell the citizens here enough that if I ask for
something to be on the agenda today and they didn't put it today. Imagine we pass a budget today and they want us to change it later on. Well, they're not going to let me put on the agenda. They're going to stop me again and they're going to let themselves make whatever monies they want to make and they're going to put the monies wherever they want to put it. And we already passed the agenda. I mean passed the
budget. we need to take care of this today or we need to move it to another time and we need to figure out a way to make that happen. So, let me jump in real quick. Um, as far as the item being put on the agenda, the item, Madam Clerk, correct me if I'm
wrong, was for the council meeting, which is after the budget hearing. So, the budget would have been passed anyway before that agenda item. We have to. So, We have um we were just told that we
have uh 60 days within the beginning of the new fiscal year to be able to adjust the budget. My suggestion would be so that we're compliant is to pass the budget
and then within those 60 days we amend or adjust the budget unless you guys want to hash it out tonight. Those are I I would agree to this. If we can give an exact date to amend the budget, an exact time, we know exactly what's happened. So these citizens know they
come back here prepared. We come here prepared and it's not something that we can guess that's going to be on the agenda or not. This way if we have an exact understanding, I think that would satisfy my curiosities at least. I'm not sure about the residents. You can look now. Do you guys want to
use it at the council meeting that's at the end of the at the end of the month or do you which is the end of October or do you guys want a date earlier in October? I think that we should stick to Tuesdays. That's usually our government
day. So you guys, we have Tuesday, October 7th. We have the 14th, the 21st or our council meeting is going to be on the 28th. So, you have those choices. I'm gonna let people come and start to speak.
Start thinking about that. Look at your October schedule and think about Tuesdays and think about what you may want to do. Otherwise, um we have tonight. Also, keep in mind that we are definitely going to have a PNZ in October as well because we have a lot of items coming
up. Yeah, we do. Mr. Augustine Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st Street. Just you you gave a couple of suggestions. I believe uh the attorney mentioned the possibility of continuing
today's meeting, which was not among the options that you proposed. um that would require neither notice nor approving a budget today with an unknown date sometime 60 days into the future to
approve an amendment to that budget. Um my understanding would be that you could continue the meeting to another point and even still then land on the conclusion of amending it later. So, it seems like the most flexibility and
optionality comes from continuing tonight's meeting, having another meeting, and then if you still feel like there's an amendment needed, that can still be done. Yeah. Um, the only thing I would say is that I believe uh Mr. Attorney, correct me if I'm wrong, the continuation of the
meeting that you suggested was before you went and did the research and came back. I believe if I remember correctly, it was before I was able to determine that the Florida statute allows for an amendment within 60 days after the end of the fiscal year.
But the continuation, is that something that's still viable? Yes. And with the continuation does it but but we we have to have I'm sorry. There's a concern on the part of Madame Clerk that the the
advertisement would not uh be able to be timely made. Yes. In the event that we have a continuation given the amount of time between now and the end of the month because correct me if I'm wrong, the continuation would still have to be done prior to
September 30th of October 1st. Correct. Correct. Sep prior to September 30th. So, hold on. So, so if we have a continuation without it having to be advertised. Then the continuation
could be on Monday like Monday, September 29th or something. But uh but the trim is the problem. Correct. Correct. So I think I think Mr. Donald, I think the problem is is that for us personally, we don't have to advertise,
but the trim is something that goes through the advertisement of the county. And I think what the clerk is saying is that we don't have time by October 1st or September 30th to continue the meeting with allowing the county enough time to advertise through the county as
is required with the budget with the trim. And I think that's the problem with the continuation. Correct. Correct. So that's the problem with continuation. Mr. Mr. Pace, do you want to come? No pace 206 Northwest 91st Street. Yeah,
I think common sense is prevailing here. I think it makes sense. You know, obviously a continuation was the first thing to consider, but based off the statute, you have 60 days, but I think it's common sense. You got to lock in some dates. I would lock them in probably earlier in October, which gives
you some sort of, you know, little fall back. uh here we're going to fall back in the fall anyway, but fall back uh as we have these uh council meetings build up toward the end of the month and then obviously, you know, the Halloween and so on. So, uh I think this is prudent. I
think it's reasonable. It makes sense. Um you know, we don't want to get really mean letters from the state. I get that. Uh we don't want to mess up, you know, potential notice for people to come and participate as citizens. Uh, but I think it's important that it's caveed with the fact that we're gonna you guys are going
to grab the bull by the horns here the first week of October. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. P. Hi, I'm George Alvarez, 165 Northwest 88th Street. Um, I I would encourage um that either the
mayor or the council request that our um uh uh sitting city attorney, is that the term? Um take a look at if there's any restrictions within the amendment process. That is to say, are there any special processes or procedures that we
are not considering? because amendments to the state of Florida may have a different definition and requirements than than it does in the Oxford English dictionary. So I think that would be prudent to to frankly to answer uh
tonight before um a date certain for such a meeting be established. Secondly, um I think it was council person bomb made reference to uh taking every line
of the budget and reducing it by 6%. I think uh you could probably do that to about seven and a3 maybe even 7.4%.
you could do that tonight so that all the eyes are dotted, all the tees are crossed, and we are not dipping into reserves once hurricane, whatever letter we're on, hits us. Um, I think seven and
a3 or 7.4% 4% would uh more than cover it without threatening any um any real urgent uses of the budget and then at a date certain considering that an amendment process is what we think
and hope it is then that could be adjusted and of course any other um reviews or or things that need to be looked at could be done prior to that. So, I'm going to suggest that if you have any questions about what I'm suggesting,
uh, I'm here now. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, C. Thank you very much, Miss B. Alexander Basa, 120 Northwest 86 Street. Um, I understand the pressure of timing
that we have now. Um, but I with all the questions that the council has and expressed by all the residents, I believe it would be prudent to like uh Mr. Alvarez suggested do a reduction and then do an amendment as opposed to pass
it as it is now. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Bos. Thank you, Miss Vosa. I wanted to say that I really appreciated what you said the other day. Luke 14:28 makes a lot of sense in this situation as well. Thank you very much. All right, you
guys. Um for motions, we either have the idea where we can pass it as is tonight. We have the idea where we can pass it with a 6% decrease across every line item. We could we have
the idea that we could pass it with a dis decrease of 7.3 7.3 74 7.4% across every line item or we have the idea about we can pass it as is with
a continuation no with a budget amendment meeting at a certain later date to be chosen tonight. I have a concern about this. Uh, Mr. Attorney, if we slashed everything, six, seven, 8%. There are
certain contracts that do have mandatory increases. Am I correct? Correct. So, we would actually be breaking contracts by doing that. We have to make sure that we are following the law here and and keeping up with the contracts we wrote between us and the people. So, am
I correct on this? Potentially. Yes, that is correct. Okay. Mr. Mayor. Yes. May I I would also suggest that with that supplemental meeting, there also be some sort of arrangement made with the CFO to meet
with each of the council members in person or via Zoom, but individually to thoroughly discuss um their concerns about the budget before we enter into this supplemental meeting. um just because I think that there may be room
for resolving some of those question marks that exist before we actually get into the room. Um so if there's any way that we can arrange for that, I think that would be helpful. I also share Councilman Winters's trepidation as far
as triggering any unintended consequences by this um just percentage decrease across the board. I think the analysis a little is a little more nuanced than that. I think we could do it tonight. I don't know if we have enough time to do it because I think
back to the very first budget um workshop that we did and I think that that one was pretty lengthy. Um but I I do think that the passage of this budget as it appears in addition to there being
a supplemental um meeting whereby we are charged with bringing forth our amendments um coupled with meeting that the CFO privately before that. I think that could move the
needle in the direction that we want to go. And I also, you know, I think that it is wrong that if you said you wanted something on the agenda, it wasn't placed on there. I think your job here is to profer things to be placed on the
agenda and they should appear as you want them to and then it is up to the members of the body and the villagers to let you know what they think about that. I think we need to refine our processes, but I don't think that there is
largecale ill intent there and I don't think that you guys need to, you know, have your backs up and say like somebody's trying to pull the wool over my eyes. The process is clunky. I think it is made clunkier by this unexpected
uh reduction that we experienced tonight. So, I understand the need for pause, but I don't want it to affect us in a way that is um more negative than it is positive. If there is a timeline, and I know this timeline to be correct,
most of the municipalities have had their budget hearings, uh they are on their second readings or have had their second readings. I would just be a really reluctant to play with that deadline if we aren't necessarily sure that we're willing to deal. we're knowledgeable of and willing to deal
with whatever con consequences might arise. I think this allows us to already place value in what we've already vetted together because we have done some good work. We were thrown a curveball and we can address that with the supplemental meeting coupled with the individualized
meeting with the CFO where all of the council members will then be charged with speaking to residents to get their concerns, bringing the residents with you to these meetings, whatever it is you would like, but to to call through those issues independently with the CFO
and then we will make our way to this meeting and finalize it. Thank you very much, Madam Vice Mayor. Um, we have a choice of four different motions. Do I have a motion of any of the four? I move to pass the budget as is. Um, and
also, what was the date that we discussed for the budget amendment meeting? Uh, we haven't discussed. It could be any I mean, we're looking in October. Um, I was thinking keeping on Tuesdays, so it could be October 7th, 14th, 21st, or it could be the same day as our um,
council meeting, which is the 28th. I don't think we need to do we need a date certain in the motion madam clerk. Um not really not really just just to stay within that time frame and that we do want that we do want to have and for that for that um next regular
council meeting is when all that is going to come up the contract and all the rest of the stuff the proceeds the stuff that my yes oh thank you stay tuned for the next agenda that's when my items will be up but yes I do move to approve the budget uh item as it
appears uh and in addition to that schedule a supplemental budget amendment meeting at sometime within the month of October. Um, that is my motion. I have a motion. Do I have a second?
I think we need to have an exact date if we're going to make a motion like that. What date would you like? You tell me the date and I'll make myself available. What date do you guys want? Someone has to make it. Let me just say really quickly, we want to make sure that the CFO can attend that date.
So, it's better to leave it open right now, but it will happen in October. I understand that you're you know, just a little jarred by what happened. But if we say October, it has to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Separate meeting October for
sure. It's the it's it'll be a budget amendment um meeting and it has within October. We just have to figure out what day the CFO can make it. And I think you have a second. And we had a second by Council Person Lightoot Ward. Madam Clerk, I please have roll call. Roll call. Council person Winters.
No. Council person Lightoot Ward. Council person Urban. No. Vice Mayor Martin. Yes. Mayor Nickerson. Yes. Motion passes three to two.
We have a budget amendment meeting in October. Um, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Second moved by council person for Ward, second by Vice Mayor Martin. The budget hearing for fiscal year 2025 2026 is adjourned
at 9:17 Part: 2
The regular council meeting for Tuesday, September 23rd, is called to order at 9:26, I believe, PM. We've already had a moment of silent meditation. We've already had the pledge of allegiance. Madam clerk, may I please have a roll call, please? Roll call. Mayor Nickerson, here. Vice Mayor Martin,
present. Council person Bomb, present. Council person Lifewood Ward, she's left for the night. Council person Winters present. Also present for the record, Janice Jacobe, village clerk, Christia Village manager. And in she's in the building.
Oh, she I thought you left. She's back. So person lifeoot ward. She's back. And then in le of Joseph Geller, attorney Johnson. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Um, do you have a motion to approve the agenda?
So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. All in favor say I. I. I. Um, good and welfare. Uh, this is for anybody to come and say anything at all
about the agenda. We don't have any agenda items today. This is good and welfare. Is about the agenda. Yeah. Well, then wait. Wait for the second. Good. Wait for Oh, is there a second? No. No. Come come come. Yeah.
She come come. Augustine Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st Street. Uh, sorry if this is not the moment, but just to highlight ultimately what just happened was the
budget that a lot of people had a lot of things to say about and that plan to say the thing those things tonight, we didn't go through it. It got approved as is. That's the bottom line. And it was not
approved unanimously. I fully acknowledge there's a date that will be talked about again, but a lot of what was going to be said tonight was the lack of preparation, the lack of planning, the lack of time to discuss things.
There is an amendment that's possible. Apparently, we hope that it can be a complete amendment and not find out later in October when it's too late that we're limited in some way.
The recurring theme is we're caught off guard or we don't have enough time. And that's a theme across all the lines in the budget, almost a lot of them. A lack of transparency. a decision you guys made three to two.
Some of you conflicted when you made it. Um, and we're not even sure what we'll be able to do at that point in time. So, I'm asking that you please, the five of you, do everything that you can possibly
do between now and then to be very, very prepared because we came here tonight to talk about a lot of stuff that's in here. A lot of it was going to be reductions to expenses that we've asked for over the last three weeks. And a couple
people made the point that there were no changes to the budget that was presented tonight and it just got passed as is. So you all I'm I'm beating the dead horse, but part of what a group of us talked about last night is repeating ourselves to make sure that you guys hear us. So this is me repeating the hell out of
myself uh and and acknowledging fully what you all just did, which is commit to a meeting in October to do things differently. Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, absolutely. I just want everybody to know like we hear you guys, which is why we're doing the
budget amendment meeting. If we didn't hear you all, we would just say let's just pass the budget as remember I gave four four type of things we could have did. The first one was just to pass the budget as is period and that's it. So um so having the budget
the the budget amendment hearing we can amend any it's it's the budget it's not it's not the budget amendment for you know the code enforcement line items. It's not the budget amendment for the administration line items or the budget amendment for the
general. It's the budget amendment for the budget. All right. So essentially you guys are kind of getting like another budget workshop in a sense. All right. So, um, that's how that goes. Uh, come up, Mr. Mackenzie. Say your
name, address for the record. Ian McKenzie, 8950 Northeast 4th Avenue. Um, I'd like to propose that the council tonight makes a um a motion to um set a budget planning meeting for every year
that starts in April. So that way they can start the budget review process with the financial per whoever the financial expert is here and that way we don't get into the situation any other groups the village manager knows about it the clerk knows about it the mayor knows about
everybody's on board so that way we know when to start this process so we don't end up with sort of like oh well it didn't happen or we we never got around to it and then suddenly we're in a crunch. This way we avoid it. If it's pass it by motion do that. Let's see some firm commitments made by this type
of stuff. Okay, budgets. I know I've done plenty of them over the years. They can be amended. They can be adjusted. If you spend, you can, you know, you uh you can carry forward funds to the future year. You can move back. So, it's all financial accounting. A budget is just a
road map, sort of a guide, okay? It guides you. So, don't get all hung up about it. Let's look at each item reasonably and rationally and say what if you know. Thank you. Thank you very much. I wanted to
respond to what you just said, Mr. Johnson. It might be Mr. McKenzie. Mr. Johnson over here, the new our attorney today. Uh we cannot make a motion without it being on the agenda today. Is that correct? I'm sorry. Can can you repeat that?
We cannot make a motion today without it being on the agenda first. Correct. Correct. Okay. So, if we could put it on the next meeting, we can make that motion then if uh we can please uh apply that to the next meeting to possibly have the next
uh budget planning start in April that we can talk about that in the next meeting agenda. You don't know who's going to be sitting on your chairs next year. I don't know their schedules yet. Oh, to start the conversations.
Yes, that that has the trim. The trim again, there's a reason why there's an attorney, there's a manager. I understand, but there's a reason that there's also a CFO. They need to go through the trim and see what the time frame looks like. Now, to speak about the budget meeting as what we decided
today in that term. I mean, if you want to bring up the budget in a in an administrative way, you can always bring it up. That is not a problem. That can always be brought up. Now to start working on the budget there's time frames and that's what I was referring to today that I told the attorney and the CFO that they are the ones who need
to come up with including also the manager. My uh role is the trim part to advertise the trim solely. So that would have be a conversation that you would have to start with them to see where in
the whole laws it says that it can I don't think any other municipality starts it that early. So I saw there's time frames on the budget it says year to date was July 31st. So we have to wait till July 31st maybe because we need to have all the numbers by that time. So it has to be after that date. It probably has to be. I can't tell you
for sure or for certain but there is time frames. No it's just that the year-to- date numbers are dragging by about 60 days and since we're so late into the term now that's why July is showing up. But if we had it in April they would be dragging by two month by 60 days about it still has to go by the trim. So
the trim has specific dates right? I think the real must comply with I think the real issue here is just the formation of the finance uh committee um that is then able to establish an annual uh schedule um that includes a budgeting
schedule that begins in as early as April uh you know with some restrictions uh but then should be able to be fully underway by end of May you know certainly by mid June um but that would be I mean again that's going back to the
need for a finance committee. Yeah, I second that uh completely. I do think that you're absolutely correct. There are timelines triggered by certain events that are out of our control and there's a reason why if you just did like a Google search to see when
everyone else is having their budget meetings, we're right in line with everyone else. Um, but I do think the administration and finance committee is an integral part of making sure that you have a constant idea of a way that you
can chime in on how money is being spent or are able to request certain information about certain expenditures that you care about as a committee. So, I do think we need to um set some meeting dates up for the administrative student and finance committee and they
need to meet at a consistent interval. In addition to that, there needs to be clear criteria and uh entry points for residents to sign up uh to participate in the committee. May I also add just from administration's perspective, a midyear
review is is perfectly consistent and and I I think that would be advisable. I mean, we do that internally. So, um there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to do something at that level for a um for a council meeting or I'm sorry for administration and finance committee
meeting. That sounds good. Yeah. Let me just say so per charter you all I think what's um more feasible for Mr. McKenzie and what he's talking about is to start a residential board that works alongside the committee. Per charter no resident can be part of a
village committee. Okay, that's in the charter. Mr. Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Miss Baza. Alexandra Vasa, 120 Northwest 86th Street. Um, so the finance committee is
one point. uh as you know all the rest of committees are impact all all the rest of the items also impact the the finance the financial part and that's why I request again to have the residents to be part of those committees
so those conversations are um starting early um not just finance but environmental you know um every every single item with the participation of the of the residents. So how can we make
sure that we are we have someone from the residents part of the committees. So those Yeah. So we have residential boards is what we can start for the budget like a financial residential board is what we can start for that right but all the the the rest of the conversations that also impact the the
numbers. Thank you. Yeah. Just a a little point. I I do think the advisory board or advisory council that kind of mirrors all of the existing committees might be prudent. Um, and I
know that sometimes boards or councils are created and then a council person is the one who's responsible for kind of populating this body. I think in in this situation, I think there should be a way for residents to opt themselves into
that without necessarily being known to a council member or to anybody um in the in the municipality. I also like to add that once you do sign up for these committees or you create these committees, you are held to the same standards as the governing body. That means sunshine laws and ethics. So,
you would both have to follow those. So, you're held to the same. That means you can't be talking to each other, calling each other, getting each other's votes. You would also need to have somebody who runs this meeting other than the person who runs this meeting, somebody who takes the minutes. You're held to the same standards as they are all held to.
Thank you for that refinement. That's true. It's serious business, guys. Yeah. And anyone, you guys, anyone can start any like initiative that they want to. Any council person, you guys can start any initiative that you want to for any
residents. Okay. That's always good. So, um, we're still on Good and Welfare, right? Uh, yes, we're still Okay, I'll wait for him. Augustine Ramos, 60 Northwest 91st Street. Um, so is there
broad question for the manager, I suppose. Um, is is there like a tracking system that you guys have for important dates, uh, contract renewal dates, uh, something that lets you know that something's upcoming, that there's a period for review? Like a tickler system, basically some date out in the
future, you got to do something by it, that's a deadline, not the day to start doing it. If it's a deadline of that date, when do you start working on it so you can meet the deadline? Is that something that exists? Is that something that can be shared publicly? the list of important dates by things when they have
to be renewed by a certain date. Um what forum they need to be approved in or if they can just be decision internally in office because they're already approved. Just that level of transparency is that there there are several dates of of and
deadlines that we have to make. But in terms of contracts, I think that's what you're talking about. Contracts are just like up until tonight The general thought was September 30th is the drop dead date to approve a budget. But we just learned
that really it's today because while technically you can turn it your homework in on the 30th, you had to tell the world that you were turning it in on the 30th by a certain date or else the meeting is not valid. Right? I mean we could have met on the 30th but whatever we did that day was irrelevant, not
legal, not passable. So effectively what actually happens is that the day is today, not the 30th. So I I just those kinds of things. Is there a desk reference available uh internally
and publicly? Um so that in case somebody internally misses it, it's posted and a resident can bring it up at any one of the Tuesdays that we're here at a random meeting and just ask for a status. Um, and then regarding the finances,
uh, I understand you have to start with a trim and you can't do a final thing, but there is value in, uh, measuring your performance to your plan. Say in April, you're looking at February numbers. That's still four months of
stuff, five, whatever. It's a lot of months. You can actually compare what's actually happening to whatever you budgeted for. Um, that's valuable information to see if your budget's trash, if it's going well, if there's a p positive surprise, if there's anything. Um, and it doesn't necessarily
have to be the most precise thing that you're going to work towards finalizing a proposal with. It just lets you know if you did a good job or not early. Thanks. Thank you very much. All right. I'mbody something really quick. Oh, if I have to wait for the
Anybody else getting in welfare? All right. Mr. I have a question about the sunshine state law. Uh when you say that we cannot meet outside if if we are part of
one of these u you know advisory. So let's say that you and let's say Francis Seagull and let's say um McKenzie are on the board. You guys cannot to discuss anything that you're
coming up with for voting. You cannot text it to each other. You cannot um discuss it in any form that's part of the sunshine. That's why you have to and you have to have these public meetings. You have to notice them and everything just like you would here like they're held to the same standards.
I understand that. Uh but my question is like if I because that is basically what I would like to have some you know someone as a as a resident inside of the so we know what these
discussions inside of these rooms are and we can share it with the rest of the residents. Yes. Is that something you can discuss it amongst the residents you can't discuss it with your other board member. Oh okay. Okay. I and for for your information that's codified under Florida statute chapter 286.
Okay. Yeah. I just wanted to get some clarity. Thank you. Once a person becomes a member just like they become members you will get um you get classes. So there's a class that you have to do and that will explain to you
a lot of the stuff that can or cannot be done under the sunshine. There is a lot. It's a big statue. Yes. Also the ethics. Ethics is another one. Yeah. And again, just in a nutshell, so
a member of the board, anything that would be voted on, so we could talk to each other socially, that's fine. It's when you topics of discussion come up that are going to be voted on that there is a prohibition of discussion between
the board members. Um it's to prevent, you know, accomplishment of voting blocks, predetermined outcomes, all of that. So, um, so it is there's pros and cons to it, but that is absolutely the law of Florida. So, we do not communicate with each other in any way,
shape, or form, uh, outside of these public meetings regarding anything we're going to vote on. Sometimes if a resident will email all of us, the attorney will fairly quickly send a response saying, "Nobody is to reply all to this message." And so the purpose of
that is because none of the council members are to be discussing amongst each other something that will come up for a vote. It all comes back to is it going to come up for a vote. If it is, it's prohibited discussion outside of a public meeting.
Thank you. Anybody else good in welfare? Velvet Connelly, 355 Northeast 87th Street. Um, I'm just curious how would it work if the community got together outside of this forum to to discuss
anything about things that we want to see in the village. And if we were voting amongst ourselves to say, hey, what do we think is important? And then we bring that back to the council as the how do how would we get that set
as the agenda to say this is what the public wants to see the council agenda be for this quarter or this um in that sense without you being on any board right okay you would email one of the council members they're the only ones actually the them the attorney or the
manager or I any of us can put something on the agenda but because you're a resident and they are the ones that are the are representing you. You would have to email them and they would have to see that it come through or or in some format if that's what you were wanting
to do through through one of your through one of your elected officials. So the community can come up with an agenda but it's not an agenda. You can come up with an item or or tell them this is what I would like to see. Not the whole agenda. The whole agenda is not done in that format. No,
no. No, what I what I mean is like whatever the community decides is important to them. That's what I mean by agenda. So I'm saying whatever Okay. You mean like an agenda like Yeah. Yeah. Not the community agenda like an agenda item or something. Correct. Right. If if the community says these are the five projects we want to see done in the in our community in the next
12 months. You're basically asking if the community can meet and decide on issues that they want the committee and then how and then what would be the proper procedure to then have that be placed as the agenda for the for the uh council.
You would get in touch with one of the council members or one of the charter officers and in the case of the charter officers, they would pass that along to the council members. But um there are only certain folks that can actually make agenda items to be voted on. there's nothing stopping the community
from meeting and deciding what issues they want to address with the council. A followup to that then are council members allowed to attend a meeting like that that's a open public forum in an unofficial capacity
only one of them you can't have them as a group because at the point that there's more than one that's a violation of the sunshine law correct how do we explain league of cities meetings then I'm sorry how do we explain the league of cities meetings then specific agenda items
being yeah that's a different address there this is a governing body there. That's a different that's a different entity. And then a super fun gray area in all of that would be uh technically if the council persons all attended and sat quietly and said nothing in theory.
Yeah. That so Right. Right. But you're but that would be such a gray area you'd be setting we'd be setting our So I'll I'll bring it back and make it even more simplified for you. There's basically two different types of requests that you're looking to put to like in theory the mayor kind of controls the agenda. Okay. So that's who
you you you really if you really want it on the agenda, the mayor's first person to talk to. We any one of us individually will absolutely advocate for anything a resident is asking us to put on an agenda. Um and so in that I'll just I'll help it you simplify it. There's two different types of requests you're going to make. We want to talk
about it or we want to do something about it. If you want to talk about it, you're asking for a discussion item, which typically is easier to put on the agenda because a discussion item is just saying, "Hey, we'd like to talk about this topic." not necessarily going to make a vote, not necessarily going to do
anything about it, discussion item, something you want to bring to the attention of council and put it on the radar for future action basically, right? And then there is something that you would want action on. Hey, can we get the council to vote on this to do something that is a that is a different
type of you know agenda item that is an action item. So, so since we have an audience here who's engaged, I would like to at least uh illustrate that there are two different types of of requests of agenda item. One is falls under the category of hey, can we discuss this a discussion item? The
other is hey, can we vote on this and action item, right? Um and so uh so just for the public's benefit, that's basically what we're looking at with different types of agenda items. I really appreciate that explanation. Um, I guess my what I'm trying to really
discern is because now that you brought up that the council is not legally allowed to be there if they're I want to distinguish is it if they're voting or is it well and and what I mean is because it
let me step back. If the community is just discussing what matters to them, right? if they're just trying to determine, hey, what are the things that we agree about that we all, you know, find important, is that something that the council can participate in as residents, not as the
city council? Yes, it's it's a potential voting item. Okay. So, the best way around it is you have to run for office, I guess, because it's a potential voting item in the sense that you can be bringing something that's really important and something that can make a change. So if they bring it up here and it was not noticed,
there's a violation and they can be held to state attorney criminal. Understood. Okay. Would would another option be just inviting them one at a time? So you have this meeting and then you can stagger the arrival of the council members and
have them one at a time uh encounter or be presented with whatever it is that you and this group have come up with. So the sequence matters, but we can attend just individually. You could you could also uh have the meeting and then send a synopsis, summary, uh minutes, whatever
you wish uh individually to each council person and say for your benefit, this is what we all met and discussed and notifying council persons individually of what was discussed would not be an issue at all. I believe I'll defer to the attorney, but I really do believe
that that would be uh a method where you could get the word to the councils individually without uh putting them in a position where uh some uh violation might occur, right? You can also have workshops. Well, I guess because I guess what I'm trying to get at is a community event,
right? It's like where where the community is gathering, right? Not so it's not like a you know it's something that you'd want the community the they're residents of the community as well right from that standpoint we we'd want them there right so the best way
the best way to go about that is asking one of them to have a workshop where you guys come up with ideas and pop off and what's most important that's the best way that is the best practice and because the workshop will be noticed that's how it's the best practice you be in the sunshine it's the best practice the activity is
what triggers the violation not the ation. So I as a council person could be meeting with one additional con council person and we could be doing it at um what is my place that bar that citadel where you can eat all the things and we can be discussing on some something and
if we're discussing something that will appear before us as a voting item then we're violating the sunshine. So the workshop is an option. Thinking about whether or not you want to invite us individually is an option or council person Irv's suggestion of making it
more of a written document that's sent to each of us not altogether on the same email but individually that cures the issue. Those are three routes to take and what you suggested originally would that still work also just as far as staggering your arrival. Just making sure there's only one of us at a time at the time. Okay. Yeah. Perfect. Thank
you so much. Thank you very much. Daniel Roa, 60 Northeast 86 Street. Uh um just uh to clear before there was mention of other boards like the architectural board and uh the other boards, but uh I haven't seen anything
pop up on those. I know Mayor I just haven't gotten to your street yet. Ah, that's what it is. Don't worry about it. I just want to make sure because we're talking about other boards here. Just want to make sure everything else is being that was that was it. I got you. Uh, anyone else good in welfare? Okay, let's go back to the council.
Council person Winters, I think you had something. Yes. Um, be before we amend the budget now that was voted to be amended uh in October. I think it is vital that myself and every resident here gets a list of
all the resolutions that were passed, not completed, and funds were allocated for it, and still not used. if they were used to know where they were used for and why they were used for something else other than what the council voted to have it resol the resolution for. And
I can tell you I know there was not just the text messaging one, but we also made a resolution for the uh sound system here. And as we could tell at the beginning, you guys saw we had trouble with the sound system. I'm sure they're on their way some kind of speakers or wiring. But what's going on where how
many resolutions have not been completed? So, I'd like this list before at another meeting, before we actually have this budget meeting that so we're able to actually decide what's been used, what needs to be allocated to certain line items and what's been
misused in other places. Okay. Just write an email to the um manager and she's heard you. Uh I mean, they've heard you now, the clerk and the manager. The sound system though, that wasn't through resolution. That was I think put into the budget last year. As a matter of fact, she was just discussing tonight.
We've waiting on the other side also as well. Yeah. Remember, we're we have small resources here. That was that was big and there's a lot going on. How many meetings we've had this month? Yeah. Uh anything else from the council? Is this the last good and welfare?
Uh yes. Go ahead, Council. Uh okay. I just want to remind everybody that um uh gender is fluid, sexual orientation is fluid, transgender people are real, and uh we have an agreement in this country.
You keep your stupid religion out of my life, and I will keep my stupid religion out of your life. That's the agreement we have. I have a feeling I'm going to be in the streets by the end of this year fighting for the rights of my fellow citizens. But make no mistake, gender fluidity is real. sexual
orientation fluidity is real. Thank you very much, Council Person Irvine. Um, anyone else for a good welcome? Yeah, I just want to take a minute to tell everybody, thank you so much. I've been seeing you consistently. You're hanging in there with us. I love your feedback. I appreciate the time that
you're taking out of your schedule. Um, so yeah, thanks for that. Thank you very much, Madam Vice Mayor. Um, anyone else uh for good and welfare hearing? Seeing none, do I have a motion to approve consent agenda? Moved by council person forward a
second. Second. Second by Vice Mayor Martin. All in favor say I. I. Uh madam manager, you want to just hit a couple bullet points in your report? I'm going to hit only one bullet point. Um we have done quite a bit over the month of August and September. Over the
months of August and September. U my manager's report is on the village website, I believe. I'm not I haven't checked again, but it has been um in the queue to be uploaded and I've sent it to the members of the council. Uh we do have a new code enforcement officer. His
name is Steven Alonzo. He comes to the village of El Bortell from Indian Town uh where he was a code officer uh for about a year and a half. Uh he held his first special masters hearing today. Thank you to attorney uh Johnson who um
who attended and participated. We appreciate your effort and energy um in that meeting as well as this tonight. Um there are several things, several project updates. Please go to the village website and read the manager's report. It's nine pages of all of the
latest information. If you have any questions, you're free to reach out to me um directly to get any questions answered. That concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam Man. You guys see my report there. Let me just say one thing. Um, just so everybody knows, uh, even residents, you guys can always
contact me as council person said, if you want anything on the agenda in our charter, it says this, uh, section 4.01 under rules of procedure, the council shall determine, um, its rules of procedure and order of business not in
conflict with the charter, the code of ordinances, or Robert's rules of order. Robert's rules of order. Let's go to Robert's rules of order real quick. Under Robert's rules of order, while the chairperson
is primarily responsible for preparing the initial draft of the agenda, the assembly ultimately sets the agenda by adopting and potentially amending it at the start of the meeting. Members can't propose additions or
changes of the agenda and a majority vote is typically required to to adopt it. And so at the beginning of this meeting and every council meeting, we have a motion to approve the agenda. So anybody who doesn't have anything on the agenda, you
can put it on the agenda that particular moment per Robert's rules of orders, per our charter. So, if I don't put something on the agenda for any particular reason, and I'll just be frank with you, the reason why I didn't put anything on the agenda for tonight's meeting is because it was
budget and I knew it would be long. And so, I said these things can wait till October's meeting. But per our charter, per Robert's rules of order, um at the beginning of any meeting, you can add anything you want to it to the agenda and majority vote will put it on the agenda. And then just
to add on to that, there always is of course some exceptions. So sometimes there will be, but those are usually administrative uh you know uh actions like milligrate and things like this that require a
notice before it appears on the agenda. It can't be added in the moment, but those are typically administrative actions that are very well prescribed. And so, um, anything that a resident would be just wanting to add to the agenda would not necessarily, uh, fall
under any of those no requirements. No, as Robert Rule said when I read it, under Robert's rules, while the chairperson and the mayor is the chair of this particular meeting. Okay. The chairperson is the primary responsible for preparing the agenda, the assembly, which would be the rest of
the council, ultimately sets the agenda by adopting and potentially amending it at the start of the meeting. That's our approval of the agenda at the start of the meeting. That's where we do that. Okay. All right. You guys, can I just chime in on that for a second? There's and we'll get into it
next meeting um with some agenda items that I've put forth, but in some municipalities there are meetings that occur before by which the council is then privy to all of those items that are on the agenda so that they can uh profer new items or their thoughts on
what should or shouldn't be on the agenda prior to it being um disseminated to the public. And I think that's what we should move toward. I think just those individualized meetings that gives every council member an opportunity to chime in might alleviate any, you know,
ruffled feathers that might occur when you don't see your item uh on the agenda. My feathers are not ruffled, though. I'm just stating it. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. That's not a bad idea. But also, you guys remember at the approval of the agenda, you can just say, I want to add this to the
agenda. Motion to approve the agenda. Ma mad Mr. Mayor, I have an I have an uh I have an amendment. I have a something I want to add. I have an addition. Yeah. Sometimes though, you have a document supporting items in a way that you want it presented that might make it more persuasive than what it is you can present in in more of like that
quickfire setting. So, I can imagine someone liking the preparation of discussing it with the manager, having their supplemental items disseminated to the public and then kind of um presenting it that way. So, just something to think about. Yeah. Thank you very much, Madam Vice.
Um, we don't have uh any attorney reports tonight. Um, we're good. No reports. Thank you very much, Mr. Attorney. I appreciate that. Um, motion to adjurnn. Moved by council person life for a Ward. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Vice Mayor Martin. All in favor say I. I.
The council meeting for Tuesday, September 23rd is adjourned at 10:02 p.m.