WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=En-f74sPgKs

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: En-f74sPgKs):
- 00:00:00: Acquisition of Property Downtown: Vision, Necessity, and Finances
- 00:02:37: Parking Concerns and Justifications for Property Purchase
- 00:05:25: Policy Decision: Controlling Destiny and Future Vacancies
- 00:07:20: Clarifying Frontage Avenue Investment and Parking Discussion
- 00:08:10: Vote on Property Purchase Fails, Motion to Terminate
- 00:10:16: Approving HVAC Repair Contract: Local Business Concerns
- 00:13:14: Advertising City Bids, Community Calendar Discussions
- 00:15:09: Motion to Approve HVAC Contract, Roll Call Vote
- 00:16:22: Extending Meeting Time: Approving Crown Castle Fiber Agreement
- 00:18:18: Amending Zoning for Temporary Parking Regulations, First Reading
- 00:20:26: Adopting New City Logo: Discussion and Regulations
- 00:24:24: Clarifying Existing Logo Use, Council Discussion
- 00:25:14: Accessory Dwelling Units: Legislative Status Update
- 00:26:20: Affordable Housing Committee Vacancy Announcement
- 00:27:54: Affordable Housing Needs and Chamber Liaison Discussion
- 00:29:15: FIFA World Cup Watch Parties and Community Improvements
- 00:30:55: FIFA Planning Discussion - Deputy Manager comment
- 00:35:20: Silent Disco Postponement and City Cleanliness Appreciation
- 00:37:28: Women of the Year Date Correction and Upcoming Events
- 00:38:06: FIFA Team Sponsorships and Code Enforcement: Chickens
- 00:40:02: Peacocks in Downtown and Community Calendar Update
- 00:41:18: Homestead Walls, Community Mural and Events
- 00:43:13: Valentine's Cookies, Abatement Action Plan and WeWork
- 00:45:09: New Florida City Mayor and 35th Wedding Anniversary
- 00:47:19: Activating City Hall Lobby: Guidelines and Procedures
- 00:49:11: Surprise Lobby Activation: Clarification, Intentions and Strategic Plans
- 00:53:18: Lobby Activation, Responsibility Accusations and Staff's Response
- 00:54:29: City Manager Updates, Water Disruptions and Upcoming Events
- 00:55:50: Request for Executive Session and East Side Water Commendation
- 00:57:27: Calling CRA Meeting to Order and Roll Call
- 02:38:33: City and County Collaboration on Joint Projects
- 02:39:37: Resolution for Haitian Heritage Celebration Funding Approval
- 02:43:22: Women's History Month Recognition and Appreciation
- 02:44:59: April Declared Autism Acceptance Month, Flag Display
- 02:47:23: Pension Board Appointment, Committee Liaison, Chamber Liaison
- 02:49:05: Adjournment and City Improvement Promotional Announcements
- 02:49:41: Pool Pump Energy Saving Tips and Advice
- 02:50:30: City of Homestead Job Opportunities, Supportive Team
- 02:51:19: Airflow, Dirty Filters, Sealing Ductwork For Efficiency
- 02:52:07: Vendor Introduction: Plur Tea and Korean Corn Dogs
- 02:53:14: Hurricane Preparedness, Family Necessity Kits Distributed
- 02:54:35: Building Permits: What You Need and Expedited Options
- 02:56:26: Park Upgrades and Renovations Enhance Quality of Life
- 02:58:37: Illegal Dumping, Fines, Code Compliance, Prevention
- 02:59:19: Heat Safety, Hydration Tips, Outdoor Worker Protection
- 02:59:41: City of Homestead's Monthly Events and Services
- 03:00:43: Community Job Fair: Local Employers and Career Resources
- 03:01:53: James Archer Smith Park Splash Pad Grand Reopening
- 03:02:10: JD Red Park Tennis, Pickle Ball Court Renovations
- 03:04:54: Homestead Public Service's Low Energy Rates
- 03:06:32: State of the City Address: Strategic Plan Pillars
- 03:21:58: Homestead Regional Park Redevelopment Sports Performance Hub
- 03:31:44: Local Artist Rodney Royal Exhibition At Seminal Theater
- 03:34:10: Energy-Wasting Johnson's: Lighting Efficiency Changes
- 03:35:50: Garcia's Energy Saving Kitchen, Laundry, Water Saving
- 03:37:50: Homestead School Zone Speed Enforcement Program Discussion
- 03:54:28: Homestead School Zone Enforcement Q&A Social Media Comments
- 04:03:50: Homestead School Zone Enforcement Still Q&A
- 04:12:58: Vendor Introduction: Troppy Rolls Caribbean Fusion Cuisine
- 04:14:08: Johnson's Lighting Upgrade: Saving Energy and Money
- 04:14:58: Autism Acceptance Month Proclamation City Hall Flag
- 04:16:58: Introducing EPL Build: Electronic Permitting and Licensing
- 04:18:53: Code Compliance Spray Paint Markings for Illegal Dumping
- 04:20:07: Discover Homestead's Community Calendar and Events
- 04:20:22: Cybrarium New Art Sculpture, Library Card Services
- 04:21:58: Homestead Regional Park Sports Performance Hub Groundbreaking
- 04:23:51: Parks and Recreation Team Part-Time Job Opening
- 04:24:19: Homestead Cares: Utility Bill Assistance Program
- 04:25:36: Homestead Public Services: Customer Service Improvements
- 04:26:09: Homestead Public Services: Career Opportunities Available
- 04:27:36: Homestead Public Services Peak Demand, Thermostat Setting
- 04:28:12: Expedited Permit Service and Requirements Announced
- 04:29:32: Homestead CRA Residential Grant Testimonial and Application
- 04:30:57: Homestead's Energy System Investment and Expansion
- 04:32:26: Appreciation of Homestead Public Servants, Quality of Life
- 04:33:32: Garcia's Water Savings, Leaks, Timer, Evergreen Shade
- 04:34:52: Vendor Introduction: Cancun Beverage Fresh Fruit Juices
- 04:36:48: Committee of the Whole Meeting Called to Order
- 04:37:56: Resolution for Water and Sewer Master Plan Adoption
- 04:52:37: Transportation Master Plan Summary & Prioritization
- 05:05:24: Approve Participation Civicus Soho Program to Implement
- 05:14:43: Approval of interlocal agreement with Miami Date county
- 05:15:16: Approval of the 1st Amendment Increasing Scope of Work


Part: 1

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recommendation for us to approve it. If this was your money and you're going to buy this property, would you do this? No answer. That gives me a little concern, but it doesn't change my resolve on what I

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think we need to do. Is this necessary to complete our vision for downtown? Is this piece of property? Can someone give me an answer to that? This one partic this one particular piece of property um

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like all of the core downtown has a future place in that vision that was formulated by the community and accepted by the board. Is it absolutely critical? No. No. No piece of property is critical in that vision. It is a part of the

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overall fabric though of that future plan for downtown. >> Okay. Thank you for that. And for some of the adjacent properties, again, I understand the parking lot is not for sale. The current owner is not interested, but some of the other properties around it, have we discussed

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that with those property owners and are they willing to to look at that in the future? At this time we have not had those discussions and I would would share with the board as I think I had shared with you council member um the discussions that we had initially had with the parking lot owner was was not

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for this purpose. It was related to u potential acquisition for expanding parking. We have not however had any conversations with any other adjacent property owners. >> Okay. And and finally, just for clarification, uh the gentleman that

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spoke earlier talked about expending taxpayer funds on on this purchase. Although CRA money is taxpayer funds, it's specifically for a certain area of the city. Uh we're doing we're spending taxpayer funds on Chrome Avenue doing a whole lot of upgrades. We just saw that

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earlier tonight. Uh I think this is the benefit for for that process. Uh I will be supporting this item tonight. uh doesn't look like uh long term that I think you know it's going to be occupied for someone for

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some period of time maybe longer than the three-year period. So I think we can get some of our investment back long term. Uh with that uh I'll yield for any other comments. Thank you. >> Thank you Councilman Fletcher.

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Um not not and vice mayor to to your concern. Yeah. For me parking is a really big concern. I don't think the parking garage is sufficient. It's not um centrally located. you know, we we're

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going to have a small parking lot behind Jacobson's and we've, you know, I think we're all kind of getting a little bit of mixed signals on sidewalk width and is parking coming out as a in the the chrome issues and I've kind of cast

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about and and spoken with the manager and the CRA director together about finding parking islands. And one thing one thing I can to your point in the parking lot one thing I came up with and I don't know that it's been addressed with the the corner the parking lot to

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the to the west of this property clearly that has to travel with that building. They have no parking but for that lot I mean as far back as I can remember when that was a big cafeteria there the until Andrew the sign still had still said

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Barnett cafeteria parking. But let let me let me come back to the point. I think we're at the point in the life of this city where we can get really creative and perhaps even in the future go to that property owner

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and acquire air rights where a parking garage is done where the owner still retains the surface rights and we can acquire air rights over that corner for um a parking structure. So, I guess my

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point to that is is we're not totally wiped out there. That that is is not not off the table. And, you know, certainly, you know, had it been connected to this that that that changes a lot of things. I I think that this did, you know, it

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became political. That's, you know, my colleagues right to make it political. But I just want to say, you know, for the record, the council asked for Deep environmental studies they were provided they came back clear.

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Structural studies came back solid. Pardon, pardon the pun. So this is not about slandering this property or these property owners. This is a policy decision. You know, my problem with the

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speaker earlier was is that he made allegations that were not borne out by the facts and by by the homework that uh apparently some of his colleagues here um you know asked asked to be done. So

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it's it's just a policy. Are we we going to control our destiny or not? I think we missed the boat on Palms Plaza right across the street. you know, the words of Mayor Mirbaugh, if you don't own it, you don't control it. Um, you know, we

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know that, you know, three years in the future at the at the furthest, there will no longer be a a tire and and auto repair shop at that location. When we look back and see how things

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have changed in Homestead for the better in the last 18 to 24 months and what the future may bring, I still feel and and look, the CRA director brought this this item to the table. Am I friends

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with the owners? Absolutely. I've known Mr. Patterson since the mid 1980s. Am I their attorney? No. Do I have financial dealings with them? No, don't judge them by me or where they are

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politically. Judge them by what's right for Homestead. And I think we've, you know, previously and we all had the right to change our minds, but you know, technically we've we've gotten all the the the information

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that this council asked for. And I think we can be certain that for the next 24 to 36 months, we're not going to have another vacant building. And I'm confident that the next council will be able to find a really good tenant or use

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without demolish perhaps without demolishing the building that's not even on our our radar today. But without that, without ownership, we don't get to uh to control it.

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So with that, do we have a Yes. Sure. >> Thank you, mayor. I just wanted to clarify it wasn't the fact that I wanted the additional parking. It was the frontage of Chrome Avenue. Um any any successful downtown that parking garage

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is close enough. People complaining that those are Miami complaints. You know, you have to walk half a mile. I don't think that's an issue. Um, if it's an area where you want to visit, we went to a Boys and Girls Club thing in uh, Windwood and yeah, you have to park far,

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you have to walk walk if it's something that's worth visiting. So, it wasn't that I was looking for the parking. I saw it as a great investment having Chrome and Washington. So, I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you, Mayor. >> Right. I don't think there was a motion

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on the table. Was there? >> Move it. Moved by second by Councilman Flesher, seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Uh, and this is tab uh, what is this? Tab 15 >> 15. Tab 15. The purchase car number 48

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29. So, there's no further comment from council. Let's uh, put this to rest. A roll call vote. >> Councilman Roth, >> no. >> Councilwoman Avula, >> no. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. Councilwoman Ksky,

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>> no. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> no. >> Mayor Osnner, >> yes. >> The motion fails. >> Thank you. My deep personal apologies to the property owners. In my opinion, you have

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been significantly wronged by the majority. It's their discretion to do so and uh you act in the manner that you need to act. >> Um I'm sorry. Given that this has failed, if I can, we now have no funding. So, we're within the due

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diligence period and the manager is going to have to take some action to exercise the city's rights under the due diligence in the absence of the funding to terminate in the city's discretion to move forward. Can I have a motion to direct the man? >> Motion to direct to terminate. >> To direct the manager to terminate that.

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>> Okay. Moved by Councilwoman Avala to terminate. We have a second. >> Second by Councilman Roth. Let's have a roll call vote on the direction to terminate. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal.

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>> Councilman Ross, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> no. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> not a principal. No. I know in reality there's no funding, so it's got to be

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terminated. >> Motion fail. I mean carry. >> Motion carried. Motion to terminate the to direct the manager to provide notice of termination passes. All right, let's move on to tab 16.

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>> Tab 16 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the award of a contract to Blue Island Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Corp. and JCR Mechanical Contractor, Inc. for ITB 202601 HVAC repair and refrigeration

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equipment maintenance and providing for implementation providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. If there are no objection, we'll wave the staff report and we'll open the floor to any questions or comments from council on tap 16. Mr. Mayor. >> Yes, Councilman Fletcher. Yeah, just uh as a side in in my one-on- ones with

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staff, again, uh I want to make sure that we're getting the message out to local business owners that we need them to engage in in our process if they want to be involved with the city. Um I asked where this current business is located and it works out of

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a house in the city of Homestead, but their business address is their home address. Take a picture. There are trucks in front of the the house. So, uh, I'm kind of glad they live here in the home city of Homestead, but, uh, you know, they're doing business out of their house. So,

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you know, this is a lot of money we're spending with a a small company. I think that are we sure they have the capability to perform the actions needed. Appreciate that. Thank you for the uh

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the due diligence on that. Okay. Any any further? Um, Mr. Mr. Mayor, >> council, just on the record, we subsequent to this conversation with Councilman Fletcher, I asked the procurement director to carry out additional due diligence measures. So,

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I'm going to ask the procurement director on the record to state what her findings. Good evening. Uh so yes, we performed the due diligence on both of the vendors and reached out. Can you hear me better? Okay. Um and

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reached out to their references and all came back with good references. Uh let's see for so for Blue Island we reached out to several of theirs which were uh Papa Joe's Waterfront, 15th Street Fisheries and Lakeshore Community Association.

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They all came back with good reviews. Um as well as for JCR, we reached out to several of their references as well and again they all had good references. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome.

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Okay. Yes. >> In case I forget later on under council comments, could you remind me please to talk about we work which I think is is a solution that might um satisfy Councilman Fletcher's concerns and mine as well. So you make a very

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valid point and but I just don't want to forget. Thank you. So I just wanted to add uh Kamar just reminded me. So what we're going to do the end of the month are we're planning to beyond just the advertising that she asked me to bring up. So, South Chamber of Commerce, we are now advertising with

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them as well to get the word out to the local vendors, but our plan is to also host a an event the end of the month to our local vendors to sort of like a round table to ask what is it, what it is that maybe why they're not bidding on some of our projects and so we can work

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with them to get them to participate more often. >> Thank you, Mayor, if I can make a comment on that as well. I really love hearing that that's going to be an initiative. Several years ago, I was designated as the council liaison to the Southeast Chamber of Commerce, and it wasn't really formalized, but going to

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those meetings and and sharing information and bringing back um you know, sharing events, etc., it's really key and and that type of participation is necessary. I would really like for someone to be designated again. I volunteer to um re-engage uh with the as

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a member of the chamber as is. Um I am um already participating but not having that authority to be representing the city and bringing back would be um you know a disconnect in in some cases. So >> yeah we can perhaps do that under my business if you if we time allows and we

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all remember. >> Thank you. >> Yes council. >> So just a quick thought to Miss Brown on our community calendar would it be appropriate to post city bids? we we are able to add a designated tab

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for city business that would redirect. So yes, we can explore that opportunity. >> Okay. So that's that's an opportunity with I I'll discuss a little bit about our community calendar in my business, but something to think. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have a motion on this item? I don't recall. Was it on the table? Do

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we have a motion? >> Okay. So moved by Cannibal. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by by Vice Mayor Bailey. Does that include the comments on tab 16? >> What? >> Yes, Councilman Ros. >> Just to back up uh Councilman Ben

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Fletcher's comment, do we have a performance kick out in case they failed to perform? >> Yes, we do. We have termination for cause and convenience in our contracts. >> You could have just said yes, but we're there. She's on the tape. We can hear that.

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Thank you. All right. So, I think we have a motion and a second. If that concludes the questions or comments, let's have a roll call, though. >> Councilman Ross, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes.

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>> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. So I think it's it's that time of night when we need to >> a couple of things. Move move to extend this and any other meetings that are

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scheduled for tonight to 9:30 just just as a safeguard and recess here for five minutes. So moved. All in favor? >> All right. Five minutes. >> Okay. It looks like we met we made it in

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five minutes or less. And uh somewhere in the home stretch here takes us tab 18. Is that correct, Mr. Pearl? >> Uh yes, sir. >> All right. Tab 18 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the agreement with

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Crown Castle for private MLS fiber network connecting activity and redundant internet service in an amount not to exceed $1,121,64 utilizing the General Services Administration contract number GS35F-465DA exempting the purchase from competitive

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bidding in accordance with section 2-411.12A of the city code authorizing the city manager to execute all documents necessary to effectuate this resolution subject to budget appropriation and availability of funds authorizing the manager to approve a price adjustment of up to 10% providing for conflict

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providing for severability for providing providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. All right. So implicit in Councilman Ross moving of the items, we're going to wave the staff report and Cannibal, did you? >> Okay, we have a motion in a second. Any

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questions or comments from council on tab 18? Seeing none. Roll call. Madame clerk. >> Councilwoman Adler. >> Yes. >> Councilman Raw. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal? >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher? Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky?

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>> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey? >> Yes. >> Mayor Lawson? >> Uh, yes. >> The motion carries. >> All right. So, we have uh deferred tabs 19 and 20. Correct.

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Tab 19 was withdrawn. >> 19. >> 19 >> was withdrawn. >> Was withdrawn. 20 we need to deal 20. We need to deal with. Yes. Okay. >> So, >> all right. Tab 20. Mr. Pearl. Tab 20 is the first reading of an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city code of ordinances by amending

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chapter 30, zoning, article 4, supplemental district regulations, division 2, off streetet parking to modify regulations and standards related to temporary parking of boats, and further establishing regulations concerning parking within the private rights of way permitted within private residential developments, providing for severability, providing for inclusion in

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the code, providing for conflicts, and providing for an effective date. >> Very good. Councilwoman Avala, >> thank you. If there's a way to mirror all my comments from LPA and just repeat them back right now, I would. But um again, I I just seek your support in passing first uh reading and that we

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will do our due diligence and address as best as possible any items and issues and questions and discrepancies that come up in between. And as you know, we heard tonight there is opportunity and uh room to explore other issues um relating to the same. So we'll see it

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again at second reading. Thank you. >> Thank you. So I just ask that whoever makes a motion that agrees that implicit in that is the the the compiling of the information we asked for at the LPA the with respect to the >> all the associations that we could can

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locate. >> Yeah. >> To see what they are. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So do we have a motion on this item? >> Moved by council. >> Second. >> We have a second. We second it. Of course.

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>> Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. So, let's have a roll call vote on first reading. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Ron, >> yes. >> Councilwoman um Councilman Cannibal, Councilwoman Avula, >> yes.

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>> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> no. >> The motion carries. >> All right. And we have then deferred tab 22 regarding potential accessory dwelling unit uh legislation. >> Mr. Mayor,

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>> what's that? >> I think you're skipping tab 21. >> I miss 21. >> Oh, city logo. >> All right. Very good. Mr. referral. >> Tab 21 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, adopting the new official city logo, amending the city color palette,

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providing for the retirement and grandfathering of prior city logo, establishing use, regulation, and approval requirements for the new city logo, providing for administration and transition, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date. Very >> good. Thank you. Obviously, this was was

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was my request to go on the agenda. Matter of personal preference, I wanted to hear from the rest of you. I know that many of you on parade signage and and other correspondents are now using the the round seal rather that we

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adopted as as an ancillary seal. We we did adopt it, but we retained the what's been referred to as the tombstone as the the official seal. Uh, this calls for, you know, retiring that out and moving

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to the round seal. I think for design purposes and and and style. Um, again, my my my personal taste. I I really like the the round one much more than the uh than the tombstone. It'll be

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around for a while. It'll be on these binders. It'll be on police cars. It'll be >> the chair that I made myself because I'm not going to throw them over. >> You're what? Yeah. >> So that that was awesome. Yes. >> Thank you, mayor. I I think that the

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tombstone I wish there was a better word for that, but I I I find this to be very formal and very respected and that the circle one is uh more casual, more useful. And for all intents and purp purposes of moving forward and on on branding, I think that we should go with

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the circle one. It's more attractive. It fits better. But I this is retiring it. But if we as council members or future councils were to prefer this, does this restrict them from being able to use this one in lie of another one?

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>> They they could bring it back and and >> so like for example on flyers, maybe this actually looks better on a certain brand, you know, branded flyer. So can we just leave for um >> well, you know, and maybe maybe the title here and I did I'm sorry to interrupt you. We're adopting the

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primary city logo. So the round would be used primarily. Okay. But there may be times when each council member are given a design. We could still future councils could revert back to >> Okay. Who's the geometry expert? What's the official name of that shape?

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>> Would it tombstone? >> Would it require an act of council for council? Okay. And and forgive me, but due to the length of this agenda, I kind of skipped over reviewing the city logo one. So there's nothing in here that would restrict us from be able to use this without any uh regulation or restriction. >> Because you I mean we were used the

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round one, >> right? Thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. Moved by Councilman Cannibal. Second by Councilwoman Ao. Wait, just I I want to clarify the point because the resolution it with retiring and the grandfather states that notwithstanding the foregoing the prior city logo may

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continue to be used for the purposes of exhausting existing inventory material signage, publications or digital assets that were produced or in circulation prior to the effective date of the resolution. No new materials, reproductions or uses of the prior city locals shall be initiated after the effective data >> um

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>> unless you add authorized by council >> by the by this by the city manager or design. So that delegate the manager has the authority. >> Okay. under >> can you just list city council members as designates because I think that's more so for vendors third parties that they can't use the document the logo and

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that's what >> what whatever is necessary to allow it to seamlessly be used as a secondary >> secondary okay >> thank you >> just >> all right roll call yes council >> point just so I'm clear does that mean I

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can still wear the shirts I own today >> and Ziri you got me those hats thank you but I think they're outdated did now. >> No, no, no, no, no. They're collector's items now. Okay. Okay. >> So, we'll need new new new hats with the new one.

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>> Yeah. >> All right. And and we've adopted, you know, so there's no question on the colors >> that's built into that. Well, I think that's the reproduction. It's not necessarily what's the real Yeah. Okay. So, let's have a roll call on that.

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Anything we good over here? Okay. Madam clerk. >> Councilman Ross. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abilo. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries.

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>> Let me let me touch real quickly on tab 22. There was a statute that was moving forward in the legislature that would have preempted all of our ordinances and would have mandated that by December 1st, we enact legislation to

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affirmatively permit accessory dwelling units in any >> single family residential neighborhood. So just in the last couple of days, the advice we have I have from from our folks in Tallahassee that that may be

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stalled. I will tell you I am not a proponent of ADUs. I was just trying to get ahead of of state statute. So a month delay on 22 will give us a better feel. Did did that revive itself in the

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as the legislature went forward? So, you know, there's no, in my view, there was no need to go forward with this tonight because it's not really looming at this point. It may be next month. We'll see. >> Yeah. Okay.

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>> Okay. So, that moves to I need to announce a vacancy on the affordable housing committee for the banking for affordable housing. Does this replace is this Mr. Pruna? >> Yes, Mr. Mayor. >> Okay. All right. So just put on your

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radar that you know and there are very specific categories and and eligibility and and it's one that is a mandated position. So we need to find someone in currently involved in banking that deals with affordable housing. Not exclusively

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but that's in the the wheelhouse now. And I'll ask you, Deputy Manager Brown, is banking used in the traditional term or would it be other, you know, not

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mainline banking but financial services? >> So, the the ordinance stipulates banking. Um, now we can maybe speak with the city attorney to determine if banking and financial services

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um, if there's an alignment. So, I can follow up with the city attorney's office and we can make a determination and report back to council. >> Okay. Well, guess, you know, we'll go ahead and advertise it as as banking and I want to put that in on all of your radars >> for, you know, potential qualified folks

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with that caveat >> that it may may or may not be very tightly defined. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> Thank you, mayor. If if if I am so appointed as the chamber liaison, this would be great to add to the list of things that I should um um share at the

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upcoming chamber meetings. >> Okay. It would be nice if I could have help creating the list of things. >> So, we will uh we will provide a succinct list of all the categories that were outlined in the ordinance and then we will work with the clerk to put a flyer out. The clerk of the

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communications division to put a flyer out and we'll circulate it with um the South Day chamber >> and this is the only vacancy at this time and this is an absolute mandated >> category. That is correct. And mayor, is there another vacancy on the um the

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pension board that needs to be filled? >> I understand that that the I I've heard out in the public that some some resumes or applications have been submitted to the clerk in the last few days, at least one on the police pension board >> and it was forwarded to to your staff,

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mayor. >> Okay. I haven't seen that yet. I I got a phone call telling me to, you know, heads up and that was I think last night. So, mayor and council, uh, this has to do with monies that come from the state.

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So, I don't know whether the city attorney can independently opine on changing stipulation of eligibility for membership. >> I'm going to have to go. >> So, my recommendation will be very simple to be very cautious and on the safe side.

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mandate us to come back on the car meeting as with a special call and change that language and bring it for second reading on March 18 within 30 days we're in fully compliance. >> Okay, that's fine. Okay, >> after research and verifying with the

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state and all that >> and and I apologize I jumped ahead in the agenda. Councilman Fletcher, it's your time to shine. >> Usually these are down in the bottom. >> Yeah, no worries. Uh, thank you for the time. Uh, >> page 15.

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>> I did want to uh during my business, I did want to bring up uh, as we all know, FIFA World Cup is coming this year. Uh, they just had some some big doings this week uh, up in the county, but I wanted the staff to start looking at um, watch

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parties here in the city of Homestead uh, with some of our residents uh, and maybe uh, coordinating with the the new folks at uh, Sports Hub. uh some of the things we can look at during the FIFA World Cup that's coming up in June. So if we could start looking at that, I'd be happy to.

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>> So councilman, we through the manager uh we have actually started a uh planning to some respect for for um this event or weeks long event. Uh for the

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benefit of council, the World Cup kicks off in June and then it runs all the way through July, August, I believe. Um and uh we we have a two-prong approach. Um we are intending uh and we'll we'll we'll

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memorialize this with a memo um once we have all the plans and the budgets and for council's consideration. But the the loosely the plan is that we will we will partner with uh local businesses for early in June um to activate a watch

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parties. Um one that comes to mind I think we have a a Mexico versus let's say Switzerland game. We will find a um a local restaurant. We will represent Mexico. They will host

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the watch party. as we get closer to um the team calls it the quarterfinals, right? Uh we are looking we're exploring the ability to establish a fan zone where it's now the city curating an

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event or the watch party events. We'll have to determine the location. Um and then on the World Cup night, we will have the culmination probably being um a larger event with a huge watch party whether or not it will trigger food

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trucks and more or less um some sort of an activation. But yes, that is something that the manager has given direction that we explore and we have begun the um the planning to that end. So, we will formally share with council um the plan, the outline, any potential

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budget impact uh for for council to ultimately make a decision on whether or not we proceed. >> No, that's awesome. And again, that's just incumbent on us to go out and look for some additional sponsors outside to help offset those costs and gain more notoriety in the community is all that's

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all I was bringing it up for. Um today, I I did a little drive around in the southwest section of town. I haven't been there in a couple of months. And uh I got to tell you, the Homestead Gardens project blows my mind. From where we were to

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where we're at today, although it's still under construction, it's just absolutely amazing. I'm happy we were able to help the community in that area. Even in the older apartments, you know, they have brand new air conditioners now that they didn't have any before. So, uh, it's

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just, uh, great to see that that's finally coming to fruition. Um, also the I I hadn't seen the greeting card on the wall and so I looked at that today and it's absolutely awesome. I wish it was able to move closer to

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Chrome Avenue because it is a little you got to turn your tweak your neck a little bit to see it, but it looks it's awesome. Um, I did have the opportunity this last weekend to uh go to Daytona for the 500 race and uh look at their public safety

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and their traffic management systems and their security. And let me tell you, if you've never been before, and I it's been 20 plus years since I've been to Daytona, but you know, uh 150,000 people, the event was completely sold out.

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And right into it, they had to do rapid schedule changes at the beginning because there was a weather front coming through. So, they moved that the race up an hour, you know, to prevent having like a mass evacuation type event that I've seen at other events. But I can

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tell you they could still learn a few things from an old homestead cop about how to direct traffic. Uh they they need some help. But uh all in all uh it was a great learning opportunity for me and we're going to share uh you know my insights with the

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chief and the manager. U spent some time with Gummo uh walking around and and envisioning what our fan zone can look like coming up for the 2026 championship. And I can tell you people were there buying tickets for our race.

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Uh we expect a sellout. Um so if you haven't got your tickets yet, you might want to reach out and grab those because they're they're going quickly. Next, uh I just want to re-emphasize and have everybody take a look at the Discover Homestead website. Uh we do

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have the community calendar on there now. It's right on the city of Homestead website. You can go to the link. uh as we start building it, there's going to be a lot of great information there uh about the community. And uh with that, I will leave for the evening. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> Uh we've still got CRA, >> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um for those of you right on Q. Right on Q. Thank you. For

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those of you who could not attend the silent disco that the GFWC Women's Club of Homestead was hosting, you're in luck because it's been postponed. So, uh, February 27th, we will be hosting a silent disco. Mr. Mayor, you said you

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were a little confused on exactly how you have a silent disco. It's two genres of music being played simultaneously. Um, you listen in on your headphones so that you can dance along with whatever genre you like. This is just um a

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payback to the community to give you something an alternative to do on a Friday night. So uh that's February 27th. You can find us on social media or Eventbrite for tickets. Um also March 8th is International Women's Day. So in

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honor of that activity, the GFWC women's club also hosts a annual woman of the year where we honor women in the community for their outstanding service to the community and what they um contribute their time and service. So um

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we ask that you would participate in that as well. And also I want to uh acknowledge the fact that I've taken notice to the cleanliness and tidiness and the removal and the overall approval of or um appeal

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of the city. I don't I don't know what we've been doing, but um it's visually noticeable. Um the go the shopping carts, the trash, um the it's a it's gone. you know, it's it was it was been my complaint to the mayor prior to being

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on council that the overall appeal of the city um needed some attention and tending to. So, kudos to those who are taking initiative and action in doing so. It is um it has been noticed not just by myself but others as well. So, thank you.

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Moving on to Councilman Roth. >> Thank you, Mayor. Just a correction to the date for the women of the year. You mentioned the 8th which is >> women's day but the actual event is on March 14th. >> March 14th. Thank you for clarification.

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>> I think we're looking for more organizations to honor their woman of the year as well. So >> we did not want to compete with Rotary. >> Right. >> So and so we can be there to support you guys. I will leave that either for Julio or for the mayor to talk about because

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that's coming up too. >> Um, besides that, I got nothing. >> Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Cannibal. >> Now, let's go to the CRA. >> Uh, Vice Mayor, >> thank you, Mayor. I'll make it really

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quick. Love the FIFA ideas. Um, a couple years back we helped one of our local teams by the city um advertising a watch party and Keg South donated money towards them. So, it might, you know, we've got some time.

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Uh, we might want to sponsor a few of our local youth teams and allow some of our businesses who will obviously benefit from having so many people um, donate a certain percentage of what they make.

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Um, a couple quick things code related. Uh, there have been a lot of chickens around lately in the southwest especially >> everywhere. >> Um, it happens. I would I don't know. It seems to be something that's like every

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five years there's like an influx. I don't personally mind them, but I've I've received a couple calls. I was like, I'm not sure what we do about that. >> Surprise eggs. So, so if a a chicken is tied to a particular property, we do site the

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property owner for chickens, coups, and those. The free roers are the ones that are usually the the nuisance pests. Um, we we can't really they don't come with a collar, so they're very hard to tie tie down, but we do our best to try to

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look at evidence for people that have food out or things like that. So >> yes, I'll send you a couple addresses then because I think there might be some issues with leaving food out. >> Are we allowed to pick up free range chicken? >> Yes.

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>> I I there is no prohibition. >> So >> why are they >> I mean you not us. Yeah. >> Me >> you can come over come over somewhere. >> Yes we are these ants manager. Yeah. >> So we do have a program called chicken

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busters in Miami. So I'm going to leers with staff. >> Yes. >> The aspect of final destination of the chickens I'm not going to disclose on the record. However, there is an effective value active program in place today.

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>> I'm aware of the chicken busters program and there's a pro and a con in each community. >> Enough said. Enough said. They don't want to disclose where they're ending. >> Chicken. >> Yeah. I think between the chicken problem and boats in the front yard, there's a really inappropriate quip

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about hyalia in there somewhere. >> That's what if I may real quickly also not only chickens but peacocks are proliferating everywhere. >> So poul are a little bit different classification. Um but yes, same thing.

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If we can tie them to an address, it's much easier. But yes, they are. Um, unlike the chicken, they're very loud. >> That's what I've been hearing. To cars, even >> during their season, they're very uh nuisancey.

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>> The peacocks are finding their way over to downtown. I saw one the other day. >> Um, you mentioned being over in the southwest. Did you Did you also notice the new mural on Maui? Um, not the not the postcard, the other one. So, in the

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next two weeks, I would like to invite you all and have the city come out to help with an unveiling of Homestead Walls first Maui mural. I think that it looks amazing. It has two very inspiring

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quotes. Be the eye in kind and I'm totally drawing. Be the be the good you want to see in the world. Something to that effect. It's been a long night. uh one of the MLK B yeah one of the MLK quotes. So please look out for that. I

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would love for us to be able to take a picture there and invite the rest of the community and guests obviously as well to come and visit it. As I mentioned earlier in the presentations artist in the spotlight February 26 it is a really cool exhibit. Um, Friday night it'll

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lead th Thursday night it'll lead into one of the Black History um events with a spoken word. So, look out for that on the city's website. And finally, the 28th, that Saturday, is Homestead Art in

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the Park. Everyone, you're welcome. We have moved it from the scorching times in May to February. So, it'll be a much nicer afternoon to enjoy some beautiful local artists. So, that is February 26th for Artists in the Spotlight and

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Saturday the 28th for Homestead's Art Walk, Art in the Park. That's all I have. Thank you. >> Okay. And even though the clerk's office cut me off of the uh >> Oh, they cut you off, too.

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>> Not on my page. Okay, Councilwoman. >> Thank you, Mayor. I'll try to make it quick. Happy Valentine's to everybody. I hope each and every one of you got a cookie that I sponsored uh from my student entrepreneur who lives in my district, Caleb with uh the cookie guy. Uh he is one hopefully one of many

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little mini grants uh intended to foster a love of entrepreneurship and um um start startup companies. So that is my gift to all of you. Thank you for all of your hard work. Thank you to staff for the abatement action plan. Very very

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much needed and the action going into graffiti, shopping carts, litter, uh what am I missing? Overgrowth, etc., etc., etc. That is why we're seeing results. And so I do appreciate my messages and my emails and my my uh

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calls being uh responded to in measurable action plans. Thank you very much. And uh Councilwoman Flesher, thank you so much for bringing the uh topic of where people are doing business. There is a an entity called We Work that I think would do well in a community like

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ours offering affordable workspaces for small businesses. And um I don't know how they operate or what the mechanisms are for their uh their rental schedules, but if we can look into something like that or anything similar to provide more

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office space options, rent is ridiculous and that's why people are operating out of their homes and um you know for things like AC and mechanics and and electrical work, they're doing the work on sites elsewhere. So if they can forego hefty rental, they will. Um, and

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then the watch parties. There were calls for me to put on a watch party for the M game and I was like, I cannot handle that right now. I will not do it, but I love that you're bringing that to the table. I will absolutely uh support that item and look forward to attending. Thank you. >> So, councilwoman on the we we walk

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program actually one of the downtown Homestead uh location is already about to explore and uh initiate a weiw walk facility. >> Excellent. Thank you. Happy to hear it. is working with the CRA. >> That it. >> Yes, thank you.

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>> Okay. Did I miss anybody? Okay, >> you you kind of skipped me. I was kind of curious. >> What's that? >> Skip them through. >> Well, but I haven't gotten to me yet, so I'm so sorry. >> Get to you. >> Big changes in Florida City. And

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congratulations to Mayor Elect Charlotte Thompson. I understand that uh the swearing in will be at 1:00 Friday afternoon in their uh commission chambers. But what makes it particularly notable to me personally,

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I learned today was reminded today that Mayor Elect Thompson and I both graduated from South Date High School the same year. So, I think, you know, at 47 years ago, and yes, we are that old.

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Um, I think it's really it's it's fascinating to me in a weird kind of way that the mayor of Homestead and Florida City are both that old and are both hometown folks that graduated from the only high school that served Homestead

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in Florida City in those days that long ago. But uh big big changes uh coming to our sister city to the south. And speaking of longevity and long time, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that

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uh my why as of Monday, my wife kept me around for 35 years because my grandfather would have said 35 really long years to her. Right. Yeah. He would have said a lot of things, right, Crystal? But, uh, I appreciate that and,

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uh, thank everyone for the well wishes who who, uh, were aware of that. It's, uh, been quite an adventure. Just ask her what she's thought of it. Finally, and and Councilwoman, you you touched on on the, uh, the lobby today.

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I know we had an item tonight that was withdrawn that was going to address activation of of the lobby for vendors, exhibitors, and and other uses that that did not go forward. And it it kind of concerned me tonight, and I didn't know

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the backdrop at the time of of what was going on. I mean typically the fact that some we had something before us and you know interpretation of laws typically mean that if there's nothing saying you can do it then you can't do it and

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typically you know the city manager is a manager of a lot of things including this building. So when we have receptions and events here in the council chambers, in the lobby or or any of us do things, it typically is

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cleared, you know, through management as an individual event or or a city event. And I I just I don't want to take away I I want to accommodate the community, but I don't want to take away from the dignity and decorum of our lobby. And I

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think we really need to go forward and have some guidelines or some direction for for the manager so it doesn't become a free-for-all in terms of folks coming in and doing a popup giveaway or, you know, selling items, what whatever it

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may be. You know, something for, you know, another meeting, maybe, you know, revisit your item that that was pulled for tonight. Um, but I hope that, you know, until then there'll be coordination through the manager's office. so that uh you know we remain

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safe and secure and and and dignified in our uh in our lobby. >> Mayor F. >> Yes. >> Points well taken. Are you under the opinion that the organization of this event that I held in the lobby was not done through the manager's office?

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>> Um I kind of have that perception that it came as a big surprise. I mean there's no nothing enabling to do that. Is is my perception correct, Mr. Manager? So, Mr. Mayor and Council, um, a few weeks ago, Councilwoman Aila reached out

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to me with initiating a number of programs citywide, one of which is lo city hall lobby activation and uh, we proposed that we could start that and come to council with a razor. Uh, that razor was withdrawn

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uh, because I believe the councilman wants to take a second look at it. is on conversation with the city attorney and uh the programming is not just for city hall activation it's also inclusive of senior citizen prom as well as uh

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monthly branch that has to happen after council meeting my understanding is that we are going to come back at some point with a revision and update to all this programming >> right so that's in regards to the reszo itself but the actual coordination the

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event was in fact brief discussed and I provide provided a donation check was uh rendered, printed and rendered and this was no surprise to any of our staff and I took uh recommendations and I my I I was under the impression that we had

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previously uh as a council uh prior discussed lobby activations. I did request for research to be done so we can make sure that we look to any policy or formal resolutions that have been passed. Apparently, it was never done, but my recollection serves that we had discussed lobby activations as long as

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we are letting the um the the council members know through the city manager's office and it's organized and and properly um um um you know letting you guys all know. Now, for the purposes of discussing the future reszo, the

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intention is to showcase uh small businesses or uh new businesses and for each district representative to be able to do the same. Not too long ago, I sponsored Chick-fil-A dinner for the the attendees of the meeting and it was to

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showcase that Chick-fil-A was coming to District 5 and we had a full chamber. There was also a ton of kids soccer uh attendees. So, I think it's very wellreceived. It promotes the um the businesses of our community and it is

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checking a lot of the boxes on our strategic plan for engagement and I encourage the rest of my colleagues to identify small businesses, student entrepreneurs, um different months and categories that we can highlight for a presentation within the lobby. Let's bring the

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redlands in and showcase orchids and plants and things of that nature. I I I look forward to future discussion when the reszo is presented. >> Yeah. And and and I want to have those discussions and set some guidelines and and procedures and avoid becoming a flea

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market. >> Yes. the the the student uh parents heard you mention that to them and um by far this is not meant to be a flea market and in fact it is to highlight and encourage the youth in our community to not just work at McDonald's, right?

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Let's be entrepreneurs. Let's do well and and have a goal and show and show that the community and the city of Homestead supports those kinds of uh >> that's not what this is about. This is just going and circumventing rules that we don't have. >> Not at all. >> The night the night this was withdrawn.

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We have never >> And for the record, mayor, I did not I did not review, dictate or um request for the reszo to be presented on this agenda. So, if it was you who requested the resolution with my name on it, I

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would request respectfully that anything with my name on it be vetted through me first before it's placed on a public agenda. Are you accusing me of putting something on the agenda with your name on it? >> I don't know who did. >> So, so Mr. >> You don't know who? I think there are emails that hang it on around your neck. May >> council, >> you've got an obligation to sit up here

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and tell the truth. I >> I did not request on this agenda. >> Mayor council, >> it will come back and I do thank the staff for the opportunity to discuss and to make it. >> May I? May I? >> Yes. >> Yes. So, attorney, she drew this out of thin air. >> Neither the mayor nor councilman Aila is

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instrumental in presenting this to council. This was from the manager's office. I just want to make that clear on the record. Councilwoman Aila made a request in writing. Gave me a lot of initiatives to roll out. She and I had a conversation. I asked specific question. Do you want to roll this out? In

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writing, you said yes, beginning this month. That was in January. When we met internally, we realized that it has fiscal impact. So any item that has fiscal impact has to come before this council. That's why he came here. It did not come from Councilman Aa. Neither did it come from the mayor.

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>> I just want to make that clarification. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Manager. Do you have anything for the council meeting tonight before we quickly wrap up? >> Yes, I will make it brief. I'll make it brief. The rest of it I will send out through the normal channel of memos to

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council. Simple updates that they will start restarting the city council workshops on the 25th of this month. We'll be starting off the revenue generation and cost savings workshop. It's going to be here at city hall. Uh also just a reminder that the water

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management district has been having some of uh uh dry season shortfall in water supply in the canals. So there is a warning from the water management district. Uh some of you may have heard that there has been some cases of water

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service disruption in northeast side of the city. Uh unfortunately as regrettable as that is that is under the purview of Miami date water and sewer service area. The city administration is working with the county to find out what the issues are and the challenges.

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Unfortunately, uh we may have to make some very strong recommendation such as to the Baptist hospital to look into having a dual service connectivity to connect to both the city of Homestead water supply as well as to the county to avoid what they

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just experienced. uh the bill collection. We just stated that the insert has gone out and also as part of the black history month uh there is going to be a living song book event on the 27th of this month in partnership

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with the seminal theater. So that's on behalf that's in regards to the Black History Month. And uh I think that's all I have. And by the way, Mr. V former Vice Mayor Guzman is still in the chambers. Just as a reminder, the seafood festival is on March 7th and

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8th. Thank you. Okay, Mr. Attorney, >> very quickly, can I request one executive session in the matter of Lasal Educational Center versus City of Homestead at case number 125 CV 24232 in the Southern District? >> Of course. make it happen. We all love

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to sit behind closed doors with our attorneys. All right, there's nothing further. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Mayor, if I may, sorry, one more thing, just to piggyback on the manager's comments about the east side water interruption. It would be remiss of me

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to not recognize the fast and prudent action that the staff took, the city manager answering emails and getting uh um water returned to the the residents of the east side and the hospital as mentioned. So, thank you very much for that. First time I have experienced something like that in my tenure living

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in Homestead and hope it's the last. Thank you for your involvement. >> And we're all just thankful it was not an equipment or system failure on our part as much as the folks online would love to blame it on overdevelopment and an incompetency throughout the city.

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Somebody else turned the wrong valve. All right. So, do we have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Seconded. All in favor? I. And as soon as the clerk signals she is ready, we will uh move into the uh CR meeting CRA meeting. And

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by gosh, we're going to meet that 9:30 deadline. Ready? Okay. So, I'd like to call Good evening. Want to call order the City of Homestead Community Redevelopment Agency board meeting. Today is February 18th, 2026, and it is now 9:22

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p.m. Can we have a roll call, please, Madame Clerk? >> Board member Ksky >> here. >> Board member Avula >> here. >> Board member Ross here. >> Board member Fletcher >> here. >> Board member Cannibal. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey >> here. >> Chairman Lawson

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>> here. >> Mr. Manager, do we have any deletions or deferrals other than tab two? >> Yes, chairman. >> Tab two. Yes. Uh tab two is the only item we'd prefer to uh pull. >> All right. So, do we need a motion and an action? Okay. So, we need a motion to

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withdraw tab two from the agenda. >> It's been moved and seconded. Further comments? All in fa? Uh yeah, we can uh we need a roll call on the withdrawal of tab 2. >> Board member Roth. >> Yes. >> Board member Avilo.

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>> Yes. >> Board member Cannibal. Yes. >> Board member Fletcher. Member Ksky, Vice Chairwoman Bailey, >> yes. >> Chairman Lawson, >> yes. >> All right. And we need a motion for the approval of the minutes of the prior meeting. >> Been moved and seconded. Any questions

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or comments? All in favor? Any opposed? All right, moving along to tab three. Tab three is a resolution of the board of the community redevelopment agency of the city of Homestead Florida approving the allocation of commercial enhancement grant program funds approving grant agreement providing for implementation

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providing for an effective date. >> Thank you Mr. Director. >> Do want to acknowledge that this is a grant application under the commercial enhancement program that allows a maximum allowable grant award of $25,000. This is for the our homes project at Ford North Chrome Avenue which I think

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we've all seen undergoing extensive renovation. Uh the grant application itself is for the uh funding to be applied towards the installation of impact windows and doors as well as exterior stucker repair. You've seen there's been a substantial amount of work and and painting of the property as

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well. This requires a minimum 10% match from the uh applicant and as you've all seen by the volume of work they're doing uh they're well exceeding that based on our uh preliminary numbers received from them. It'll be closer to the $900,000 in the total investment. I want to

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acknowledge that the applicants are here and uh board member Ailia you had brought up the we work so uh we are we are delivering really quick here they are uh but I do want to give them an opportunity >> welcome Mr. Roma, good to see you again.

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>> Perfect. Uh, if there's any questions, certainly here, >> you know, if you'd like >> for the record, the property owner is here. >> Moved by council. Yes. >> Real quick, welcome. I'm sorry you've had to sit through all of this. Um, obviously we

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>> He came in late. He didn't sell enough. >> It was long enough, I'm sure. Um, we're really happy to do these grants, especially helping our downtown area. My only ask, I know that in the end you're going to have to do what is going to work for you is to consider those

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restaurant hours. You know, I see a Papa John's here in a T-Mobile. Obviously, not exactly what we would like on this beautiful corner lot that you have. Um, so just please try to keep that in mind. It's a historic downtown area. It's one of the few historic buildings that are left. Um, so anything

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that you can do to make it a little more original, a little more homestead would be really greatly appreciated. >> Oh, absolutely. Um, we are going to do it uh similar to what we see right now. It's going to look um older. It's going to look from the time. So, it's not going to look modern. We put in stones

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on the corner, the ivy trees. So, it's going to have a corugable vibe. >> Thank you. >> Looking forward to it. >> Okay. May. >> Okay. And he won't stand by. >> There you go. >> The local restaurant. >> All right. So, I think Do we have a

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motion on the table? Yeah. >> All right. So, it's been moved and seconded. All right. Is there any public comment? Seeing none, let's have a roll call on the award of the grant for the windows. >> Board member Cannibal? >> Yes. >> Board member Ksky? >> Yes. >> Board member Ross? Yes. >> Board member Abula?

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>> Yes. >> Board member Fletcher? >> Yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey? >> Yes. >> Chairman Lawson? >> Yes. Glad we could get it done. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> All right. Moving on to tab four. Tab four is a resolution of the board of

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community redevelopment agency of the city of Homestead, Florida, accepting a grant award from the Florida Communities Trust through the Florida Forever Program for the Homestead Southwest 8th Avenue Land Acquisition Project authorizing the city manager to execute the Florida Communities Trust Grant Agreement and all related documents

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authorizing the establishment of a budget for the receipt and expenditure of grant funds authorizing matching funds an amount not to exceed $70,833. providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. It's been moved and seconded.

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We'll we'll w we'll wave your uh you know encyclopedic knowledge of this item, >> right? >> Okay. >> Comment. >> Yes. >> Just a comment. So, this is a grant to acquire that property on the corner of it says

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>> shotgun parcel. >> A shotgun parcel. Do we do we have a contract? Do we have a verbal agreement? Do we have a letter of intent to purchase? >> So, as a part of the grant application process and the requirement of the state, there has been an appraisal that was completed and a signature uh from

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the property owner as a willing seller. Uh we have shared with them that that was contingent on us being awarded the grant. The reason we are bringing this forward to now and without a contract is that there are specific timelines required by Florida Communities Trust

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and that includes us first accepting that. So once we accept this then we will complete the required processes through the state. We have notified the uh property owner by way of their their representation that we are seeking to proceed now in negotiating the contract

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uh and we will will presumably hopefully come to something at which point we'll be able to expend these funds. But we're we're following the order of the FCT based on their timelines. So, so we we we we commit to accepting this money.

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What happens if the seller backs out of this transaction? Do we lose this opportunity or can we use that money for other other stuff? >> No, the grant as it was written was specific to um this property location as

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a public park area for a variety of reasons. So, if we are unable to come to terms with the property owner on an acquisition price, we would decline the grant. It the funds would go away. We would not use them elsewhere.

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>> All right. I think we have a motion and a second. Let's have uh any public comment. Close the public hearing and have a roll call vote on tab four. >> Board member Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Board member Ron. Yes. >> Board member Cannibal. >> Board member Abula. Yes. >> Bo member Ksky.

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>> Yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey. Yes. Chairman Lawner. >> Yes. >> The MO. >> Tab five. >> Tab five is a resolution of the board of the community redevelopment agency of the city of Homestead, Florida, authorizing the CRA director to enter into a license agreement with the city

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of Homestead for the temporary use of CR owned property located at 305 Southwest 6 Terrace in the city for the purposes of operating the city's employee health and wellness clinic and providing for an effective date. Moved by Councilman Roth, >> second by Councilman Fletcher. Any

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further from the board? Public comment. Close the public hearing. Roll call vote. >> Board member Roth. >> Yes. >> Board member Ksky. >> Yes. >> Board member Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Board member Abula? >> Yes. >> Board member Fletcher? >> Yes. >> Vice Chairwoman Bailey? >> Yes.

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>> Chairman Lner? >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> And my iPhone just hit 9:30. So, let's have a motion to adjourn. So said good night everybody. Thank you. Meeting adjourned. >> The GarcAs know a lot about insulation. When one of them wants to get away, they

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insulate themselves in another room. But that doesn't keep all the sound out unless you close the door. Just like sound, cooled and heated air is always on the move. But with the right insulation, you have a protective thermal barrier that keeps the conditioned air where you want it. Truth

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is, insulation is one of the most cost-effective ways to lower your bills. Insulation is important anywhere your house meets the outdoors, the cathedral, ceiling, walls, crawl spaces, but the best and easiest place to insulate your home is in the attic. Its effectiveness

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is measured as an R value, meaning resistance to heat flow. To do the job right, you'll need at least R30, but R38 is the best. Now the GarcAs know how to insulate themselves and their house. Brought to you by your local municipal

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electric utility and the Florida Municipal Power Agency. Homestead came together for a healthier future. Our first annual community health and wellness fair was a huge success. Hundreds of residents joined us for free screenings, wellness education,

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family fun, and resources to stay healthy all year round. >> Thank you so much. Thank you to the city. Thank you to all of the volunteers that were here today. It was amazing. Me and my family had a blast. Okay, my mom danced the whole way through and so we're super super grateful for events

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like this and super grateful um for the hands that pour out into the community. So excited for the next one. Thank you guys so much. >> Thank you to our amazing healthcare providers and community organizations for making this possible. Together, we're building a healthier homestead.

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Stay tuned for more community events at homesteadfl.gov/ club/events. Thank you, Homestead. The 8th annual Homestead Art in the Park event was a huge success, and it's all thanks to you. Hundreds came out to Lner Park to celebrate a magical day of art,

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creativity, and community. From live art and entertainment to cooking demos, kids activities, and a pop-up gallery, the energy was incredible. We're proud to support local artists, children entrepreneurs, and families coming together through culture and expression.

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Stay inspired, Homestead, and don't miss our upcoming events. Follow us on social media or visit homesteadfl.gov/events. If you're a Homestead Public Services customer facing a utility crisis, the Homestead Cares program may be able to help. The program offers onetime

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financial relief of up to $500 to help qualified customers get back on their feet. In this video, we'll show you the three things you need to do to apply. Number one, to qualify for Homestead Cares, applicants must meet the following criteria. You must be a

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current HPS electric customer. You must reside within the HPS electric service area. This includes both homestead residents and non-residents. You must show proof of financial hardship. Must have a pass to balance or

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disconnection notice. You must demonstrate a feasible plan of payment, meaning the remaining balance must be manageable after applying the maximum awarded amount. Number two, make sure you've gathered all your required documents. Missing information may delay

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or disqualify your application. The required documents are your most recent HPS electric bill showing a pass due or disconnection notice, proof of income including two recent payubs, social security statement or unemployment,

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a signed and notorized letter describing your financial crisis, a valid governmentissued photo ID, an assigned 2024 federal tax return. Make sure all documents are legible and uploaded in PDF or JPEG format. Number three, visit

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homesteadfl.gov/cares. Make sure to read all the information at the bottom of the page. In the how to apply section, you'll find the link to complete and submit the application online. You'll receive a confirmation email once it's been received. Once your

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application is submitted, our team will review your document. If any corrections or additional documents are needed, we'll reach out to you directly by email or phone. For questions or help applying, contact our community development and human services division

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at cdhsomesteadfl.gov or by calling 3052244408. Thank you for watching and don't forget to share this video with someone who may benefit. Are you a restaurant, local tourist attraction, or hosting an event? Submit your event at our discoverhomestead

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community calendar. You can reach thousands of people in our community for free in the greater Homestead area. Visit.discoverhomestead.com and submit your event today. >> It's up to all of us to keep Homestead beautiful. Do your part and get involved

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with little things like recycling and planting native trees or big things like organizing litter cleanups and helping beautify your neighborhood. Together, we can ensure our quality of life for today and tomorrow. Visit homesteadfl.gov/ beautiful to learn more.

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>> Well, good afternoon everyone and welcome to welcome you to the city of Homestead Council presentation ceremony for the month of uh March. Again, we welcome you all here. We have a uh fairly short uh agenda, very few

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presentations this evening, but that is certainly not to diminish the importance of of either one of those. So, you know, later this evening, Councilwoman Bailey will recognize some

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of the women who who work here in city hall and throughout the city. Uh March is a month that we also recognize a group of folks who work almost anonymously and aren't high-profile

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uh in this building and that's our procurement department. And uh if I could have all our procurement folks who are here come up and join me. So, these are the folks that we can thank for helping keep, you know, the expenditure of public money on the up

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and up. And if we need to blame them for taking too long to getting something out, we can we can do that, too. They've got got broad shoulders. But, uh, again, typically the month of March nationally is National Procurement Month. So, we have prepared a proclamation. Whereas

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public procurement professionals, professionals, key word here, professionals play a crucial role in ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly, transparently, and in a manner that promotes fairness, efficiency, and

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accountability in government operations. And whereas procurement professionals are responsible for acquiring the goods, services and infrastructure nec necessary to support essential public services including public safety, transportation, public works and

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community development. And during times of economic uncertainty, supply chain disruption. Doesn't that seem like it was a lifetime ago? supply chain disruption and rapidly evolving technology. Procurement professionals demonstrate leadership and innovation in identifying

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solutions that support continuity of government operations while maintaining fiscal responsibility. And whereas the month of March is recognized nationally as National Procurement Month as a time to acknowledge the dedication,

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professionalism, and expertise of our procurement officials who serve communities across the nation. The city of Homestead joins in recognizing the invaluable contributions of its own procurement professionals who work diligently to ensure the city obtains

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the highest value for its residents while maintaining transparency, ethical conduct, and compliance with applicable laws and res and regulations. Now therefore, I, Steven Lawson, by virtue of the authority vested in me as

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the mayor of city Homestead, do hereby proclaim March 2026 as National Procurement Month in Homestead. Please feel free. just just want to say thank you very much to the mayor and council manager's

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office. Um they are we are all very hardworking individuals and we're proud to serve this community. So thank you very much. But now, if I could have our own chief of police, Mario Knap, and Officer Daniel Cello, join me. Uh, we have a

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very special presentation this evening in recognition of truly one of our many of Homestead's finest. Chief, >> thank you, Mayor. Mayor, Council, and City Manager, tonight I have the privilege of recognizing an act that represents the

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very best of this profession and the very best of your Homestead Police Department. On January 19th of this year, one of your police officers, Officer Daniel Chella, Cella, sorry, he has an uncle on a on another department that I used to work for, and he went by

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Daniel or or Dominic Chella. So, I don't know what the what the discrepancy is, but Officer Cell responded to what was dispatched as a possible suicide in progress. Now, if you know anything about police work, you know that you're not always uh confronted with what the

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call represents, at least or how it's dispatched. In this case, what it was encountered with was not just a call. It was a life literally hanging on a thread. As he approached, officer Cella observed a young man hanging motionless

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inside of the residence. He was hanging himself off of a staircase. Without hesitation at looking through the window, and without waiting and without backup, he very unselfishly made a decision to act. He shattered a front

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window, crawled through the window of the home, and physically interveneed to save that boy's life. And when I say boy, I say that because I have a a kid that's nearly that age. and watching the video was pretty uh graphic and uh very heart-wrenching.

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When he couldn't free the fabric by hand, he improvised and he received a tool. So, if you look at the bodywn camera footage, you can see him trying to hold the young man's body up to release some of the tension from his neck. I can see how he was looking and

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he was looking all over the house looking for a solution to be able to cut him down. And what he ended up doing was he ended up finding a nearby table, dragged the table over under him and tried to reposition uh this young man's body in a way to relieve some of the pressure and relieve some of the airway.

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And he did that quickly and then quickly ran across and grabbed a butcher's block that had knives and scissors, grabbed the scissor and started to cut him down. The victim had no meaningful signs of life at the time. Officer Sulla made

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efforts to maintain an open airway and brought him back slowly. You can see his life slowly coming back to him. On that day when that young man who found himself in what we can only imagine or only categorized as a helpless situation that caused him to make a decision to

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end his life, Officer Cella, your Homestead police officer, and his actions caused this young man's life to to to continue. Um, this is not a this is not routine police work. This is not courage

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or I'm sorry, this is not routine police work. This was courage. This was decisive decisiveness under pressure. And this was a refusal to stand by when seconds mattered. At your Homestead Police Department, we often talk about professionalism, compassion, and service

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above self. But every once in a while, an officer reminds us that or what that truly looks like in real life. And that's what Officer Cella did. He didn't just respond to a call. He changed outcomes of not only a human life, but an outcome for an entire family. So, on

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behalf of this city and this department, I want to present you not only with a commendation for your actions and this public recognition, but also the Homestead Police Department's life-saving award. Congratulations. Oh, wait. Thank you very

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I wasn't prepared for a speech, but uh I want to say thank you to the to the city and the department for giving me a chance to come work for this amazing department and giving me the opportunity to succeed in my life and career. Thank

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you again. Appreciate it everybody. truly incredible and and just really inspiring. And I'm sure those scenarios repeat themselves every day almost throughout our city and and this community. And as we sit here cool and comfortable this evening, it's a

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reminder that you never know what someone's going, the darkness that occurs in in people's lives every day. and we were there to uh to help bring back that light. So that concludes this presentation ceremony. We have some time

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before we need to convene the monthly council meeting. So anyone like to come and take some more family photos with the officer or some of the procurement folks, please feel free. Thank you all. I'd like to call the Wednesday, March

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18th, 2026 council meeting to order. It is now 6 pm. This evening, we'll have the invocation by Reverend Howard Harden, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Homestead, followed by the pledge of allegiance with the Homestead Police Explorers. Could you please rise?

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Thank you, Pastor Harden. >> It's on the side there. Let us pray. We thank you, oh God, for who you are. You are almighty in power and perfect and wisdom. And yet your love for us is

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just as great. And we thank you because you give to us the freedoms that we enjoy. You bestow upon us the rights that we possess. In your wisdom, you created the governing authorities that are over us so that we might by them

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enjoy peace and prosperity in the land. And now, having received all of these things from you, we pray that you give us the grace to govern ourselves. We pray for our mayor and our vice mayor and our council that you would give them

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wisdom and discernment in every decision that is made and help them to honor you even in the way those decisions are made. I pray that you would help us as citizens to be more patient and understanding with our elected leaders and not only when we agree with them,

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but especially when we don't. And finally, God, we pray for all of our first responders. We lift up those who are charged with protecting us, those who are in harm's way, be it at home or abroad. Watch over them, oh Lord. I pray

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these things in Christ's name. Amen. >> Thank you. Please forward. left, right, left, left, left, right,

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left, left, left, right. Right faith all. Please join with me. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

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indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Order of Left face forward. March. Thank you. Please be seated.

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Okay. >> So, Madam Clerk, could you call the role, please? >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> here. >> Councilman Cannibal >> here. >> Councilwoman Avula >> here. >> Councilman Roth. Councilman Fletcher >> here. >> Vice Mayor Bailey >> here. >> Mayor Lawson

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>> here. Thank you. We have a quorum. All right. This is the section of the agenda where I will call for public comments from folks first in the audience. Uh first who have have signed up and second those online

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uh with respect to any matter if you're here to speak on a land use item, a zoning so to speak. You'll have the opportunity then. But uh any other issue um we'll open the floor now. Uh the

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first uh individual who signed up is uh Reginald Joseph. He's still here. Not here yet. Okay. Miss Miss Hudac, you signed up, but we're going to get to your presentation in uh in just a moment.

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All right. Is there anyone online wishing to make a public comment? Okay. So, last chance. Speak now and forever. Hold your peace public. Yes. Please come to the podium.

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>> Good evening. Welcome. >> Good evening, Mayor. Good evening, honorable mayor Steve Rossman, vice mayor Jennifer Edbury, esteemed members of the homestead city council and distinguished guests. I feel

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privileged to attend tonight's meeting as a praise of the homesteadian pastor association. This organization unites churches of various denominations and represent a collective congregation of more than

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2,000 members in our belove city since 1997. It is both an honor and a profound responsibility to stand before you this evening on behalf of our pastors congregations and board the Haitianamean

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community to express our deep appreciation and unwant support for the city of homestead acknowledgement and celebration of Haitian flag day celebration flag day allow me first to extend our heartfelt gratitude to you

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mayor Rosner vice mayor Benifer uh Belly and the entire city council for your support for your consistent dedication to inclusivity, cultural recognition and civic unity,

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your continual engagement with the Haitian community and your commitment to ensuring that all cultures are represented and respected within the city and noble examples of leadership responsive to the diverse fabric of our community. The celebration of Haitian

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flag day is not merely an act of cultural commemoration. It is a profound affirmation of freedom, resilience, and unity. The Haitian flag occupies a sacred place in our history. It stands

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as a global emblem of liberation, symbolizing the enduring triumph of justice and human dignity. It reminds us that Haiti was the first independent black republic in the world. Born from the struggle against oppression and injustice. The values of body and that

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flag freedom, perseverance, and equality resonate deeply with the ideals that define the American spirit and the mission of the city of Homestead. And Homestead Asian flag day is more than a remembrance of history. It is a

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bridge connecting generations and communities. It allows our children and young people, many of whom were born and raised here, to celebrate their heritage proudly with rec recognizing the essential role within the both the

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American narrative. By commemorating this day, our city is not only celebrating Haitian culture, but also affirming his commitment to unity and diversity, civic inclusion, and mutual respect within the Homestead Haitian

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Pastor Association. We see this recognition as an opportunity to to strengthen our partnership with the city through faith-based leadership, community service, and shared values. Our organization seeks to contribute

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positively to Homestead social, cultural, and spiritual growth. We believe that the acknowledgement of Haitian flag day reflects the city forward thinking vision, one that invites every culture to share its story

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for the advancement of all. As we prepare for the accommodation flag day celebration, we are eager to continue working collaboratively with the city to ensure that this evening highlights the vibrancy of our community and fosters

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greater inter intercultural understanding. We envision a celebration that not only honors our history but also promotes civic engagement, education and fellowship among all homestead residents. In closing, allow

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me once again to extend our sincere to you, Mayor Rosner, and to you, Vice Mayor, for all your dedication and for each member of the council for voting and accepting this uh great event to

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take place. To the entire home city council, we thank you for creating environment where every community feels seen, valued, and empowered to contribute to the collective good of our city. It is through the spirit of collaboration that

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Homestead continue to thrive becoming a model of unity, respect, and cultural richness. May God bless each one of you, bless our great city, and bless the ongoing partnership between the city of Homestead and the Asian community,

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specifically the Pastor Association. Thank you. Thank you. Right. Is there anyone else in the audience? Is there anyone online? All right. We will now close the public comment section of the agenda.

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If there are no objections, I'd like to jump to tab 17 regarding the uh FIFA presentation. Uh Mr. Manager, while Miss Hudach is coming forward, do you want to tee this up for us? >> Yes. Uh Mr. Mayor, council, and members

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of the public. Um this item is being put together by the city administration in collaboration with Councilman Sean Fletcher. Uh we've done some preliminary homework in terms of local activation of the city of Homestead in collaboration

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with the FIFA World Cup 2026 local organizing committee headed by Miss Alina Hud Hudachak. Uh Alina is someone who is very special for those who don't know her. She is the first and only county manager for Miami date county,

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female county manager for Miami date county. previously city manager of city of Miami Beach and now leading one of the elite groups that is going to oversee the successful hosting of FIFA World Cup in the local South Florida

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area. Uh FIFA World Cup 2026 is going to be hosted in 16 locations across North America, Mexico, United States and Canada. Alina is a leader of all seasons. She come well prepared to lead us in the conversation this evening. Uh

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the city intends to roll out a robust local activation uh that will be thrilled and exciting for not just city residents but all the entire s deep Miami date. Uh before we get into the details of what the city intend to roll

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out. Uh I would like Alina Huda to lead us in her presentation. She has a brief, I believe two or three minutes uh video as well as she's going to be speaking as well on the final details. Then I will invite uh Councilman Sean Fletcher with

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his opening remarks. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Manager. Welcome to Homestead and welcome to our city hall. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and honorable council women and and men and Mr. Manager. It's an honor to be here tonight and I want to just um commend you because in my 42 years of public

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service, I don't think I've ever been in such a beautiful city hall and council chamber. So, it's an honor and a pleasure to be here. Um and thank you, Mr. Manager, for your kind words. We've been peers and colleagues for many years and again I I'm here in in you know at your invitation and really looking

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forward to participating and collaborating and looking for ways that you know we can bring the World Cup to um Homestead and and obviously to the southern part of our county that we all love so much. Uh a little bit about um who we are and what we're charged with.

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We are the Miami Host Committee. We operate under the FIFA regulatory umbrella and framework because of the contractual relationship that um was executed um probably four years ago when the World Cup bid was accepted by our

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community. That bid was led by Miami date county as a regional government on behalf of the community together with the Miami um visitors and convention bureau and other local and and elected leadership. Um what that means is that the host committee is a private

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nonprofit created here locally. Many people think we are FIFA because we are branded under that again regulatory framework. But we are a separate entity. We're actually housed and and have been housed in Coral Gables and Proono space. Everything we do we you know we partner

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with the community and with our board members and um where our offices are actually across the street. FIFA the organization um is headquartered the World Cup operations is actually headquartered in Miami in Coral Gables. Originally um

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they started with about 400 to 500 employees. They're growing very quickly in preparation for the implementation of the World Cup and right now they have over a thousand employees housed here in South Florida. There are 16 host cities in the North American continent. It is a

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brand new business model that FIFA is implementing. Miami is one of 11 host cities in the United States and it is the largest World Cup in the history of the World Cup. As a host city, we are charged with making sure that we are prepared to host the the World Cup and

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the seven matches that are happening here. We are responsible for raising all the funds related to the operational requirements. Those operational requirements include everything from um public safety to transportation to fan activations to a fan festival which we

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are proud to be able to host in downtown Miami through a partnership with the city of Miami. We have received not only financial support but in kind support from three um government and obviously agencies Miami, Miami Beach and Miami

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date county. And through those public relationships um we have been able to establish um the core of what it is that that we have to implement. We're in the process actually and have been together with our partners throughout the country very active in accessing federal funding

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which um just today actually the grant award was finalized and we were notified of that grant award to be able to reimburse the public safety agencies that will be supporting the seven matches at the stadium. So all good news for us today. Um we are working with

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commercial partners and again we are limited in our commercial partnerships as part of the regulatory framework. FIFA has their traditional partners that many of you know all too well. Companies like Adidas, companies like um um Visa, companies like McDonald's, Home Depot

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are the official commercial partners of FIFA. What that means to a local host committee like ourselves is that we are not actually allowed to pursue any partners that are competitors in that industry. So every host committee has a very local market of opportunity for

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purposes of private fundraising and we are proud to partner. Our first supporter was Royal Caribbean and we are in the process of actually finalizing several of those types of commercial partnerships. So, I tell you all of that as a frame of reference for the operating environment that I'm charged

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with operating under. I have a very small staff made up of about 20 people. We're probably one deep in every type of professional category. We have a CFO that doubles as the HR director, the procurement director, the chief administrative officer. We have a chief

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operating officer. Many of us are um former public safety um people. We have a retired police chief. We have several public safety professionals on our team um as well as another former city manager. Again, all of us doing all that

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we can to make sure that the Miami is prepared to host the World Cup. Seven matches. You will be proud and happy to know that the um match happening in Miami on June 27th, Portugal and Colombia is the single most soughta

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ticket in the world. um more soughta than the kickoff um in Mexico or the final in New York. We have another match Brazil and Scotland also probably top five um it's it's probably top 10 right now sought after tickets. So what we

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know is that Miami while we're not hosting the opener or the final is a very popular destination and a place where people want to come to be involved in our matches. The fan festival as I described to you will be 23 days in Bayfront Park. We made a very conscious

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decision to kick off our fan festival on the front end of the tournament and have a continuous fan festival. Every city again is operating under different parameters. Some cities have chosen to have dark days and activate during very specific matches. We chose again as an

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opportunity not only for our residents but for our visiting public to be able to have as much activation as possible. at the beginning part of the tournament, you have the most viewing opportunities because the matches happen three, four times a day. And so, we want to make sure that we offer our residents and the

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visiting public as much opportunity. So, we will be operating our FanFest from June um 13th through July 5th. And following that period, we're working on collaborations such as hopefully what will be the outcome of our conversation tonight, not only with regions and with

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cities, but we will be hosting um different viewing opportunities post FanFest to be able to bring the World Cup to different sections of the community. We have as part of uh our mission, not required in our contractual relationship, but as part of our

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mission, a very real interest in bringing soccer to communities that don't haven't had the exposure. And we believe very much in the passion for the game in South Florida. And so we're working together with the county commission. Again, the county commission was our most significant funer. And

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we're rolling out, we started two weeks ago, and we're rolling out a community clinics program that will roll out to 16 different jurisdictions and areas and districts throughout the county. This Friday, we're doing one at Oakrove Park and um through Commissioner McGee, we're working with the city as well to roll

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one out in Homestead. Um and these are clinics, opportunities for the youth to come and participate in a clinic, but also soccer education together with the the day. We bring um services to that day. And so again, something that we're very committed to a legacy program um

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that doesn't just speak to infrastructure because infrastructure, you know, you need a commercial partner to be able to do infrastructure improvements, but we wanted very much before the World Cup to be able to bring those types of opportunities to the community. because the logos that you

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see in all of your scarves are tied to the intellectual property that FIFA owns. Um, we've tried to be creative in creating a campaign that we will be able to use without the restrictions that the commercial brand has. And so we've created a campaign that we just started

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to roll out this weekend that we call one game, one passion. And before I conclude my comments, I'm going to close out hopefully with a one one minute um reel that we just rolled out this weekend to really just highlight for you what we believe is the passion of the

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game that exists here in South Florida and the spirit that we hope that you know we can see in the collaborations with cities like Homestead and throughout not only Miami date county but Broward as well. I will be um actually participating and speaking to

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Broward next week and Palm Beach County. Teams will be all over the South Florida region. There's actually a base camp that's going to be headquartered in Tampa. There'll be B base camps in Palm Beach. The team hotels will be in different destinations. So, the World Cup will be all over the state of

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Florida. And we're very excited and grateful um to all of you for the opportunity to be here. If we could roll that video and I'm happy to stay for any questions that you may have. Do you feel it? That moment

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before everything begins. Before the first whistle, time slows down. Because in that moment, everything else fades away. In Miami, football is not just played, it's carried from homes we left, from

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families we missed, and from dreams that brought us here. Every match >> is a way back. >> Every goal is a memory. And every whistle makes us one.

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>> It's not just a game. >> It's to remember who we are >> and who we become when we stand together. The truth is the world can feel divided but this game reminds us that we are one.

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>> One game, >> one passion. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Miss Hudach, for that presentation. And uh let me start by saying I played soccer or football when I was a youth and and and like the the young man doing the back flip trying to kick the ball in

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the goal. I tried that many times. Uh was never quite successful at it, but I tried. Um but uh I enjoyed uh growing up in the soccer world up until about 12 and then I decided golf was a better fit for me. But uh always a fan. Uh, Brazil

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is probably my favorite team because I was always a PLE fan. Sorry, that's who I'm going to be voting for. But, uh, uh, some of the ideas that we kind of came up with and I was just doing some, uh, talking around the table with the assistant city manager and and the city

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manager. Um, so, Vice Chair McGee with the county commission uh, has reached out to the city to host a youth soccer clinic on May 30th. Uh so we need to try and work with them to try and emphasize the importance of that and and make that

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uh come to fruition. And uh also looking at the city of Homestead uh hosting a fan zone experience as part of our July 4th uh celebration. Uh and then something downtown in the lawn area maybe between uh July 9th through the

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19th with a big activation on the last day uh where we can maybe look at closing down Chrome Avenue and and creating a big environment for that uh uh celebration basically. Um this gives us a regional leadership opportunity

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with the city uh and it helps us play a leadership role in organizing the entire South Dade uh participation and activities surrounding the the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Uh as Miss Hudac stated, there will be seven matches that will occur at the Hard Rock Stadium and our

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goal should be to ensure that our communities are actively engaged in the regional celebration. As part of that celebration, you know, uh we would like to position the city of Homestead as a regional hub for our World Cup fan engagement that includes neighboring municipalities throughout

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South Dade. So, not just Homestead, Florida City, but we want to reach all the way up into South Miami uh and create a a great event for for the whole South area. One of the things that I recommend uh that we do is a letter from the city of

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Homestead City Manager to the South Dade city managers encouraging the collaboration. Uh request that the mayor also reach out through the uh South Dade Mayor's Council to explore a regional initiative. uh look to uh explore opportunities and

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partner with the Homestead Miami Speedway as a potential host location for large-scale fan activations and uh watch parties uh during the the tournament. Again, we have to look at how we do that with the overall FIFA sponsorship, but

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we'll work through those details as we we get closer to it. uh also look to uh engage uh the additional professional sports teams here in South Florida. Uh you know uh including appearances from team mascots

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like the Miami Heat, the Miami Dolphins, uh Inter Miami, the Florida Panthers and Miami Marlins. You you kind of engage everybody and get them all included uh during this big event. uh also looking to do an uh entertainment entertainment and media

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activation uh during this time. Maybe sponsorship or media partnership with Siri Siri SiriusXM or local DJM dot to help energize our fans here in South. Uh another part that we discussed was

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looking at local universities to engage them to support programming, volunteers and cultural activations to include uh University of Miami Florida International, Miami Day College, St. Thomas Barry, uh, all the all the locals. And ultimately, this is going to be a

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tremendous, uh, community impact for South Dade and will capitalize the global attention surrounding the World Cup. And, uh, you know, being with the the recent approval of our soontobe football stadium uh, for uh, Miami FC,

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uh, this is just a tremendous kickoff uh, to get us ready for that in the future. And again, these are just all suggestions hoping to look at the council for looking at different funding opportunities that we might be able to do to help make this become a reality for South Date and Homestead because the

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future is here. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman. Mr. Manager, anything to add? Yeah, I think uh if time permits, let me ask the deputy city manager to walk us through a quick high level timeline and some of the exciting opportunities you want to roll

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out in in Salade. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilwoman Fletcher. Um at a very high level, I will provide the the game plan pun on word game plan uh in three prongs. Um, as Councilman Fletcher

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referenced, uh, the city has received a request from Vice Chair McGee to facilitate a youth soccer clinic. Um, the thought is that we would utilize, should council approve it, we would utilize that opportunity as the official

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kickoff. Um, in speaking with uh, Mrs. Hudac um yesterday uh that would be an official FIFA Miami team event. So they would bring all of the um

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activi activations um from a coordination perspective with the city. We would need to work with uh PH the sports performance hub. Um they have identified Homestead Regional Park as the ideal location. Um so we would

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need to look to them to to get the green light for that activation to take place. Um the second part of the the game plan would look at and this is this this piece uh requires some fine-tuning

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having learned about the um stringent uh regulations surrounding FIFA on how we engage the commercial business side. So the initial plan was to look to our restaurants um regionally and engage

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them with a partnership. I think we are um at the direction of the manager with consultation from um um Mrs. Hudac and her team. We're going to look at rightsizing that uh primarily because we do not the city would not want to be in

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a in a situation where we partner with a restaurant and they don't follow the FIFA rules and then there is exposure to the city. Right? So, um there is some right sizing that needs to needs to be considered in that regard. So, that's

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part two. Um on July 4th, we know it's going to be a race to the fourth event. Um we are looking to merge there is a game on July 4th. So we are looking to create a uh a fan experience as a part

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of our July 4th celebration. So we know that the big picture is America 250 the patriotic celebration. However, we intend or the the the the game plan is that we would do a smaller activation that uh persons can experience and watch

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the game um should they want to. And then we would round out the the season or or the the the celebration. So from July 9th through 19th, that would constitute the official I I would say

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than experience in downtown Homestead. Or as um Councilman Fletcher said, if if the council decides to take a more regional approach, um we could certainly look to um you know, another site

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location uh that would facilitate a larger gathering for South Dade. So that is direction that we would look for council to opine on. And then if we decide that Lzner Park is the location that we we we gain consensus on on the

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World Cup game, yes, it will not be here in um South Florida, but the recommendation would be that we close down uh Chrome. We invite the food trucks and just truly have um an outdoor

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watch party where we're celebrating the entire um experience and and the the the journey of the World Cup. Again, for purposes as we've gotten guidance from the uh World Cup FIFA World Cup Miami team, we will uh stay away from FIFA

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references, World Cup references. We will align um our marketing engagement plan with the one game one passion subbrand. Right? So that is that. So following this discussion if we gain

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consensus to continue planning you will see a shift where we will no longer reference it as FIFA or World Cup. We will go with the uh I think the the manager says 2026 big soccer game uh aka

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the one game one uh passion uh marketing model. So that that that is what you will hear and see um if council if council uh gives direction to proceed. So that's at a very high level the plan um and we look forward to any additional

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guidance or questions that we may answer. Thank you, Deputy Manager. Council, any initial questions or or comments? Councilwoman, >> thank you, Mayor. This is very exciting. Um, I did have a question for

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clarification. The car uh report says June 11th to June to July 19th or are we considering July 9th like? The entire fan than experience will be June 11th because that is the beginning of the big

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game big soccer game season uh through July 19th which is the I have to say this one the World Cup game right it's the it's the end so that is why we have captured the entire uh period the downtown or

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what we are calling downtown homestead piece of it where the city would activate would be from July 9th through the 19th. Having learned about the uh fan experience that um will happen in Bayfront Park that will run

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until July 5th, I think it it's a good complement uh to what the Miami host team is planning. >> Thank you. And um with regards to the budget that we have here, the fan zone

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of 30,000, is there an opportunity for us to reach out to the South Date Chamber of Commerce and invite them to participate in um setting up in the fan zone. So the the that's that that uh that preliminary

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budget that you have um outlined, Councilwoman, uh does does also look to us identifying sponsors. So yes, we would have to we would have to reach out to the anchor employers

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um to to make it happen. >> Would there be a restriction on which businesses due to the commercial uh conflict or with the different branding approach? We wouldn't have an issue. >> We we would have we would want to take guidance from um the host committee.

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>> So So before Alina steps to the podium, we asked her for a special favor and she agreed yesterday. Once we finalize a plan, run it by each council member, we will run it by her office for legal sufficiency guidance. They do have the

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licensing from FIFA. We don't want to expose the city and of course with the advice of city attorney's office, we reach out to Alina's office to provide us guidance what is doable, the dos and don'ts and she graciously accepted to guide us.

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>> Yeah. >> And again, thank you. this when we had this discussion, it was before we had actually had the meeting with the folks from the Miami team. Um, again, this is big picture idea, you know, to try and put a a face on Homestead and South Dade uh with the assistance that we can with

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the with the team. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do do you want me to address Yeah. Okay. Um, well, and thank you all for your leadership, which is amazing. I wish I had, you know, 34 of you. Um the the public viewing guidelines are tricky because there are they're defined by

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FIFA in different categories. There's public viewing over a certain number of spectators. There's a public viewing below that and then there's commercial when there's a cost associated with attending the actual viewing. Um the the rights are tied to the two broadcast

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partners, Fox and Telmundo. And again that the process requires a licensing fee. Um and I've committed to CD Mr. manager that we would be your partner in that and we would actually perhaps even access the feed on your behalf to keep the cost down. Um but with that comes

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all of the restrictions that are associated with the commercial partners. Now that again I I don't see where that would impact your very local businesses and your local um restaurants and certainly I think that you know obviously there's lots of opportunity at

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a microlo level to be able to raise the kind of money that you would have to raise to do something like this. >> Thank you. And and the you know those questions are are important to me because um you know I would really like the opportunity to help with spreading the news on the opportunity to try to

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offset the cost. It is a it is a large sum of money for us to invest. Um, and if there's also ways we can bring in tourism funds. Do we have an account under our tourism committee that we could also use towards this? >> Yeah, we do have some tourism funding. I

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think there's 10,000 in that. And look, I think this the 30,000 number that we're that's just kind of shot in the dark. I think it could be much more than that, you know, depending on on where we want to go with this. Again, this is just an overall big idea. Let's let's figure out what the details need to be, but this was trying to gain some

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consensus among each of us so we could move forward for a big event. That's all. And and if we're able to do it, I think it's going to be extremely exciting for the city of Homestead. >> Thank you. I >> I agree. I think um is the LNER park the ideal location that you have in mind or did you also consider if it's even

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available this the the racetrack? So we looked at two different things you know for you know initially was uh of course the the event with Chairman McGee the kickoff on May 30th but July 4th being a big expansion of that to include our

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neighboring cities and then ultimately it would be to activate downtown but if it's bigger than what we think then we have to look at other venues and I think again we're at the we're at the baby steps portion of this where we're not even crawling yet we're we're right there but we have we have a little

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homework to over the next couple of weeks to get this thing moving. Will this will this be coming back to us for another decision or I think this is it direction to give you guys our >> you give us direction today to move on with the planning stage of this once the

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budget and the plan is finalized vetted by the respective stakeholders we will come back to council for approval of the final budget in the interim we'll be looking at reaching out to all the specific stakeholders PH Baptist hospital BJS and the rest for funding

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and sponsorship in terms of money and uh there is a reason why we want to concentrate on loss park. We don't know yet how the weather condition is going to be towards that date. So it gives us a two-step approach. You can have an indoor activation in seminal theater as

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well as outdoors. So the elderly folks and young kids that need sitting areas can stay inside the laws inside the seminal theater and the rest can be outdoors. as in the attraction I see. >> Well, overall I think it's a a great

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opportunity to shine the light on city of Homestead and to incorporate the businesses to participate and uh I'd be looking forward to supporting the item. Thank you, >> Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes, this will talk. Okay, this is the

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biggest party in the world. Okay, it's a privilege having the hosting committee over here and yes, I will be gladly to approve this and you know flesher fle was my my hometown. That guy was something else and Brazil was my team

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when I was a kid. So, I was I'm with you with that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilman, Vice Mayor. >> Thank you, Mayor. Definitely very excited about this. Um, we need to start practicing and talking the talk from

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here on out. It is football. It is not soccer. Okay. So, let's get that piece right. Um, but just one little thing to to consider. I I love the idea of LNER Park and being being able to incorporate the seminal theater. Um, I'm sure there will be other opportunities to host

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something in larger larger areas, but to be able to activate the downtown and just bring all different cultures together. Um, that's one of the things we're going to talk about a little bit in the Haitian Heritage event is, uh, football is one thing. It's a universal

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language. Um, so very excited about that. Um, we talked about it a little before when this first came up as a discussion four years ago. I believe it was AYSO who was looking for some funding and we got creative and tried to help some of the local businesses

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decorate minimal minimal effort uh minimal dollars. Um but let's say it's it's two different countries playing that day. Uh we could set up these these local businesses that were interested in hosting somewhat of a watch party obviously with the regular TVs they have

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there. Um but to make it fun and to to draw attention to these businesses is also a very big piece. It might be on the smaller scale for us but but a big difference and helping to put them on the map. So something for consideration

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and can't wait. But it's a Netherlands that will be uh victorious this time around. >> Thank you. Anyone else? I think they in short, we're we're being asked tonight to give a thumbs up or a thumbs

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down to go to, you know, beyond the very first baby step of let's jail these plans, try to put some real numbers to it and >> thumbs up >> and go forward. Oh, do we have a council consist consist

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>> consensus to uh >> to allow the manager and his staff to go forward with putting this together? Come back. >> What you need? >> Okay. >> Again, thank you for coming down. It's exciting times for South Florida on

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many different levels. All right. So I want to jump now with if there's no objection and go ahead and cover tabs 12, 13, 14, and 15, which deal with our insurance renewals. Believe a representative from Brown and

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Brown is here. I don't want to hold uh them up too long tonight for the rest of the agenda. So uh let's let's start with tab 13. Tab uh tab 12. So, mayor and council type 12 is a resolution to authorize the purchase of

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property insurance for city-owned non-power plant properties excluding city hall, the police station, and Sagarium. Uh, thanks to the very excellent work that has been done by Brown and Brown, uh, we're getting a 3.76%

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reduction in the premium. >> Very good. Mr. Mr. White, want to read the resolution, please? Yes. Tab 12 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Florida waving competitive bidding bidding requirement for city-owned property insurance contract excluding city hall police stations

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librarium and power plant and substations with national fire and marine insurance company Lloyds of London Endurance American Specialty Company Evson Insurance Company and Landmark American Insurance Company in accordance with city code section 2-411 sub paragraph E

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exemptions from competitive bidding authorizing the transaction and providing for an effective Thank you. Let's go ahead and read 13,4 and 15 and we'll have the global discussion and individual votes. >> Sure. Tab 13 is a resolution of the city. >> Hang on. Hang on, James. There is a

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substitution for tap 13 that was shared this afternoon. Uh the money's changed. So instead of a 10% reduction, we're getting a 19.6% reduction. Almost twice as much reduction. >> Very good.

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>> Right. That's the only minor change, right? >> But there's no change in the title of the resol. >> No change in the title. Yeah. So tab 13, a resolution of the city council of city homes of Florida waving competitive bidding requirement for city- owned property insurance contract for the police station located at 45 northwest

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1st Avenue, city hall located at 100 Northeast Civic Court and the Cyberium located at 8 80 West Maui Drive through the Arrowhead General Insurance Agency as program manager of Princeton Access and Surplus Lines Insurance Company, General Security Indemnity Company of Arizona, Steadfast Insurance Company,

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Transfer Specialty Insurance Company, accredited Specialty Insurance Company QBE Specialty Insurance Company in accordance with city code section 2-411E exemptions from competitive bidding authorizing transaction providing for an effective date. Tab 14 is the resolution

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of city council of city pumped Florida relating competitive bidding requirement for power plant and substation insurance contract with star surplus lines insurance company and with chub insurance in accordance with city code section 2-411e exemptions from competitive bidding authorizing transaction providing for an effective

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date and finally tab 15 is a resolution of city council of the city of Homestead Florida waving competitive bidding requirement for terrorism insurance contract with his cox written through Lloyds of London in accordance with city code section 2-41E exemptions from competitive bidding, authorizing transaction, and providing for an

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effective date. >> Thank you, Mr. Manager. Anything to add? We sounds like we did very well this year on premium reductions. >> Excellent. Uh we want to give special thanks to Bran and Brown. uh up until

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late yesterday afternoon, they were still working on these items which made us receive an additional double reduction in the premium for the city hall uh coverage. Initially, it was a 10% reduction in premium. As of this afternoon, it had gone up to 19.6%

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reduction in the premium. >> Thank you, Brandon Brown. >> Very good. And uh >> mayor, can I real quick? So, going back to tab 13 with the reductions, I have two different cover sheets. One says it's a

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decrease of 10% and one says a decrease of 25.7%. You're saying it's 19%. >> I don't know what councilman I don't know what uh you have in front of you. What I have here is originally for T was

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originally 10%. >> Have that one. So this afternoon, Brand and Brand came back. Uh you want to speak to that? >> So I I think the confusion is that the total decrease is 25.7, but the number that you're seeing um

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Councilman Roth is the 19 is on top of the original 10. So the original was the the original um decrease was about 10%. And then Brown and Brown went back and got an additional 19 and change.

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>> That'll be 29. >> I'm getting confused. >> Let's have our insurance lady explain. >> Councilman Roth, do you have there was there was revised information for tab 13 that was handed out. >> Yeah, we we've got that. >> It says 25.7 in the revised narrative.

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Hi, good evening everyone. >> Welcome. >> Michelle Wilson with Bren and Brown. >> Um, usually there's an older gentleman up here. So, >> new face. Um, very good question. So, the 25.7% is your reduction from last year's

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premium from 2025. What city manager was saying was we originally came in 10% decrease from 2025 and I'm sorry 10% decrease from 2025 and

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we came in now with a 25.7% from 2025. The 20% is from the first premium that we originally gave you for 2026. So for 2026 our original premium was 218,000.

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So that would have been 218,000 from the 240,000 from last year. Now we're coming in at 178,000. I'm not sure what summary you guys have in front of you.

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>> So where's the 19% coming at? What is that? >> 19% is from the original quote that we provided which was 218%. 218,000. >> I'm sorry. 218,000.

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>> That was our original quote. >> Okay. So, so we're going to enjoy the 25.7% decrease in premium. >> You got it. >> 19% doesn't mean anything to us anymore. And the original 10% doesn't mean anything to us anymore. >> Correct. From 2025 to 2026, you're

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seeing a 25.7% decrease. >> Well, thank you and thank you for the explanation and thank you for working that hard for us. We appreciate that. >> Amen. Yeah, once we got more competitors into the game, they they definitely stepped up. >> Good. Thank you. >> Absolutely. >> That's all, mayor.

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>> And of course, thank you. And one caveat in speaking this afternoon to that unnamed older gentleman, we did recognize there is the potential for an increase on the the cap of our sovereign immunity, which could impact

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some of our liability in the future. We'll have to make those decisions later. You got it. >> All right. Thank you. >> So, all right. We have a mo on tab 12. We have a motion by Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Second by Councilwoman Cannibal. There's

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nothing further. Let's have a roll call vote on tab 12. >> Councilwoman Avula, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Ross, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries. So, I need a motion

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to approve tab 13 for the purchase of that coverage. Moved by Councilman Roth. >> Second by Councilman Cannibal. Let's have a roll call. >> Councilwoman Ksky? >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal? >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Avula? >> Yes. >> Councilman Roth? Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher? >> Yes.

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>> Vice Mayor Bailey? >> Yes. >> Mayor Losner? >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> And can I have a motion for tab 14? Moved by Councilman Roth. >> Second by Vice Mayor Bailey. Roll call, Madam Clerk. >> Councilman Roth. Yes. Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes.

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>> Councilwoman Abula, Councilman Fletcher, yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, Vice Mayor Bailey, Mayor Losner, yes. >> The motion carries. >> And finally, tab 15. Moved by Councilman Roth. >> Second by Councilman Cannibal. So, roll call, please, Madam Clerk. Tab 15.

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>> Counciloman Councilwoman Abul. >> Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilman Roth, Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. The motion carries. >> Thank you for coming out tonight.

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Appreciate it. Glad we were able to uh get you out of here in a reasonable amount of time. Okay, we will go back to agenda item four, which are additions, deletions, or deferrals. Mr. Manager, do you have any

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>> uh Mr. Mayor and Council, there's only one substitution. I believe it's for tab number 19 for the senior prom. I think it's been distributed already. I believe it's been inserted into our our agenda packet. Was mine earlier. Um Mr. White,

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last month we had deferred the potential accessory dwelling use ordinance until tonight. It seems that there's no reason to to deal with that based on legislative action at this point. Can we defer it indefinitely until such time as

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we feel it needs to to be readressed? You could certainly but but you're correct in that the pending legislation that was being discussed in Tallahassee >> did not go forward. >> Did not go forward. >> Right. >> So, >> but it could next session.

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>> Could next session. So, we could just keep the the ordinance in oveance and until such time as you all direct otherwise we can bring it forward. >> So, do we need to take any formal action tonight? I think you can just defer it not to a date certain and we can just readvertise it.

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>> All right. Moved by Councilwoman Avala, second by Councilman Fletcher. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. That takes us then to Thank you, Mr. White. That takes us to the consent agenda. Tabs 1 A, B,

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and C. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? It's been moved. We have a second. Any questions or comments? All in favor? That takes us to tab six. M. Item six, Mr. White.

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>> Yes. Tab six is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida adopting and authorizing the submission of amended 2020 2021 annual action plan United States Department of Housing and Urban Development for approval reallocating CDBGCV funds. No.

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Tab six. Item six. The the legislative >> tab two. >> Sorry. It's the second reading of an ordinance to the city of home serve Florida amending city code of ordinances by amending chapter 16 local business taxes and business regulations article 2 local business tax receipt section 1640

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schedule of local business taxes by adopting the North American industry classification system manual to replace the standard industrial classification system as a standard by which all business occupations and professions subject to a local business tax shall be classified. repealing and replacing

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related provisions to reflect the adoption of the NICS manual providing for serverability inclusion of the code conflicts and providing for an effective date. This is second and final reading. >> Thank you. Second reading. Any questions or comments from councel? Is there anyone wishing to speak on this

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item? There anyone online? All right. I will close the public hearing and ask for a motion to approve on second reading. Moved by Cannibal, second by >> Fletcher. Councilman Fletcher. Roll call, please, Madam Clerk.

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>> Councilwoman Abula. >> Councilwoman Ksky. Councilman Roth. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. >> Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> We on to tab three. Second reading. Tab three is a second reading of an ordinance to the city of Homes Florida

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amending the city code of ordinances by amending chapter 30 zoning article 4 supplemental district regulations division one generally to create section 30-4052 entitled frontage definition for addressing purposes establishing standards for determining official property addressing for interior lots

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corner lots vacant parcels commercial and mixeduse properties and double frontage lots providing for severability inclusion in the code conflicts and providing for an effective date this is second and final reading >> thank you Mr. Mr. Wright, are there any questions or comments from council on this item? So, let me open the floor for

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public comment. Okay, I'll close the public hearing. Ask for a motion to approve. Moved by Councilman Roth. Second by Councilwoman Avala. Roll call, please, Madam Clerk. On tap three. Councilman Fletcher.

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>> Councilwoman Ksky. >> Councilwoman Ailu. >> Yes. >> Councilman Cibal. Councilman Ross. Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Yes. Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> Moving on to tab four. >> Yes. Tab four is a second reading of an ordinance to the city of Homestead Florida amending the budget for the

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Stormwater Utility Fund for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2025 and ending September 30th, 2026 by increasing the total budgeted revenues and expenditures by 2 million providing for servability providing for an effective date to the second and final reading. >> Any objection to waving the staff

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report? Didn't think so. Do we have a motion to approve tab four? Moved by Councilman Fletcher, >> second by Councilman Cannibal. And I already had reasonable opportunity to be heard, so we don't need to open the public hearing. We did that at the front of the meeting. So, let's have a

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roll call. >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Councilwoman Avula, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, yes. >> Mayor Osman, yes. >> The motion carries. >> Thank you. Tab five. Tab five is a

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second reading of an ordinance to the city of Homes, Florida, amending chapter 19 of the city code by creating article 7 entitled squatters by adding definitions providing for methods of enforcement referencing sections 82.036 and 82.037 Florida statutes and requiring information to be submitted to the city

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for enforcement against violations providing for inclusion in the code providing preservability providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date. This is second and final reading. >> Thank you sir. Moved by Councilman Cannibal. We have a second. No objection to the reading of the staff

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report. So, let's have a roll call on tab five. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Calibal, >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries.

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>> Thank you. Tab six. AB six is a resolution of city council of the city of Homestead Florida adopting and authorizing submission of amended 20202 annual action plan to the United States Department of Housing Urban Development for approval reallocating CBDG funds providing for implementation providing

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for an effective date. >> Thank you. Any objection to waving the staff report? Moved by Councilomana. I have a second. Second by Councilman Cannibal. Any further question or comments from council? >> Mr. Mayor. >> Yes. I think there is a minor

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amendment the administration would like to propose. Um the references in the scope of work that the eligible funds are to be for replacement of restroom doors at James Archer Smith Park and Witcock Park and

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other eligible city park restroom facilities. Want to strike the word restrooms and leave it just park facilities. >> Sorry. the maker of the motion and second. Okay. >> Thank you, Mr. Manager. >> I have more more encompassing.

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>> Yes. >> So, just for clarification, if bathroom doors will be installed before you move to another park and fix other doors, those restrooms should be painted first. >> That's correct. >> Thank you.

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>> Very good. Okay. So, we're covered there. Did we have a motion and a second one? I think we did. Okay. Okay. So, let's have a roll call vote. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Counciloman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher,

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>> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Tastes tab seven. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Tab seven. >> Yeah. >> Tab seven is a resolution of city council of the city of Homestead, Florida approving the award of a

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contract to H&R Paving Inc. and National Traffic Solutions, Inc. for ITB number 202602 street resurfacing providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Much needed. Any questions or

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comments from councel? This one. We have a motion moved by the vice mayor. Second by councilman Cannibal. There's nothing further from council. I'll ask for a roll call vote on tab seven. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abilo.

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>> Yes. Councilman Cannibal. Yes. >> Councilman Roth. Councilwoman Ksky. Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion car. >> And moving on to tab eight. And describe that piece of equipment three times quickly. Tab 8 is a resolution of the city

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council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the award of ITB number 202612, purchase of sequencing batch reactor decanters or the wastewater treatment facility to Flowine Corp. in the amount

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of $434,800 providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Do we have a motion to approve this item? Moved by Councilman Fletcher, second by Councilman Cannibal. Any questions or comments from council on item eight? And appearing, I will ask

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for a roll call vote on tab eight, please. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Roth, yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> Mayor Osman, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> Moving on to tab nine regarding

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recycling surf services. >> Yes. Tab nine is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the ranking of the evaluation committee of proposers to RFP 202609 recycling services authorizing the city

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manager to negotiate and enter into an agreement with the top rank firm Waste Management Inc. Florida. Such agreement shall be subject to approval as to form and legal sufficiency by the city attorney, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Do we have a motion on this

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item? Moved by Vice Mayor Bailey, second by Councilman Fletcher. There any questions or comments on this item regarding recycling services? >> Seeing none, I'll ask for a roll call vote. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilman Roth, >> yes.

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>> Councilwoman Abul, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Mayor Lawson, >> yes. >> The motion carried. >> And tab 10, from the wastewater plant to the power plant. AB 10 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving amendment

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to the existing purchase power agreement between the city of Homestead and Florida Power and Light Company, providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Uh do we have a motion on this item? Moved by Councilman, seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Any questions or

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comments on on this item? Renew a purchase power agreement fire and light. Seeing none, then I'll ask for a roll call vote. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Council Ra, yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Avula, Vice Mayor Bailey,

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Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries. >> And moving on to tab 11. >> Tab 11 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, authorizing and approving the execution of the third amended and restated interlocal agreement between Miami Day County and the city for the

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use of the county solid waste management system, providing for implementation, and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you, sir. Do we have a motion on this item? Moved by Councilwoman Aavala, second by Councilman Roth. Anything further from councel? Not up here. So

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now I'm hearing things and it's not even 7:30. Okay. So what's all right? So let the record reflect that the second was by Councilman Cannibal on tab 11 and we'll have a roll call vote. >> Councilwoman Abula. >> Yes.

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>> Councilman Cannibal. >> Councilman Roth. Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. Vice Mayor Bailey. Mayor Losner. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> And uh we've been through 12, 13, 14,

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and 15. So that takes us to tab 16. >> Yes. Tab 16 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida authorizing a first amendment with Tyler Technologies, Inc. for software as service and associated professional services for existing services and including a new recreation

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dynamics exempting the procurement from competitive bidding in accordance with section 2-411.12B of the city code authorizing city manager to execute all necessary documents and to approve a price adjustment up to 10% providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Do we have a motion on this

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item? Moved by the vice mayor, second by Councilman Fletcher. Any questions or comments with respect to tab 16 from council? >> Hearing none. Let's have a roll call vote. >> Councilman Roth, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Avil,

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>> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Councilwoman Ksky, Vice Mayor Bailey, yes. >> Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carries >> and we've covered tab 17. So,

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we're moving on. Um, Mr. Manager, what business do you have for us? You put it less close to the end so I don't cut you off. >> Next item, business from the city manager. It's on my cheat sheet.

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>> Oh, I think we have tab 18, >> right? >> Oh, >> yeah. >> Okay. So go go go ahead kick us off. >> So on April 1st we have the Miami date county property appraisal coming back to

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homestead. We reached out to the office to see if the office can come back and help our residents in anticipation of filing their tax returns to ensure that people don't make mistakes of not picking up the deductions and the eligible uh tax uh benefits that are

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entitled to. So, the county property appraisal is coming on April 1st at Dickensson Community Center with the entire staff. If you need to file for homestead exemption or O related benefits, you'll be able to do it

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onsite. You don't have to go to downtown Miami or go online. They will be on staff here at Dickensson Center from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. that day. >> What was that date? >> April 1st. >> April 1st. Yeah. So, it's going to be approximately two weeks before filing.

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>> That's no joke. >> So, I think it's something that we want to socialize to all the city residents, businesses, and anyone that owns property in the city. This is an opportunity to come back. Cross all your tees, dot your eyes, make sure you are not leaving any money on the table. It's

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going to be if you want us to schedule you at a specific time, please also let us know before that date. I want to use this opportunity to also thank uh Mr. Alina Hudak and uh Councilman Sean Fletcher for the support

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they have provided in crafting a plan for the city's local activation at the World Cup. That's all I have. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Manager. Mr. Attorney, do we need to call for any executive sessions? I >> have nothing this evening, Mr. Mayor.

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>> Thank you, Councilman Fletcher. Nothing additional. Happy uh ides of March and uh look forward to uh next council business. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you, Councilwoman Ksky.

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>> Okay. It's early. If you change your mind, we can come back. Councilman Roth. Very good. Steamrolling to 7:30. Councilman Cannibal. >> Very good. Okay. Okay. Councilwoman

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Avala. >> Thank you, Mayor. There is an item under tab 18 for uh smoke. >> So, let's have the attorney go ahead and read that in >> smokefree parks. Thank you. >> Tab 18, an ordinance of the city of Homestead, Florida. First reading of an

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ordinance to the city of Homestead, Florida, amending the city of Homestead Code of Ordinances by creating article six, smokefree parks of chapter 20, parks and recreation to prohibit smoking and vaping in city parks subject to applicable state law limitations. Providing for related definitions,

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prohibition signage and enforcement, providing for codification, writing for conflict severability, and providing for an effective date first reading. >> Thank you. So, I was surprised to find out that our code didn't have anything specific for this. I appreciate the city manager bringing uh the request to our

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attention from um the organization, is it the health department? Um so, this basically codifies our current um administrative uh approach which is with the signage etc. And uh but it does also

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set in place a um s fines that could be issued for those who are not compliant. But um interestingly cigars are okay apparently under the law. So you know dominoes and cigars are okay in the park

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unfortunately. But no vaping, no cigarettes, no other stuff >> as it should be. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Any questions or comments? Yes, Vice Mayor Raley, >> just one comment. Definitely obviously agree with this. Um, but I've had a few

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concerns brought up the last couple months, especially in front of the PAL. Once in a blue moon, I'm walking through Lner Park and I'll smell something. But specifically in front of the PAL, a couple of the families with the afterchool program, there's a group that has been hanging out in the smaller

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playground um often. So, if we can please make sure that we have units there doing regular stops, that would be great. >> We'll do. >> Mayor, if I may add, if I can also just get some clarification, will this

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resolution give the staff the ability to um redo and create fresh signage so that it's large and noticeable and in more places than we currently have. >> That's correct. Real quick, I thought I heard James say

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article six and it says article seven. >> Just for the record. >> Yes, you're correct. I misspoke. >> Just so there's a so it's clear on the record. It's it's article six, not article 7. >> Six allows it.

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>> Six allows it. Seven doesn't. >> Creating article six. >> But we're creating article seven, right? >> Creating article seven. There you go. Thank you. >> Right. And you know, just to to the council woman's point about signage, you know, as we begin to implement our brown

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branding and new consistent signage throughout our system, that would be a really good opportunity to prominently display smokefree park, what whatever the language needs to be, at an entrance, incorporated into our new

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style signage. Okay. So, would you like to move that council on? Moved by Councilwoman Ava, seconded by Vice Mayor Bailey, by Councilman Fletcher. >> Just a quick question. You know, many of our parks have multiple entrances, so this could become quite extensive and

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expensive. Uh, you know, Harrisfield, uh, JD Red, multiple entrances. >> It's all about placement. >> Yeah. Okay. Just Yeah. Keep that in mind. >> Thanks. >> Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. >> Let's have a roll call. Councilwoman Ksky,

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>> yes. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> Counciloman Ross, >> Counciloman Fletcher, yes. >> Councilwoman Abula, yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey, Mayor Losner, >> yes. >> The motion carried. >> Thank you. Um, Mr. White, tab 19, please. >> Yes. Tab 19 is a resolution of the city

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council of the city of Homestead, Florida, establishing a senior prom for senior residents. Oh, I'm sorry, reading the wrong. The substitution is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead Florida co-sponsoring a senior prom with the office of Miami

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Day County Commissioner District 9 McGee for the benefit of senior residents of the city of Homestead and Miami Day County providing for coordination of the event authorizing the use of funds from the other events account within the special events budget providing for implementation and providing for an

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effective date. >> Thank you uh councilwoman. >> Thank you mayor. So, in your packet, you have the original um estimate of what we were trying to um work with as trying to make a very affordable

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um senior prom event to be held at our FICO Williams Center. And uh thankfully and through a turn of events I was able to engage with commissioner McGee's office and they were um very welcome to

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join forces and host their annual senior prom event in lie of us hosting an independent one at our FICO William Center. So, this would um create an opportunity for us to collaborate and

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have a much larger um uh reach and um impact to senior citizens and to promote welcoming in the community and fellowship with an investment of $10,000 towards the event. And the event will be

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slated for July, I'm sorry, June 12th at uh FICO Williams as I've mentioned. And I appreciate the support. >> Thank you. And >> this is through a collaboration as well with Jennifer, Vice Mayor Jennifer Bailey. And uh this would be the city's

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event, not our event, but we would obviously be very strong in helping with the planning and execution to make sure that it goes well. >> Very good. Thank you. questions or comments from council on on this item? Vice Mayor, >> just a clarification on the budget and the funding. I know that it came up a

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little bit during um during the briefings is it's up to $10,000 and even though obviously Vice Chair McGee's events are 60,000 plus, um I think the main idea for us having a little bit of

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a budget set aside is just to make sure that some pieces that that we might feel stronger about um are being able to to be visualized, right? if if we require the trolleys to help us pick up some of our um seniors in the area, if we have

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specifics on how the look is. Um having hosted the MLK breakfast there. So, just to to clarify, this isn't $10,000 going to the county. It's more for obviously Councilwoman Avula, Miss Mallerie from the Southwest Advisory Committee has

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been helping her as well. So, thank you for taking that piece on. It's it's a piece that that I have wanted to see for a long time. So, um, thank you for that. And just a little clarification on the budget piece. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And vice mayor in in that regard. So, if

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obviously the county has much larger budget ability than we do. So, this was originally envisioned as a city project at $20,000 and now it's 70 up to 70 potentially.

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So, is that additional funding from the county to pay vendors more? Is it to accommodate more folks? Any thoughts on on where the additional expenditures would would come in?

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>> As far as the county is concerned, I have not ever seen any of their breakdowns of budgets. I know that they have hosted it in larger spaces. Uh we obviously will be helping many more people than we initially thought we we

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could. >> Um until we see a breakdown in the budget, I I wouldn't have an answer for that. And I think this is also a good opportunity to partner with them this year. They've done these things before and it'll be a learning opportunity for

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us that we can continue it on years going forward. >> Teach you how to do it and just take their money later. >> That's the goal. That's that's no and and I guess Mr. Mayor we would be privy to the budgets and the vendors was all said and done

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>> from the county side >> from the county side. >> So I think there will be a joint planning effort between the city and the district 9 office. So we will extend assistance as needed. >> Yeah. >> And if there are any type of uh procurement issues or stuff we'll assist

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them as needed. >> Exactly. We talked earlier about the safeguards that our procurement department brings to the uh to the table. So I don't think we had a motion in a second yet. >> Okay. I'm sure she thanks you. Councilwoman thanks you. So we have a

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motion to say. Is there anything further from council? Any further from staff we need to know. >> Okay. So let's have a roll call vote on tab 19. >> Councilman Roth. Yes. >> Councilwoman Appula. Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky. Yes. >> Councilman Canal. Vice Mayor Bailey.

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Yes. Mayor Los. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> And Mr. White, if you could read tab 22 into the record. 20 into the record, please. >> Yes. Tab 20. This is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead,

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Florida sponsoring a Haitian Heritage Celebration in recognition of Haitian Heritage Month, providing for coordination of the event, authorizing the use of funds from the other events account within the special events budget. if sponsorship funding is unavailable or insufficient, providing

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for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor Bailey. >> Thank you, Mayor. This will be the third year where the city's collaborated with the umbrella piece of the Haitian um pastors

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association. Uh the reason for partnering with the Haitian Pastors Association is just because of their further reach into the community. Um, you see a great great representation in the back there. We have community partners, we have local business owners,

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we have assistant principles and a pastor. Um, but it is from all different um all different walks of the Haitian culture that we enjoy here in Homestead putting this together. It is meant to be something incredibly inclusive and open

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to the community. It is celebrating Flag Day as you heard Pastor Demoen talk about earlier today during um public comments and I just wanted to clarify the ask was not for 15,000. It was for 10,000. The 15,000 was just to show what

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previous budgets had been. So, I had asked during budget season if this is one of the events that we could include in as a budget line item. That wasn't um that wasn't possible at the time. So, it

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was moved into the miscellaneous piece. Uh, but as long as we are able to, the Hispanic heritage and the Haitian heritage events, I think, are incredibly important for our community for everyone to feel included and for us to all learn

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something new because the world is big and we need to learn as much about it as uh as possible. So, if you have any questions, I'm sure some of the uh the coordinators in the back are happy to answer them, but that is all I have for now. Thank you.

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>> Great. Thank you. And I understand there's quite a bit of sponsorship that has already been committed that's enabled the ask to be reduced >> there. Well, the the ask was it was was usually 10,000, but um yeah, there's been 27 different organizations that

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have been reached out to. We've had help from the county in previous years. So, we know that that piece is coming in. >> So, we'll this in a form of a motion by you to approve tab 20. Second by council woman with a comment. >> Yes. Thank you, mayor. I definitely

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support this um this item. Um I support it for the the purposes of not only the history lessons that the event brings to the attendees, but the youth sports programming, the economic development, incorporating the different businesses participating, the tourism attraction

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piece, and as well the community engagement with the free food and the music. So, thank you for working hard as a committee um on your own time to make these things happen and I appreciate the opportunity. >> Thank you. Okay. So, it's been moved and seconded. Any further question or

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comment on this item? If none, let's have a roll call vote on tab 20. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> yes. >> Councilman Ron, >> yes. >> Council Councilman Cannibal, >> yes. >> Councilman Fletcher, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> Vice Mayor Bailey, >> yes. >> Mayor Lawson, >> yes.

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>> The motion carries. >> And Vice Mayor, the next item is yours as well. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. So March is Women's History Month and we have

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numerous amazing female staff members. It was a little too hard to do something for everyone. So there is a very small token of appreciation on the desk in front plus a little plaque with a quote and something sweet uh to remind you how

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important it is and how much of an impact you are making for future leaders. Um the quote goes right women may we great women may we raise them may we be them.

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So, thank you all very much. Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite things ever. And there's a part where she leaves Wonderland and comes back years later and the Mad Hatter tells her, "You've changed. You used to be much muchier." So, I hope you ladies continue to be as

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much as possible and um continue doing amazing things and it's an honor to work with you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, mayor. Congratulations to to all and you know certainly to all of the

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women throughout our our city in the police department out in the parks and and seem to be majority procurement as well this evening. They all make the machine

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run well. Thank you. Okay. So my first item tab 21. If you'll read that Mr. White please. Yes. Tab 21 is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida proclaiming the month of April as National Autism Acceptance Month and April 2nd as World

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Autism Awareness Day, supporting Miami Day County Commissioner Raquel Regato's initiative encouraging municipalities across Miami Day County to fly the autism acceptance flag. directing the city manager to fly the autism acceptance flag beginning in April 2nd,

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2026 and throughout the month of April, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Thank you, Mr. White. And as we all I think know that this is a a cause that's near and dear to Commissioner Reggo's heart, affects many families and many of

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us or those that we know. Yes. Moved by Councilman Cannibal, second by Councilwoman. Appreciate the support. Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. Thank you. And uh one thing I'd like to offer uh as we look forward to to doing this one uh let's look at the other months uh for breast cancer

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awareness, prostate awareness, you know, the other significant events that affect all of us. I think we could be doing a a different flag every month to help support our community, but you know, let's let's look at expanding this program overall. >> And certainly, you know, we've done the pink lighting on city hall for

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>> Yes, Councilwoman. Merit, I was going to add that this month also is um month of the military child and in the past I've requested for the >> is that April or March? >> April. >> Okay. >> Um for uh for the police department to be lit up in purple as well as the city hall if

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possible and I know that there's been an issue with our lighting issues lighting. >> Right. But if there's an ability to light up city hall and the police department, please do for months of the military child. Thank you. >> Okay. Not that. Mr. Manager, >> do we have a flag? >> Is there a flag? Not that I'm aware of,

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but just to light it up in purple. >> At least the PD in this building if if possible. >> So, do you want to amend this motion the razor to reflect city hall as well as you amend it to to include that? Yes. >> Okay.

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>> So, the the maker and the uh the second have accepted that certainly. So, if you could do that, Mr. White, and uh a roll call vote. >> Councilwoman Ksky. Yes. >> Councilman Fletcher. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rob.

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>> Councilman Cannibal. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Abul. >> Yes. >> Vice Mayor Bailey. Yes. >> Mayor Losman. >> Yes. >> The motion carries. >> Thank you all. And uh we can get that flag bought of sufficient size and get it up there on uh April 2nd. The autism

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flag. Okay. My next item is filling a recent appointment, not the ongoing city resident play. recent vacancy to the police pension board uh by retired police captain Thomas me if any objections to to that appointment of

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retired captain me. second uh naming Vice Mayor Bailey as the council liaison to the education committee and I'm sure you're going to bring forward some ideas about how to re reconfigure

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that and we'll make some appointments and uh I know council we were supposed to do this at the end of the meeting last month and it got rather late and I think we all lost sight of the fact that you had and I had you had request and I had promised as during the course of the meeting that under my business, you

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would be appointed as the South Day Chamber liaison. >> Yeah, there you go. So, >> so I know you all will do us proud. So, if there are no, we could have just a a motion and a second for for those three

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items. >> All in favor? >> Thank you all. That is all I have. Um, wow. All in in in good time this evening. Thank you all. It's been a been a very

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productive evening. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate all of you. We have a motion to adjourn. >> Moved and seconded. All in favor? Any opposed? Thank you all. Meeting adjourned. It's up to all of us to keep Homestead

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beautiful, starting in our own backyard. Everyone's quality of life depends on the things we do at home, like taking the time to recycle or simply mowing the lawn. If you see something in your neighborhood, you can report overgrown grass, bulk trash violations, or unsafe

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housing to City of Homestead code compliance by calling 305224-5580. Together, we can keep our community clean for today and tomorrow. Ah, cooling off in the pool or relaxing in the hot tub is what the Johnson's

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live for. But these leisure moments of bliss became an energy bandit and an expensive one at that. The culprit was running the pump longer than necessary. The Johnson's discovered if they cut their pump time, they cut their expenses, too. In fact, most pool pumps

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run much longer than necessary. It's best to ask a pool professional about the proper run time. A recent study in Florida found that people were able to reduce their pumping bills by 60% by decreasing the run time. Purchasing an Energy Star rated twospeed or variable

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speed pump can also cut energy use. So after resetting their timer for a few short cycles over 24 hours and doing the same for their hot tub, they're now enjoying the water without getting soaked. Brought to you by your local municipal electric utility and the

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Florida Municipal Power Agency. Looking for your next opportunity? The city of Homestead is hiring and you can be part of a great team. Whether you're starting out or looking to grow your career, we have part-time and full-time positions available across multiple departments.

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Enjoy great benefits, a supportive team, and the chance to make a difference right here in the South Florida community. From development services to finance and budget, from parks to police, there's a place for everyone at the city of Homestead. We're hiring for everything from entry-level roles to

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leadership positions. Ready to join the team? Head to homesteadfl.gov/job and apply today. Airflow was hardly a strong suit in the Johnson home. And no wonder their dirty filter made their system work harder and run less

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efficiently. And their duct work was an even bigger problem. The leaks in the duct raised their energy bill by a whopping 30%. Then there were leaks in their doors and windows. like throwing good money into the wind. But the Johnson's got in the no with their

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airflow. They change or clean their filter once a month, sealed the leaks in their ducks, cocked the windows, weather stripped the doors, and put solar screens or window film on the southwest and eastern facing windows. They even tilt their horizontal blinds up in the

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summer to reduce the heat impact from the sun and leave them open in the winter to let the sun and heat in. Now everything at the Johnson's is tight and all right. Brought to you by your local municipal electric utility and the Florida Municipal Power Agency.

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>> Hi, I'm Phoei. I'm the co-owner of Plur Tea. >> My name is Jason Lyola. I'm her husband and we are the owners of Plur Tea. So, we mostly specialize on boba tea. So, we brought the Plur Tea, our concept boba and the Korean corn dogs to this area

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and people seem to love it. It's a concept based on the American corn dog, but instead of batter, pancake batter, we they use a real actual dough. And it's coated with different coatings of flavors from hot Cheetos to fries to

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Takis and our own other types of recipes. >> This is our first event actually, but um it's a surprise for us cuz um it's been doing really well to us. We met different like vendors, the community,

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the officials. They're very uh it's been very very effective event for us. Plur is participating in the city's Discover Homestead Winter Wonderland Experience seasonal event. If you're interested in becoming a vendor, email us at special

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events at homesteadfl.gov. On Saturday, July 12th, the city of Homestead came together to help families get ready for hurricane season. At Harrisfield Park, the city distributed a thousand necessity kits to residents packed with essential supplies. Thanks

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to the incredible support from our community partners from early morning, cars lined up for blocks in a smooth and safe drive-thru format that ensured everyone stayed in their vehicles while volunteers loaded kits directly into their trunks. The response was

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overwhelming. We distributed all supplies, a clear sign of just how much this support was needed. This event was a huge success. Thank you to our partners, Global Empowerment Mission, and thank you to our partners, Farm Share, as well as our sponsors, United Healthcare and Neighbors for Neighbors.

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Together, we're ensuring residents are ready for hurricane season. For more tips, visit homesteadfl.gov/preparedness. I've been thinking about doing some improvements in my house, but before I start, do I need a permit? >> Great question. There are quite a few

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things you can do without a permit from the city of Homestead. You don't need a permit for crown molding and baseboards, applying epoxy to your garage floor, installing gutters on a residential building, changing kitchen tiles,

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replacing interior doors, cosmetic light fixture covers as long as no electrical work is involved, painting your home inside or out, landscape maintenance, planting trees, and adding plastic sheds for storage up to 7 by 7 ft. just to

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name a few. >> H, that's good to know. But what about everything else? When do I need a permit? >> Anytime you make improvements that involve safety systems, electrical, plumbing, or structural changes, you'll likely need a permit.

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>> Sounds like I need a permit for a lot of things. >> Well, permits help us ensure life safety, energy efficiency, and water conservation. They're in place to prevent problems before they happen. The good news is we recently launched an expedited permit process that allows

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small residential permits to be issued in just 2 to 3 days. These include meter repairs, tree removals, air conditioning unit replacements, and fence installations among many others. We also offer a homeowner and small business

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concierge service to help you navigate permitting, zoning, and licensing. Visit homesteadfl.gov/conurge GV/conurge to learn more or email dsdass assist@homesteadfl.gov. We usually reply within 2 to three

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business days. And if you're ever unsure, just ask us. The city of Homestead's development services department is here to help. Call us at 305224-4500. We're open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and we're here to

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help. In Homestead, parks aren't just places. They're part of our quality of life. From structural upgrades and renovations to refreshing family favorites, >> we're investing in every corner of our community to create safe, fun, and

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welcoming spaces for all. >> At William F. Dickinson Community Center roof repairs are done. And we installed new fencing and shade structures at the dog park at Mayor Rosco Warren Park. We're also resurfacing tennis, raetball,

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and basketball courts citywide. And don't miss our brand new dedicated pickle ball courts at JD Red. In Rosco, we've enhanced our beach volleyball court with new nets, post pads, and even more sand for play. And we're lighting the way at Harrisfield Gymnasium with

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new LED lighting and upgraded water fountains. We're also replacing our park fitness equipment at Ernestine Seymour and James Archer Smith Park. Plus, brand new playgrounds at Blakey, Wickop, Ottabon, Ernestine, and more. We're

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upgrading shade structures at JD Red and at Mayor Rosco Warren Park. We're upgrading the playground shade and building a large pavilion to offer more spaces to host your next family gathering. It's not just about spaces, it's about programs. From summer camps

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and youth leagues to expanding senior programs at our community centers. And now every park and homestead has free public Wi-Fi. This is about creating a quality of life by enhancing healthy spaces, accessible spaces, beautiful and

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inviting spaces leading to active lifestyles and a stronger community. >> Because when we build better parks, we build a better homestead, one that people choose not only to live in and

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enjoy, but also are proud to call home. A stronger community starts with better parks. And here in Homestead, we're just getting started. Homestead. The future lives here. It's up to all of us to keep Homestead

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beautiful. One of the things you can do is help us stop illegal dumping by reporting it to the city of Homestead's code compliance department. Illegal dumpers can be fined up to $500 per day until the mess is cleaned up and in some cases even get arrested. Together, we

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can keep our community clean today and tomorrow. Visit homesteadfl.gov/ beautiful to learn more. As temperatures rise in Homestead, the risk of heat rellated illnesses and injuries also increases, posing

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significant threats to outdoor worker safety and productivity. Follow these tips to stay safe and beat the heat. Stay hydrated and take breaks in the shade. Wear appropriate clothing and wear sunscreen. Know the signs. Learn

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the symptoms of heat illnesses. For more information on extreme heat safety, visit homesteadfl.gov/heat. >> Get up todate on the city of Homestead's monthly offerings. First Friday of every month, it's karaoke night. Bring your friends to LNER Park and show us what

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you got. Need DMV services? Skip the long drive. We've got services available right here in your city. Also, every fourth Thursday of the month, Miami Dade County staff comes to Homestead City Hall to assist local businesses and homeowners with certificate of use,

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business tax receipts, and building permit questions. and stay for our movies in the park event where we feature familyfriendly movies under the open sky in LNER Park and the William F. Dickinson Community Center. Want to know more? Sign up for our monthly newsletter

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at homesteadfl.gov/newsletter. Homestead, the future lives here. Looking for a new job or your next career opportunity? The city of Homestead invites you to attend our community job fair, bringing together

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city departments and local businesses that are actively hiring. Meet employers from a wide range of industries. Learn about full-time and part-time opportunities and explore careers right here in our community. Some employers will even be conducting on-site

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interviews and career resources will be available to help you strengthen your resume and prepare for your next step. And if you're a homestead based business, the city of Homestead invites local employers to exhibit at the community job fair. Join us Thursday,

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April 23rd from 2 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the FICO Williams Community Center located at 951 Southwest 4 Street in Homestead. Whether you're entering the workforce, changing careers, or simply looking for your next great hire, this event is for you. Bring copies of your

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resume, dress professionally, and come ready to connect with employers or future employees. To register and learn more, visit homesteadel.gov/jobfare. Homestead, the future lives here. Just in time for summer, the splash pad at James Archer Smith Park is back and

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better than ever. Tons of water, tons of fun, and tons of smiles under the South Florida sun. The splash pad is already open, but you can't miss the official ribbon cutting on National Waterpark Day on July 28th starting at 2 p.m. with free snow cones while supplies last.

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Brought to you by the City of Homestead. It starts in the parks. The city of Homestead is serving up fun, fitness, and community spirit with the grand reopening of the newly renovated tennis and pickle ball courts at JD Red Park. On Friday, May 2nd, families,

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neighbors, and players of all levels came together to celebrate the transformation of one of Homestead's most iconic parks. The project includes resurfaced courts, new spectator seating, on-site Wi-Fi, and permanent equipment that makes playing easier than

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ever. So, we're so glad to be able to bring this long overdue renovation and expansion of the tennis courts, the pickle ball sports here at Jay-Z Redport to bring it to fruition. Pickle ball is just steeping the country. Homestead is

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no exception. The courts are packed every evening. It's your closing time at night. This is just another amenity for our community to to keep up with the times. >> We are so excited. We just unveiled our pickle ball courts here in the city of Homestead. We are very happy for our

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residents. This is a great addition to our parks and to our community. >> We have six dedicated pickle ball courts. We have six dedicated tennis courts. The back course has six blended lines, but we can have up to 12 pickle ball courts going. This is a great park for the community. It's a hub of

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activities. As you can see, it's filled with families, people of all ages playing here. Um, we hope that everybody comes out and enjoy. Pickle ball is the fastest growing sport in America and Homestead's right in the game. >> To be a trainer and to be able to have six permanent courts and not to have to

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pull out those rolling nets and have everything here except for us is a dream. It's pretty a dream. A dream come true. >> These courts are bringing new energy to JD Red Park every evening with extended park hours until 1000 p.m. For many

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neighbors, this upgrade is more than just courts. It's a connection point. I'm a youth minister uh leader of my group at First Baptist Church of Homestead. We always looking to play. We play at our church, but our church is not really outfitted for us. So, having courts right here in this community is a

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great idea. It's a great benefit to our community. >> Having additional pinball courts here, it allows the community do their exercise, come out at night, you know, have the camaraderie with the community and neighbors and just have a lot of

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fun. JD Red Park is once again a vibrant center for activity, energy, and connection. To learn more about the city of Homestead Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces Department, visit homesteadfl.gov/parks. I'm always looking for creative ways to

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save money. But one place I know I never have to worry about is with my HPS energy bill. Homestead Public Service offers some of the lowest rates in all of Florida. We pay an average of $15 less than those who use FPL.

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Now that's what I call savings. Great news. Homestead. Homestead Public Service Energy has one of the lowest residential electric rates in the state of Florida. According to the April 2025 report from the Florida Municipal Electric Association, HPS Energy ranks

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third lowest among all investorowned and municipal utilities in the whole state. HPS Energy customers pay just $108 per,000 kilowatt hours. That's well below the state average of 127 and FPL's

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130. At HPS Energy, we're committed to providing reliable power at an affordable price. We know how important that is to the residents of our community and to the businesses here. And if you live within the city of Homestead, you save even more. This is

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how HPS Energy supports Homestead's growth, by providing safe, reliable, and affordable electric service. Powering your life, powering our future. Because at HPS, our commitment is personal. You're not just a customer, you're our neighbor.

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Hello, Homestead. I'm your mayor, Steve Lawner, and it is truly my honor to welcome you to the 2025 State of the City. But before we begin, I want to take a moment to thank my colleagues on the Homestead City Council. Their

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dedication, collaboration, and leadership have been instrumental in every achievement we are about to share. Together, we are shaping a city that truly reflects the spirit of its people.

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I want to take you on a journey through the past years to reflect on all that we've accomplished together as a community. From strengthening partnerships and improving quality of life to building infrastructure, growing our economy, and modernizing city hall,

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these last few years have been a time of progress built on teamwork and vision. Let's take a journey through the five pillars of our brand new strategic plan, the foundation of how we've shaped Homestead's future. And it all begins

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where progress always begins, with the people. Let's start with engagement. The years 2024 and 25 in Homestead have been about opening doors and building connections. Together, we developed and

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adopted our first ever 5-year strategic plan. a roadmap created with your voices, your priorities, and your vision for the future of our city. We've expanded the ways we listen and engage

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from conversations with the community, public meetings, to our growing presence on social and traditional media. And through the launch of Homestead Insider, our monthly digital newsletter, we're making sure residents are more informed

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and more involved than ever. We've also made it easier to access vital services such as mobile DMV visits, bringing critical state services directly to our community. With the help of Miami Dade's

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constitutional offices, Homestead residents can now take care of important property related tasks right here at home, including the new passport service at our own city hall. Through programs like Homestead Cares, we've provided

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relief on utility bills, while partnerships with organizations like Workforce Miami and Career Source South Florida have created pathways for employers to attract local talent and connect residents to new job opportunities. We also launched Ready

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Homestead, our emergency alert system designed to keep every resident informed and prepared when it matters most. Because engagement is about communication, especially in times of need. As part of our commitment to a

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more connected and recognizable city, we adopted the citywide signage initiative, a comprehensive plan that establishes cohesive design standards for all municipal wayfinding facility and gateway signage. Finally, we proudly

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introduce the America 250 branding initiative, setting the stage for our community to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday to showcase Homestead's story of pride, resilience, and unity.

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This is what engagement looks like. A city government that's not just working for you, but working with you. Because when residents have a voice in shaping their city, they also help define what kind of community in which they wish to

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live. The result is a homestead that's more connected, more responsive, and one that's improving quality of life in every neighborhood. When we talk about quality of life, we're talking about the everyday moments that make Homestead a

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place where families thrive. This year, we invested nearly $2 million into our parks system. From the courts at JD Red Park to the reservicing at Woodcock Park and new improvements at the William F. Dickinson Community Center and Harris

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Field, we're making sure our recreational spaces are safe, modern, and welcoming. We've also expanded our art in public places program, completing five new installations that bring color

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and creativity to our neighborhoods. From two stunning murals of the Simol Theater to light fixture sculptures in the Siberian, a statue at Loster Park forever memorializing the contributions of William Chrome and even utility box

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wraps. Art is transforming how we experience our community. Through grants and partnerships, we've brought in over $1.5 million to strengthen both our parks and recreation system and our police department. That funding helped

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us launch new initiatives such as the crime suppression team keeping our neighborhood safer. And of course, we're creating new traditions. The Winter Wonderland Experience Ice Rink will bring 60 days of joy to families across

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South Florida. We've also advanced legislation to protect the character and cleanliness of our neighborhoods. Our updated sign cone modernizes city regulations to meet federal standards while improving safety and aesthetics.

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The new recreational vehicle ordinance prevents illegal RV expansion and habitation on residential properties, preserving neighborhood integrity. And the shopping cart control plan now requires stores to keep carts secured

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and retrieved, helping maintain cleaner public spaces all across Homestead. Of course, quality of life doesn't just happen. It's built on a strong foundation. Every park, every road, every system beneath our feet is part of

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what keeps Homestead thriving. That's why investing in infrastructure remains one of our highest priorities. Infrastructure may not always grab headlines, but it is the backbone of our community. This year, we've invested

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millions of dollars in the foundations that make Homestead work. We secured $9.3 million in grant funding and committed $9.2 million in federal recovery dollars to strengthen our water, sewer, and storm water systems.

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At pump station 22, we completed a major bypass project that not only lifted a county imposed moratorum, but also unlocked new opportunities for housing and businesses to connect. We commissioned critical infrastructure

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master plans to ensure that as Homestead grows, we grow responsibly. And with more than $2 million invested through our capital improvement program, plus a state appropriation of over a million dollars, we are preparing our city for

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the future. Transportation is also a priority. We adopted our transportation master plan, are updating our trolley routes to make the system more efficient, and installed new traffic signals like the one at Centergate to

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improve roadway safety. We have also taken important legislative steps to ensure Homestead grows responsibly and sustainably through the temporary development moratorum ordinance. We paused new

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highdensity residential projects to carefully assess their impact on our water, sewer, transportation, and emergency systems. We also established a parks and roadway trust fund using proceeds from city assets to invest

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directly in recreation, roadway, and utility improvements, thus guaranteeing accountability and reinvestment in our community. And by updating our fee structures across utilities, development, and permitting, we are

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ensuring that growth pays for growth while keeping our infrastructure strong and our operations efficient. Homestead is not just growing. It's building smarter, stronger, and more resilient

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every step of the way. These improvements don't just make our city stronger. They make it more attractive for businesses, visitors, and investors. Infrastructure is the groundwork, but what truly drives opportunity is

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economic development. Homestead's future depends on creating opportunities that grow our economy and strengthen our identity. The most exciting milestone this year was the agreement for the sports performance hub. A

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transformational privately funded $275 million investment that will bring worldclass sports facilities and economic growth to our city. Continuing that momentum, we're advancing redevelopment of the triangle

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property, expanding the impact of this once in a generation opportunity across Homestead. Downtown itself is evolving. With the arrival of Flanigans at the old city hall site and the undergrounding of utilities, we are creating a vibrant hub

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for dining, shopping, and entertainment. Downtown Homestead is open for business. And soon, our downtown will take another major step forward with a multi-million dollar improvement project along Chrome Avenue and Flaggler. This transformative

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investment will bring new sidewalks, upgraded signage, and major public works enhancements, laying the groundwork for the downtown of the future. We're also preparing our residents for the jobs of tomorrow. With the support of a national

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workforce grant, we launched a plan to strengthen local employment pathways. Events like Race to the Fourth brought record-breaking attendance, reminding us that Homestead is not just a great place to live, it's a destination for visitors

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across South Florida. And with the upcoming launch of our revamped Discover Homestead brand, we're taking that message even further, showcasing our city's culture, events, and experiences to audience far beyond our borders. And

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with the recognition of Homestead as spaceport territory, we are positioning ourselves as a hub in the global aerospace economy. The future of South Dade is right here, and Homestead is leading the way. None of this progress

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would be possible without a city government capable of turning vision into action. Behind every new project, every investment, and every event is a dedicated team, ensuring Homestead runs

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efficiently, transparently, and responsibly. Let's talk about internal operations. The appointment of city manager Zary Aquava has been transformative for the city of Homestead, bringing a new professionalism, strategic focus, and an

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expert leadership team dedicated to elevating city operations. Alongside Chief of Police Mario Knap, who is modernizing our public safety approach, this leadership has positioned Homestead for continued growth, innovation, and

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success. We've been diligent in leveraging the institutional knowledge of our long tenur staff while welcoming new innovative ideas from fresh talent. We've also adopted forward-looking policies that strengthen our workplace

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standards, enhance our business environment, and secure the future of our workforce through improved retirement plans. We also set new standards to ensure excellence in leadership. Through the educational and

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professional standards for city leadership ordinance, we established formal qualifications for department directors and assistant directors defining clear requirements for education, certification, and experience. This ensures every division

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of our government is led by professionals who embody accountability, expertise, and a commitment to public service. And speaking of operations, this year we launched electronic permitting and licensing system known as

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EPL build, making it easier than ever for residents, contractors, and businesses to work with the city. Additionally, we enhanced our digital capabilities with interactive GIS maps

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and dashboards, improved recruitment with a new applicant tracking program, modernized how we run meetings with a new agenda management platform, and expanded free Wi-Fi to all of our parks, ensuring residents can stay connected

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wherever they gather. We also created a community development and human services division to better serve our most vulnerable residents. Launched the concierge permitting to make development smoother and established minimum

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insurance requirements to protect both the city and local businesses. From restructuring our organization to launching new tools for city staff like employee hub, this has been a year of

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modernization and progress inside city hall. Every step forward from community engagement to infrastructure and innovation has been the work of a city united by purpose. Together we've built

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momentum and we're just getting started. None of this would be possible without the leadership and partnership of my colleagues on the city council. Their dedication to our residents and this community continues to drive Homestead

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forward. Together, we've made incredible progress. But the story does not end here. The best is yet to come. So tonight, I look forward to sharing with you not just where we've been, but where we are all going together as we continue

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to build a stronger, safer, and more vibrant homestead. Why? Because the future lives here. In the city of Homestead, where the future lives, Homestead Regional Park is

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rising, blending our rich past with bold new opportunities for South Dade. Homestead has always believed in big dreams. In the mid 1980s, Homestead had envisioned the regional park as an engine of economic opportunity, striking

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a deal with the Cleveland Major League Baseball team to host spring training games. But Andrew devastated the stadium and though it was rebuilt, the team walked away. >> So, let's talk a little bit about Hurricane Andrew and how it impacted Homestead and Homestead Regional Park,

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>> for better or worse. We we try not to any longer be the victims of Hurricane Andrew, but we can never not marked mark time in before and

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after. And those of us who were here don't have to say Andrew. We say the hurricane and everyone knows what you're talking about. The Homestead Regional Park remained in use, but it never soared. With baseball, softball, and soccer fields, it continued to serve the

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community, but its true potential remained unexplored. For years, the city searched for funding and explored ideas to revitalize the site. There was a plan on the table, but limited funding options until now. Homestead wasn't

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searching for a grant proposal, but it found us anyway. In May 2025, the city received a proposal from VSGS facilities for the redevelopment of Homestead Regional Park. I was thrilled, excited,

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and impressed when I believe I received the first written formal request for availability of real estate in Homestead, which coincidentally is the city of Homestead, what we call the Homestead Regional Park, uh, aka

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previously known as Homestead, uh, sports complex. The letter was short, but it was very thrilling in terms of what the details comprised of. They were seeking permission to utilize the city's uh regional park as the future home of

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what they call the Homestead Regional Park Soccer Academy slash the sports hub. >> This is not just a sports complex. It's a $275 million privately funded regional park.

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No cost to the city, all benefit to the community. Currently, the Homestead Regional Park has four baseball fields, two softball fields, and one large soccer green space. The new Homestead Regional Park will feature a 10,000 seat multi-use

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stadium, a 100 room hotel, and an expansive sports campus that includes six professional soccer fields, six multi-purpose fields, and 12 half-size fields. The development also brings new baseball fields, basketball courts,

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volleyball courts, and dedicated spaces for tennis, paddle, and pickle ball. At its core, it's a premier youth sports academy with dormitories, classrooms, and indoor training facilities. The project will also include a community

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hub and a dedicated kids park. >> When preparation meets an opportunity, it's almost as if it's happening in real time fast. Uh these guys were prepared. They knew what they wanted and the city of Homestead successfully put together based on

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council direction uh a negotiation team that engaged, facilitated, and make sure that the negotiation was fasttracked. >> Homestead Regional Park is more than a sports destination. It's an investment in the city's future and the quality of

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life of its residents. Designed to serve generations to come, it offers world-class facilities while honoring what makes Homestead unique. That's why it will proudly serve as a new home of the Homestead Championship Rodeo, a beloved tradition that has brought the

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community together for decades. This project embraces progress without leaving our roots behind. >> Well, what was your impression when you saw the deal for the park? So this was a real win for us. But when we sat down at the negotiating table, there were the

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three overriding issues for us were public access, a home for the rodeo, and financial fairness for the city. >> In the past, promises weren't kept. This time, we asked the hard questions. Do we have guarantees? Who's really behind

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this $275 million project? The answer, some of the biggest stars in soccer, basketball, tennis, and more. Juan Sebastian Bon, Argentine soccer legend. Manu Ginobili, NBA Hall of Famer. Dario

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Salah, former professional goalkeeper and CEO of VSGS. Juan Monaco, former top 10 ATP tennis player and a group of elite athletes and top investors. Together they form VSGS Sports Performance Hub.

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>> SPH is more than a project. It's a movement that unites a sport, community, and education. We are really proud that it begins here in Homestead. >> This isn't just a dream. It's a movement

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led by global icons. Now, what else does the city get from this deal? A lot more than worldclass facilities. Homestead will receive millions of dollars in rent over an 80-year ground lease, plus all property taxes generated by the site. The city will also share in ticket

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revenue from stadium events, hotel room share, and even revenue from naming rates. >> We're going to increase revenues for our local businesses and hotels. Uh we're going to have, you know, top-of-the-line sports facilities uh for not only uh the

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operator, but for our residents to use as well. On top of that, the agreement includes dedicated city days, and significant infrastructure improvements, upgrades to electric, water, and sewer systems, new access roads, expanded

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parking, and worldclass park amenities that will be brand new to our community. It's a long-term agreement that guarantees a steady, sustainable flow of income, reinvesting private success into public benefit. >> None of the investment dollars is coming

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from our city budget. is all privately investments. And uh when you look at this, you say, "My goodness, this is what we call a proper and realistic public facing public private partnership that has under the belt.

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what we consider the best and highest use for a taxpayer where your tax dollars is not being invested but you will be the direct beneficiary of the completed public facility. >> The Homestead Regional Park is a

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gamecher not just for recreation but for jobs, quality of life and national visibility. The project is expected to generate more than 4,300 construction jobs and over 600 permanent positions once completed. It will also create

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additional tax revenue and spark a major economic ripple effect that will benefit local businesses, schools, and families for years to come. >> We have the motorsports complex. We have the park of commerce right here. Uh this is where South Date is growing and this

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is going to be the center of Miami Dade County uh for all things uh for family entertainment as well as the new center for the great city of Homestead. >> So what's next? Negotiations are complete. The city council voted

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unanimously. Now it all begins. Construction of Homestead Regional Park will unfold in phases over the next 3 years, commencing in 2026. Like any major project, there will be growing pains, traffic, dust, and change, but it's all part of building something

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transformative. The road ahead is long, but the destination will be worth it. >> I think Homestead will stand as a new reference point in sports and community development. >> And as part of the deal, Miami FC will come to Homestead.

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>> Well, bringing Miami FC here is a milestone for the city. It means professional football, professional soccer in Homestead with new jobs, international visibility. Remember the club will train and playing here. Most importantly will become part

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of daily life. So it will inspire families, children and fans while uh generating momentum that extends far beyond the stadium. Wherever you are in the rest of the world, when you talk about the greater Miami area, you must be forced to recognize the city of

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Homestead, the home of the Speedway, the home of the rodeo, and now the home of soccer and other ancillary sporting facilities. This is big. Homestead is on the way to being the go-to place. And I keep telling folks, this is the last

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frontier. >> This is where the future lives. Homestead is where the future will be made in in South Florida. And certainly with the the designation of spaceport and aerospace technology on the county

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lands surrounding Homestead Air Reserve Base, that opens the doors for a whole new range of highpaying, very skilled and educated jobs that we just we don't have here. >> I love that. Where the future lives.

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This is where the future lives. >> Stay tuned for upcoming updates at homesteadreionpark.com. Homestead. The future lives here. My name is Rodney Royal and I'm an artist and muralist. I'm a selftaught

758
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taught artist born and raised right here in Miami, Florida. Um, I was a kid in school. I was always, you know, drawing sometimes when I shouldn't have been drawing. My technique is I kind of merge two things together. There's a, you

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know, the abstract graffiti side to it, but also there's a realism side to it. That's why you see my work have are depictions of, you know, everyday people. I love my people. I I love everyone, but I I love I love painting

760
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us, you know. Um, and I think representation matters, you know. All of my work is done pretty much 95% in spray paint with a little house paint. Those are the two mediums that I use. And a lot of times when I'm maybe talking to a group of

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kids about what I do, that the one question they love to ask me is, um, what's the favorite piece that I've done? And the answer I always give is I haven't done it yet. I try to make the next piece better than the last piece. So I always try to get better. I have a

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a big appreciation to the city of Homestead and Siminal Theater, you know, asking me to be the artist in spotlight. You know, this is my first solo show that I've done. And I've done many shows, but this is the first one that

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is, you know, all of my my work. I'm I'm beyond thankful for this for this moment for this event. And when they told me the work was going to be up for three months, that was another I was like, "Wow, really?" I was like, "So, you know, like nothing but thank you. Thank you. Thank you to the city of

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Homestead." >> Don't miss the Rodney Royal exhibition at the Seminal Theater on display through May 24th. Stay up todate with upcoming events at visit.discoverhomestead.com. Introducing the energywasting Johnson's. When it comes to heating and cooling,

765
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conserving energy was never at the top of the Johnson's to-do list. They set their AC on 72 all day long, adding up to 8% more to their bill for every degree below 78. They also let their bushes get overgrown around the outside compressor, a device that accounts for

766
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more than 40% of the household's energy expense. And all that wasted energy was costing them a bundle. But today, the Johnson's have learned their lesson, are energy smart, and discovered how to not only save energy, but save money as well. Now, their to-do list includes

767
03:34:43.760 --> 03:34:59.600
keeping the compressor clean and debrisf free so nothing blocks or restricts air flow to the unit, allowing it to work as efficiently as possible, setting the thermostat between 78° and 80°, and installing a more efficient high sear heating and cooling system, including a

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heat pump. and their new ceiling fans make it feel up to 5° cooler and could reduce energy use by 10%. With all their saving, the top of their new list includes a fun-filled family vacation brought to you by your local municipal electric utility and the Florida

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Municipal Power Agency Homestead. Homestead. Homestead. Beautiful. There's always a lot going on in the Garcia's kitchen and most of it was wasting energy. So, they dusted off the

770
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coils on the fridge, started running full loads in the dishwasher, and turning the heated dry switch to air dry. With the money they save, they'll be able to replace that inefficient 10-year-old fridge with a new Energy Star qualified fridge that will save enough electricity to light their house

771
03:36:21.120 --> 03:36:37.840
for 4 months. But they didn't stop there. Oh no, the GarcAs were on a roll. They turned their water heater from a scalding 140° down to 120, which will help slow mineral buildup and save energy. For maximum energy savings, they're considering a new hybrid heat

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pump water heater. They weren't done just yet. The laundry room was the next energy robber that had to be tackled. When they heard heating water is 90% of the energy a washer uses, they went into action. Now they use cold water for washing and set their dryer cycle to

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automatically use the energy efficient setting. Brought to you by your local municipal electric utility and the Florida Municipal Power Agency. Homestead. Homestead. Beautiful. Hello, I'm Camila Barcel, the chief

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public information officer for the city of Homestead and I'm joined today by Chief Mario Nav. Welcome. How are you doing today? >> Very good. Thank you for inviting me. We've been getting a lot of question about the speed zone enforcement program and so we wanted to sit down and talk a

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little bit about what this program is about, answer some common questions, and really dive into why the city and the Homestead Police decided to implement this program. So, Chief, why did we uh start the school zone speed enforcement program? >> Well, it's important to note first that it's not just the city of Homestead

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that's implemented this. This is something that's gone statewide. This was a this was a a house bill that was passed by the the state house and the senate uh giving the authority because of the dangers associated with uh school speeds and and people speeding into

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school zones. So this is something that was implemented to make sure that our kids are safe, our kids are getting to school and leaving school and not have to worry about the dangers of people speeding through those school zones. >> Yes, absolutely. And this is so important. I think the biggest thing is

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safety, right? and that is at the center of this and the center of this initiative is making sure that our kids are safe. They're one of our most vulnerable populations and we have to do what we can to protect that. So, how does this program help improve safety in school zones?

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>> So, what we've done is uh we've we've installed speed detection cameras. They run with a laser and they're capable of not only taking photos but video of people that are going over the speed limit into schools. Now, it's important to know it's the school speed zone

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safety program. Um, and so this is specific to schools during the days and hours that there's kids in school. That's the only time. >> It's not a red light camera. >> It's not a red light camera. It's not just a a speed trap like people think. This is only dedicated for days that

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children are in school. It starts 30 minutes before they go into school and 30 minutes after and then the cameras are no longer monitoring. So why that 30 minutes before and the 30 minutes after? What was the reasoning behind that? >> So if you really think about it, it you it's almost uh it's almost obvious that

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if you're running the school safety radars um and you're running them during school hours, it wouldn't make sense cuz kids are expected to be in school. >> It's 30 minutes before school where kids are being dropped off. They're coming on their bicycles to school. They're crossing the street. They're getting to

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the school. So that's the most imperative time to have these things working is while kids are in transit and in and around the school. And the same goes the same but opposite goes for uh at the end of the school. If they for example if they let out at 3 p.m. it's

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at 3 p.m. that they leave their classrooms and between 3 and 3:30 is when they're going to be around the school on their bicycles leaving crossing the street getting dropped off getting picked up. Those are those are the most integral moments within the day that we have to run that. And so some

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people may ask why the in between times, right? Because this applies for schools whether you're in elementary all the way to high school. Correct. >> Yeah. Because there's no guarantee that kids are always going to be in school. I mean, statistically speaking, most kids are going to be in class, but there's still kids that, you know, uh uh are

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going to run late, you know, that kind of thing. So the the we revert back to it's the 15 mph speed zone >> before school obviously during those those times but throughout the day when they're not coming in and out we go back

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to and we refer back to the 30 mph speed zone or whatever the posted speed zone is at the time. >> Theory being that while there's kids in school there's potential for kids to be on or around the school. And so when it's not 15 mph in the middle of the

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day, it goes back to 30 mph and we're still monitoring and then it goes out to, you know, the the last 30 minutes, which is the the the 15 mph school zone again. But after that happens, the camera shut off and they're no longer recording. >> I think also it's important to note, right, some schools have different

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times. So although we're saying 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after, you have to check on your school's times of when they come in. We know high school goes in a little earlier around 7, gets out at 2:30. Um, some elementary schools start a little later. So, it's really important to note that when we're

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talking about the times that the uh cameras are enforced, it is during certain times respective to the school that you are passing. >> Correct. And remember that that House Bill 657 is the is the one that gave us the the the authority to do this. Um, they are very detailed on what is

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required for us to run this program. And so part of what's really required is that before you get monitored by the camera, there'll be a sign, an additional sign additional to the yellow flashers, additional to the county uh yellow speed limit signs, there is an

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additional sign that tells you when you fall within that the hours of that particular school. So no matter how it goes, there's no way you can run through one of those cameras without having seen warning that those cameras are on. Okay, that's very important because signage is really important. We also know this is a

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new program, right? So residents might not be used to it. So we really, especially when you're passing a school zone, you really need to be alert reading the signs because that's going to really give you all the information that you need and specific to that school and their times. Um, so some residents may ask, isn't it better to

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just have police enforcement versus cameras? >> So the there is that argument, but let me give you the advantages of the program and why. Believe it or not, even if you're a violator, uh the the advantage is in your favor by running the cameras and not a police officer.

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So, let let's start by if for example you are traveling 19 m an hour, which is 4 miles over the 15 mph speed zone. If a police officer stops you, automatically if you're going between 1 and 5 miles over a speed zone, that ticket already

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is $219. >> Wow. >> The red light camera is only $100. That's number one. Number two, the other advantage to the violator is that the officer writing you a ticket, not only is there a police and and and and you

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know, resident interaction, but secondly, it's a uniform traffic citation. And what that means is in comparison to the red speed is that this is a civil citation. Now, the difference is the uniform traffic citation gets points on your license.

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>> Wow. So, not only is it more expensive, >> it gives you points on your license and those points on your license will eventually go towards your insurance premiums towards the end. Does that make sense? >> Yes, that makes sense. >> If you look at it, the the red speed cameras are or our school safety speed

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zone initiative. What it does is it gives you a civil citation, $100. Doesn't matter if you're if you're if you get cited. It doesn't matter if you're going 10 miles over or if you're going 27 miles over or 80 miles over. It's always the civil citation of $100.

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>> Okay. Yeah, that I mean that's definitely better. And I think also, you know, it's police resources. We can't be everywhere. Yes. >> All at once, right? >> I I wanted to make sure that I gave the advantages towards the residents first. Now, from a police department point of view, from a resource point of view,

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remember that we have a set and finite set of resources. And by resources, I mean police officers to handle handle calls for service, handle emergencies. And by putting police officers on a, you know, a school zone, we're removing them from the responsibility or from the

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ability to respond to emergencies for the city. So, it's a force multiplier and it works uh uh exponentially. >> Um, and can we talk a little bit about the speed limit because I've seen some confusion about it. Some people are like, it's a it's what you're saying 11, but I'm allowed to go 15. So, can we

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talk a little bit about that? >> So, remember we talked about the advantages are always in the favor of the resident. So part of the house bill again this is not something we made up. This is something that was done by passed by the the by the state house and senate the the way the statute reads is that we can only enforce and actual

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issue actually issue the violation if the person is going 11 miles not per hour but over the posted speed limit. >> So so the posted speed limit. So, right, if it's during school zone time when you're supposed to be going 15, you would receive a citation when you're

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going >> 26 m hour or more. If you are theoretically going 18, if you're going 20, if you're going 22, >> it will not register on the machine. Now, why is that why is that an advantage? Not only are we giving you a safety factor of about 11 miles hour,

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but on top of that, if it were an officer giving you the ticket, he can write you the ticket for going only three. And again, the price is more than double >> and you're still speeding, which is right the biggest thing there. There is a speed limit. If you are not abiding by it, you are still speeding and in violation. Uh whether you're going the

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11 miles an hour, right? Uh over the speed limit. What about in the middle of the day, right? When the speed limit is 30, >> right? So again, uh the the purpose of this is the safety of the kids, right? And so we cannot guarantee 100% that every child is in a classroom and they

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could be on or around the school. So the idea is uh 15 m hour when they're when they're going in and out of school and then we're going to maintain whatever the posted speed is in that area. We're going to that's the speed limit, but we're going to enforce it. So that means

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that if it's 30, you have to be going 11 miles an hour for this camera to register and issue the citation. So at 41 miles per hour, you will receive the tit the t the citation all throughout the day. Now that doesn't mean that because there's cameras there that a police officer cannot issue a ticket for

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going three miles over. >> Yes. Absolutely. Very important. >> I think a lot of the a lot of the questions that we have, you know, a lot of people think, well, this is big brother. There's cameras and, you know, all of this stuff. The reality is the speed limit is the speed limit. whether there's a flasher or not, whether

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there's a warning or not, if you're a driver in the state of Florida, you're responsible for for attending to that speed limit. And uh and this is a way that even though there's a margin of error, the the advantages on your side, you're still going to get cited for it. >> Yes. And so let's talk about the back

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end because I think there may be a lot of concern about, you know, who is reviewing this? Is this just a computer that gets it, you know, says a ticket and then it issues it? Like how does the review process work in? That was one of the things that was really really important to me. So, we've heard

813
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arguments that red light cameras uh in some jurisdictions, they no longer use them and and same thing with some of the radar uh stuff in different jurisdictions. Remember, every state has their own law. Every state has their own findings. But one of the things that was very important to me is to make sure

814
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that this isn't just a machine issuing a citation um based on, you know, zeros and ones, right? I wanted to make sure that there is a human element and there is. Uh so the way the the the chronology of this works is someone is going 21 or

815
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26 miles an hour. They're violating the speed. It passes the 11 mph mark. It gets registered, photographed, and videotaped. Now that goes to the manufacturer. The manufacturer reviews that and they deter they say, "Yes, this does in fact appear to have been a

816
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violation." They send it to the PD. Now, our specially trained traffic unit, and they're all sworn police officers, will now review this video that's already been reviewed, but we review it for our own legal sufficiency. And we will look at the video, they'll look at the photo,

817
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and then they'll determine, and there'll be the human element. In other words, there's human judgment determining that this was in fact a violation. We approve it, and the citation gets issued. >> Okay. Yeah. And also making sure, right, that the times match that that it all makes sense. So I think that's very

818
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important is right it's not just to give out citations it's really to protect the students and protect the community and right having that extra check is making sure that you know that the systems are working correctly >> which is a good point too because I I you know when we put these and we we've

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done a lot of lives on these and answer questions real time because I like to be accessible to the public and one of the things that a lot of people have said is well I received the ticket on a Saturday or I received the ticket after hours how can that be I can guarantee you that that did not happen in Homestead and it

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will not happen in Homestead. And and reason being is we know what the what the uh legislature says. We know what the House bill what the limitations are. And we know that we're only doing it during the speed zone or the school safety speed limit. >> Yes. The 30 minutes before and the 30

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minutes after >> and the 30 minutes after. And then after that, even if the camera registers it, it has to go to the second layer of of approval and eventually ends up on our lap and the PD. We will not approve anything that doesn't fit within that the the confines of that law.

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>> That's very important because even if the camera issues the ticket at the wrong time, you still have that human element, the checks and balances to make sure that that it it goes. Um, so are these tickets illegal or unconstitutional? Cuz I'm sure we'll get some, you know, comments like that as well, right? and I've seen some of the

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comments and so I think what people are confusing is different technologies right in some jurisdictions they have not approved the the the furtherance of uh for example red light cameras in in some areas but remember that we're we're talking about every state has different laws and different tolerances right so I

824
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think there's a lot of talk about that but the reality is in the state of Florida these are completely legal not only are they legal this was just a uh this was something that was set forth by the state legislature and it passed the house and it passed the state the uh Senate and this was just as uh recent as

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July of 2023 was when this thing was passed into law. So it is 100% legal. It was done by the state legislature and uh the idea is that it might not be legal. I think people are confusing a lot of what's happening in other states >> and other other technologies also.

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>> Okay, that's very important to know. Um, and I think for us, right, the the the center of this is safety for our students, for schools, uh, right, making sure at the end of the day, whether you're going one mile or 11 miles over the posted speed limit, you're still

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speeding and that is a violation and you know, PD's is there to enforce the law and that's extremely important. >> I think part of the comical conversations and people say it, especially people who have children in school are they love this. In fact, they've said, "Why don't we do this

828
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everywhere?" You know, and and they're very happy with it. Uh other other people, maybe people who don't have kids in school are probably saying, "Well, I I don't like the fact that there's no officer there. It's too easy." Uh some people have said it's, you know, we're doing it for financial gain. There's a

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you know, where's the money going? I can tell you that, as you know, the state law required that we we warn people and give people a warning period for 30 days. We've been doing it for more than six months where we've been warning people. We've go to community events. We give them flyers. We explain the

830
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program. Uh we ended up doing a longer period than 30. We ended up doing about 60 where we were doing a lot of social media. >> You know that in all of our community events, we were talking to people. Um so we we we are not in this to make money. In fact, uh what we realize if you look

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at the statistics of other agencies and other jurisdictions that have adopted this, even in the short amount of time that that it's been in law, uh within 2 years, there's been a more than 90% reduction in speeding in these school zones. And so, at the end of the day,

832
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that is what we're looking for. Absolutely. Change behavior. And I think even was something so interesting that you and I spoke about was that I think in the first few weeks of them being on right in the warning phase uh there was like 3,000 uh citations, right? So this

833
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is definitely an issue here in Homestead. It's not >> it it's you know if we got one or two then I you know is this really a need? But when when I saw those numbers and when we spoke about it, I know that was very shocking to me like, wow, that that is extremely a high number in just a few

834
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weeks. >> And what's really alarming is remember that that high number that we saw in just a few weeks is not people going over their speed limit. It's people going 11 miles over the posted speed limit, which means that they are it's almost like a flagrant disregard for

835
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those school zones. So, you know, as we've been talking today so much about the comments that we've been been seeing on social media, I know your team at the Homestead Police and the City of Homestead social media, we've been trying to address comments and answer resident questions. But we actually have

836
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some comments today that we pulled from a real social media post to try to address some of the common misconceptions, answer some questions, and ensure we're all on the same page. Right. So, Linda Smith says, "Uh, how about enforce street laws and provide

837
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proper pickup/drop zones. No one wants to sit behind a line of cars in the street who aren't moving because the parents refuse to get off the road." >> Well, I kind of agree with her cuz in my neighborhood, I go through the same thing. But you got to remember that uh from the police department perspective,

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there's only so many things we can do as a police department and our focus is on on the public safety aspect of it. Uh a lot of these schools lend themselves uh because of the environmental factors that they sit in, they lend themselves to better in ingress and egress into

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these uh into these situations. They have better dropoff points. But other schools are very limited. But uh the moral of the story here is that that's not a lot that's not anything that really the PD can do anything with. That's more the school zone. It's it's where the school sits. It's environmental factors that will affect

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that. >> Yeah. the the streets, what's around it, the buildings that already existed before the school came and whatnot. So, and Miami date county public schools, right? The way that things were designed, we're really here or PD is really here for enforcement of speeding,

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which is what this is about. >> Um, so we have another comment. Zachary Leno, and I know we kind of Oh, excuse me. Zachi Leno, which we kind of spoke about a little bit, but is this only for school hours or all day? I really dislike the dishonesty in so many

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schools. I don't speed, but it's ridiculous to get a speeding ticket on weekends, holidays, or after classes. >> Yeah. So, so remember the 15 mph speed limit only reflects only reflects days that they are in school, right?

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>> So, school days, Monday school, Friday, >> right? For the for for regular school, forget about Red Speed for a second. Every street and every avenue in Miami Date County has a speed limit. It all depends on where you are. >> Um so when there's no school around a

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school, uh the speed limit generally in a residential neighborhood is 30. If it if it's married onto a main street, it's probably 45 miles hour. That speed limit doesn't change. It only gets adjusted when there's school inside, you know, and and it's in the beginning and at the

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end. So, if you're receiving a ticket, you're not receiving a ticket through the school zone safety program because we're not recording during those days, but you can obviously receive a ticket from a uniform police officer. >> Um, >> for even going one mile,

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>> even going one mile over the speed limit, right? So, so the moral of the story is the speed limit. There is always a speed limit. There's never any time in a 24-hour period that any particular street does not have a speed limit and you have to abide by that speed limit whether it's a weekend or a school day

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>> and whether there's there's a police officer or not, right? This is about safety and that's the biggest >> and and that's another question that a lot of people have seen and they say, well, uh, you shouldn't be able to give a ticket because there's no flashing light. Now, I want you to understand the the yellow flashing lights on school

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zones are not a requirement. That is an enhancement that people do. So the speed limit remains the speed limit and everyone everyone needs to abide by the speed limit. That's why they have the signs. Now the flashing lights are an enhancement really for the purpose of

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reminding people, hey, there's kids walking here, so slow down. But it's not a requirement to write a ticket. >> Does that make sense? In fact, and I want you to think of it this way. Um, if a power line goes down and that thing is not flashing, the speed limit still

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exists. >> Yes. >> So, think of the speed limit flasher as a reminder to slow down because there may be kids in front of you. That's really all it's for. It doesn't dictate whether we are allowed to enforce the law or not. >> Yes. It's just a tool, right? It's a

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reminder. It's a way to visually catch somebody's attention. Say, "Hey, you're entering a school zone speed limit." Correct. >> But either way, the signs are posted whether the flashers are on or not. And that is very important >> work with for me also cuz sometimes I'm driving and I'm not paying attention and it's when I see the school the the the

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the speed uh I'm sorry, the flasher that I go, "Oh, wait. It's a >> look what time it is." Right. And I'll slow down. >> Yes, definitely. >> Now, another comment that we got from Roger Tilman. He says, "The tickets are really expensive as well as the point." So, we addressed this a little bit, but can we reiterate that for

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>> because that's important. And and so remember uh what what Mr. Tilman is referring to is a uniform traffic citation. If we were if it were a police officer enforcing school zone speeds, um he can write a ticket even if you were going only 3 miles hour over the speed

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limit. That goes that puts points on your license. And the citation is $219 just for going 1 to 5 miles over >> where the school zone speed citation is $100 flat. It's just $100. It's a civil

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citation. It does not go against the points on your license because it doesn't do that. >> Um, and on top of that, we're giving you a a an 11 mph uh >> grace >> tolerance. >> Yes. >> Right. Grace that you have to be going

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11 or more to receive the ticket. >> Mhm. So, a comment from Jenny Levor says, "It's beginning March 9th, but I just received a $200 ticket in the mail dated November 15, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. How does that make any sense?" >> Well, I don't know how it makes any

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sense. In fact, I would tell you that I can guarantee you it did not happen in the city of Homestead. >> Um, so there would be no civil citation for any more than $100 under our program. Our program hasn't been registering anything. Our program, if anything, has been sending warnings. And

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I can I I mean, I can guarantee that it hasn't been outside of the hours, and I can guarantee that it has not been any more than $100 because that's the only thing that we're allowed to do. >> So, is there a way for recipients to differentiate? Like when they get the

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bill, does it say Homestead School Zone Speed and Zone Enforcement Program? Like what does the bill look like? >> Yes, it'll have uh the city of Homestead's uh uh information on it. Okay. >> And it'll have a uh it'll have actually a telephone number also for you to call and that'll be banned. Um but yeah,

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you'll definitely have notifica. It'll tell you the intersection what it happened, the date that it happened, the time that it happened. >> Okay. Rachel Hample Murio said, "City of Homestead, thanks. This is great. However, can you please fix the school zone flashing lights on 328th Street near Walgreens? They are not working

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correctly. Also, the posted sign stating the school zone times is unreadable." >> Yeah. So part of uh part of the um House Bill 657 and to follow the statute, they have very specific requirements on how we set up the the warning signs and

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everything. So first, let's start with the fact that a lot of the school speed limit signs are not or or are not maintained by the city of Homestead. Uh they're maintained by either, you know, Miami date county, uh the you know, Department of Transportation and and

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different jurisdictions. So, I can tell you that during the permitting process, in other words, we had to get permits for every single one of these and it was approved by inspectors and they had to make sure that we were consistent with the state law. So, I can tell you that all of the signs relative to the school

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speed zone safety initiative are correct because we would not have received a permit for it. So, I know we are there. Now, we did make recommendations to Miami date county and some of the other jurisdictions that that maintain those signs for them to update their signs and kind of improve the visibility on them, but that's something that's that's a

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little bit out of our hands. Now, as far as the flashing lights, again, these are things that uh we'd love to see. They're a good reminder for me, too. There's a reminder for, you know, to let everybody know that there's kids walking around, but it's not a requirement for enforcement as the state sees it. It's an enhancement. It's an additional

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warning for people to slow down, but it's not required for the for the uh enforcement. >> Yeah. And I think it's important to note because here in Homestead, we have right roads that are city of Homestead owned versus county roads versus right, we have US1 crossing through the middle of

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our city, Chrome Avenue, which are major corridors, right? The city of Homestead does not manage the traffic lights within the city, which I think is really important and maybe a common misconception. So that we don't really uh manage. We of course advise, right? If a traffic light is out, if we see a

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sign, like you said, when you were doing your inspections, we say, "Hey, this is not readable." And we do provide that feedback. And Rachel, we will provide your feedback as well to make sure that this problem gets addressed and that the signage is good, but it is out of our hands as far as, you know, when these things get corrected.

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>> And it is and it is confusing cuz, you know, you're within the city of Homestead. And so you think that the city of Homestead is responsible for every single thing in the city, but that's just it's not how it works. We are we are a municipality. We are a city within a county and a lot of those those roads are either county roads or state

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roads >> or we share borders, right? We have our neighbors in Florida City, we have our neighbors in Nanja. So we have a lot of different moving pieces that affect how our roads are monitored, managed, and uh taken care of as well. >> Exactly. Mhm. So Nicole Ginsburg says,

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"Some signs say from 7:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. So is it the entire day or only during school zone hours?" >> Yeah. So So that's actually a good question and it's causing some confusion. So remember that the we are monitoring that all day while there's school. Now we're we're monitoring it

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for whatever the posted speed limit is at the time. So remember 30 minutes before 15 miles an hour during school whatever the posted speed limit is and after school the 30 you know the 15 m hour >> 50 miles an hour again at the end of the day >> right so based on the house bill 657 and

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the the legal requirements that they described we have to announce that we're running that camera all day which is why you see the difference and we're saying for example from 7 to 4 because school is out I don't know say at 3:30 so our cameras are running that all day and

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we're enforcing whatever the posted speed limit is at that time of day while there's kids in school. So, we're running cameras all day. Now, after that, those cameras are no longer on. They're no longer recording, which means they're no longer uh uh they're not not triggering uh citations. Now, the

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purpose of the flashing and those those other signs, they're only warning you of when it's a 15 mph speed zone. So those signs will say from 7:15 to 8:30, but that doesn't mean that there is not the

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regular speed limit of 30 mph >> that you need to abide by. >> Does that make sense? So again, we're giving more warning than is necessary. We're giving more warnings to make sure that everything that we do is 100% legally sufficient. >> Yes. And I want to reiterate, right, every school is different. So every

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school, right, we know middle school, elementary, high school, they all have different times that they go in and out uh of school as well as it's 11 miles per hour over the posted speed limit at that time. So if you're in that 30 minute range before school starts, it's

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the 50 m hour. So you'll get a citation when you're going 26, right? and whether in the middle of the day when the flashers are not on, it's 30 miles an hour, whatever the posted speed limit is at that time, then you would get a ticket once you're hitting that 41 miles hour.

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>> Right. And one of the important things also that you just mentioned and and it it's really important depending on what school sign you're looking at because every school has a different >> different hours of of uh of service or operation. Remember that we in the PD,

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it triggers it if by by the company, then it goes to their evaluators. Then it goes to our PD and our trained traffic unit has a list of every school. And we know when they're on vacation, we know when there's a teacher workday. We

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know when they're not in school or they're not open. And we also know the hours. And that's why I can give you a guarantee that we will not be issuing those citations outside of those hours or whenever the the you know the school is not in session. >> That's very important. What about let's

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say summer when summer school is happening that we know it's maybe let's say 8 to 12 every day. >> All of those are adjusted for that >> are adjusted as well. Okay, that's great. >> So Amber William writes until it goes to the Supreme Court that they have to prove who is driving. You don't have to

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prove your innocence in a court of law. You're innocent until proven guilty. >> And that's true. We are innocent until proven guilty. That's absolutely true. But and we do have a an appeal process if you want to contest the citation. Just know that the the it will be on

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video. There is photographs of it. And uh we obviously have an appeal process and a and a process where you can contest these charges like everything else. >> Yeah. And I think definitely the biggest part of that is the additional review system that you've put that your team

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has put in place to ensure that there is that human element reviewing the times checking with the schedule making sure that the video is in accordance with you know the uh rules and specifications that we found >> and and the calibration because there here's another thing that there's a lot

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of confusion on remember that so police officers when we write a citation for speeding and there's something we call pacing and what That means is the car is driving. I'm not running radar, but I'm driving next to the car and I can judge and determine the person's speed based

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on the speed that I'm going. And it's a comparison. If we're going the same speed and my odometer says 58 mph and it's a 40 mph speed limit, I can say I know for a fact he's going 18 m hour because my car is going >> 58. Yes. Right. But the part that you

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contest in that in court is that how can I prove that your car is more accurate than mine. Does that make sense? Yes. >> So we in the police department, we get our vehicles calibrated. I mean, we have a calibration company. We come in, we put these cars on on on on meters that

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that basically are designed to calibrate your vehicle to make sure that what your odometer or your speedometer says is 100% accurate. >> Does that make sense? Yes. >> And so that'll happen with these machines too. These machines are also calibrated. That is what we have to make

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sure that we satisfy every legal standard and it's being done uh with this system also. >> Absolutely. That's very interesting and I hope that gives people peace of mind, right? We're not just out here launching cameras, right? There is calibration. There's checks and balances behind uh

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behind the systems. Uh so let's do one more. So, Samuel Pinto Castillo says, "County thieves." What do we want to say to that? >> Is that a question or a comment? >> A comment. >> So, uh, no, look, so first, we're not we're not the county. Um, again, this is

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something where a lot of people don't like the idea of the cameras because they can get they can get they can get caught up in a violation very easily, right? And a lot of people don't like that, but the reality is you're going over the speed limit. You know what I

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mean? it's against the law and now this is just another mechanism where where we're going to get more people doing so. But the idea that it's thievery and everything else, number one, we're not the county. Number two, this is something that was pushed by the state legislation. Again, it went through the House, it went through the Senate, it

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was approved. We're not the only department. There's many other departments, not only within the state, but within the country that are uh that are adopting this technology. And at the end of the day, it's never fun to receive one of those violations in the mail. It never is. I've gotten one. Not

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for this, but previous tech, you know, previous uh technologies. And the truth is, you look at it, you're never happy about it. But the truth is, this is not for anything other than the safety of our kids. >> Absolutely. And we hope this conversation cleared up a lot of questions for you. If you need more

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information, want to know more about the program, what schools are included in that, you can go to homesteadfl.gov/schoolsafety and we'll include the URL down here below. Um but the biggest thing is we want transparency. We want to make sure that residents understand that we are

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doing our checks and balances right checking the legalities of all this and really at the core of this is safety for our children uh safety in the school zones uh and just making sure right that people are uh that you're not just following the law when there's a police

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officer present but at all times right which is very important for safety and enforcement. So, Chief Mario Nap, before we say goodbye, is there anything a final comment that you would like to give to our residents? >> Yeah, I I'd like to say remember that the whole purpose for this program is

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the safety of our children. What we're trying to do is change behavior. Uh if you look at the number of traffic accidents that we have, not just in the city, but all over the state. The the lead killer in in traffic related deaths is speed. If we can adjust people's

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speed, we can make it much much safer for everyone. Uh this is specific to uh school zones, but at the end of the day, if we can lower your speed, if we can change your behavior, if we can get you to think to slow down a little bit, it's going to be much safer for the community. But any questions you may

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have, you can reach out to us as Camila mentioned earlier. Uh and we're open to any questions and any suggestions that you have. >> Thank you, Chief, so much for joining us here today. If you want to learn more information, visit homestead.fl.gov/schoolsafety. We have information the schools that are

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participating as well as contact and email info if you need to reach out to us and you still need some more clarity on this. Of course, follow us on social media. We have Homestead Police as well as City of Homestead. We're always putting out different events and initiatives we have going on. Thank you

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so much for tuning in today. My name is Camila Barcel, the chief public information officer for the city. My name is Chef Alden Chance. I'm from Choppy Hills. Tropy Rose is a fusion of cultures blend together to make one

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cuisine. We represent out of many one cuisine. Represent Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. We're the industry's first and only fully cooked Caribbean sushi joint. We have any everything ranging from jerk

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chicken sushi roll, grio sushi roll, eligibes frrito, the spicy chisso, the vakafita. I think being out here in Homestead at this event, the winter wonderland, I think it's a great experience because we we bridge the gap. We're able to bridge

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the gap amongst the community and bring everyone together under one roof. And it's our job as vendors to really bring the community out and bring everyone together. >> Troppy Rolls is participating in the city's Discover Homestead Winter Wonderland Experience seasonal event. If

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you're interested in becoming a vendor, email us at special events at homesteadfl.gov. The Johnson's used to be bad about wasting energy on lighting. Real bad. But when they realized what it was costing them in real dollars, they got

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energy smart real quick. First, they turned off all unnecessary lights. Then, instead of standard incandescent bulbs, they switched to Energy Star CFLs and LEDs. Talk about a bright idea. Now, they use 75% less energy. Plus, the new

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bulbs last 10 times longer, can save $30 over the bulbs lifetime, and they're 75% cooler. What did that really mean to the Johnson's? Enough to cover three high-end coffees a day, dinner for the family at that fancy schmancy restaurant, another round of golf for

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dad, massage for mom, brought to you by your local municipal electric utility, and the Florida Municipal Power Agency. This April, the city of Homestead proudly recognizes Autism Acceptance Month and World Autism Awareness Day.

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Through an official resolution, the mayor and city council have reaffirmed their commitment to building a more inclusive and supportive community for individuals with autism and their families. As part of this initiative, the city raised the autism acceptance

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flag at city hall on World Autism Day, and it will continue to fly throughout the month of April, joining a countywide effort to promote awareness, understanding, and acceptance. >> We're at the the forefront with Commissioner Regalado of not autism

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awareness, but acceptance. Understand that the needs are different. We're addressing that in our playgrounds and throughout this community. and and those families who who have autistic children, family members, uh they are part of our

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community just like everyone else and we want to recognize that today. >> Today is a very important day. We've been asking all of our municipalities to support autism acceptance and Homestead was one of the first ones that said yes. So, it's wonderful to be here and celebrate with all the families and the caregivers and talk about inclusion and

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what Homestead and other cities in Miami date county are doing to ensure that our children are not just seen but also incorporated into government and government services. Together, we continue to foster a community where everyone is valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. I love the the

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integration and uh between us as a family with the leaders, you know, from our community showing uh the acceptance, the awareness at some point made me feel more secure and safe. >> The city of Homestead stands united in

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promoting awareness, respect, and acceptance for all. Homestead. The future lives here. The city of Homestead is proud to introduce EPL Build, our electronic permitting and licensing system, a total revamp of the way we work with you. EPL

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Build is an innovative integrated online platform that streamlines how residents, businesses, and contractors interact with city departments for permitting, licensing, and code compliance needs. >> Now you can submit applications, upload documents, and track progress all in one

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place. And you can do it anytime from anywhere through homesteadfl.gov/all things build. >> Residents and business owners have a wide range of powerful new tools. These include code compliance ticketing, notices of violation, and unsafe

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structure processes along with a citywide online payment and cashiering solution. Users will also benefit from electronic plan review through Digil Plan for faster simultaneous reviews across departments as well as online contractor registration.

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>> And you'll be able to check the status of your permit online and schedule requested inspections. In addition, the system will support public works right-of-way permits, water and sewer hydraulic analysis requests, HPS energy disconnect and reconnect requests,

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lobbyist registration, and numerous residential and commercial building permit applications, all available in one convenient online platform. Whether you're applying for a permit, submitting plans, requesting inspections, or paying a fee, the EPL Build System is your

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one-stop shop for doing business with the city of Homestead quickly, securely, and efficiently. Getting started is simple. Just visit homesteadfl.gov/pluild, create your account, and you are ready to go to work. With the launch of EPLL

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Build, the future of permitting and licensing in Homestead is here. Making your experience faster, smarter, and easier than ever before. The city of Homestead is committed to maintaining the highest standard of service and quality to address your needs.

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>> The city of Homestead, the future lives here. Have you ever seen spray paint markings on the bulk trash pile? There's a reason for that. >> It's part of how we track and tackle illegal dumping. These markings are part of the city of Homestead's efforts to

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keep our community clean, safe, and informed. >> Our co- compliance officers now use spray paint to identify bug piles and illegal dumping that have already been inspected. >> That's right. Whether it's waiting on a pickup from the solid waste department or the property owner is working on compliance.

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>> A marked pile means the issue is being handled. >> So if you see a trash pile marked with orange paint, rest assured we're working on it. If you don't see any marks, let us know and we'll fix it. Report illegal dumping and other issues at our mobile

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app, fixitomestead or by visiting homesteadfl.gov/fixit. GV/Fixit. Want to know what's happening in the greater Homestead area? Visit our official Discover Homestead community calendar at visit.discoverhomestead.com.

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From festivals and concerts to workshops and family events, it's all there. And if you're hosting an event, you can add it to the calendar and share it with the entire community. It's easy, it's free, and it keeps South Dade connected.

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Discover, connect, experience Homestead. So, what's behind me is our newest art sculpture that's came into the cyber. The artist took about 10 days or so coming in set getting it all set up. If you came in during that time, you saw him him in here with some scaffolding

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and a scissor lift and just all sorts of stuff going on everywhere. But we are absolutely delighted to have the sculpture here. We think it's a wonderful complent to all the services and the beautiful library that we have. And we want you to come in, check it out, get a library card, use some of our

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services, see what we offer. >> This culture is part of our art in public places initiative. We also have the chrome statue, the murals, and the utility box wraps. There's much more to come, so please stay tuned.

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>> Uh so to come in and visit us, uh we are at 80 West Malerie Street, so we're right in the same shopping center as the movie theater and right next to the parking garage. We're also across the street from Homestead uh police department, so we're not, you know, we're easy to find. And you know, you

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can also visit our website at cybrarium.org. or you can go on, see what all we've got going on, see what time we're open, and then come in, pick up your pick up your card, and start going. Today, March 2nd, 2026,

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marks the official start of construction for a project that will transform our dear city of Homestead and South Dade. >> It's more than a big deal. We cannot overstate the impact that this will have

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for decades and on our community and and regionally. This will really help put Homestead on the map, be part of the greater Miami community. People will come here. We will truly be another

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destination in in greater South Florida. >> The Sports Performance Hub is very ambitious in scope. It's a professional training academy. It's a youth boarding school. It's a public recreation space, a stadium, a hotel, and a sports

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medicine and surgery center. >> And we are looking forward to fulfill our expectations and the community's expectations. So, it's exciting. It's an amazing challenge and we are looking forward. >> This truly groundbreaking for Homestead, an exciting day. Not only are we giving

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to the community, so many hands involved here, creating job, creating an environment that is so new and cutting edge for Homestead. So, it's exciting time. >> This is going to be perfect. And I think it's the the energy that we brought to the group, it was pretty much essential

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for us to become what we are today 3 years back. So, we thank you. >> No, thank you. This is this is what happens when public partnership come together. This is what happens to the visionary meets the community. Dan, you're about to see something that the world has been waiting for.

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>> What if Miami could become a true hub for multiport development? What if young athletes didn't have to leave to pursue excellence, but could build it right here, right here at home and in our community? We appreciate everybody's turnout. What a fantastic day to

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celebrate Homestead. Homestead rocks and the future lives here. We're hiring. Join the parks and recreation team with a part-time position to make a difference in your community. Execute exciting events, maintain parks and facilities, and

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impact our youth. Great for those in need of a flexible schedule or extra income. Apply today at cityofhomestead.com/job. >> Need help paying your electric bill? The city of Homestead is here to help. Homestead Cares offers up to $500 a year

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in utility bill credits for eligible HPS customers facing temporary financial hardship. Applying is quick and easy. Visit homesteadfl.gov/cares. Fill out our online form. Make sure you include all required documentation like

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proof of income, your photo ID, and your HPS utility bill. Submit your application and you're done. Assistance is given on a first come, first serve basis. So don't wait. Whether you're dealing with job loss, a medical emergency, or unexpected expenses,

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Homestead Cares is here for you. For questions or help applying, contact our community development and human services division at cdhs@homesteadfl.gov or by calling 305224-4408. At Homestead Public Services, we're always looking for opportunities to

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improve our process and provide seamless service. That's why starting September 9th, we're launching an enhanced customer service process for applications. This update includes same day power and water hookups. If your request, payment, and proper

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documentation are submitted before noon. Plus, with our new document attachment system, submitting your forms have never been easier. We're streamlining the way you connect with us, ensuring your service setup is faster and more efficient.

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If you're looking for a rewarding, hands-on job, come join our team here at the city of Homestead. You won't regret it. >> What we do here is vital. We keep the power on and help restore the infrastructure after natural disasters. >> It's more than a job. It's an exciting

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career with real impact. We're hiring experienced professionals in several positions, ready to take on big challenges. >> You're just not fixing things. You're building the future of this community. >> We offer full-time positions, great benefits, health insurance, and a solid

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retirement plan. Be part of a team working hard to make Homestead shine. >> Apply today and start your rewarding career at Homestead Public Service. Homestead Public Services is excited to introduce our new enhanced customer service process. To make your power and

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water connections happen the same day, follow this simple checklist, submit your request, make your payment, and attach the required documents by noon. Our new system streamlines the entire process for faster, smoother service.

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We've also provided a document checklist to guide you every step of the way. And if you need in-person assistance, our dedicated window at city hall is available to help. We're here to make your next move easier, starting today. Summer is here and with it comes extra

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cost to keeping it cool. With extra electrical demand to cool our homes and businesses, it's up to all of us to do our part to reduce peak demand by avoiding the use of major appliances during the day and using eco settings when available. setting your thermostat

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to 78 degrees while away, waiting until your dishwasher or laundry is full to run the cycle, and using energy efficient light bulbs and fixtures. For tips on how to save money and cool your home efficiently, visit homesteadfl.gov/heat. >> Need a permit? We are here to help you

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and faster than you think. At the City of Homestead's development services department, we offer a new expedited permit service for selected permit types and you can get approved in just 72 hours. Expedited permits include in

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electrical safety inspections, temp for test, meter repairs, temp for construction and sub permits. in plumbing, water heater replacements, cosmetic plumbing fixture upgrades and toilet replacements in mechanical air

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conditioning unit replacements. Also, tree removals, commercial building painting, fence installations, and resurfacing of floors or slabs, and we'll be adding more to the expedited list soon. We're committed to making the permitting process simple, efficient,

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and friendly for both residents and businesses. And the city of Homestead has an exciting new update to enhance how residents, contractors, and businesses track projects in the development services department with our new Homestead's enterprise permitting

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and licensing system. Soon you'll be able to apply, upload, pay, and track your project entirely online. Visit homestead.fl.gov/expedited permit or stop by city hall to get started today. We're open Monday through

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Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Got questions? Call us at 305224-4500. Meet Jorge and Lupe Lugo, recipients of the Homestead CRA residential grant. Well, they fixed up they put a new roof

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which we're very glad because it was too old. And they also fixed the garage door which it we could instead I mean it has to be hold by stack otherwise it will fall on us. It was very dangerous. We

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have a new one which is great. Thank to Malika that help us, you know, with the program and we're so happy now about her. Thank you to the CR Homestead. We're very pleased and we're

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so happy and I really thank them. much. >> If you're interested in the residential facade program, contact the Homestead CRA by emailing CRA grants at homesteadfl.gov or call 305224-4486

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to learn more. In Homestead, we're building the energy system of the future. One that's stronger, smarter, and ready for what's next. from undergrounding utilities to replacing aging wooden poles with resilient concrete poles and upgrading

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substation infrastructure to increase capacity and keep the lights on for decades to come. We're investing today in Homestead to ensure that we're prepared for the future. Reliable, affordable, and resilient power. That's

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our commitment to you. And we're doing it while keeping the rates among the lowest in Florida. According to the Florida Municipal Electric Association, Homestead Public Services has one of the lowest residential electric rates in the state. Our customers pay just $118 per

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1,000 kilowatt hours, well below the state average and FPL. In addition to affordability, HPS currently holds a diamond level reliable public power designation, recognizing excellence in reliability, safety, workforce

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development, and system improvements. Because we're not just powering today, we're preparing for tomorrow. Homestead. The future lives here. Today we celebrate the people who keep Homestead running with pride, purpose, and heart.

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>> I serve to protect this community, my community. >> I serve to keep our city clean and beautiful. >> I serve to keep your water safe and clean. >> I serve because I love to help. >> I serve to keep our city clean and fair. >> We're here to keep the lights on no matter what.

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>> I serve to build beauty into every day. >> From permits to parks, patrols to power. Thank you to all of our public servants from the city of Homestead. >> City of Homestead is dedicated to enhancing your quality of life and improving our community's aesthetics.

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That's why city manager Zarya and his team have been participating in bi-weekly ridealongs with the interdep departmental quality of life task force. So far, the city has issued 474 citations for illegal dumping and 108

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for overgrown lots. These efforts have also led to four felony arrests and 12 misdemeanors, helping to keep our neighborhood safe, clean, and beautiful. Together, we're making our city a better place for everyone.

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The GarcAs learned to be energy efficient inside their home, from lighting to laundry and everything in between. But then they started to wonder about how they use water. They found the leak in their toilet by putting a little food coloring in the tank, which showed up in the bowl within minutes,

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indicating a leaking flapper valve. This simple fix could save about 200 g a day or 6,000 gall a month. They use a lowflow shower head and change their leaking faucet washers. So, what about the outside of their home? Once again,

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the GarcA went to work. Now, they save about 150 gallons of water by not running the hose constantly when they wash the car. The EPA says a typical family uses at least 50% of their water, quenching lawns and plants.

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Unfortunately, 60% may be wasted because of evaporation or overwatering. So, the GarcAs use a timer, irrigate in the early morning, and use only the minimal amount of time recommended by the local water authority. They've also planted evergreens to provide year- round shade

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for even more efficiency of their conditioned air. Now, the GarcAs are a model of efficiency, mega savers of energy and money, and a credit to their community and to the planet. Brought to you by your local municipal electric utility and the Florida Municipal Power

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Agency. >> Hello, my name is Christopher. I'm the owner of Cancun Beverage. It's been open since 1984 before I was born. So it has over 40 years of experience of waters and fresh fruits and other stuff that we could do

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from Mexico. Uh we do like 12 different flavors of waters for bigger events but like small events. We just do like four or five, maybe up to seven waters. And we do nachos, fresh nachos with cheese. And then we do fresh fruits. And then we

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do a lot of we do parties also, weddings, um events for meetings and other stuff. Today we have blueberry lemonade, dragon fruit lemonade, mango, passion fruit, and lchata. Everybody's favorite. Winter wonderland was awesome. Good for the community.

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It's good for the family. It's It's beautiful. I loved it. Thank you Homestead for the opportunity for having us here and hopefully we can keep doing it again. >> Cancun Beverage is participating in the city's Discover Homestead Winter Wonderland Experience seasonal event. If

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you're interested in becoming a vendor, email us at special events.gov. Good evening everyone and welcome. Our apologies for the uh brief delay. I'd like to call the city of Homestead Committee of the Whole meeting to order.

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Today is Tuesday, April 7th, 2026, and it is 5:43 p.m. Have a roll call, please. Madame Clerk. >> Councilwoman Ksky, >> here. >> Councilwoman Abula, >> here. >> Councilman Cannibal, >> here.

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>> Councilman Fletcher, >> here. Councilman Ross >> here. >> Vice Mayor Bailey >> here. >> Mayor Losner >> here. >> Um Mr. Manager, are there any additions, deletions, or deferrals for this agenda? >> None, Mr. Mayor.

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>> Council, any requests for deletions or deferrals? Okay. So, our first item before us is tab one, the approval of the March 3rd, 2026 Committee of the Whole minutes. Do I have a motion to approve? Moved by Councilman Roth,

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second. >> Second by Councilman Cannibal. >> Are there any objections to the approval? All in favor? >> Any opposed? Next item is tab two, Mr. Pearl,

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just a cow item. But uh tab two would be a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, adopting the city of Homestead Water and Sewer Master Plan providing that the water and sewer master plan shall serve as a policy guide for future water and wastewater system planning, prioritization,

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coordination, implementation efforts, providing for implementation, providing for an effective date. >> Thank you. Um Mr. Manager, I think we've all seen this. Uh you have a brief presentation. >> Brief being the operative word. Why do I

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always get asked that? >> Yes, sir. >> We all have to be on the same page for what the word brief means. >> Exactly. >> This is a test. >> Good evening, Mayor and Council. Um,

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well, we have online the uh consultants that worked on the project. Can they introduce themselves? >> Uh, good afternoon everyone. This is Nikolai Gage from CES consultant. >> So that is when CES consultant and of course my name is Kyro Kangas and I'm

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the public works director. So tonight we're going to present quickly the water and sewer master plan that the city has been working for um a little over a year now. The purpose of a water and sewer master plan of any master plan is to establish

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a plan a work plan that we can follow that can guide the infrastructure improvements of any uh municipality. So in order to create this master plan we first have to define the scope and objectives that the consultant know exactly what it is that we're looking

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for. data collection and analysis. That took countless hours of us trying to compile old historical data and make sure that they put it into our computer a uh design um system, develop a vision. Uh we needed to let them know what we

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wanted the city to be and of course account for growth and create the master plan which is the one that we're presenting now. I want to give you a quick um overview of what our water and uh sewer is or what it looks like. This is a map of the sewer service area. The

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dashed lines are the city limit boundaries whereas the thick black solid line is the sewer service area. As you can see, we service outside of the city limits. And what you see dashed in blue towards the top are the areas that are

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currently with uh running on septic tanks. This is a map of the water service area. And um again the same uh as the previous one dash line is a city the the black solid line is the service area boundary.

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I wanted to point out which I have during the briefings the blue area is the one that is being serviced with Miami date county water that the city purchases for those residents. Um even though they use our infrastructure, our pipes and valves and and meters and

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whatnot. Towards the top you can see that we have two well fields. One of them is at Wake Park that has four um uh pumps and then the one at Harris has two pumps.

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This is the water manes by pipe material. Um, one good point that I would like to note is that the majority of our system is ductile iron, which is good and we have very little areas that have asbestous cement,

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which was an old material and it's not dangerous for consumption. It's not as best as in the air, but it's something that you want to remove because it is brittle and tends to burst. These um these are the uh this slide shows the water man sizes and age

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deficiencies. Anything in red is this is the map shows the age deficiencies. Anything in red are distribution lines that are less than 8 in in diameter. Um we have a lot of that in the city and it's something that we are working

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towards upsizing. The table shows the age of the pipe system. And again, this is not the entirety because we don't have all the data. Some of it was lost during Hurricane Andrew, unfortunately. But based on what we know, this is data

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and we're not doing that badly because, as you can see, the majority of our pipes are from 30 to 39 years old. That is hitting the upper limit, but it's not as bad as other parts of the system. Now we move on to the recommendations.

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First, gravity main prioritization. Luckily, gravity mains are not a an issue when it comes to emergencies per se. They are an issue when it comes to capacity. And that is why, as you can see in the map before you, the Chrome,

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which is the big red line that goes, you know, north and south, and the Flagler were prioritized, and those are the ones that hopefully will start construction immediately after the bids are received on April 13th for that project. Um, the rest of the system, there are few that

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we do want to upsize and we also want to line and this map represents those prioritizations. force main prioritization. This one is a big deal. Uh there is a big red squiggly line that runs east west. That one

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hampers our capacity for growth, especially anything east of the city. So we are actively working with developers and establishing a fastpaced plan to be able to allow them to connect as these pipes are uh exceeding the threshold uh

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of velocities. And that pipe especially underneath the Sandero landing between the wastewater treatment facility and the turnpike um is the one that through through which all the flows east of the turnpike

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flows. So it is almost 50 years old and um it doesn't have enough redundancy. It doesn't have any redundancy. So something that we need to work towards. The water main prioritization again the red chrome and flaggler is what we're doing now. We received a grant to upsize

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water manes and that is money that is being used towards the flagler portion. So we continuously apply for grants and water upsizing is one of our main objectives. This is an example of one that we're doing now. And I just wanted

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to highlight real quick the area of the city that has very small undersized pipes. They're approximately 2 in in diameter. And this would obviously be one that we will prioritize as soon as we receive grant funding so that we can improve reliability, pressure and fire

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protection. So here we have only highlights of the projects that are proposed being proposed and that are being prioritized. The number one is well number seven. This project has been fully designed and is finalized in the permitting process.

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We are asking for state and federal appropriations to be able to build it because without this well, we do not have enough capacity to take over that bluish area that I showed towards the beginning of the presentation. Um, and we definitely want to take over that

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area because it'll be cost savings to to the city and also more reliability and better pressure for the people in that area of the city. The million-gallon storage tank and pressure pumps is also a critical infrastructure need because it will allow us to fill up more tanks

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during off- peak hours and use the pressure pumps to regulate the pressure if there's any emergencies or during peak hours. Well number seven, redundant is another well that we would need in order to work in tandem with well number seven. These are supposed to turn on and

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off um you know interchangeably. So that is one that we will start designing um fairly soon and it will be most likely in um the same well field as Harris via field pump stations um wells. And then

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the last one is a water main upsizing. I I mentioned that in the other slides the 33 million that we're estimating is for the entirety of the system as they're being prioritized now. But the projects will be broken up into manageable

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cost uh portions. >> Question uh sorry I didn't get a chance to call you on this but it kind of hit me today. The uh location of the million gallon storage tank where for the water where would we be looking to put that? >> That is slided right now. We have it

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slided for the wakeup park, but we also want it to be towards the west side of uh the east side of the city uh for pressure optimization on on that area as well. >> That's a big tank. So, >> well, depends what you consider big.

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Dorado has one in one of their parts and it's not that big considering uh what you imagine when you think of a million gallon tank, but it is sizable. Yeah. Thank you, >> Councilwoman.

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>> Thank you. On this page, the 33 million figure, is that price based on the phasing uh process where it's probably going to cost more because we're not doing it all at once, or is this the cost and then we can expect it to be more if you phase it out? >> Well, this is this is a summary of all

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the little ones that are in the report. So the report what we asked the consultant to do was to keep in mind the the funding constraints that we have. We can only do a project that is anywhere from 5 to 10 million depending on the grants that we receive. So the 33 is a

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conglomerate of all those projects together. It's not each one. >> Okay. >> As for the sewer projects, uh Chrome and Flaggler, we all know that that one is our top priority. So, we wanted to highlight it and uh hopefully we'll start construction soon. The 24in force

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man along Lucy Street is the one that I mentioned that we absolutely need to start working on to allow for the development to continue on the east side of the city. And last but not least, the wastewater treatment facility expansion, which if um not if, when, with council's

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approval, we proceed with it, it will allow us to have more control of our um financial um state in the in the city because I don't know if you remember last year, um Miami Day was the increase

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the wholesale rate by 19%. And now we were able to only increase it by 13 because we budgeted you know appropriately but it was 19% and every year they can increase it as much as they need as they see fit based on their uh necessities. So by doing this we're

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able to take more control of our of our uh funding. >> Well let me ask you before you jump ahead that we're going to talk about expanding the wastewater treatment plant. Over the years, there's been a lot of discussion about maybe the whole thing needs to be

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relocated. That when that was constructed and placed there, believe it or not, it was kind of out at the out in the middle of nowhere. Not a whole lot out there. Um, so, you know, has there been any thought or I mean,

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that sum is probably three or four times that $65 million number to entirely relocate? >> It would be. Yeah. The entire west side of the city flows into the plant via gravity. That means that you would have to have almost

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a regional pump station designed somewhere in the Lucy re or maybe in the plant, I'm not sure, to pump it wherever you need to go. And that alone is a a multi multi-million dollar project. >> So So that one could stay and you could create a smaller scale further east

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perhaps. >> So Mr. Mayor, so the rule of thumb for most cities and counties is to preserve your facility as is and build a brand new treatment plant elsewhere. The cost of replacing the structure and

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infrastructure that supports it is going to run into billions of dollars. >> It's a lot. >> So the county what the county has done is to decentralize their system, build additional treatment plants. one in Hayalia to supply the west side of the county. You have one in the central

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district at Virginia Key for wastewater. You have the Alexander oil plant on Sunset Drive. Then you have one on the northwest side of the county. So the county is decentralizing. >> So we relieve the burden from the existing facility to a certain extent. >> True.

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>> And re locate an ancillary facility somewhere else. >> That that is an option. Yeah. Keep in mind that with the uh wastewater treatment facility expansion um there will be beautifification and other steps taken so that it doesn't look or feel or

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smell like a waste water. >> Does it look like a sewer plant? >> You know, we'll take a trip out there. It does not smell like a wastewater treatment facility. >> Very proud of that. So yeah, we can definitely look into all those alternatives. So just to kind of amplify, I've told

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staff that we intend to schedule a site a field trip for council to go out to the water treatment plant and wastewater plant and look at it. >> Yeah, the smell is from solid waste. >> There's there's not a ton of jokes built into that trip, but

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>> it's true. >> So, uh, with that being said, if there's any questions, um, I'm happy to answer. And the call to action would be for council to hopefully um adopt the the master plan. >> Okay. Any additional questions, council, on

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the uh >> Good job and move it. >> Yeah. All right. So, it's been moved and seconded. Um do we need a roll call vote on this or just a a voice? >> Well, this will be a motion to place it on your consent agenda. >> Just a voice vote.

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>> Yeah, this is just No, we're just moving forward to consent. All right. So, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor? >> Any oppose? Right. Well, so moving on to tab three. And as long as you're in position, and then for the audience, I want to

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jump to tab seven. After this, you will have suffered enough. And we'll uh we'll jump to the item that all of the red shirts and your friends are here for. >> I think he's saying I'm boring. Okay. Well, good evening, council and, uh,

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mayor. So, uh, we're now going to present the transportation master plan that we have also been working now for a little over a year. This was also a pretty large hurdle to get over. Um, as the manager

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has mentioned during the briefings, this is something that the city seriously needed and lacked for quite some time. So, we're very happy that we finally have one. The purpose is the same. Uh establish a a road map, make sure that we have our vision and our needs clearly

1044
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represented. And and just like with the wastewater master plan, uh water and sewer master plan, this one is for a 20-year planning horizon, even though you're supposed to review these every five years to make sure that they still align with your needs as as the city grows. goals and our

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objectives are well relatively the same. This one is for enhancing transportation connectivity, optimizing mobility, improve transportation reliability, and develop viable project recommendations for implementation. So the rest of these slides for the most

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part are to show you what the U consultant had to go through in order to develop this master plan. uh they used as you can see the existing land use uh conditions in order to establish the capacity and and demand the the maximum

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and greatest and best capacity and demand for the for the each each land area. They they looked at population profiles and the needs that they have because senior uh citizens and younger residents have different needs than people of a certain

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age range 18 to 35 let's say. They also looked at existing population and employment to see where the density was, where the population density was, the employee density and that also drives the needs for transportation and prioritization.

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The future employment and employment and household growth, they also took that into account. and uh the existing and planned multimodal network. This is one of the key um uh elements of a transportation master

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plan which is to give people freedom from only having to use for example uh a single family vehicle. the freedom to be able to walk, to ride bicycles, multimodal uh infrastructure. Um the plan roadway improvements for

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Miami date and for the city of Homestead, they looked at and and for the DOT, they looked at all those plans as we have them available to make sure that they were not duplicating uh efforts and to make sure that they all aligned with each other, that they

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made sense. the methodology for roadway needs, existing and future condition analysis. As I mentioned before, they took all that data and they used um SER SER M8 as a modeling tool and also they used a

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data called RIS uh a platform called RIS that gives them almost hourby hour uh traffic demand um conditions. And this is something that is um maintained by by the county or the county gave us access to it. So

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we were able to use it for this for this project. The roadway improvement types, we have intersection improvements as well as capacity improvements. And we went over these when we presented this to the workshop and and we all spoke about which intersections needed to be improved. That was also taken into

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consideration. The volume capacity for 2025 is shown on the image to the left. The volume slashcapacity for 2030 is in the center and for 2045 is on the right. As you can

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04:56:41.840 --> 04:56:58.718
see, there are some sections that may turn darker red and lighter green as time progresses and the master plan tried to address this by planning the projects now so that we have better conditions in the future.

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This slide is just a summary of the geo bond uh presentation that was uh forwarded to to council to review the projects that we are considering. And then here we can see some recommended roadway improvements where the green uh lines are through lane addition. And as

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you are aware, we are currently trying to obtain grant funding for capacity improvements in multiple major well for us are major but collectors and and arterials in the city. For example, East

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6th Avenue from Lucy to US1. Uh Mauy Drive from US1 to 162nd. Uh 147th Avenue crossing the C 103 and 162nd Avenue. So that one we already have a grant for. All those are depicted in this um slide.

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So we have a a list of projects associated with mobility impact fees that the council um adopted via resolution 2025930 on September 24, 2025. If you remember, there were about 28 projects that the

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council believed were the most important and that they needed to be sent to the county for them to do one or two things. Either put it in their work program and do it because it's probably one of their facilities or allocate to the city multimodal impact fees that we believe

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we are deserving of. Recently the the that list was circulated internally in the TBW. They analyzed uh all the projects and it's funny because we just met with them to to review the list. They had said that some were not um they

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they they did not apply for for the work and of course they were not correct. And the funny thing is that our list is the first municipality that has sent them a list of projects and that is the process that they want to implement going forward for other municipalities. So

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they started asking for this from municipalities and you guys with the manager's direction directive. We were we were ahead of the game. So we may have set the president there. So we got that list of projects. We reviewed them and all we have to do is send it back to

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them for them to start putting them in their work program or prioritize uh my funding for us. This is the list of projects. Uh I believe uh you may have been sent this already to review. >> May I?

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>> May I? Uh Cairo on the list of projects when we were doing our workshops and having our briefings in the room upstairs, there was the traffic light on 137th Avenue and Waterstone Boulevard that I had asked to be added to this. Can you confirm if it's there?

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>> Uh I believe it's right there. It's one, two, three, four. They have it right there. Uh 37th Avenue from the bottom, I'm sorry. Tallah has a road at Waterstone Boulevard. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. Uh, last but not least, this is a a list

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of current and potential available funding for transportation master plan projects. This is a list of the estimated cost of the projects that we have either available funds for or potential

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funding. And then the numbers, so the footnotes will tell you where those potential fundings are coming from or or the actual funding. And as you can see, 162nd Avenue is by far the one that we have the the most for. And uh we're

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currently working to to get a designer on board to start the bridge replacement and the rotary um widening. Erh, one key note is that we have changed our approach for grant application and

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decided to break up projects into sizable chunks that will guarantee that we get not only the grant but also the grant enough for us to do the project as opposed to let's say giving us a million dollars but the project is 13. Where do we come up with the rest? So 162nd is a

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very good example of that um process working really well because we have the funding for the bridge already secured and we're we think we're going to get funding for the road. Um 6th Avenue we have funding not only from grants but also from uh transportation

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um fair share agreements that we can use and then the rest are are looking for funding right now. >> So mayor council go back to the list kyro please. So we resubmitted this list of projects back to the state and to the federal government through our

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lobbyists. Currently some of these projects are being considered for funding in current year's budget. Both the House and the Senate had allocated monies for some of the projects. So we're waiting for reconciliation and a final approval. >> Those are that column on potential

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funding. For example, 147 the 4.1 million is number four which is federal earmarked for fiscal year 27 community project funding request. We'll see. >> Council Fletcher, if I may, and again, uh I don't want to

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upset any engineers again, but >> I forgot to introduce them. They're online. Ah, Kimy Horn, they're a consultant, >> but uh I do want to throw out there again that, you know, we we tend to put bridges on these locations when I think

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the cost-effective way is to put in giant culverts. And we know it works. We've seen it done in Florida City. We've seen it done outside. And I think the cost effectiveness would reduce the cost and you won't have to have the reertifications 20 30 40 years down the road with that item. So just again

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05:02:44.320 --> 05:03:01.040
something to think of but uh >> I know you're an engineer and you're going to disagree with me. >> No, I'm not disagreeing. The challenge is not really the method of crossing a body of water. It rests with the ownership of the body of water. If you might go in there with a cover, they said no. for maintenance purposes they

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want you to put a bridge so that their boats can easily go in and uh do some kind of uh improvements in terms of desalting the the canals so most of the canals we have in the cities either county or water management district so they don't belong to us

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>> understood but ICM use cranes to lift the boats in and out of the canals over the bridges now so they'd still have to lift it over the roadway >> we we are we are looking at every alternative yeah and and We actually also discussed it with South Florida, but as the manager mentioned, it's not

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likely that they will approve it, but you know, when you discuss it with them, they they like to think that, yeah, yeah, propose it, but they will most likely want a bridge. And the vertical uh clearance that they want from the water, um

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it's it's pretty high. I I recently called someone from the county uh a friend of mine and he sent me the bridge they just built on 136 street um over in Color Bay and he told me that one of the biggest challenges that they had was

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actually the vertical clearance and permitting with South Florida Water Management District. Yeah, but we are hiring for an engineer and that was a good idea if you're interested. Oh,

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>> does that conclude the presentation? >> Oh, yes. So, >> so Mayor Council, I want to place on the record our appreciation of the support that we've been receiving from Congressman Carlos Himenez for federal funding and county commissioner Cohen

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Higgins on the county side. uh that we made progress with the mobility impact fee because her office took it as a personal challenge to assist and I believe we are scheduled for another set of meetings with the county on that with our office. >> Yeah.

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>> Very good. Any further questions or comments from council? Okay. Hearing none, do we have a motion to approve the uh transportation master plan? Moved by Councilman Cannibal, second by Councilwoman Ksky. All in favor? So this

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is a motion to place it on the next council meeting. >> Place it on the agenda. Council agenda for approval. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> All right. If there are no objections,

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let's jump to the uh to tab um seven. Mr. Pearl, I think you've got a resolution for tab 7. Tab seven is a resolution of the mayor and the city uh council of the city of Homestead Florida approving an interlocal agreement with Miami Dade County relating to the publication of

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05:05:48.320 --> 05:06:04.000
legal advertisements. I'm sorry that's step four. I was I was staying in order. I apologize. A resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, authorizing the city's participation in the Civicus Soho program to be implemented at Somerset South Homestead Elementary Charter

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School. authorizing the city manager and or his designate to take such actions as may be necessary to implement the city's participation in the program, providing for implementation and providing for an effective date. >> Very good. Um, Mr. Manager, is this a presentation by the chief? >> Yes, this is going be handled by the

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chief. >> Mayor and council, good evening. This is uh this is something actually we're pretty excited about and that is the uh partnering and what we're seeking is approval to partner with Civica who's offering a clear vocational pathway into

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public safety. Uh this is not just for police. Uh this is eventually going to be for dispatchers. It's going to be for CSAs probably eventually even for fire rescue. It's a program that was modeled after what they're doing in Hyia. We've been we started exploring this idea

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several months ago and I have to say that I'm I'm really impressed with how fast they put this all together and I thought that the best person to answer technical questions uh if there are any is the principal of Civica who's the representative that's here

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please come forward and introduce yourself >> good evening and welcome Let's get the microphone turned on. >> Okay. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yes, we can. >> All right. I am Laya Morales, the principal of Civica Soho and the

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principal of Somerset Academy South Homestead Elementary, which is both here in just >> right here, >> two blocks away. >> Do you guys want me to do the presentation or am I just answering questions? >> Whatever you'd like to tell us about the project.

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>> Okay. Did it come up or >> apparently it wasn't transmitted? No presentation. >> What's not? >> No. >> No. >> Okay. Wow. This is it. >> This is great, guys. Thank you so much.

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I've never been put on the spot like this, but I'm super excited. So, our mission is um really to to just focus not just on the academics of the of the children that we have, but it's to build a strong character and get them ready for college and careers. So, everything

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that we do is grounded on the principles of honor, respect, and loyalty. So, like the chief said, um this has been a program that started back in 2008. In 2020, Civica started their network and

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now in 2026, Civica will be here in Homestead. So, the closest uh public a public um safety, you know, police readiness program is over 30 miles away, which is KIA and the Florida Memorial

1100
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School that's downtown. So, honestly, our students here in Homestead don't have direct access to a program like this until now. And we are starting two differentmies this, you know, this time around. Um, we'll be adding more in the future, but right now

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we're starting with education. As we all know, we are in need of teachers. So, by the time they graduate, they'll be able to become preschool teachers, and we are starting with the uh criminal justice academy. So, when the students graduate, they'll be able to finish either um

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their certification in uh PSA, which here you guys call it CSA, I believe. and they can also do the dispatchers. So they'll be able to start in the workforce right away. So here the students have the the ability to finish in those career pathways. We will be

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adding more in the future like aggra science if you guys have passed by Soho. Um we're starting that program. We also have medical like the chief said fire and several others. So right now, um, the partnership with the city of Homestead is essential

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because we won't be able to do what we need to do if it's not for the Homestead Police Department. Our students will have the ability to be mentored by police officers. They'll be able to have uh direct leadership. um we'll be able to have them create

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relationships and move forward into their um you know being skilled certified uh individuals that will give back to the city of Homestead. So not only are we building the students up, but they will be coming back to give back to the

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city. So that's pretty much it. >> Well, thank you council. Questions? Congress? Council Fletcher? >> Yes. Thank you for the opportunity you brought forward to us and thank you to the chief. Uh it's an awesome time to to be a student now to get those early early buyins to these programs uh which

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I understand now is going to lead to possible some internships with the city. >> Yes. >> But I'd also like you to take a look at general government operations. U you know people a lot of people don't know about city clerks and >> and other departments. So something to take a look at in the future maybe expand the program.

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>> Yes. Yes. We're definitely looking into all the different options. I know that like skill trade is something that has kind of been lost. So, we're going to be adding that in as well. >> Awesome. Thank you again. >> Thank you, mayor. Yes. Very exciting. Um, I think my only question is what are

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your age ranges because I thought you were just elementary. >> So, we will be having a middle school and high school as part of Civic. Right now we will be nested within Somerset Academy South Homestead which is an elementary which is a K5 but we will be adding that component and we'll

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be gradually adding the grade levels year after year. So we'll start with six and 9 and then the following year 6 7 9 10 6 7 8 9 10 11 and then 12th grade. >> Okay. And that'll start this coming school year. >> Yes ma'am. >> August 2026.

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>> You'll share some information with us. I'm sure you'll have new pamphlets to go out to share with >> families. Absolutely. We have all of that. rule done. Give it to all of you. >> Okay. We were very confused during the briefings. I was like, I know it's an elementary school. Yes. >> Um I love the young ones learning things, but okay, that makes a lot more sense. Congratulations.

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>> Thank you. >> Very exciting. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Questions, further? >> Okay, so let's have a motion to place this on the council agenda. >> I move it. >> Moved by uh Cannonball, seconded by Vice

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Mayor Bailey. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. While y'all are here, if we get somebody to move the podium and have y'all come up, >> you've earned at least a picture. We'll stand you here. We'll stand behind you

1114
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and uh memorialize your uh >> program, >> your initiation into uh boring council meetings. >> Share with us to do Let me ask you something. >> Yes. >> When they finish um the training,

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>> those credits apply for them to continue with the studies. >> Yeah. So, the goal is to get them a scholarship to go and get their police academy. >> Very good. >> All right. So, let's turn around and we'll let uh our super duper

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photographer Nelvin uh work his magic. Anybody else need to come down? Thank you all. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Going back to tab four, Mr. Pearl.

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Tab four was a resolution of the mayor and city council in the city of Homestead, Florida approving an interlocal agreement with Miami date county relating to the publication of legal advertisements and public notices on Miami date countyy's publicly accessible website providing for authorization providing for an effective date

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>> by moved by Councilman Fletcher seconded by Councilman Cannibal. Any objection to waving any further report on this tonight? All right, it's been moved and seconded to place on the council agenda. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Moving on to tab five.

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Tab five is a resolution of the city council of the city of Homestead, Florida, approving the first amendment to the addendum increasing the scope of work for the procurement and installation of epoxy flooring at Harrisfield Park by Gel Unlimited DBA, Miracle Method of Miami North in the amount of not to exceed $177,910

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plus a city manager contingency allowance up to 10% of the total project cost utilizing the interlocal purchasing system here and after referred to as TIPS