##VIDEO ID:Nlnrev2YVQo## [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded for public record please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 good morning and Welcome to our monthly October commission meeting let's get started got a busy agenda it's the hybrid commission meeting and I'm ask our city clerk Ral FAL Granada to provide the relevant information good morning everyone during this hybrid commission meeting the city commission is physically present in the commission chamber at Miami Beach City Hall 1700 Convention Center Drive third floor the public May attend the meeting virtually however members of the public who wish to attend a meeting or provide public comment in person may appear at the commission chamber to participate or provide comment virtually during the commission meeting the public may join the meeting by visiting the Zoom app on their smart device or on the web at Zoom . us or you may do so by telephone at 305 22419 68 again 305 2241 1968 the toll-free number is 888- 47544 N9 888 475 4499 the webinar ID is 813 9285 7671 pound 813 9285 7671 members of the public to speak virtually on an item during the meeting must click the raise hand icon if using the Zoom app or press star n on the telephone to raise your hand thank you mayor thank you at this point I'd like to invite Rabbi Mindy dector to uh provide our inspirational invocation Rabbi dector is the director of the Friendship Circle which if you're not familiar is a tremendous organization that helps uh youth with disabilities uh and I've seen firsthand the uh the dedication and selflessness to help those individuals including a tremendous uh bike ride they do annually also congratulations Rabbi you recently became a chaplain with our Miami Beach Police Department so congrats on that M it's an honor thank you thank you Mr Mayor almighty God we stand before you in prayer look favorably upon the mayor and honorable members of the city Commission of our great City of Miami Beach we beseech you Almighty and merciful god to extend your grace to every member of this AUST body body and bestow upon them the joy of life good health and prosperity bless these distinguished individuals who have been chosen to make laws and decisions for the citizens of our city Grant these public servants wisdom and understanding in their Noble pursuit of justice and equality guide them so that they will always be conscious of your presence and will strive to neack laws with honesty and integrity in attendance with your will may they have the wisdom to turn adversity into opportunity and to transform the demanding challenges we face today into the Seas from which we will Sprout the growth of tomorrow may our city serve as a beacon of light for people of all faiths and walks of life may Miami Beach help achieve the goal so powerfully stated in our Pledge of Allegiance so that America is truly one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all let us say Amen thank you thank you Rabbi Dr this point we'll do our Pledge of Allegiance I'd like to ask our new building director Vince Seas to uh to lead us thank you very much please rise I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all amen okay okay let's commence the sutnik hour and Mitch that is very gracious of you to allow Joe to go before you that's uh I was here before oh you were even here before him wow okay good morning Commissioners I thought I thought Mitch was being a nice guy well he is a nice guy he is uh my name is Joe Manning I'm here to thank the commission for continuing the sutnik hour which I think is so important for residents to air their thanks and their Grievances and any issues that come up what I'm here to talk about is um R5 a which is the um the street vendors proposal I'm very very concerned about it because I think the street vendors add a great deal to our quality of life here on Miami Beach I also think there's a very thin line between artists and Crafts People and that really has to be looked at a little more closely I know artists jewelry designers this is from one of them I know Cindy Vega Christine King who are jewelry designers but I also remember the gentleman who did these beautiful Miniatures of our iconic lifeguard stations years ago he was an artist okay he didn't design those stations himself but he made these things in honor of them and they were important and when we have visitors to the city we we have to give them something to take back yes they take the photos they take the tours they enjoy our wonderful Art Deco architecture our entertainment our night life but it's so nice for them to have a souvenir to take back an affordable souvenir let's face it guys not everybody can go to Art bosle and buy rotting bananas all wall thank you good morning I'm Mitch sovic I actually had not planned to speak here today but I was inspired by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez's email where she alluded to the $20 million in Geo Bond money we have for uh uh available that money is only part of a money grab the uninspired IR ing plan that we paid in excess of $650,000 by a uh someone I consider a mediocre planner uh entails a hundred million redo fumus Park all we really need to do is spend the $5 million available in Geo Park uh G geobond Monies to replenish the park with palm trees and a few sea grape trees uh and most importantly I I alluded I mentioned the money grab if Ocean Drive remains where it is that money uh largely can't be touched Ocean Drive in itself has very little infrastructure and the only way to get that money is by relocating Ocean Drive at top the vestiges of the original Lum Plantation from the 1870s so I I would ask you to finally focus in on that boondoggle Park plan and stop w wasting our money and uh one other on a side note I've been mentioning uh the traffic gates for the closure of vocean Drive between 13th and 14th Place uh we had another breakage of one of those Gates each one has cost us $3,000 the latest one is uh the other gate on 13th in Ocean uh this would be the third broken gate in six weeks thank you GRE than commissioner and mayor my name is Brenda Jordan I've been a resident for 30 years here at Miami Beach I'm an artist I've been an artist probably longer than most of you were born I had a developed the Arts nonprofit called water bringing the flavor of my Heritage and culture to Miami Beach I put on successfully the yaya osun Festival uh African extravagance and so many things so before before art basil came here um there was a man who ran the Arts Council uh David Whitman and he was familiar sharing that um that I was one of the ones that he experienced something that he only heard about in Brazil my point is Art bzel came here he went to Basel with another person and brought art botel here and the reason why art botel came here is not only because of the water and a beautiful nature but the diversity of culture and the Arts I worked at the Arts Center of South Florida I work countywide teaching Arts I even have my own art camp here on Miami Beach I feel that this program for the artist vendors was set up without any artist included in deciding the city has one part of the coin there's two sides to every coin and in order to have a viable arts program you have to include the artist suppose I was setting up something for the Holocaust Memorial how could I do that without intimate information about what is needed how to make this program a viable program no I don't like to see the tacky little uh tables slept with a whole lot of stuff I'm an artist my table looks like a gallery as you mentioned Christine King we know who the real artists are but no one came to us I sent a letter to all of the commissioners nobody responded except the mayor to acknowledge that he got my letter but did it go any place no no one gave the right if you want to come to my table follow me out to see what I do 110 Dee weather you're in an air conditioning office thank you I'm outside sweating so I think that you should contact me anyone who really wants to make a viable program needs to involve artists it's an artist vendor program uh we're going to go now virtually to Alicia kasanova Alicia you have two minutes please state your name and address my name is Alicia Casanova I'm the vice president of the mid Beach neighborhood association good morning um the mid Beach neighborhood association MBNA appreciates the efforts of our mayor and our City commissioners on numerous efforts that we're undertaking that will make a positive impact on our city we're in support of commissioner Suarez's R 5j regarding Charter vessels hours of operation which will serve to improve the quality of life of our residents we appreciate his efforts on making our waterways safer and quieter we also support commissioner Fernandez's referrals to the finances and the economic resiliency committee to divide the mid Beach area into two zones east of Indian Creek and west of Indian Creek we support commissioner Fernandez's resolutions that are aligned with our efforts and those of the city's transportation department to continue painting the entire bike lane on Indian Creek Drive green throughout not just on the conflict points as are currently approved by the fdot this will promote a cohesive and uninterrupted aesthetic look for the bike lane and maximum visibility which will serve to improve safety additionally we hope to continue working closely with the city on the Aesthetics of the Jersey barriers are on Indian Creek that are currently in isore and on the much needed continuous pathway both of these are urgently needed in order to complete this valuable am manity thank you thank you next please state your name and address is that me yes sorry my name is Robin rice my address is 4455 North Meridian Avenue and I represent a group of homeowners asking for traffic calming on mine Avenue between 42nd and 47th Street um I've lived in this house for 24 years it's a very busy street I believe the speed limit is 25 but people regularly go 35 40 m hour sometimes they pass each other uh there are families walking on this street often to go to Temple there are children going to school and to the park on their scooters and bikes uh it's an extremely dangerous place to be there was a speed bump installed partially a few years ago and one homeowner objected to it so it was never finished so there's a sign on Meridian Avenue and there's paint on the ground but there's no bump um if you come and stand and watch in rush hour you will see how fast these people go it is nuts and I feel very strongly that I mean we never let our kids out on the street on that street for all of 18 years because of it so um we've done a survey of all the houses around where the bump was supposed to be most houses are in favor there's a few that are not um but most of us are so I'm here representing those of us who are in favor thank you thank you so much our next virtual speaker is Elizabeth Regalado please state your name address and you have two minutes that's her I guess good morning my name is Liz Regalado I am the executive director of the Miami dat County Domestic Violence oversight board uh the board in 2023 um uh supported the resolution passed by the commission then and supports um this item it's also resolution I'm I'm addressing resolution 5ab and 7j um we would like for the commission to consider not repealing the ordinance that was passed and allowing the voters and the residents of the city of Miami Beach to once again opine on whether or not to have the participation of Miami Beach on the food and beverage tax for domestic violence as well as homeless Services um in N 2019 there was a study um that was done by the uh Committee of the the domestic violence oversight board that noted Miami Beach was the fifth largest municipality with domestic violence incidents uh we appreciated the city recognizing that and um acknowledging and providing a grant to the tune of $125,000 for two years we've made great youth through the community action and Human Services Department uh of those funds to go directly to victims we support the participation of Miami Beach in the food and beverage tax currently we cannot build the T the tax goes for the construction and operations thank you so much man domestic thank you take your name address you have two minutes please good morning my name is Janet Figaro and I'm one of the artist Benders here in Miami Beach I don't live in Miami Beach I actually live in West Palm Beach and I drive all the way here for an hour and a half every day and back home to do my art and I want you all to understand you see this it might look like a necklace to you but when you get it closer to you and you get a closer look at it you see the intricacy that it takes to do this this is done with a needle and thread okay it takes hours to do this it takes dedication patience Love For What the craft that you do and it has meaning a lot of people don't think art is important they think art is only art no arts and craft belongs together because in your mind you're creating the idea then you're getting the findings to make the idea and then you have to have the craftsmanship to able to create it and that's all I have to say to you this program is important and when the tourists come here and they see this they say wow you did that and I say yes and we here because of this program because don't you do it in the area that you live I said no only Miami Beach has the perit that gives us the permit to be able to do this and they say wow that's great they take that impression back and they take something back that we make but they know that the city of Miami Beach is behind this program because other cities don't have this program so it's important that we keep going because everybody when you say oh this artist only going know how to do this everybody has their limits one person could be a simple artist you have a second level a master's level and a Beyond level so everybody works at their own rate and at their own pace in their art it's up to the person to go to the other beyond the limit thank you so much thank you thank you if you are if you are a mayor you might want to be a president nobody could tell tell you don't go to the next level all right and I want to show it our next virtual speaker is Johan Moore you have two minutes please state your name and address good morning Johan Moore 717 Jefferson Avenue uh I want to begin by expressing my appreciation for what appears to be an entirely municipally relevant municipally agenda and want to support a few items on it uh item R5 AG from commissioner fandees I think is a really important social justice and housing Equity measure 90 days tened notice of uh over 10% rent increases and a few other uh tenant Protections in that I want to support r7g the water taxi proposal as a step forward from the failed uh um fairy service um I just uh came across uh C7 as uh which would mandate that fire station 1's new location not impact the track uh and I think I can say on behalf of my entire neighborhood albe it informally that we are very happy uh if that passes and if that in fact proves to be the case um likewise I want to thank commissioner bot for C7 AQ to buy the VAC and and mosquito filled uh uh papur site on Washington Avenue at 12th Street and finally on behalf of my committee uh in um uh Express uh explicit Express expression of our position we really urge that the turtle uh ordinances include a fine schedule we think it's really uh a minimum uh effort for the public to Shield the turtles endangered species from their lights uh and we also uh were not happy that the legislation now only applies to buildings common areas and I want to contrast that if I have another moment uh with a piece of uh an item that we just passed that will come to you as an LTC if it hasn't done so already urging that retail businesses with their air conditioning on not be pered so much I apologize for you're out of time next please state your name and address you have two minutes good morning my name is Tracy slavens my address is 1900 pie Avenue Apartment 1909 Miami Beach I'm here today as a resident and as a voter I also serve on the board of directors of lotus house uh a shelter that provides over 1500 women and children a year with Supportive Services shelter services and the ability to help get them back on their feet I am committed to ending homelessness in Miami day County I serve as the chair of residents United to end homelessness and it's important to me to raise money and awareness to provide support for the hom homeless victims and domestic violence victims of our community they deserve the help I'm here today to speak against items R5 ab and r7j the commission previously rightfully determined that the 1% food and beverage tax to support homeless and domestic violence Services should be decided by the voters notwithstanding my position on the issue and I I'm here to State my objections to the record for the on this for this commission resending the question and removing it from the ballot this is a violation of our Civic rights and our right to voice our respective choices it's an assault on our democracy the question was presented to the voters to decide and this commission should not be in the business of usurping that process the right to vote is critical our nation's success depends on it and the voters being asked the question should be trusted to answer it so with that I implore you to reconsider the repercussions of passing r7j today it has a tremendously negative impact act it will affect our rights and it will affect our community thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is mhfa Miami homes please state your name address and you have two minutes thank you so much my name is Annie Lord I'm the executive director at Miami homes forall um address is 3250 Southwest 3rd Avenue Miami 33129 and I'm here to speak in support of the housing protection ordinance R5 a miani homesfor all promotes Housing Solutions in Miami Dade address the full scale of our needs and during the pandemic we facilitated uh the eviction task force which was a cross- sector collaborative that prevented evictions in real time by coordinating services and resources for vulnerable tenants and while we were doing this we learned something really intuitive which is that we were able to prevent more displacement and homelessness when we started reaching out proactively to tenants earlier in the evictions process and given that Miami Beach in Miami Beach 50% of all households are cost burdened or paying more than they can afford for their uh housing costs many Miami Beach residents are currently at risk of being displaced by Rising rents and possibly fac in homelessness uh what the housing protection ordinance could do is to create the opportunity for the city of Mi Beach and its Partners to provide services and resources that could help tenants weather rent increases and prevent their displacement in homelessness so we at Mii homes forall hope that you will approve this ordinance and thank you so much for considering it thank you go ahead please state your name address you have two minutes thank you good morning mayor and Commissioners my name is Matthew tan off and I live at 125 Jefferson Avenue I'd like to speak in support of items c4k c4d and r5y they all relate to beachwalk safety many of these items were also recommendations when I was the chair of the transportation bicycle pedestrian committee we sent those to you all in an LTC many thanks for looking to implement these recommendations regarding R5 y while in support I'd like to see this expanded to include all ages and abilities a speed limit is a best practice along shared use paths and is commonly found in cities both big and small across the country there's wide support on Miami Beach for this as well please get the police on board Chief Jones if you're listening I'd be more than happy to help you learn more about this I urge r5y to be expanded not to just include seniors but everyone thank you our next virtual speaker is Peter James fun please state your name address and you have two minutes hi good morning my name is Peter James fun I'm the vice president of Palms of Alton 1025 Alton Road I'd like to urge the Commissioners today to please reconsider and also resist any attempt to take any green space away from Flamingo Park with regards to building a fire station or basically anything inside of the park green spaces are rare they're valuable and they should be left to the community as a whole to enjoy thank you whoever was next go please state your name address and you have two minutes thank you uh Kieran James Luben 15th at lenx Avenue so I'm back to also urge the Commissioners and and the mayor to reconsider the Flamingo Park location for the fire station been appreciative of the dialogue to date you guys have been an open book I still believe that um no matter how things proceed if construction actually starts we'll see a large period of time perhaps Perpetual in which the track and football stadium are unavailable to the public I forgive my cynicism but this is my experience of how these things go in in my life I understand that it's a convenient location there's no neg assciation with the private sector um you know people don't appear really directly impacted but it's not the right thing to do um people who use the stadium are huge in number a couple hundred yesterday I was there as I am most days um and I just don't believe that got an active construction site these people carry insurance they you know they're they're going to be big trucks materials moving in and out it's going to be closed for a long period of time you often see delays public projects of this nature so again I'm quite skeptical and would urge everyone to seriously look into another location Matt who standing next to me has proposed a couple um I we're all happy to help in the search if uh happy to spend some time if there's a real mandate from Heaven um in any case I want to also mention uh commissioner magazine mentioned in the the last meeting um everyone would prefer outside the park but if it's going to be in the park the parking are area um is probably much preferred to the Green Space near the track uh in the sense that there's been proposals I think for a decade now on file that could have a no net loss of parking and it's an area where yes people Park but it's not in active use uh by people trying to achieve their fitness goals Etc do the right thing don't put the fire station in the Park thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is Darren midan your name address you have two minutes good morning Commissioners um yes uh 910 Jefferson Avenue um Miami Beach uh so I'm against also building the U fire station within the Flamingo Park um and um I believe uh even if everything goes well there will be still disruptions plus um the fact that there will be um fire station a building right next to the track uh while we running there will be lots of disruptions uh noise this that pollution right um and it's not conductive for one's mental health um I would um urge you to consider any other location but the uh Flamingo Park um and um on a side note uh I would like to bring your attention to enforcement of the uh also the uh smoking ban uh at the beach um I've been actually talking to various lifeguards and they say they cannot do their lifeguard job meanwhile they are also looking over right uh people smoking uh I always find um cigarette butts in at the beach uh so I I'm wondering who is enforcing it they said a code compliance supposed to go around and enforce that and um I don't think that's happening and also late nights we we walk at the beach and I see people still camping at the beach so I don't see any police presence enforcing like the no camping right um law so I think there's an issue with enforcement versus passing laws so thank you thank you very much for your time thank you sir go ahead state your name address you have two minutes hi Matt Rosenberg P South Beach track club and sa Flamingo Park thank you by the way to each and every commissioner and your assistance for all the the time you spend as we continue to talk about this we very much appreciate the effort and again uh number one you know we prefer it not to be in the park as pretty much everyone says we really would prefer the fire station be somewhere else very strongly that being said very grateful for commissioner Fernandez and other Commissioners that have supported the C7 as uh in regard to making sure the track wouldn't be moved or anything like that have come to appreciate the interpretation of the word definitively in a title versus in the actual resolution language and movement of track versus the way I interpret it as affecting the track so again I unfortunately wasn't able to email everyone earlier than I would have preferred but I don't know whether we can sort it out today or maybe in the future that language of uh if we are unable to move it elsewhere which we still really do and we are submitting the uh the proposals to you all for the Walgreens location as well as the South Beach health and safety corridor which you have for evaluation for other locations but the ability of that wording of we would much prefer it never to affect the usage of the track versus undo whatever that other word was which could be a day to us and six months to somebody else of undue affecting of usage so uh with a greatest of respect and appreciation for keeping the track we'd love to keep it this way we prefer the fire station be elsewhere we're glad to continue to work in a very friendly way to try to see what we can do to make that happen and again very appreciative of the efforts that you're making I know sitting in that chair is different than standing over here and we're very grateful for all the efforts of making sure the track would not be moved affected or closed and we'd like it to never be closed for even construction and again very appreciative and whether this gets sorted today on C7 as or a little bit later either way very appreciative thank you very much thank you our next virtual speaker is Alfred sario State your name you have two minutes good morning my name is Alfred Seria I reside at 6039 Collins Avenue I'm calling about the FNB uh proposal voting is a fundamental right all citizens deserve the opportunity to make their voices heard in a democracy your vote is your voice it should not be silenced is this commission going to be a barrier to The Ballot Box voting is an opportunity for change for all those Miami Beach residents who say homelessness is not a top issue for them this is an opportunity to Target and scale up resources and drive down homelessness without criminalization that's good for all residents and businesses thank you for your time thank you I didn't see who was next so whoever it is state your name you have two minutes yeah good morning mayor Commissioners my name is Richard rinsky I'm president of Palms Association of Alton Road 1025 Alton Road I'm here to speak to on the prevailing opinion of over 100 residents of Palms Association our voices represent a shared commitment to preserving the Integrity of Flamingo Park over the past 32 years we've witnessed numerous grabs of land in Flamingo Park this is now the fifth attempt to encroach on this treasured Park and we strongly oppose it the running track and the Green Space around it are some of the most loved and utilized areas in Miami Beach enjoyed daily by countless residents I ask you where in the world would they would they take Limited City Park land to build a fire station such as this and the answer is nowhere we urge you to respect the will of the community and final alternative location for the fire station we're not going away we will continue to oppose this project you cannot have an inch more of our Park past mayors and Commissioners have already taken too much thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is Dave Greaser state your name address and you have two minutes good morning everybody David grizer 1754 Meridian Avenue I'm speaking today in support of item C4 AI uh the Miami Beach marine park proposal I'd like to thank commissioner Dominguez and the co-sponsors for this item missioners bot Suarez magazine U the benefits for the creation of a marine park off of Miami Beach on our swimmable unique Nearshore habitat are immense um huge recreational opportunities economic benefits and most important L providing a safe habitat for our many endangered species um coral fish and mammal living just a really short swim from our Shores uh this park already exists and we now have the opportunity to celebrate and protect it um we look forward to speaking about this coral reef ecosystem in Greater detail um when it's at committee so thank you all and have a wonderful day we've taken up already the 30 minutes that are allocated to snik so for the next speakers we're going to do one minute so please have that in mind please so I'm not sure who it was I believe you were so state your name address and I'll start the clock good morning all my name is Sylvia laa I've been here before and I'm um representing some of the owners in the Apollo condominium I'm joining my Bo to uh Richard who just talked to you and again we are just we I'm just representing here I just want to ask you to find another place to the fire station like I said we support we know that it's very important that they have their building but actually we don't want uh any more green spaces taking away uh please try to do your best efforts uh let us remember you like that commission that did something because I know this problem of the B fire station it has been going on for so long but let us remember you as the ones that try found a place and we can fix this um you know we you you found a solution thank you thank you so much our next speaker is Patrick bre Brite uh say your name address and you have one minute please hello my name is Patrick brck I live at 1754 midan Avenue right across from P Park and City Hall I'm calling today about the spectacular coral reef that we have a short swim from the southern portion of the beach The Reef is full of endanged species like sea turtles manatees Queen con and all sort it's of colorful bun ofal fish I'm really grateful that uh commissioner uh Dominguez has put forward an item that has been co-sponsored by commissioner magazine bot and Suarez to continue to look into how we can protect this area for both the fish uh the corals and the people that are coming to visit the reef in person um I think it's a really great opportunity for our city to celebrate another uh part of our natural environment so thank you guys thank you so much next please you have one minute say your name and address good morning mayor and Commissioners thank you for the opport to speak my name is Sophie Ringle I live in two 395 Lake Panos drive on the city of Miami Beach I here to express my concerns about the homeless tax and I urge you to support commissioner saris agenda item to void referendum 8 on our current ballot this item is M misleading not transparent and not in the interest of local businesses and residents the advertisements I have been receiving in the mail are misleading and do not include important information it stated quote Miami Beach visitors end up shouldering the majority of the cost and quote and here quote the penny initiative by the homeless trust uses revenue revenue from tourists to fund housing for the unhoused and quote also misleading establishments in hotels where the tourists stay are excluded from this tax H so why is it stated in the in these ads what is also left out is that these funds do not stay locally in Miami Beach they go to the homeless trust fund and there's no print transparency where the money is going thank you so much our next virtual speaker has uh initials by A and B please State your full name you have one minute please hello Arthur bartholomy 521 West 30th Street I'm here supporting uh commissioner Suarez's agenda to resend the uh agenda might have for the homeless tax um everyone in my neighborhood I've spoke to doesn't understand what this was they've been totally misled they weren't aware of that this is 1% on top of 2% already on restaurants and uh frankly we'd like to vote with this new commissioning putting a an appropriate measure on that actually has Miami Beach in control of what happens with this money and how we direct it so please support U commissioner Suarez's agenda to resend this from the bad thank you so much please uh next uh state your name and address and you have one minute please yes good morning yasi Ramos 2395 Lake Panos I am here also in support of removing adendum eight from the ballot as I feel like it's very misleading uh the city already does an amazing job in supporting the homeless there's already programs here that somebody spoke earlier of the amazing jobs they do to support the homeless our tax dollars already support this we provide food housing medical we provide all everything they need I don't understand why there needs to be another tax on top of the tax that we already pay to do this on top of that it's not going to be managed by the city is going to be managed by a third party also as somebody already mentioned this is very misleading it says it's supposed to for the tourists but really it's not it's not even the hotels are exempt from this tax instead this is going to be applied to the small businesses that that us residents go to visit so the small businesses and the residents are going to be paying for this tax that's already on top of another tax that we already pay please remove this this is not right it's misleading it's false thank you thank you our next uh virtual speaker is Lori B oops Lori bakum hello thank you so much for your time today um I am here on behalf of power access and the South Beach Jazz Festival 1616 Michigan Avenue we ask for your support today for R5 AK commissioner Fernandez's item that speaks to City sponsorship and the dispersements of funds this will greatly impact the ability to do work in Miami Beach for organizations like ours small nonprofits that produce great things in our city we also ask that you join us at the South Beach Jazz Festival this will be our Ninth Annual it's the biggest ever in Miami Beach and we are so happy that we have announced our program this week and it has more programming for residents than ever and guests to our city thank you so much for your time thank you uh next please state your name address you have one minute good morning Commissioners uh my name is Wendy Walsh my address is 152 Northeast 89th Street elport Hall I serve as the principal officer for Unite Here Local 355 or the hotel workers union here in South Florida but I'm also the national uh General pres uh vice president for our International Union I'm here to speak on RD uh rda1 on the Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel um and the status of the development we are very encouraged that things are starting to move again on this development uh obviously this was a hotly debated issue years ago and the voters ultimately decided to have this hotel but it's been stalled for so long and we feel it's so important obviously for providing good jobs to low AG workers here in Miami beach but also it is the way to attract highquality conventions to Miami Beach we've shown this over and over nationally and we really encourage the commission uh both of the county and the city to do everything possible to help get that off the ground thank you thank you so much our next virtual speaker is Wayne Wayne say your name address and you have one minute good morning Roberts sou the 5ifth I want to begin by saying how amazing this city is um the rabbi who opened up the remarks about uh about his faith and his hope for the city and the country was amazing uh Joe Manning uh uh uh Mitch Noak everybody that followed cares about the city and I'm so impressed by the the dozens of people already spoken and listening um it's a special city of democracy in action whether rich or poor it's just a beautiful place with a lot of variating theories or thoughts and and and and experiences of life but I love this city um uh I I I have no problem with the tax have a problem where the money is going um the homeless trust has shown that they're not the best stewards of money and that um I I think that it should be redrawn so that that money is applied differently thank you sir I apologize but you we had one minute I apologize I'm going to the next person yes um good morning my name is Jamie lski 321 Ocean Drive Miami Beach I'm here because I recently voted yes on the 1% homeless care tax but now I feel deceived and really deceived by the ballot all the extra taxes in Miami Beach have raised our entertainment and dining costs by 30% when you consider that most places are adding a 20% tip plus 7even plus three plus another three but I still voted yes for the 1% homeless care um to help Miami Beach take care of these people and I think they've done a fantastic job this year um but now I find out that this money is not going to Miami Beach it's going going to Miami Dade who I feel does a terrible job so I'd like my to have my vote back and I agree with uh what many of the other people have said this morning thank you very much thank you our next virtual speaker is someone with a screen name of Dance Now Miami please state your name address and you have one minute please hello my name is Hana Bal Garten 900 Bay Drive Miami Beach I'm co-founding artistic director of Dance Now Miami I'm here in support of of c7v Commissioners bot commissioner bot's measure and proposal to support the art with a a funding Gap from the state of Florida I was there at the last commission meeting speaking with um Howard hering of the New World Symphony and we believe this is a Visionary measure because there is a paradigm shift in the State of Florida uh regarding uh supporting the art or rather not supporting the art it is a Visionary measure meure it will help continue to ident identify Miami Beach as a place where Arts Thrive and are recognized internationally and we do hope that you support this measure thank you so much thank you so much next please you have one minute say your name and address please good morning my name is Elizabeth Williams 4540 North Meridian Avenue I'm here to thank all of you for bringing up this traffic calming problem we have on Meridian Avenue once again to the agenda um I've lived done Meridian for over 13 years I have a 9 and 11year old we also have a dog we walk to Polo Park regularly I walk my son to school every morning and we walk the dog regularly throughout the neighborhood we witness firsthand the speeding and reckless driving on our street it's an issue that's only gotten worse since the full-time uh residents and the population of Miami Beach has grown uh after covid despite the neighborhood's efforts to address the issue in the past we've had limited success in 2017 this a study was commissioned by the city that highlighted the traffic concerns on Meridan and the surrounding neighborhood the independent Consultants identify that the streets with historically designed to accommodate ambulances when the Ritz residen is served as a hospital contribute significantly to the speeding problem thank you so much uh our next virtual caller is Juliana TMA please state your name you have one minute please name and address Juliana Tuma 734 Michigan also a board member um I am calling regarding the Flamingo Park Fire Station I'm urging you to find a new location um the green space is vital for our environment it helps to reduce the heat load effect um on the city and it also will help to reduce the storm water um uh to to drain the storm water when we have these heavy inundations of rain I urge you to find a location or host a sh with the community um for an existing building that we can Revitalize readapt reuse that already has some of the infrastructure in place that we can then maybe enlarge but not to take away from our very limited Green Space that we have on the beach thank you just for the record the gentleman with the hat is the last person uh go ahead ma'am hi good uh good morning my name is Sonia Rael ventos and I am from uh 6989 callings Avenue and with God's creation Ministries and uh I am over here opposing to R5 ab and our 7j and I support the initiative and I think the vo should be getting the issue and in fact people are downstair voting and uh they have to have and have their voice uh to be heard not the commission you know we we have the right to be uh and this is a democracy and we have to have the right to have their vote uh be heard thank you so much our last virtual speaker is Stephanie Stephanie go ahead please my name is Stephanie Burman my address is 7970 bisin Point Circle I'm president of car Force Supportive Housing and Miami Beach native I would like to urge the commission not to pass RBA 5 and rcj Miami Beach including Miami Beach residents have the responsibility to contribute its fair share towards caring and the most vulnerable in our County why should one of the wealthiest cities in the county be one of the few to not to contribute I would like to address a comment made by an earlier speaker about transparency there are few bodies that are more transparent than the homeless trust the city of M Beach is an active participant in the homeless trust Continuum of Care all meetings are open to the public and well attended all budgets and funding decisions are openly discussed with opportunities for the public to participate more importantly why would you not allow your citizens the opportunity to decide silencing your citizens is not acceptable especially for all of us that have already taken the time to go and vote I urge you to allow your citizens to have a voice thank you so much sir you're the last speaker go ahead please yeah good morning my name is Jesus Alberto menzes and I live in 702 and 13th Street and ukle in South Beach I believe living here for 25 years and I'm an artist and what I see since I've been here in the beginning I used to be a very beautiful art community but everywhere you will see a lot of Art and more and more I see less art in public places L are the local people participating and one idea that I had since I live in Europe before create one day a week one day a month like it used to be where you can show our in linoln row and that will create more of an artistic neighborhood than just selling and selling and selling and buying buying and buying so will attract more interesting people like myself and create more young people to encourage them to become artists thank you so much sir thank you very much I hope you take my recommendation seriously that was the last speaker thank you everyone who called in and came in and also everyone who emails and texts us um we appreciate the feedback and it is very helpful let's call um we have a 10 o'clock time certain with the Convention Center Hotel so we're going to try to get through some items before then let's do the uh board and committee appointments r9a yes sir everyone on the Das has a paper uh with the list of the nominees just for the record there is one name for each position so each are unopposed we could do this by acclamation or I could do them one by one whatever your acclamation so we have a consensus okay so for the record Mr dobler is being appointed uh and you're the commission is finding that this position he has the knowledge the experience or expertise uh to achieve the committee's objectives uh Mr Frank karak Mr Donald Goldberg and Y Alvarez and Allison slackman is being uh the waiver of uh of uh residence so all time by acclamation moved second all I I motion passes the appointees have been made mayor if you want I may report on the pulled items for the consent or yes did that cover R9 A and B yes sir okay thank you so for the record the following items have been separated from the consent agenda uh mayor Miner is not separating any items commissioner bot is separating two items C7 a C7 as again commissioner bot separating C7 a C7 as commissioner Dominguez is separating two items C4s as in Sam and C7 a again C4s C7 a vice mayor uh Fernandez is separ creating six items c2h c2f c7p C7 AI C7 a k C7 as again c2h c2f c7p C7 AI C7 a k C7 a commissioner magazine is separating two items C7 a and c4z again C7 a c4z commissioner Rosen Gonzalez is separating one item c7z as in zebra c7z commissioner Suarez is separating four items c7j C7 K c7p c7v again commissioner sorus is separating c7j C7 K c7p c7v and for the record there was one addendum item C7 as but that has been pulled so it will be heard and the committee is going to have to vote on whether to add that item to the consent agenda at that time is there a motion to set the agenda can I make a motion okay the motion's been made by commissioner bot it's been second by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez we can show the agenda set by acclamation with the items that were pulled from the consent agenda back to you Mr Mayor may we approve the consent agenda yes oh well did you make the motion I move that did anybody second commissioner bot second all in favor all yes sir all in favor motion passes because I hear any knows uh so the consent agenda is adopted excluding the separated items nice let's do some second reading items can we do those now I don't think so mayor I think let me see I think the first one is at 1010 so now first we could do first readings if you wish commissioner Suarez any interest in doing your item now we may not be able to finish it before our 10 o'clock time sir we'd have to continue any interest in doing that no okay that is uh what number is it it's the uh homeless tax item yeah two items r7j and R5 A r7j and R 5ab yeah r7j and r7j is repal resolution 2023 32719 ballot question for 1% tax and what was the R5 again what's the R5 number5 a Ab so R5 AB is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of B Beach Florida repealing ordinance 2023 4567 by amending chapter 102 of the city of May beach code entitled taxation by amending Article 5 entitled local business tax by repealing Section 102 d388 thereof entitled Levy collection and administration of 1% local option food and beverage tax homeless and domestic violence tax ta thereby striking from the city code all Provisions authorizing miam day County to Levy collect and administer the 1% local option food and beverage tax also known as the homeless and domestic violence tax within the municipality limits of the city of May beach as provided in section 212. z306 of the Florida Statutes providing for catification repeater avability and effective date this is a first reading it is item R5 AB mayor May begin you have recognized commissioner colleagues thank you colleagues over the last week and literally right this second our residents are voting on a referendum question that was purposely engineered to mislead and take advantage of taxpayer money democracy isn't just about having a vote it's about ensuring that votes are cast with clear fair and transparent information in undemocratic governments information is distorted and manipulated for special interests that's exactly what's Happening Here what I'm holding up here what I've passed around to you all is a donor list of special interest developers and lobbyists of a political action committee barely formed over a month ago with a war chest of half a million dollars and let me read through this list at the top of the list for $100,000 donation lenar Corporation industry is developers Miami for everyone industry it's another pack they donated $100,000 Chapman partnership a vendor a vendor $100,000 home to sweets Dural Miami airport this is a hotel they gave $330,000 Atlantic Pacific communities real estate developers $20,000 arog 3 LLC real estate developer $110,000 Jeb Bush and Associates Jeb Bush $5,000 let's be clear they're not donating half a million dollars out of the goodness of their hearts this is all about a return on investment an Roi that puts taxpayers on the hook for $ 1010 million each year to bankroll the homeless trust an organization outside the city of Mii Beach that has no written obligation to allocate any funds back to our city this proposed homeless tax is a master class in bad governance now ask yourself why are developers pumping big money into this it's not out of compassion or charity it's a money grab it's like a reverse Robin Hood taking from hardworking local Hospitality businesses that aren't part of luxury hotels and handing it right into the interest of billionaire developers lobbyists and special interests this residents United to end homelessness pack was created just last month yet it's already raised more money for this single issue than any of my colleagues on this deist raised during their entire campaigns this pack has raised more money to Lobby our voters than any of you who raised them who who have raised them to serve them in office let that sink in for a second some of you may argue that we should let the voters decide on this issue but let's not re let's not ignore the reality here this vote is a manipulation with half a million dollars funneled into misleading ads and ballot language designed to confuse and manipulate this is hardly an honest appeal to the public it's a stacked deck big money up against zero opposition and the voters are are being misled by powerful interests pushing for a tax hike under the guise of compassion hell right now there's three guys standing outside a city hall getting paid $25 an hour to Market this seemingly innocuous tax the truth never stood a chance here ask yourself are you doing a service to the voters who elected us to protect them in their financial interests or a service to the Developers ERS and lobbyists who funneling half a million dollars into this pack and put this into perspective earlier this year we we all voted to resend a $1 million cash out payment to the homeless trust if we rescinded a $1 million cash out payment to the homeless trust why does it make sense to hand over $10 million a year in perpetuity now before I get into the meat and potatoes of my presentation I want everyone to know that that this tax is being marketed as a tourist tax yet ironically it excludes restaurants located within hotels where the majority of T tourists stay and dine what does this do this will disproportionately affect our mom and pop local restaurants to shoulder the burden that they didn't create our local restaurants didn't create homelessness they create workingclass jobs and this tax increase will punish them make no mistake this vote is a litness test of where we stand and where our priorities lie on one hand we have billion billionaires and their network of dark Money Packs funded by the likes of lenar Corporation and Jeb Bush Associates on the other hand are the residents and local businesses of Miami Beach who elected us to defend and Safeguard their best interest now PJ can you please pull up the presentation now I'd like to get into the specifics on this ballot measure and why I believe this is a misleading and disingenuous ballot question next slide please as I showed everyone uh on my colleagues you all have a handout of all the donors on this uh on this pack that was cred created over a month ago next slide okay so I want to go into some of the misleading claims that this pack has has put out into our uh into our public you know what I find really disingenuous is that this is a one penny tax this is a 1% tax and it's it's people have come up to me they say say hey I thought it was just going to be one penny but out of the bill no it's 1% and almost every mailer that I have here including this one one penny can end homeless homelessness on the beach ridiculous next slide another one a compassionate solution to end to end homelessness in Miami Beach okay never mind the fact that we are already a compassionate City for homelessness okay um we provide seven over $7 million a year for homeless Outreach Services that includes Park Rangers police housing community services and the claim here that this will end homelessness that's ridiculous more taxes will not end homelessness and the fact that they say that this is going to be funded by tourists yet somehow excludes restaurants establishments inside hotels where tourists stay is is is very disingenuous next slide please how many slides by the way do you have a couple more questionable lobing this pack calls anti- camping laws a public safety risk so what we all passed here where it says we we passed our anti- camping laws they're calling this a public safety risk okay this doesn't align with our Miami Beach policy state law or the Supreme Court you know I talked to our housing director and she said housing doesn't change behaviors and this is what this tax aims to do it it aims to transfer wealth from Miami Beach taxpayers to an unor to an unelected County organization that's going to be controlling $10 million a year of Miami Beach money next slide please this is where the misleading ballot question comes in approve a 1% tax on food and beverage sales misleading critical context there is already a 2% Resort tax on food and beverage sales in Miami Beach this would increase it to 3% % instead of saying approv 1% it should say an additional 1% next slide false expectations the homeless trust has repeatedly said that it can end homelessness in two years every every time you look at the homeless they always say it's going to end in two years two years we just need a little bit more money and throwing money throwing more taxpayer dollars at housing doesn't solve homelessness or the flow of criminal homelessness into our city next slide so this is where the big money comes in and you have developers and special interest pouring money into this pack you know just recently at the county the homeless trust is paying more than is paying $4 million over the apprais value for a for a hotel to be converted $4 million over the praise value I think it came in at average as nine and and they're going to be be paying $14 million for it without a single bidding process you know that comes out to $136,000 per bed you know the only ones who who gain to profit from this are developers in Special Interest Who are going to be making millions in profit at the expense of at the expense of Miami Beach taxpayers next slide please okay this would make us the highest taxed jurisdiction in the county just want everyone to be we will be at 10% next slide please 85% of the tax would go to the homeless trust that's an approximately $10 million of taxpayer dollars per year the city has no control over over the spending of this money they are under no obligation to give it back okay in fact in 2017 the HUD Inspector General determined that the homeless trust did not properly oversee its subrecipients and was ordered to reimburse H nearly $100,000 the city of Miami Beach receives less than $1 million in grant funding from the homeless trust per year why should we export more taxpayer dollars to this County organization next slide just recently and I spoke to commissioner Higgins there are they have been given a a a non-compliance um violation from the county they do not want to have any independent audits as required by the County Commission the homeless trust hasn't agreed to an independent audit in years County violation issues County violation notices have been issued and they have been silent next slide just so everyone is aware the homeless trust doesn't provide any Services they they don't they control the pur strings of who gets the money who the providers are why do you think there's so many big donors here is because they aim to be first in line to receive this money next slide please we're import do do we really want to enable an organization that brings more benefits to the county to attract more homelessness throwing more money at a problem isn't going to solve it it's just going to enable it more next slide please so look we cannot allow a political action committee funded by billionaires developers special interests or high-powered lobbyists to mislead our voters into a tax increase in exchange for a return on investment the $450,000 to Lobby our voters could have been spent on homeless Services instead of a deceptive marketing campaign and you can close the slide JP look I know this is tough I know the timing is not ideal I understand the Optics that might that some of you might be concerned about but I can assure you I'm not doing this for a personal grain I'm not trying to win a gold medal I'm doing this because I believe it's the right thing to do given the circumstances we've been handed the easiest path forward up here would be in action but at the end of the day after all what you've seen if you believe this referendum question is misleading deceptive and aims to take advantage of our taxpayers the right decision is to resend this ballot question and not allow a previous commission's mistake to cost our City's taxpayers $10 million a year indefinitely ultimately we were elected to make the hard decisions and Safeguard our City's best interest against those who aim to exploit us I certainly hope our taxpayers in future years remember how we vote today thank you commissioner commissioner Laura Dominguez thank you um and thank you for commissioner Suarez for bringing this item forward um I am in disagreement of repealing something that people are currently voting on and I agree with you that the timing is not ideal and it's something that should have come sooner um I also disagree with what's been said about the homeless trust having um seen and read and uh had meetings with the homeless trust people they are an honest organization that really tries hard to help with the homeless issue and a few things that were mentioned I just want clarification and the City attorney can correct if I'm wrong on any of these items but um what this text means it's for every $150 restaurant tab it's a $150 that's dedicated to combating home homelessness and domestic violence in Miami day County the penny program only applies to establishments that gross over $400,000 and have a liquor license if you eat at a fast food restaurant it doesn't apply if you eat at a restaurant that doesn't serve alcohol it doesn't apply in restaurants that gross less than 400,000 it does not apply if you eat at a restaurant within a hotel that reings room service too it doesn't apply if you don't eat out it doesn't apply so it's not a property tax and of all of the mun municipalities in Miami dat County only three don't participate and we're Miami Beach is one of them and because of our tourist destination we do attract homeless we have an amazing homeless outreach program and I think that this um program that the voters are currently voting on will only help uh with this issue so that's what I wanted to share and Rick uh City Mr City attorney you can uh if any of the items that I mentioned or are not so please correct them no you you accurately stated that it applies to um establishments other than at hotels and uh restaurants hotels and motels that have a liquor license and it does not apply to any establishments with gross revenues of $400,000 or less that is accurate Mr Mayor it just just to put things into context I I don't know any restaurants that don't serve wine or any form of alcohol and by the way gross sales of $400,000 a year that's only $1,000 a day okay that's so let's let's that's pretty much that encompasses all local mom and pop restaurants in mi Beach commissioner let's hear from everyone else and obviously you you'll have an opportunity to speak again commissioner Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor um you know I think an argument has been made that we're going to be the municipality in Miami Dade County that is going to be paying the highest uh sales tax rate than any other jurisdiction in Miami day County because of this tax I I want to know is our CFO in the room Mr Green if you could approach the podium good morning good morning what are the sales taxes the taxes I'm sorry when individuals that are eating out in Miami Beach what are the taxes that they pay so there's the base 7% sales tax that everyone is going to pay whether it's Miami Beach or Miami D County and then we have the 2% uh Resort tax for food and beverage so that would be a total of 9% okay and in Miami Dade County what are the taxes that individuals outside of Miami Beach uh pay it would be again the 7% base sales tax the 1% uh tax towards the homeless for eight uh but there is an additional 2% food and beverage on uh food and beverage inside hotels okay so so in the rest of Miami day County outside of hotels 8% it's 8% correct and they're already paying the 1% tax correct the difference between the rest of Miami day County and Miami Beach is that in Miami Beach unlike the rest of Miami day County we're paying a 2% tax correct so we are paying uh in total 9% versus 8% in the rest of the county so if we come in now and we pay that 1% tax on homeless and domestic violence Services just how every other area in Miami day County pays we're going to be the highest jurisdiction in Miami day County not because of the 1% homeless tax that everyone else is paying but it's because of the 2% Resort tax that we pay in Miami Beach that the rest of Miami day County does not pay is that correct that is correct can I ask a clarifying question I'm sorry to interrupt yeah yes I thought B Harbor and Surfside do also do not contribute the 1% tax that is correct B Harbor and Surfside May beach were the only three municipalities okay thank you thank you thank you for the clarification Mr Mr Mayor but Mr attorney or or Mr clerk B Harbor is also they are are they also contemplating uh the 1% uh sales tax they have that other B question right now so they have the question as well well I have the floor yeah and I did not interrupt you and so and so I just want to make sure that we understand here very very clearly why is it that Miami Beach would end up being higher than any other jurisdiction in Miami day County it's not because we're going to be paying the same tax that the rest of Miami day County pays it's because we have an additional Resort tax now Mr CFO what do we do with that Resort tax uh the resort tax is is uh utilized for a lot of different things utilized to kind of offset the expenditure the expenses that are related to Resort type activities so we're going to be paying things out of there related to um the police department co- compliance cleanliness sanitation things that uh kind of offset and take the lift off of the property tax burden of the citizens and if we did not have the resort tax what impact would that do to the millage rate that every property owner that every homeowner that every resident in Miami Beach Pace it would either be one or two or a blend of two two things it would be probably a substantial increase in the millage rate Andor a substantial decrease in level of service and if the resort tax is impacted let's say well let me ask let me let me rephrase the question perhaps Mr manager you might be the most appropriate to answer this if we do not address homeless issues would the resort tax collections be affected or could we anticipate that the restore tax collections would be affected if we don't address homelessness so I don't know that there's a onetoone correlation but certainly they're interrelated somehow that the more that people preserve perceive the city to be safe and clean the more we're likely to encourage people to come visit Miami Beach okay so so so by making sure that we're properly addressing homeless issues and not just us individually in Miami beach but as a region we help support the resort taxes and the services that generate the resort tax revenues that help us balance our budget that help us avoid mil increases or otherwise that helps us avoid a cut of services to our residents is that correct that is correct and so I just want people to to to understand because homelessness is not an issue unique to Miami Beach home and and and I think I'm done with you Mr CFO feel free to sit down I don't want to I don't want to keep you there but homelessness is not an issue that is unique to Miami Beach I agree with my colleague we take very strong positions on homelessness but we can't address it alone without being a partner at the table with the rest of the region because homelessness is a regional issue homelessness is a very transient issue I don't know if Alba is here Dr tar the director of our office of Housing and Community Services Dr tar good morning how many of the homeless individ how many individuals who are homeless in our city necessarily are are coming in from other areas of of of Miami day County or the region I would probably say more than 80% 85% and so if we're addressing homelessness only in our city without continuing in the collaboration on the regional Services it's hard for us to be able to address homelessness because homelessness is a regional issue we have in Miami Beach we have a very transient homeless population and so and that's what I want us to understand because this tax and it is a tax and it's unfortunate that we need this tax it goes to the regional entity that addresses home lessness that's the homeless trust and I see Vicky Mallette the executive director of the homeless trust is here miss mlet if if you would approach the podium I'd like to ask you a few questions yes as it relates to elected representation are there are there representatives of of let's say County Commissioners that serve on the homeless Trust yes we have a 27 person board seven appointments from the Greater Miami chamber among those appointments are the chairman of the board of County Commissioners Oliver Gilbert um also the mayor sits on the board as a representative we have three representatives from the league of cities of which you are one we also have the chair of the housing and services development committee we also have judge Steven Lifan he is the chair of our finance and audit committee he's been doing homelessness work his entire life and has advised the state supreme court of the State of Florida on issues of homelessness and he has been our longtime finance and audit committee chairman so so so miss Mallet if I understand right the mayor of Miami day county has a seat on the homeless trust the chairman of the Miami date board of County Commissioners has a seat on the on the homeless trust commissioner basan uh who who chairs the housing Committee of the county has a seed at the homeless trust and there are three representatives from the Miami day County League of cities and now one from the city of Miami Beach through the league of cities is that correct yes sir in addition to that we have members of of of of the bench uh judge lifeman who as you just stated uh um has advice the Supreme Court on on homeless related issues correct as well as the superintendent of Miami day County Public Schools okay and so and so I'm just gonna end with asking the City attorney a number just just a couple of questions we approved a ballot question is that correct yes okay the ballot question is that a requirement of the State of Florida yes the state requires a municipality who is not currently covered that wishes to participate in the program to adopt an ordinance which was done and then to seek voter approval of that ordinance and the state is asking us to do that because we urged the state to do that is that correct to pass that statute we urged the state to pass that statute is that correct there there was interaction with the state yes okay and and we asked the state to pass a statute because the voters asked us to pass to urge the state is that correct I do not have the details but I believe there was a straw ballot at some point in time all right and that's St ballot 53% of our voters asked us to urge the state to pass the statute which is why we're going to the voters does the government control a political action committee can you repeat the question does residents United to end homelessness which is the political action committee that my colleague has has referenced does the government have any control any oversight any involvement with a political action committee it should not it it should not so it's easy to attack a political action committee because it is easy to attack an entity that has contributions from developers from high power names like Jeb Bush and and other and other in individuals but this has this is not the entity that is getting the money this is not the entity that put the question on on on the ballot there are there are many political action committees out there that do things that people look favorably on and probably most of the time look unfavorably on but they're independent of candidates they're independent of issues on on the ballot and um and and I don't think that it's fair to judge the work that the homeless trust has been doing over the course of 30 years Bringing Down the population of homelessness one point at it speak of 8,000 homeless individuals in Miami day County to about 1,000 now because of individuals that have decided to contribute to a political action committee that's independent of the city of Miami Beach that the city of Miami Beach has nothing to do with that the county has nothing to to do with that the homeless trust has nothing to do with and perhaps you might see housing developers contributing to this pack to end homelessness because they know that homelessness yeah it makes it home hard to sell a house if you're making a development who wants to buy a house or a property in a community that's affected by homelessness who who one leader uh one leader wants to see a community be affected by by by homelessness what private entity what developer what former political figure and so I don't blame people contributing to to the pack that's that's that's cont that's looking to uh to to to support this tax because we do have a domestic violence issue and we have a greater homeless issue and we do we have seen in the past studies tell us that Miami Beach has a domestic violence issue and people who have been victims of domestic violence that do need housing that this tax will help address um so I don't think it's right at this point to take this away from the voters I think there are unintended consequences that could happen to our budget otherwise and I also do think that it's not right for us to be collaborating with the rest of the region on this tax because homelessness is not an issue unique to Miami Beach it is a regional issue and we need to be addressing it regionally thank you Mr Mayor commissioner bot then we'll go to commissioner r Gonzalez we do have a 10:00 time certain we have a I like to call all the the big significant items early and which I did but we are going to have to take a break soon and continue this item after the Convention Center Hotel item but let's hear commissioner bot and depending on time timing we'll go to commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I agree that packs are the bane of our political existence and citizens united was one of the most egregiously damaging decisions um ever made uh by the Supreme Court report when it comes to free speech in politics and um letting individuals have their voices I do not agree and I will never agree that taking a ballot question off of the ballot when close to 20,000 residents have already voted when we had ample time as a body to deliberate on what was going to be included on the ballot and the language that was going to be included on the ballot both as part of the committee of the whole that met with our legal team um and our Charter Amendment Review Committee um members and all of us no no no one no no one on the committee got excuse me just a lie excuse me we didn't find out about this until September 19th when the sample Ballance came out no one knew about this when we had a committee of a whole to go over referendum questions 1 through 7 no one brought this up to us no one the only time that I found out about this is when I got a sample ballot in the mail in September 19th and as soon as I did I put it on the agenda I didn't know about this I don't think anyone know knew about this our committee of a whole we were never told about this number eight never Rick can you please clarify that the committee of the hall focused on the charter review questions there were letter to letters to commission um several I think including one in August that included all of the ballot questions but this was not discussed at the committee okay so excuse excuse me I apologize for my mischaracterization of the process but we have been we had been advised in writing over the last number of months and there are ample opportunities to have conversations with our legal team to discuss this issue I think it is a terrible practice and a God awful precedent for small D democracy for us to start telling voters that we're just kidding you're not smart enough to make a decision you're not smart enough to see through the political BS that we are all subjected to whether or not we're candidates but anybody who votes in this city for sure and probably in any city in in this country is subjected to literally pounds of junk mail telling people how awesome one candidate is or how demonic another candidate is or the same on the issues themselves I think that if if we start here and and I'm deeply troubled that we have two items for discussion today that talk about taking something off the ballot I think that is an Unholy terrible uh decision uh uh uh uh precedent to set and I for one will not support them regardless of the merits that may or may not be in place about the item on discussion commissioner Rosa Gonzalez um commissioner Suarez um you are right we were not informed of that ballot question um I'd like to ask our City attorney a question did this body vote to put that Homeless ballot question on the ballot this was done by the prior commission not all of you were on there why weren't we told as I mentioned earlier there was a letter to commissioner at least one that included all of the ballot questions but this was not the subject of the charter review board discussions because it's not a charter review question commissioner bot brings forward a very important point which is that we have two different questions here that are questionable and the reason for this is because in my entire political career I've never seen a private meeting of the whole for ballot questions normally when Miami Beach places something on a ballot we go question by question at a public meeting we put the ballot question up for everyone to read and at that moment publicly we all know what's going on the ballot and that did not happen this time this time um a private meeting was called a meeting of the whole and in that meeting uh we discussed certain items but we never it's it's very interesting to me that during that meeting question number eight which by the way the city attorney's office when this was put on the ballot a year ago and I was in disagreement with it at that point in time said we are going to remind you about this ballot question so that you can re-evaluate in the future that never happened um we never knew that it was going on the ballot and frankly I was shocked when I saw it on the ballot and when I saw the campaign starting to be run um I was I I you know I I felt very helpless because when the straw ballot question came on we had this same pack with hundreds of thousands of developer dollars um running a campaign so it was impossible to fight I'm going to give you a little bit of history about this we have always opposed this tax commissioner Dominguez Mark saman was one of the biggest um opponents of this tax commissioner Malikov we had told we told the homeless trust they would come before us every single year and they would say would you please um approve this tax and every single year we said no so what did he do the head of the homeless trust he went to Tallahassee and he changed the state law but included in that state law was our ability to hold the referenda so I I would say it was about a year ago um and there were several members um of the commission who were leaving some of whom were running for other offices and they needed money for campaigns so they put this question on the ballot knowing that this commission did not vote on this ballot question so the entire thing was a deceitful move and frankly I think we need to bring forward legislation in the future that ballot questions need to be heard at a public meeting with the Public's ability to weigh in on them question by question before anything goes on the ballot and if anybody is at fault here I'm sorry but I would say that it is the city attorney's office I was Furious and also I'm furious about question three because extra language was added to that question too and that and every single item on question three was not discussed so whose idea was it to have this meeting of the whole because I was you know I I should have stood up and said something then because I knew that something was wrong who decided that we were going to hear the ballot questions at a meeting of the whole it is my understanding that this is the process that has been followed in the past so I was following president it's a committee of the whole which is a public meeting by the way I I wanted to clarify that it's not a private meeting well there was nobody really from the public there I it was it's not the same as hearing it as a commission meeting and for the record in my eight years we've never done that before so moving forward I'm going to bring some legislation that ballot questions need to be heard they should probably have a couple of hearings before they go on our ballot and we need to vote publicly on them and I think that this is the fairest way so we are not intervening or ruining an election process we're writing something that was hidden from this body up here because I don't think we would have voted to put this on the the ballot especially after withdrawing our $1 million to the homeless trust I will tell you um over the years I've gotten very frustrated because what I found about the homeless trust is that it is a group of developers who have apartments across Miami Dade County in very expensive real estate and they have a policy that they call housing first this housing first policy is $30,000 um per year per homeless person roughly something like that the thing is is that homeless people don't necessarily want to live in these apartments so they get these apartments the developers are paid $30,000 per year no questions asked and then the homeless go back out on the street so when I started to question this practice I said why are we housing these homeless in downtown Miami why aren't we building something in Homestead or something less expensive um I couldn't get an answer then I requested the financials on a $60 million budget and I literally got one page with like five line items on it which I don't think is transparent at all which is probably why the county is upset that they have not gotten an audit and which is why this body especially has always voted no on this so I am a no today I'd like to thank commissioner Suarez for bringing this forward um I was going to try to write about it in my email but it was so complex and convoluted that I didn't want to waste people's not their time but I'm hoping that today the body does the right decision and repeal something that this body did not approve um did not approve to put on the ballot so there's just two of us left who haven't spoken commissioner magazine and I I'm going to speak uh briefly try to see if we can get through this item before our hotel Convention Cent our hotel item I guess I separate this into two two aspects one let's talk about the substantive aspect of the tax I do not like it at all and I've made that so clear in every vote uh that I've taken I've said it publicly I voted no to putting it on the ballot I believe if I'm not correct I didn't go back and check but I believe commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and I this is a former commission we're the only ones that voted no so to it so the two of us did uh we're being consistent here um and there's a number of reasons many of which have been said before I'm not going to repeat everything but our city spends millions millions of dollars to help the homeless and really the Crux of it and you pointed this out commissioner Suarez is we we do not have control of these funds this is an absolute tax in our business our businesses it would make us the highest tax in the state I understand you're reasoning commissioner Fernandez but it still make would make us the highest tax in the state um it impacts our residents it impacts our businesses and my concern is we do not control those funds um so I I believe there's better use of the money this is not the reason I'm against it because I was against it a couple of years ago when the when the issue first came up but it's very interesting that the same players that are involved in the homeless trust and I won't mention people by name but commissioner Fernandez you mentioned a lot of those people by name by name they are out there front and center when you open the newspaper and read about homeless they are the first ones quoted in in in in my opinion harsh tones criticizing our commission for the enforcement efforts that we take against the homeless it is unbelievable they're asking us to send them money they're asking us to approve taxes but yet when we take the measures and and again we're spending Millions dollars to help the homeless to get them the shelter to get them the help they need but we cannot put blinders in our eyes and say we do not have a criminal element amongst the homeless amongst us we get the reports literally every day of what happens in our city and it's a problem and our residents know it and our residents tell us all the time and by the way we're doing a good job I give our Police Credit we need to do more and I think our commission is is demanding that we do even more but we are doing a good job compared to many other parts of the country the country and we get criticized for it all the time but you know what matters our residents and our businesses they are actually very appreciative of the job we're doing but anyway I mentioned that because it doesn't impact my vote it's not the reason I'm taking saying these things because I voted uh against this tax on the ballot a couple of years ago before all this came up but I I find it disingenuous that you're coming in on the one hand asking for money but yet when we take the measures that are not just humanitarian but there are also the right measures to take to protect our businesses and residents and that we get whacked over the head for it but um the separate issue though is now we have a ballot measure um I'm uh and I and I understand your points commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I I I just and I think there could have been better communication I'm I'm going to come a little bit to the defense of our City attorney um there was an LTC there probably could have been more robust I'm also remembering that a couple of years ago I thought it was an interesting process that when when our commission again you and I had voted no to it but our commission had approved it that there was a process that it was going to take it had to go back to the state and it was going to take a little while to get back on the ballot um which is ultimately what happened but again there is a new commission most of us uh here are are new um so um I guess I I was aware of it um and it's unfortunate but the question now comes do we take a ballot measure that's on the ballot people have voted over 20,000 people I think in Miami Beach already there's going to be more uh who probably won't even know that it doesn't count um so I'm going to leave that hanging in the air and I'm going to turn it over the commissioner magazine um I'm glad glad I'm not the Swing Vote anymore uh so I come at this with a bit more Nuance view I get the feeling a lot of my colleagues For Better or Worse are are entrenched on one side or the other uh really wrestled with this in the past week uh up to last night I also will bifurcate the the discussion here into two separate items one is the Merit of the tax uh I've been adamantly against this uh for years um I've called into public meetings as a member of the public and now as an elected official who uh one of the things I take most serious if not the most seriously is our fiscal policy in the city and as a leader as an elected representative uh I think it would be uh almost a dereliction of Duty to uh allow taxes to be raised um for items that are going outside of our city when so many people in our community are hurting at a time of inflation when we saw parking rates that were approved by previous Commissioners were proposed we all sat there sat up and said this is not the right time to raise any types of fees but especially now taxes taxes that are going to take $10 million out of our city and when I talk about what's important in our city Miami Beach High School it has a reading proficiency rate of 56% right math rate of 35% excuse me if I got those numbers mixed up if we're going to be raising taxes which I'd be against in 99% of scenarios let's put it towards education let's put it towards things that have a direct tangible effect I'm not convinced that spending more and more money on the homeless issues is a way to solve it it provides in my mind at times perverse incentives from not to get off track here but uh in India uh from 1858 to 1947 the British Raj ruled and they set up incentives to uh control a uh Cobra problem and they provided bounties where people could essentially turn in snakes uh for money and what that essentially did is it caused people to breed more snakes and it compounded the problem and throwing money at some of these NOS non-government organizations I believe really doesn't always solve problems but almost draws more attention and more need to them when I look at some of the issues that we've had with homeless and this isn't to Discount the work that's done because there are critical service that incredible people in our community are committed to and make a tangible difference but when I look at some of the issues that we've had in our city I asked myself would more money have solved that I had a loaded gun ped on me by a homeless individual in the ground floor of my family's apartment would putting $10 million of our taxpayer money did the homeless trust have prevented that there's a homeless person that raped a young woman on Lincoln Road two or three weeks ago would giving the homeless trust $1 million have prevented that I don't think so feel free to argue otherwise but the most serious issues that we're encountering in our city I don't think are solved by putting more and more money towards a non-government organization and to say that it's going to end homelessness in two years just because we need more money we're putting $7 million per year already towards homeless services so without a compelling argument I'm just not convinced that more money is the answer so I've been steadfast against that uh but the part that really keeps me up at night is is this the correct path forward this has been put to the ballot to voters and I believe wholeheartedly in democracy and like my colleague I I lo the citizens united and I think it's the bane of our democracy but it's the parameters that we have to operate in and it would be hypocritical for me to sit there and raise money for my campaign to send out my slanted mailers to say well vote for this and then criticize others for doing so so I get that that's part of democracy but also we're elected legislators and this wasn't a resident driven petition this wasn't something in the state constitution this is a measure that was voted on by a previous commission to put something on the ballot like many many other things and I view this as legislators put this on the ballot legislators have the right to take this off the ballot we're elected and we have the ability to do so this isn't taking away our choice our ability to be heard our freedom of democracy elected positions right this isn't in the state constitution I don't view this the same as as sitting there taking away our citizens voices I see this as a need for us to be bold to be leaders and to exercise our true conviction and one thing I just wouldn't be able to live with is by standing by because I promise you I promise you that would be the easier decision and that would probably be the more politically Savvy thing to do eviden by the number of calls I started getting from 6:00 a.m. on this morning okay that would be the easiest thing to do is sit there and say you know what go ahead I I'm just going to sit back and watch but at a time when every single day I see so many people in our community hurting hurting members of my family members of my community because of the High Cost of Living businesses shutting down right despite all the economic um incentives that we're trying to provide small businesses are hurting and this is hitting small business $400,000 of gross revenue for a restaurant is not your poppy stick it's not your Carbone it's the guy that invested his money to open up a burger shop on Washington Avenue and those are the people that have reached out to me and I gave them my commitment that I would stand up for them because they said our business is already hurting our staff are already hurting and to sit there and then impose what will be the highest tax in the state of Florida is not something I could just sit by and easily do um so I'm going to be in support of taking this off the ballot I don't view this as a chill to democracy it kept me up at night uh saying you know we're in the process of putting something to the voters but this was legislatively driven by a previous commission even contemplating putting it on the ballot and we have the ability to take that off so I appreciate now I leave you hanging all good I I as much as I wanted I don't like this tax at all I I do have reservations about the timing of it and I understand you did it as quickly as you could have as a friendly Amendment commissioner Suarez would you be willing to make this into a straw vote so it'll be non-binding and then it would come back to this commission to vote afterwards well i' I'd ask the City attorney I mean what if this passes are we binded uh because you gave me information before this meeting started saying that if this goes through there's going to be uh it's going to be almost impossible to undo so if you can shed some light on that the the legal safe legally safer approach if if this is what this body wishes to do would be to remove the question from the ballot at this time if you let it go through and then decide that it was a straw bid or you decide you want to repeal the ordinance there could be challenges that uh that the the city must move forward with the will of the voters so um if the will of the body is not to have this tax this would be the better time legally to to do that can you explain that a little more about why we would have legal challenges if we've done straw ballots before actually the 2 am 5 a.m alcohol item was a straw ballot um which I always supported the 2 a so it had clear majority on that we never passed it why would why would this be any different than that vote because those questions were warded as straw ballots this question you were you're indicating you want to treat it as a straw ballot which means you would decide what to do later but once once the the the ballot is printed and it doesn't include the word straw ballot it it is not a straw ballot you can't change that from the days I'm I'm just I'm trying to Grapple with the legal the legal nuances of uh and this is a nice healthy debate amongst lawyers why there would be a difference in removing the ballot question but that would not be subject to Legal challenges but converting it into a straw ballot letting the voters continue to vote it's a valid it's still a question why why why the distinction um even if you remove it from the ballot it's not to say that somebody might not challenge it I think there will be a we will have a more difficult time defending if you allow it to continue and then wish to repeal the the tax I I'll also add I mean I'm not saying this would be ideal we don't know how the vote will go I think I suspect based on a prior STW ballot how it will go partly because I think a lot of it's it's it's a it's a it's a compassionate item when you look at it obviously there's a lot of sort of legal aspects and politics involved so it's but that you can't get that into a 75w ballot question but ultimately could our commission overturn not overturned but could we independently make a decision on the tax post the vote Yes and that is where I was saying that that could be challenged with more impact than a challenge to the removal from the ballot commissioner Suarez two things um so uh see attorney when you came to me uh this morning you told me that there was new information that it would be even harder can you explain why that would uh impact any sort of idea that post uh election this would make things more difficult and after that I'd like to add one more I don't know that I could make it any clearer than I just did um I think that once the once the the people have spoken there is a greater likelihood that somebody will Challenge and seek to require the city to move forward with what what the will of the vote what the will of the voters is and one more thing I'd like to point out there is precedent for this I believe in 2016 or 17 we did resend well not we but a previous commission did resend a ballot measure uh for alcohol sales at 2:00 2:00 uh and the same thing happened it was already on the ballot people were technically voting for it yes there was a piece of paper uh and a sign in front of the the the precincts that says you know this this question is invalid I'm assuming that once we pass this this is that's exactly what will happen but just like look at that for a second you know just just look at the the issue there you know a previous commission rolled back 2 a.m. alcohol sales and you know what just where does the priority lie on that so if we're willing to roll back if we're willing to resend a 2 a. roll back you know it's a no-brainer to to to resend send a 1% tax that's going to be in perpetuity for Miami Beach during the worst Economic Times that we've seen as far as small businesses and small mom and pop restaurants in Miami Beach and and mayor I I I totally I I I understand and I am sympathetic to to Friendly amendments maybe I can make a friendly amendment to say that next next year we can put on uh another ballot measure where we have with the home trust uh a better negotiated contract where uh we we have outlined terms on how the money will be uh received uh back to Miami Beach and how it will be spent but to blindly go ahead and just Dole out $10 million a year to an entity that has has had a lot of issues as far as transparency goes has currently issues with the county it's just a real it's a real dereliction of Duty as an elected official but I am more than happy to sponsor an item to bring this back next year where I will myself or commissioner Fernandez who's on who who serves on the homeless trust can put together uh a ballot question that is more sincere and and collaborative with Miami Beach and and with this commission the commission that we're standing here that that that serves the residents so um I'd be more than happy to to to meet halfway on that uh mayor Miner if uh that is if that ass suades your your your feelings on the matter well thank you for that so just the City attorney just to go over there's basically three options we have one is to um remove it right now two to do a convert it to a straw Ballot or three wait till after the vote and then remove it your legal opinion is that our most legally defensible position is to remove it right now consistent with commissioner Suarez's item well I wish to clarify you do not have the option of of turning of this into a strong ballot the question is printed and is already out with the voters so you you have the two options and actually the third that commissioner SAR has presented which I guess is a an amendment which is to proceed now and then to return to beinging a ballot question back in 20126 because these elections can only occur on even years and yes to reiterate my prior um opinion I think the there would be a more difficult uh defense involved if the voters have already uh spoken if the election has gone through so just I just want to be clear we could not we could not right now I thought you saying it was not a legally defens position but you're saying now that we could not convert this into a non-binding straw ballot vote at this time that is correct you cannot okay commissioner magazine commissioner magazine thank you Mr cityne in a similar fashion would we be able to pass or amend this legislation that uh turns this from automatically going to effect that if this passes so let the vote essentially play out and then it comes the voter or it comes back to the commission to say then we take a vote on whether to pass this uh when we talk about honoring democracy and in 2022 uh there was a referendum question for the community health center that asked overwhelmingly 62% and that vote came to the commission to implement it and the commission said well thanks but no thanks I'm not sure that what you're asking is is distinguishable from allowing the vote to occur and then repealing I mean you're saying we'll we'll come back and we'll decide whether or not to repeal it so if you repeal it then you have the same question of legal challenges if you allow to go through then it's an nonissue Mr Mayor Commission I I think at the end of the day we're going to know where we stand I think Mr May you're going to be the Swing Vote on this so I'm going to make a motion to uh to move forward so I'll um I'm going to support you I am not pleased to remove this from the ballot at this time I I I detest it actually um that being said ultimately and I think you said this commissioner magazine I'll quote you paraphrase ultimately we were elected to make the best decisions for our city and our residents and our businesses and I have been unequivocal every step of the way whether it be the homeless tax whether it be the millions that this commission then rescinded to the homeless trust and by the way it's not to say that they're not doing good work and they do things it's just fundamentally it's where our tax dollars are best spent and it's also I think there's also a different view as to how to solve a problem California has spent more money on trying to solve a homeless problem than anybody and they have clearly not solved it so um I think this commission especially this this literally this commission is on the right track using humanitarian efforts using millions of dollars of hard working taxpayer dollars to help homeless but also using our enforcement tools that are homeless Outreach and obviously our police and we keep demanding more but we're appreciative obviousy of the efforts because I think I I I hear from residents a lot of times we get complaints but also very appreciative that we do not have the homeless issues um that that many other municipalities even surrounding us have so I'm going to support you as as difficult as this may be but we have to make the tough decisions and I do not believe this is in the best interest of our city Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez thank you um it's this has been such a healthy and robust discussion because this is a very important issue no one likes taxes no one likes passing a tax uh to to the community I don't like us taking away the community's vote uh while they're actively voting and you know we've discussed that at nauseam at this point uh I do just want to clarify a few things um you know it's been said and I think it's very important to be careful with the words we put out there because it does affect our image and our reputation that we would be the highest taxed community in the state that's not true for example I know that or that Orlando uh or orando uh is I believe 133% uh I think they have uh there's a 05% from Orange County there's a 6% tax uh from uh from from the state there's a there's um the city itself has a six% tax so Orlando is about 13 or more than 13 uh percent so that's important to to put out there another thing that I think should be put out there is that the homeless trust is a government entity many things have been said here uh that they're not a governmental entity that they're a private entity that they have no oversight the mayor of Miami day County sits on the trust the chairman of the board of county commissioner sits on the trust other members of the County Commission sit on the trust as well I sit on the trust as well and Mr Mayor um if this vote passes with your vote since you appointed me to the homeless trust a position that I did not want and that I asked your office not to appoint me to I'm not going to be said to go in on a failed Mission and I will resign effective today from the homeless trust if this if this vote passes because I do think that homelessness is a regional issue if we do want to solve it it we always say we lead with compassion well we're not leading with compassion if we're not creating avenues for housing we're not leading for compassion if we're not creating housing for domestic violence victims which our community is the one leading in the county with domestic violence victims that this tax will help address we're not leading with compassion if we are now not creating availability in shelters so that we can place homeless individuals in shelters as opposed to arresting them and so and so I just want to be very clear you know we're going to pass this motion and I respect I respect everyone's position because I do agree with commissioner Suarez you are doing the right thing in highlighting disingenuous misleading false advertising and I commend you for that and the pack should be ashamed of itself and the people who are behind the pack let this be a learning lesson people deserve honesty and Truth in their elections and commissioner David Suarez is actually doing something really good in highlighting the myth truths that are put out there in in in the pack but I don't believe we should be taking away from the voters because there are educated voters out there out there who know truth from fiction and we count on their vote when we get elected and they gets mere advertising about each one of us funded by those same packs and we trust them then to use their judgment in a democratic way and now we're pulling the rug under them and we're and we're telling them we don't trust you voters of the city of Miami Beach to make that decision and we're going to pull that away from you so Mr Mayor uh with a passage of this of of this of this resolution if it passes I will be resigning from the holess trust I am not going to set out on a failed Mission I think we're sticking our head in the sand that we think we will arrest our way out of homelessness it is a regional issue that we need to collaborate with the trust we need to create availability in our shelters uh because that is the biggest issue that I believe we have and this helps us create availability at those shelters thank you Mr Mayor I just want to before commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um yes thank you for serving on the home trust I did appoint you and you had mentioned to me at the time you did it wasn't a position you wanted although I subsequently you did say you were happy that I did appoint you I'm sorry you feel that way I'll obviously your your resignation is accepted commissioner Rosa Gonzalez I think you should nominate commissioner Suarez I was the homeless trust I mean if you really want to shake it up I think that he would make a great addition to the homeless trust board um what I would like to point out is with the $60 million in homeless trust funds each year and with judge Steven lean as sitting on the board and the chair of the finance committee why is the homeless trust not giving him the operating funds to open that facility that he has created so that we have a place to place the homeless so that we don't have to jail them that to me is the biggest question because we went to see the facility he's dedicated his life to building the facility he got the State of Florida and the county to you know to to give him the funds and now the county is going to give operating funds and those funds aren't even coming from the homeless trust so really if the homeless trust cared about the homeless the first order of business for the homeless trust would be to fund the operating funds for judge Stephen lifem men's facility and that is not being done and that is for me is probably the most egregious thing because that is the only facility that is compassionate that wants to bring in the homeless that has a hairdresser tattoo removal educational facilities beds they actually wash the homeless people's feet when they walk in so that they don't feel um so that they don't feel intimidated and they and they accept medication and when I saw the tour of this facility I said well why isn't this facility open this could house 150 people literally take the homeless people off the streets get them the medicine that they need it's the actual solution and yet the homeless trust isn't funding that I don't get that that to me makes no sense so I just call the vote so I have a motion by commissioner SARS a second by second fa all in favor of the motion say I I I heard Rosen Gonzalez YES magazine yes Suarez yes and mayor minor yes so item passes r7j we now have to do companion item I'm going to do the same if it's okay move by commissioner Suarez seconded by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez uh this is on item R5 AB the the ordinance commissioner magazine should this is a roll call on the companion ordinance vice mayor Fernandez no commissioner Dominguez no commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Bach no commissioner Rosa Gonzales so this is this is the companion ordinance to repeal yes okay mayor Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th this is item R5 AB okay nice light morning uh let's City U City uh clerk can we please call the uh Hotel convention center items so we are now recessing the commission meeting and and starting as the RDA uh we are going to do first two items or we're going to do RDA 1 which is a public hearing it is incur ineptness Grant agreement Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel and it is a companion item to r7a which is public hearing incur indebtness approved Grant agreement Miami Beach Convention Center Hotel these are both public hearings r7a rda1 good morning honorable mayor and Commissioners start recel Williams assistant city manager the items before you today r7a r7b rda1 and rda2 are a reflection of a tremendous effort if we're calling those let me let me read those two I AP postive so we are also doing then r7b which is joint approved six Amendment RDA into local agreement and RDA 2 six Amendment to the RDA inter local agreement the the first two items are public hearings thank you Mr clerk so these items are a reflection of a tremendous effort to catalyze the development of the convention center headquarter hotel as you all are aware uh in 2018 the city approved a lease and development agreement to allow for the hotel uh since then uh the impacts of covid and the financial markets have stalled the project and in March of this year the RDA board requested that the administration meet with the developer to negotiate an agreement that would provide for public benefits as well as closing the financial gap in order to get the hotel underway uh last month or earlier this month actually at Miami dat County the board of County Commissioners approved a sixth amendment to the inter local agreement between the RDA the city and the county and they also approved the RDA to incur debt in order to facilitate a grant agreement that would allow the developer to close that financial gap and be able to reach uh Financial closing and then begin vertical construction so staff has met with the developer on several occasions and we have also coordinated with Mii dat County to negotiate an agreement which the county has already provided approval for and we are now asking that the city and the RDA do the same and allow for the sixth amendment as well so some of the public benefits negotiated include waivers of the junior ballroom and that would be four on an annual basis to be divided among the RDA and the county and the city and so the RDA would have an opportunity to provide the city with access and the county with access once the RDA would terminate uh all of the benefits would then go to the city so all of the public benefits that we're about to go through with the exploration of the RDA the city would then receive those benefits uh so there are 20 waivers for conference rooms that can be used on a monthly basis so if the RDA or the county needed to utilize space there we could have meetings at the hotel we would also have a Public Safety Office of approximately 250 ft on the ground floor of the hotel where our police and fire department could utilize the space there would be 70 nights annually for delegations so think sister cities delegations we often have to uh rely on the private sector to assist us with appropriate rates this would allow us to have those rooms available also reimbursement of 100 rooms for weather emergencies so think hurricanes and storms if we do need to have our Public Safety professionals or uh senior executive or administrative staff available in the city we would have the rooms to be able to do so the developer has also proposed to have a culinary arts program for Mii Beach senior high school as well as a job fair and so those are just some of the public benefits there are also some Financial benefits in the form of participation fee and I'll allow my colleague Jason Green CFO to go through that uh thank you Jason Green Chief Financial Officer so we'll go through a couple of those items uh there is a we negotiated a subordinate participation payment that would start at half a million dollars beginning five years after the uh opening or stabilization of the hotel and it would continue for 50 years escalating at 3% uh per year so this would be starting at a half a million and the 50th year it work out to approximately 2.1 million over that 50-year time frame uh we would collect about 50 $ 6.4 million of payments those payments will be split 5050 between the RDA and the county uh and upon dissolution of the RDA uh which could be between 2036 and 2044 uh those dollars would then revert uh to the city on the the RDA Fortune uh another element of that would be uh there's a 2% one-time transfer fee on the gross sale proceeds less debt and closing costs uh upon an arms length uh transaction to a third party basically if the hotel gets uh sold uh to another entity at any time during this agreement uh we will be getting a uh 2% uh back to that to us and that would also be split in the same manner of the 50/50 between the city and Miami day County uh the grant itself would be $75 million par to the developer to complete their financing to get the hotel completed it would be through a conduit issuer which is the Public Finance Authority uh I did work together closely with our financial advisers their financing team uh based on the strong financial projections of the RDA we tried to uh make that as short a time frame uh debt as possible so we're only looking at a fiveyear uh payback our current estimate is around 85.6 million obviously that changes every day based on the markets and such that's we have the 92.5 is an upper limit we don't think that we will come uh close to that at the end of the day and there's also an option that we can cash fund part of that Grant at closing uh based on the amount of cash available in the RDA as we close our fiscal year so in addition to the participation fee the development of the hotel will allow the convention center to realize its fullest potential we know that the convention center has been very active this year alone about 98 events uh at the close of the fiscal year and we anticipate that with the convention center hotel we will be able to attract an elevated and more ated uh portfolio of events to the center because we will have those 800 rooms on the convention center campus adjacent to the convention center adjacent to Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive will be a which will be an economic driver for not only Miami beach but also for Miami day County in addition to the participation fee the city will receive direct payments over the next 30 Years note that the lease with the convention center hotel is for 99 years but just by way of an example over the next 30 years we can anticipate payments of about $188 million directly to the city in addition there will be property taxes um funding that goes to the RDA will have convention development tax as well as Resort taxes to the tune of about $540 million over the next 30 Years so it it's not enough to necessarily just look at the participation fee and the public benefits that will come with the agreement and approval of the interlocal agreement Amendment but to look at the bigger picture of what this hotel will bring to Mii Beach and to Mii D County y m right saying that the mayor is not here I was in queue to uh speak and I'm just going to say you know this is such an exciting moment for our city and something that we've been working on for a very long time this unlocks so much potential for the Miami Beach Convention Center in conventions High Caliber conventions professional conventions that take us out of the trade show business and actually attract into our community the high paying visitors that can support the economy on Lincoln Road that can support the businesses in Collins Park that can help us achieve the transition in on Washington Avenue and other areas of the city that need the injection of economic activity good paying economic activity to support the small businesses and the employers of our city so it really is just a great opportunity to to elevate our convention business especially with the threat of a Convention Center Hotel just up north very close to us they are building an impressive uh Convention Center campus but we're going to be able to compete in that market now because we'll have the adjoining Convention Center Hotel and our iconic beaches to complement it so it really is a significant moment for our city for our economy not just for the convention center but it really is an opportunity for our entire city as an economic engine and I really want to thank chairman Oliver Gilbert of the board of County Commissioners and commissioner Eileen Higgin uh Higgins for their work on this uh I just I just want to ask because there's no money from the city of Miami Beach general fund is going into this is that correct that is correct and by in turn we're putting no money into this but then we have the opportunity now to participate in the $500,000 uh participation uh fee uh as part of this agreement is that correct that is correct and over 30 years what is the lease payment amount I read somewhere was about 149 million but I just want to make sure that that's what we're unlocking here I think the 188 is both a mix of the lease payment and a voluntary search charge that uh there they're adding on so 188 million over 30 $188 million we're unlocking here and what are we unlocking on property taxes to the city in the beginning property taxes will be a little bit low while the RDA is still in existence but uh the total on taxes over the 30-year period of 543 million that's to the city and then there's some County taxes as well but 543 that's what's going to come to the city over the next 30 Years so we're unlocking $543 million in property taxes to the city we're unlocking over $180 million in lease payments to the city in addition to a new uh participation fee that the city is going to be getting without having to invest a single dollar from the city's General FR from the city's budget into into this so I this is an exciting moment for economy in in Miami Beach Mr Mayor whenever the moment is Right I'd like to make a motion with an amendment to reflect uh to make sure that uh that that we uh get the city's uh portion of the transfer fee uh as part of this agreement thank you this a good moment I'll second it yeah I was next commissioner Rose oh I'm sorry commissioner dingz um thank you so much um mayor and um thank you both Raquel and and Jason and if I remember correctly and you may have said this but it was so much information quickly I remember commissioner Samu and when this went to the ballot for the voters to vote on included for a portion to go to education and resiliency because I know that funding the private property adaptation program was something that was very important yes I believe in the initial uh lease agreement with the city that the city determined how the revenue should be allocated and so I believe that is correct thank you commissioner uh Rosen Gonzalez yes um I had one question when we reopen this agreement now um is there a certain time is there a time limit on when the convention center needs to be built yes so so this is not a reopening of the lease agreement this is a separate agreement with the RDA and the agreement stipulates that 9 months after execution of the agreement that that the developer needs to break ground or start construction of the hotel and so the developer is fully aware of that and they are here today uh to provide any additional details on the schedule okay um I wanted to write some of this down you know as you walk around the city you're seeing that our sidewalks are empty the storefronts are vacant the freeze closed Yard House closed Sushi garage closed lerie closed TGI Fridays closed chto mate Juvia and sorio pizza place um our tourism taxes are currently down by how much this year Jason I think we ended the fiscal year year-over-year uh three and a half% okay as of October but if you speak to people in the streets they would tell you that hotel room rates are uh low vacancies are high there's worries that we're heading into some sort of recession meanwhile you know I watch these other communities flourishing and I I think our biggest problem is the fact that you know we're not going to compete right now in terms of luxury goods with the you know the Design District we're not competing with Winwood for the cool you know to be cool what we have right now left in Miami Beach is our convention business and the fact that we haven't been able to fire this up with the hotel is disappointing and I think it's really hurting our economy you can see that with the restaurants closing um and you know and and our hotel rooms not full uh I worry that it's going to be higher than 3 and 1 half% like you're stating right now Jason and that could cause a significant issue in in our budget so um I'm okay with this I was not happy at the beginning with such a large Grant and I did want a percentage but I understand the need uh for this hotel um if we can book these massive conventions we really need to get this hotel built in order to fill the how many hotel rooms do we have right now Mel is it 23,000 about 21,000 21,000 and how many additional rooms in the pipeline right now like an additional couple thousand right if you include that we think about 3,000 might be in the pipeline but then some will come offline for renovations and you know buildings sometimes come out of service so you know one thing I would like to remind everybody of you know as we take this vote today and as we say you know we we don't want transient uses uh you know we only want residential uses is the fact that we have the most massive tourism infrastructure in the entire State of Florida possibly apart from Orlando I don't know if Orlando has overtaken Us in terms of convention business at this point I don't know what their business is versus ours do you know that number well they they have about three or four headquarter hotels that adjacent to their Convention Center so they're pulling in business um well like how much are they doing compared to us in terms of like overall Revenue in conventions oh they they pull in more than we do for sure they've really grown their Convention Center business it's booming I was actually there uh this past weekend because mangoes which we have on South Beach was opening a new restaurant there and it was amazing to me to see everything flourishing around the convention center and how Orlando has seriously embraced uh the convention business at this point we have no choice but to move forward given the $700 million investment um in the convention center the fact that our businesses are seriously suffering and and a as a body a lot of our policies and I want you to think about this moving forward are taxing our businesses more thank goodness we just repealed the tax that we had right here here uh Banning things uh closing hours and I think that instead of all of this Banning Banning prohibiting what we need to do is encourage and incentivize uh so I just think that the most important thing that we can do at this very moment is is vote for this um I'd like to say to David Martin the developer for this project 75 million is a lot of money we want that hotel built and do and and we need it built as quickly as possible how long do you think it's going to take if it takes 9 months to get the shovels on the ground how long to build the property 28 months 28 months okay the sooner the better commissioner bot um as soon as it's uh appropriate I'd like to uh second the motion I'm very excited about this has been a very long time coming it is long overdue um and I think we all we regardless of where we all started on the Convention Center Hotel years ago when it was a a discussion item on among activists and residents it was a a ballot item um anybody who was in town two weeks ago when the Adobe Creative conference was in town and had that that building rocking and rolling and had the entire city buzzing with people spending money in our restaurants and our our nightlife and on our beaches and um Had Creative popups all over the place we need this yesterday and David I know you got a bunch of fish in the in the liing makes my fit my metaphors here irons in the fire let's say um but this this needs to be brought online in the best possible manner the highest quality um and you know no mistakes Full Speed Ahead um because it is going to add so much to our city in countless ways not just those numerated financially which are critical but um in terms of helping out the businesses that that have been suffering um you know after covid Etc um this we need this and uh let's get it going yes there's no question this convention center hotel is a game changer for our city I I addressed it in my remarks yesterday at the gmcvb annual meeting it's kind of the buzz going around about the hotel and the county and I acknowledged chair Gilbert from the county who uh and they approved it so I'm a yes but I just want to say a couple of things get it on the record um I spent most of my time when I met with staff City staff about this asking this question do we have the Protections in place to ensure that this hotel gets built in a timely fashion and that that we can't move the goalpost because I personally am very disappointed that this passed in 2018 and here we are six years later and now we're we're we're coming up with the 75 million RDA money and the question I'll ask and I'm going to POS it to you again is there something more we can do in this contract to make a foolproof I'll give you an example you mentioned the 9 months after execution they have to break ground are there is there a carve out for that potentially if they couldn't get the proper financing I believe they have it in place but if they couldn't does that null and void that nine months so the county has been very particular about that provision and they too are very concerned about the timeliness of this project and essentially there there is no work around to my understanding around that 9month criteria so they need to commence construction between the execution of the agreement and and nine months time otherwise it's void okay I was just just jacking with it so obviously the foundation work is already is is permits are in and the vertical permits are ready to go just pending a uh a payment that they have to make so that would be really the biggest Impe if anything was going to get slowed up so we don't anticipate that well then I'll turn it to Eric our city manager to address what Jason just mentioned about the permits and um is there anything else in this contract you would want to see in this agreement that would ensure that this hotel will be built timely in accordance with these dates that we're hearing so the underlying lease agreement which was executed um you know four years ago has certain Provisions in it that protect both the city and the development team um obviously those are still in effect and and full enforcement um we've got the 9month provision in the grant agreement which I think is appropriate I'm hoping that's going to happen sooner than the nine months because we'd all like to see this hotel done and open as soon as possible um but I think that we're in a good place I think that obviously we've got a committed developer they've got more than $2 million of their own money already in the property and the fact that we're com coming to the table with the grant agreement and they're going to be coming to the table with more than $500 million of private Equity um I think that this is going to be a win-win so you should know everyone who's listening but even David Martin I'll say it straight to you I actually was throwing out some ideas to strengthen some of these timelines uh one of the things that I am not doing it is I was informed by our legal department that if we did that we'd have to go back to the county to get their approval and obviously I didn't want to delay delay the process so we're doing that I will give you a compliment David and part of this uh obviously it is so important to our city and um but you've been straight with me always and you said to me straight out this is going to get done and I believe you and I and I take you I take you at your word and also you you put together a beautiful product when it's done it's going to be it's going to be world class um so let's let's get this done and and but obviously the timelines are important I think you're hearing it clear-cut here we don't want any any disappointments mayor if I may I think you you just made a really good point there um that the agreements that are set up that and the inter local agreement are Set uh and were approved by the county that so as you mentioned there's any kind of substantial change outside of a you know dotting an eye or crossing a t on the grain agreement it would be required to go back to Commission because I believe believe and the City attorney can try I'm off on this is then if there were any changes made to the grant agreement here today uh then the inter local would then become null and void and and I didn't mention the part of that in our local agreement I know we talked about it firk and the commission approved Underwriters we are refunding to about 250 million-ish in RDA debt and the Rd uh this RDA interlocal amendment allows for that so any delay if there was a change to it would go back to the county would also delay that refunding and we're up I'm up against the December 31st deadline based on some uh document some information that's in one of the amendments to the existing our local so if everything goes today as it is that we'll be able to also start working on that um refunding okay I'll one final question and I'll ask this to the city Administration and also to David and his and his team is there anything else do you think that you need do you anticipate coming back to commission for anything before this hotel gets completed I hope not no sir love that thank you we got that on tape right okay thank you Mr Mayor so commissioner Fernandez vice mayor Fernandez thank you so um with a motion on the table I just wanted to make sure uh that it reflects that the city is exercising its right to get its portion of the participation uh of the of the transfer fee which by the way the transfer is one of the things that was added to this agreement which was not part of the original agreement uh and this is a 2% transfer fee that right now is shared between the RDA and the county and uh and the county has given us the opportunity to get that at the city instead of it going to the RDA so I'd like to make sure that the motion on the table reflects that Amendment to the agreement so if I understand you'd like to make a motion to amend the motion on the table to specifically incorporate into the agreement um that the city will take its portion of both the annual fee and the transfer fee and any other benefits that are currently being uh split between the county and the RDA that the RDA will come to the city we will amend the motion accordingly and I believe the V it's a public hearing and I have uh someone from the audience Wayne go ahead please you have two minutes uh let me just say that I have no financial interest in the city um that uh I though I had spoken to uh David about this project and I trust him in I've come to go from uh antagonist to supporter um and that uh I really believe this is a game Cher for Miami Beach not just because of the convention set but um I understand the meetings and Convention business I did the circulation for the for 80% of the of of the conventions worldwide through my marketing company over my lifetime um and uh what this presents us is not just the 800 million in taxes but billions in economic activity over the next 30 Years um it is a win-win um and uh he needs that 75 million to go forward and it's been stuck in mud for too long and I I I want this to go forward uh I will uh give this advice to the city that uh there's competing forces right there's the Lowe's there's Fountain Blue and now this hotel and um they're not going to talk to each other very well because they're comp competitors for for meetings for hotel rooms and so I want the marketing department to really come up with a business plan to engage the that community that puts on meetings and conventions effectively uh independent of the County's um uh uh efforts and um really write down like how are we going to get to that audience how we going to bring them into the City and uh that's the biggest thing that the city could do right now uh planning out 24 months from now thank you very much yes hi Danielo okay okay hi everyone Daniel Sado with Miami Design preservation League uh so I was in another life involved in a few of the ballot questions that did not pass uh for the hotel and I will say that this project has gotten better and better each time personally I think if the one in 2018 had been built and opened around the time of covid we may have actually had bigger economic issues with an empty 800 room Hotel so I think everything happens for a reason and excited for this to move forward I wanted to Echo what commissioner bot said about the Adobe conference was amazing and I hope we have more of those and also just wanted to mention that we have those Enzo Gallo murals that are looking for a place to be restored so possibly in the future they could go in the convention Hotel so thank you he's right behind you there's no one else in zoom and no one else in the audience if we can close the public hearing please commissioner magazine yeah thank you Mr Mayor for recognize me um first and foremost would like to thank our partners at the County uh notably chairman Gilbert our own uh representative that uh represents the area commissioner Higgins I know they were integral as were the other County Commissioners in supporting this I'm very excited to help facilitate this moving forward uh it is time in Miami Beach and one of the things that's most hardening about uh this new commission up here is we are unafraid to embrace greatness right we are unafraid now to sit there and be proud that we have $2 and5 billion dollars of invest M along Collins Avenue we are unafraid to say we should be the preeminent destination for attracting the worldclass conferences across the entire world here in Miami B so I couldn't be more proud to support this um I I will say that that does it this is just one tool in the toolkit I I'm hoping that we don't just sit here for the next two to three years and thwart progress in other areas in anticipation of this convention center coming on right we need to restore our full-time residential population because while it's great to have worldclass conventions Miami Beach is so much more than just being a one Church Pony right we have so much more to offer the world so I view this as one tool in our toolkit to truly becoming the best community and city in the entire country to live to work to visit to raise a family to come for conventions and I'm very proud that this is going forward proud to be part of the team behind it now thank you for saying that and I've actually personally visited multiple establishments mostly restaurants bakeries in literally every part of our city South Beach mid Beach North Beach and when I've gone and I don't go announced I just show up they've been packed there's a lot of high-end uh a lot of high-end businesses coming here and want to be here it's one of the reasons why we keep pushing our city and our city manager to get the permitting process moving swifter I'll even uh Lyall Stern is you can he can rattle off all the amazing establish that are coming to Lincoln Road um there's a lot of exciting times ahead unless anybody else has anything to say I love the idea about the an Gallow murals and I would like to incorporate into my motion urging the developer to consider that as part part of their property as an urging no no I'm kidding without making it part of the motion I'm urging him to consider it but fair that's fair there you go let's call the vote so this is on rda1 as a amended I have a motion from commissioner Fernandez a second by commissioner bot all in favor please say I I I motion passes 70 commissioner Higgins is absent may we do rda2 yes same maker of the Motions yes I'll move the item so motion by commissioner Fernandez uh seconded by commissioner bot rda2 all in favor is this um the moonlighter item oh yes yeah so moved motion from commissioner Suarez second I mean a motion from commissioner Fernandez seconded by uh commissioner Suarez all in favor rda2 I I motion carry 70 commissioner Higgins is is absent are we going to do the remainder of the RDA items or you wish me to go to the companion items in the regular commission meeting I'll move the remaining of the RDA agenda so just for the commissioner Fernandez is moving uh RDA item three which is joint award RFQ 20245 ND Economic Development consultant services for joint approved lease agreement with moonlighter fabl lab 1661 Pennsylvania Avenue five extend Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce lease 116 street and six amendment number two lease with open Vision one LLC 1560 Avenue do I have a second on all items 3 to6 I'll second so all in favor of approving RDA items 3 four five and six please say I I motion pass to 70 commissioner Higgins is absent the companion items for we are now concluding the RDA meeting we are reset we are now reconvening as a city commission meeting we had two joint items on the hotel matter R r7a uh it is joint and current debess approved Grant agreement so r7a as amended moved Mo motion by commissioner Fernandez as amended second by commissioner Suarez on R 7 A1 all in favor please say I I it's approve 70 r7b may I have a motion moved second by motion by commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner sarez all in favor of r7b please say I I motion passes 70 there's an R not if I may Mr Mayor and Mr clerk uh NBC one is joint with RDA 3 do that sure okay give me one sec so this is uh the north we're we're now recessing as a city commission meeting reconvening as a North Beach community redevelopment agency meeting if item one is award is a joint item award RFQ 2024 d005 ND Economic Development consultant may I have a motion on on North Beach CR 1 I'll second commissioner bot's motion I'll take that as a yes uh so I have motion from commissioner bot on c 1 seconded by vice mayor Fernandez all in favor please say I I motion is approved 70 commissioner Stein is absent thank you so much we now we convening back as a city Commission meeting commissioner Rosen Gonzalez you have an R9 AB discuss update on the convention center hotel is there anything you want to add um no I think we covered it okay great withw David come on up all right I just want to tell you a few things um David Martin 331 uh 3310 Mary Street Mii Florida I just want to say um you have my firm's commitment uh you also have Turnberry my joint venture partner who's here you have their commitment and you also have Baler Bey our general contractor's commitment we're all here and uh I just want to thank you your staff uh specifically uh Raquel Williams Eric Carpenter Jason Green Rick toico your entire staff has been amazing to work with professional and and difficult but very professional but thank you so much guys I really appreciate it thank you thank you thank you congratulations thank we got two significant items under our belt let's go to Second reading items r5b so r5b mayor is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of Mii Beach Florida amending Mii Beach resiliency code at chapter two entitled Administration and review procedures article one entitled land use sports section 2.12 entitled planning board at section 2.1.2 point2 entitled membership and appointment section 2.1.3 entitled design review board at section 2.1.3 point2 entitle membership and appointment and section 2.1.4 entitled historic preservation board and section 2.4.3 entitled membership and appointment on Section 2.1.5 entitled Board of adjustment and section 2.1.5 point2 entitled membership to amend the requirements for the architect and Landscape archetyp categories as applicable and providing for qualification repealers of ability on an effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires a 57s vote it is item r5b that bot that is the longest title for the shortest item um since it's second reading I'd like to just uh move it second Tom unless you have anything that needs to be added uh it's a public hearing so give me one second I see no one in the audience that I need to open my zoom and I see no one in Zoom so if you would like I can call the vote if there's no discussion anybody commissioner B we can all learn from your brevity there boy that that's a sense I never thought I would hear right there next up Alex vice mayor you're next up for that one I know right yeah let's call let go commissioner Suarez commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes vice mayor Fernand yes commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved just for the record that was commissioner bot and seconded by Fernandez yes thank you r5c r5c is an ordance of the mayor City Commission of the city of Miami Beach Florida amending the code of the city of Miami Beach so Part B entitled Miami Beach resiliency code chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures article one entitled land use board board at section 2.1.2 entitled planning board at section 2.1.3 entitle design review board section 2.1.4 entitle historic preservation board and section 2.1.5 entitled Board of adjustment to establish a requirement that any individual appointed to serve on a land use board must complete an architectural walking toward Mii Beach and providing for qualification repealer Serv ability and an effective date this is item r5c it is a second reading public hearing the item requires 57s vote r5c commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um first and foremost I would like to thank uh George Neri who gave me this idea he and I we firmly believe in educating the people making the decisions about our historic district and sometimes people get appointed to these boards and they aren't even familiar with some of the history this will require these walking tours that I think are so pivotal of both North and South Beach and I'm really looking forward to it I know um Daniel you're here would you like to say a few words yes thank you but maybe recognized Daniel seral with Miami Design preservation Le thank you so much for this idea George my predecessor and all of you we continue the work to preserve protect and promote I did want to make it clear that we are not charging for the tour so this will be no cost to the members I don't know if that was in the document but we just want to make sure that that is clear and we've set up the process already several of your AIDS have already taken the tours and uh we're looking forward to giving them to more folks I I had a couple of questions thank you Daniel um if we need transportation for these tours can the city arrange that for the land use members so that um I would love to actually be invited on these tours when the land use members take them because I think that you're going to see a big shift in how we're voting and how we're treating our historic districts once people you know take the tour and understand better are are the tours they're just going to be regular walking tours or are will we be on a bus well just and I'll let Tom answer but just so you know what's been happening is folks who are contacting us and saying when can I take a tour and so we've been saying just whenever you want uh but maybe we could do like both like like we could have a group tour that might have to be I don't know if that's sunshine or not but I've noticed uh some of the folks they want to just take it on their own time the good news is we offer the tours every day and so but we could do either way commissioner I would love the opportunity to walk these districts with the members of our planning board design review board historic preservation board and have these conversations in a sunshine meeting so that you know so hopefully you know it will shift opinions and just educate I think it's positive all the way around so I'm not chairing the meeting but mayor commissioner bot I think wanted to say something commission B yeah I love this item so much I think it's it's long overdue and I can't believe nobody thought of it before now so good on you um I wanted to U make a very minor friendly Amendment if I could which is um in the language that says um a tour of uh the Art Deco district and or the North Beach historic district myo something to that effect I'd like it to be and not Andor they there are two very distinct parts of the city with very distinct heritages and needs and issues and concerns and so um maybe that means it's two separate tours or one longer tour but I think um we can't have people well informed about one part of the city and not about the other um I'm fine with that Amendment and uh hopefully we can knock the tours out in in one morning instead of requiring two separate tours somehow cover South Beach and then take everybody up to North Beach and hopefully each time we do these tours right around when we do the appointments um you can invite the members of the commission too and make it a sunshine tour because I think that communication is key and I think that uh it's a huge it's a huge curve I believe from when you start serving on a land use board and and and because you H you really don't understand our historic architecture or preservation until you start to see case-by case basis so um hopefully we'll all join in on the first tour this coming January when do we appoint all the land use boards December usually in January you could appoint in December because their terms technically expire on December 31st but in the past the commission has usually made those appointments in January okay so hopefully we'll do our first tour January or February and with that I mean I would move the item I'll second all the vote and for the record this is a public hearing I see no one else in the audience no one else in Zoom motion by commissioner Ros Gonzalez seconded by commissioner bot commissioner bot yes commissioner Ros Gonzalez commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries the item is approved that was item r5c r5f r5f is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of city of M Beach fla amending the man Beach resilience Seca chapter 2 entitled Administration and review procedures Article 5 resoning and and development approvals at section 2.5.5 entitled development approvals under the Liv local act to establish administrative fees for the review and approval of of developments pursuant to the Liv local act including section 166.010 administrative fees for the review and approval of the developments under the lived local act and providing for qualification repealer sub ability and an effect of date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires a 57 vote it is r5f point of order the item is advertised for 10:30 God where did the day go commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um so I thought I would share there was a very a telling slide is as the chair of the affordable housing advisory committee we do a regional Zoom twice a year and and uh they put up a slide um on live local acts and it was a slide Florida and what you could see was of the 45 live local projects that have been filed with the state of Florida 28 of them are in Miami six of them are in Miami Beach so 133% of all live local act Statewide um are here in Miami Beach and 66% of all live local acts are here and right across the bridge and Winwood and the Design District which I found kind of interesting um so as we embark on on this and hopefully nobody's moved forward in their state filings correct we've only received the six applications or is it more at this point it's the six but they have not been deemed complete as of yet okay so none of our applications are complete but when they are complete uh this is a fee schedule of for hearings and how we will charge them um I don't think I don't think we're going to get a lot of live local projects simply because I don't think you can build Workforce housing on Miami Beach it's it's very very difficult even when you know I was looking at Collins park with server toas before I know that this has to do with fees but I wanted to mention this I was looking at our Collins Park project where we gave the land we gave $10 million and have you guys seen what it looks like I don't think I think it's really I don't know how we got that product um but even with the subsidies okay and free land what we got is really unsightly I would would not want to put I would not want to work with that company um ever again um but you know so I don't think we're going to be a target for a live local but if we are this is just a fee schedule for it I don't know if any of you have any comments but I would just move the item commission magazine um maybe this is directed to the City attorney or city clerk but the city of Miami is going through a high-profile uh live Lo local application right now I believe on one of the former Sears buildings down in the coral uh way or Coral gate neighborhood I was watching their City commission meeting uh I am a glutton for punishment um if you ever want to feel better about us up here watch the city of Miami I say that somewhat in just but uh I believe one of their Commissioners commissioner Reyes uh plans to go to Tallahassee to talk about perhaps even uh don't want to put words in his mouth Lobby again the live local act but if our legislative Aid Peter is uh talking if there are certain changes that we would like to see in Miami Beach maybe we could do so in conjunction with uh the city of Miami as it seems like they're engaged here that would be a good suggestion so I move this to Second call the vote I have a motion from commissioner uh Rosa Gonzalez seconded by commissioner Dominguez commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carries item r5f is approved r5z r5z is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commissioner of the city of Mii Beach Florida amending Chapter 70 of the code of the city of Mii Beach Florida entitled miscellaneous offenses by amending article one entitled in general by amending section 70-1 thereof entitled State M to Meers by adopting through specific reference to state law misdemeanor offensives of threatening or harassing specified public employees officers and officials to have firmly established offenses against Municipal law for the same acts that constitute such offenses against the state law providing for repealers of ability codification and effective date this is a first reading it is item r5z commissioner Dominguez thank you mayor um I recently met with the city attorney and with uh Mark Fishman from the city attorney's office and with the prosecutors and ask them for any ordinances that they felt would be helpful in uh doing their jobs and uh and keeping our city safe and that's where uh this item came up and I'll let the City attorney talk a little more about it sure um as you all know we have adopted a series of uh State um offenses as by specific reference into our code to allow our prosecutors to uh prosecute if the state attorney is not Prosecuting and I will turn to Mark Fishman who is much well better versed than I am yes good good morning thank you all yeah that's correct this would be adopting two additional state law misdemeanors threatening or harassing specified individuals and making them city ordinance violations um this would be obviously useful because then our Municipal prosecution team could be the entity responsible for these prosecutions they've been prosecuted it's not that many of them but they are important offenses threatening or harassing uh Law Enforcement Officers firefighters even elected officials um and they've been prosecuted by the miam8 state attorney's office previously uh successfully about 50% of the time so you know they're Prosecuting them and I I think we might be able to even do a more effective job on these offenses so I think this would be a a good ordinance for us to adopt uh and have our Municipal prosecution team handle these violations thank you I'd like to move the item you have a lot of seconds I'd like to be added as our co-sponsor on the item thank you uh thank you Mark and I and I and I want to acknowledge the work that you and your Municipal our Municipal prosecution team has done um I had I think personally brought legislation that our commission approved six or seven different additional uh offenses I know commissioner Fern vice mayor Fernandez has brought now commissioner Dominguez your your our prosecution team is has a success rate on convictions of about 90% which is successful prosecution rate of about 90% you know convictions but also where we get someone treatment or help corion not all of it is jail time but it's it's uh it's on the record that there was an arrest and a uh and a successful prosecution and by the way that that's another element that we don't talk about so much and we talked about the homeless uh issue before we will offer plea deals if people get the help that they need um court options uh which is does not cost the city anything so there's so much we're doing besides just obviously enforcing our laws but also in the spirit of helping people so thanks for the great work you do and on the comment about the State Attorney's office and I think it's it's recognized their their resources are strained they have 34 cities that they need to account for obviously they handle all felonies um by state law so to the extent that we can take over misdemeanors and make it a priority that our residents absolutely demand that we do it makes more sense to have it under our Municipal Municipal prosecution team so thanks thanks for all the work you do y thank you to our team yep all a vote yes sir so I have motion for commissioner Dominguez uh seconded by commissioner Fernandez Fernandez commissioner magazine yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Dominguez yes I didn't hear it sorry has anybody ever voted against their own item mayor Miner yes motion carries it is approved 7 0 second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th R5 [Applause] AA thank you Mr Mayor uh I'm sorry commissioner I have to apologize uh five daa is an N of the mayor City Commission of the city of M Beach amending chapter 2 of the code of the city of Mi Beach entitle Administration by amending Article 2 entitled City commission by amending section 2-14 thereof entitled meeting procedures and agendas to clarify that any ordinance or resolution placed on a city commission agenda with a fiscal impact greater than 75,000 shall first be referred to the finance and economic resiliency commission committee and further to require affirmative vote of 57s of the city commission for approval of any ordinance or resolution placed on a city commission agenda by the mayor or City Commissioner that will have a recurring fiscal impact of more than $25,000 per fiscal year and providing for repealer S cability clarification and effective date this is a first reading it is item r5a commissioner magazine uh thank you and uh Mr Mayor also thank you for appointing me chair of the finance committee it's been a learning experience and really looking to start adapting some fiscally sound measures um how do you get to a billion dollar budget uh slowly right but it happens and it's a lot of smaller items that add up and it's very hard once a government program is added to repeal that so I think we need to be very prudent and some of this comes as a response to uh our our budget meeting and in particularly the last one where there were just a lot of items that are just kind of added on the Fly and I get that right there might have been some of mine I can't well I do recall there weren't but I was using that as a caveat but uh it has nothing to do with me personally or anybody else personally it's just uh implementing sound policy that will live well beyond all of us I hope uh in protecting the finances of our city and you know essentially just pointing out things that happened that kind of uh led to this was just adding very very large budet budget items on the Fly and I get that a lot of times at the end of the year you are up against a timeline um essentially what this looks to do though is if there's anything that is above $75,000 can't just be added on the flight has to be actually added to a finance economic resiliency committee meeting um I think we went in Mr CFO I don't know if you're around but uh where we started at in that let's call it last budget meeting um the Surplus that we thought we were going to have after items were kind of hurt on the Fly Ro reduced it down by several hundred, or maybe even a few million dollars right and there were perhaps Ms to all of those I believe that there were um but I think it's a prudent fiscal policy to essentially um have that heard in the same manner that we would hear items all throughout the year and if we are adding something on the Fly that's going to be recurring recurring year-over-year just have slightly higher of a threshold for approval for that we see it for if we want to add F we want to add other things in our city we have a a higher threshold for what gets added I think uh the same measures should start being introduced uh to our budget I have something else on for uh Reserve policy um but Mr CFO anything that I'm missing here or that you wanted to add for this uh no commissioner I believe that that summarizes it and you you are correct I believe it was in several sever $100,000 during the our budget hearings that were uh items that were added which is the purview you know as I always mentioned is the purview of the commission uh and and and typical here yeah yeah typical and what I'm looking to avoid is just those things being made on the Fly uh like I said I I'm certain there were Merit to all of those but any other time throughout the year you have to go through a more rigorous uh and public vetting process uh I'm not sure if during the last budget meeting is uh providing adequate time for all of us to kind of uh digest and analyze uh just kind of line items that are adding a couple hundred, to our budget commissioner Fernandez thank you for sponsoring not that uh I'll hand it over but I'll hand it over to the mayor vice mayor to see where we want to commissioner Fernandez vice mayor Fernandez I just want to thank the sponsor you know this is a great piece of of legislation I'm all for these processes that keep us and future Commissions in a in a responsible path so I I totally appreciate this uh this framework I just have a question um like for example there's times the budget this year we dealt with a budget that had fee increases let's say and let's say at the end of the process you know we become aware of a fee increase and we decide okay we don't want to move forward with a fee increase and we want to you know reverse the fee increase because it's going to yield an imp on our residents on our taxpayers uh Pockets but it's also going to yield then an impact on the budget does this make does this policy before us make an exception for something like that when we're talking you know not an allocation to an outside agency but internally uh our our um internal budgeting of fees and fines and that type of stuff sure so I can try to answer that um what this item does it does two things as as uh the sponsor indicated one it corrects a a an error we believe in the code that items having a greater than $75,000 impact go to any committee and now it will properly go to the finance committee but second any ordinance or resolution that is sponsored and initiated by the mayor or City Commissioner so in the case of you know the the parking uh ordinance that was introduced at the September 26 budget meeting that would be an item that could have a recurring fiscal impact of more than $25,000 per year so that would simply require an affirmative vote of 57th of the commission and let me just ask the city clerk Mr clerk on that item is there a way between first and second reading to find out what was the vote I pretty sure it was unanimous I think we all we all sponsored that it was so when it's something of Merit you know and and that's what I like when it's something of marriage something that is important this puts an extra layer but we usually do come together uh and we come together to support I I support this I think this is great I think it's good sound policy is responsible and it keeps us in a responsible path but it also thinks about the future other commissions and you did such an incredible job commissioner magazine leading this year's uh budget as a first year commissioner I'm so proud to support you in this commissioner Gonzalez um I'm supportive of this but here is what I want to warn everybody moving forward you know right now I think we have a commission where people are completely open-minded on every single item right so and that that's great but I have served on Commissions in the past where you had a voting block of three people that always voted together so let's say that you had some recurring funding item that you wanted to pass that was um $25,000 or like like I would say I would move the 25,000 to 50,000 because frankly you never know when you're going to you might have like for example in the over the past four years I could have had a really great funding item but because of this 5 SS threshold I would have never gotten my funding item passed because of our three members of the commission that even if I said I want to give away free ice cream and rainbows and sunshine they would have said no that's a terrible idea so um while this is while this is wonderful it could hamstring you in the future if you wanted to get some funding pass that was very important to you so what I would ask you is to take the $225,000 threshold and make it 50,000 I don't think that's a huge ask I think it's um I think 57 is a high threshold um many times so I don't know how you guys feel about that but that would be my Amendment and I think that protects um you know protects something that you know is important to people and it's it's not yet so low as 25 you know 25,000 how do you feel about that I'd be a you would second oh that's great okay good call the vote uh I have a motion by from commissioner magazine seconded by vice mayor Fernandez as amended with a $50,000 threshold vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Bots yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion is approved as amended second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th that was r5a and I'll reiterate the compliments to you commissioner magazine on the great work you're doing the finance committee I'm a little biased since I appointed you but uh I think the consensus is and I and I'll also Echo with commissioner Rosen Gonzalez said um I think our residents did a great job with our commission we are open-minded very resident focused you're seeing it from the from the items on the agenda let's call the next item commissioner it's commissioner Bots R5 AC R5 AC is a n of the mayor City Commission of city of Bambi Beach Florida amending subpart a of the Bambi Beach code entitled General ordinances by amending chapter 106 entitled traffic and vehicles by amending article one entitled in general by creating section 106 8 to be entitled permitted parking blocking a driveway or parking space and providing for repealer sh ability catification and effective date this is a first reading is item R5 AC thank commissioner bot thank you mayor um this is a a a common practice in the city as it as it stands currently but it has never been codified and I I don't know that a lot of people know that they can do this so I wanted to codify it and make sure residents knew that this was an option um as we seek to find more parking spaces in a finite landmass um I'll turn it over to our director of our interim director of parking um and uh let him explain the the um guidelines here but but the the short version is you can block your own driveway but not somebody else's you can't impede anybody's sight lines you have to continue to be neighborly respectful cognizant of Public Safety um but um um but yes you can do it without risk thank you good morning Jose Gonzalez transportation and Mobility director and interim parking director um as you mentioned um commissioner there are some some conditions some safeguards that are built into this uh ordinance in order to minimize um any any uh you know complaints or or friction even between neighbors of um residential dwellings up to four units some of those conditions uh include that Vehicles while they can block their own space uh their own assigned space they cannot intrude into the sidewalk they cannot block sight lines or you know visibility um to their neighbors so if there are adjacent driveways one next to the other a vehicle cannot park in such a way as uh to block a vehicle exiting from the adjacent driveway not being able to see oncoming traffic for example and that's for for safety for safety reasons and of course um there are also other stipulations such as no parking in front of a fire hydrant or a fire connection um those sorts of of safeguards but this will and and the intent is to to try to increase the parking supply in North Beach so by allowing buildings residential buildings up to four units to be able to block their own uh spaces potentially that can double even the uh amount of cars that can park at those properties um yes move it so unless there's a discussion to be had I'd like to move it commission magazine a great item commissioner B when we were going through the North Beach parking uh a lot of people said that they utilize this and they felt it was sort of unor IAL so uh kudos to you for catifying it I'd love to be added uh with your permission as a co-sponsor on this no of course happy to have you call a vote so the co-sponsor is also seconding it second okay commissioner Suarez second okay commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes V mayor Fernandez yes commissioner magazine yes mayor Miner yes motion is approved second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th co-sponsored by commissioner magazine C7 AB R5 a d c C7 a b ASM boy okay got it one sec C7 AB is direct City Administration to develop a succession plan for the chief of police it was separated by two Commissioners it was separated by commissioner Dominguez and commissioner magazine well we'll go in alphabetical order commissioner Dominguez thank you and thank you for bringing this item forward I think it is um very important and since I chair the public safety and neighborhood quality of life committee would love to have the opportunity to have more robust conversation and uh would like to have this item be a referral to the Public Safety Committee commissioner magazine yeah thank you and uh Mr Mayor thank you for this um I think it's prudent for any organization especially a billion- dollar government Enterprise such as ourselves to have uh key succession plans in uh all top positions and especially with uh the chief getting to the drop I believe in two two years thought it was prudent and I think it's a good measure to do so um I believe some of those discussions may already be in the works and happening uh us at our level we're not always privy to what's happening at the staff level um so I just invite the chief to kind of give his thoughts if these discussions or perhaps the city manager if these uh things internally are already underway um I'd like I'd like to speak first before we do that if you don't mind so it's my item so success planning uh as you say it's uh it's prudent to to to do that I have no doubt that is being done right now um but it's it's important for us as the legislative body to be involved in the planning it is other than us up here elected and our appointment of the city manager no offense to every other directors all our departments are important but our chief of police is is literally uh one of the most if not the most critical position in our city and really just like everything else we do whether it be spring break we want to be proactive about it and as the legislative body we want to be involved in the process one of one of my concerns that and why I brought this item now is the way our government system is set up and I'm explaining this not for my colleagues who know all this I'm explaining it to our residents who may not realize the city manager appoints the next chief of police and then brings it to us as the body usually shortly before that transition will take place it puts us in a very difficult position as a legislative body because you're now having a person who's being selected who's probably going to have the votes and if you vote no you're going to be working with this person for the next one two three four five years with a no vote hanging over you it makes it a very difficult and I don't I actually have no basis for saying this because I didn't look but I'm guessing most of those votes are unanimous so this was to have us be involved in the process and have input from the say but also making sure that the transition and every aspect is being looked at for example the last two chiefs including including our chief Wayne Jones are at in the drop I won't get into what that means for everybody but it's basically a um a process that relates to uh pensioning but at at the end of that drop that that individual must retire so our last two chiefs Chief Jones who will have that in a couple years a little less than two years Chief Clemens were in that process and that's okay but the question I had which is I think a logical question has are we are we now in the system where that is the de facto and default position that we're taking somebody who's been here 25 30 years may you may get a great choice I'm not questioning that but should we also be looking at other people who may be in the middle of their careers but are absolute standouts and Superstars within our within our Administration should we be looking outside uh three Chiefs ago um I'm not saying that's the best move sometimes that works out great sometimes it actually does not work out great I've actually done uh some my own surveying on that but I think we need to look at every single aspect of the process and also be involved with you because don't I I just don't want and and I've heard the rumors and the percolation of a of a particular name of somebody who may be the next person in line and that person may be great I am not saying anything negative but I'm not sure that's the best position for our city to be in that we're two years out little less than two years out and we're already hearing rumors of who the next person is going to be without going through that robust process um we just want to make sure that we are we have a great Police Department I love I love police I have unabashedly have the tremendous utmost respect for what the men and women in blue do every day it is not an easy job especially in this political climate we're immune from that in Miami Beach I actually was talking to I always talk to our officers any chance I get I literally knock on their car windows to talk to them um but what one thing I hear and I'm happy to hear it is they they they know they know the residents of Miami Beach love them and adore them and appreciate them that is not true of many many many C actually I had this weekend I had a couple officers tell me that they were actually transferred from other departments and they did not have people coming over to them they said people would say hi but the fact the level of residents who come over them to thank them to introduce their kids to to have their kids who are five years old say thank you officer they said they've never seen that in another city it's Bey it's Testament to our residents and what we do but I I give that background on a succession planning item because we are I am I'll be the first one to admit I demand I ask a lot of our Police Department I do I'm I'm I'm I'm not gonna I'm not going to lie you see it up here and behind the scenes it's even more and it's only because I know how much police can impact and and significantly decrease crime and basically intimidate the bad guys there's no question about that and that's why I keep pushing because it's so vital that's why we have for example give one example it's it's important to me as our chief and our city manager no to have police stand out their cars during their shifts it's still not happening to the level and our commission passed it this is legislative policy and B by by the way what I'm asking is when they're at when they're sitting in their cars sometimes sometimes they need to be in the car for whatever reason but just literally stand outside it literally just stand outside it's a GameChanger I saw I'm seeing it in some degrees and our residents love it I even think the officers like it I think they appreciate it because they're getting so many thank yous and I can tell you it is a game changer I hear our residents tell me all the time when they see the officer it it is and and I'm sure I fortunately or unfortunately I don't speak to too many criminals but um I'm sure it's a game changer for them as well so that's why I brought this item because I want us to consider all aspects and it's all aspects to make sure we the next the that we have that the the chief who who is is going to continue on is obviously going to continue on in the great things we are doing but also make the changes that this body our commission is demanding of our Police Department or asking whatever words you want to use that I think prior commissions did not ask of our Police Department we are asking more there's no question but I think that's also reflective for example in the collective bargaining agreement we are giving more we are we are giving more we are we give the best training we compensate well actually I was talking to an officer recently you notice I'm leaving out names but I'm I want people to continue to give me information I was talking to an officer who transferred from another department and he or she I said why did you transfer and they're like the money the money was great and she goes it happens to be okay I gave it away was a she she goes it happens to be this is a great place to work and I'm happy I'm here but that wasn't the consideration it was the money the money was better and uh and I took it so the reason why I I this is so important is and why I want this body to be involved in the succession planning is because we want to make sure we have a chief who is going to affect the rate to change we are asking our Police Department to change in ways that they have not done before exam I mean I give the prime example as being outside the car being proactive relating to homeless individuals this this commission has been loud and clear how we expect to handle those situations so that's why I brought this I respect commissioner Dominguez your your your request to refer it I I personally will not accept that friendly amendment I would ask this body I think this is pretty straight for forward asking s certain timelines that we get reported back to on how the process is going and and I I don't think it needs to go to committee so I'll ask that we pass the resolution as is today mayor let me just hear from commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um I would like this to go to committee for a discussion before we passed this today because there's some stuff in here that you know this Shadow effect I don't really understand what that is that we're going to embed somebody in the police department with a shadow of a fact I don't really understand that so I would like to have a conversation at committee let the have some conversations with the police department to hear what they think about this and the administration so that I better understand exactly what this is because um there is a you know while the police report to the city manager they do not report to us as a political body and I'm not sure that I really want to get so involved um I I want to have the best police chief we possibly can but I also would like to defer and have some conversations before I vote on this not defer just send it to committee commissioner Dominguez thank you and I agree with that um while it's a city manager that does the appointment of the chief the only way for the body to be involved is to have this at committee and have the conversation I love that this this commission uh most of the times every single commissioner attends the committee meetings and I think it's of utmost important to have this discussion and the way for us to be involved is to have it at committee commissioner sarez commissioner magazine yeah I I I Vice chair the neighborhoods committee and you know I I think that time is of the essence here I I think we we need a secession plan and immediately um I mean how many months do you have through the chair uh just under two years sir I just under two years just under two years yeah um you know I I certainly don't want to be cut off guard um in in in in having a selected set of uh candidates that you know we may or may not be comfortable with but I think what's before us today is just have the police bring forward a a plan correct um on on secession for for the next police chief I don't see what the what a committee would do for for for to make this I mean if if we're consider if if we're if we're uncomfortable about getting mending in the in how the police do a secession plan and I don't think a committee is the right approach I think we're just telling them that we need to have a plan sooner rather than later Comm magazine uh thank you Mr Mayor uh my thought process behind actually pulling this was just a facilita conversation um I actually co-sponsored the item because like I said it is prudent to have a discussion uh I also don't feel the need to overly micromanage this process right my point in having this pulled and discussed was just to be sure I had a fair degree of certainty but that was just unconfirmed I know how well our city has run so I I figured as much that these uh talks and discussions were already underway but this was a good way to have this discussion in public um I wouldn't see the need to micromanage or over engineer it at a committee level I would just like to even if we would have a um some sort of recurring every three months we kind of get feedback to how that process is going um just so this uh maintains a continuous dialogue uh me personally I wouldn't feel the need to send it to committee but I'll you know respect the will of my colleagues Mr no pressure commissioner Fernandez um so I have a I have a few questions um this resolution speaks to two plans it speaks to a succession plan but then it speaks to no later than 12 months prior to the conclusion of the police chief's participation in the drop uh transition plans should begin leadership transition plans I just one what's the difference and I don't know if the City attorney would be the right person to to to explain this or the sponsoring member of the commission or the city manager what's the difference between the succession plan and then the leadership transition plan that's supposed to begin 12 months before the chief's departure that more appropriate faric or City attorney I don't know or the police or the you I mean I'm happy to jump in um and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter uh kind of felt like I was watching somebody talking about me while I'm in the room um obviously the city manager's role is to try and put the organization in the best possible position to move forward with the best possible team um I am extremely uh grateful that we have the time that we have with the chief he and I have already started talking about what the future of the department looks like what plans are being put in place to build the bench so to speak so that not just for the next chief but three Chiefs from now were ready to have a wonderful Command Staff whether it be in-house or out of house and and I'll be honest with you I am still mulling all of that over I have thoughts on both sides obviously having an in-house person who understands all the challenges of the city of Miami Beach is is a huge plus um sometimes you you find somebody out there that's a that's an amazing fit for an organization and you're looking for something specific at a moment in time and you're willing to entertain that um I haven't gone down either of those paths and and I'm not there yet but obviously these are conversations that we need to have I feel that I am very uh it is very important to me that you all are kept in the loop on hiring and firing decisions I communicate with all of you before I make any of those decisions But ultimately um you know it's rested with the city manager to make those suggestions and you have to ratify the department heads so I think there's a robust process and a discussion whether it be here at commission at committee um you know happy to have those continued conversations at whatever moment you feel you need to have information thank you uh Mr manager um so going back to the question that I had on the table sorry which was not answered what what is the difference I'm trying to understand I agree we need a succession plan what is the difference between a succession plan and a the leadership transition plan uh that is being that you're being told to implement no later than 12 months prior to the chief's departure so certainly a succession plan is what I was talking about building the bench having people that are in leadership roles that are willing and able to step up to the next rung on the ladder as the time comes that's succession planning transition planning from my perspective is is a much more specific um talking about you know person a will go to position B at this timeline I I'm not there yet um and I think that that's ultimately something that can and probably should be flexible based on the decisions that are made about what the process is going to look like ultimately the process is going to drive a lot of that discussion okay and so I just need to understand because you are our city manager this is something that is usually handled by the city manager correct and so it's I understand why the mayor is bringing this because the mayor Public Safety is important to this commission especially to to this mayor so this is something our mayor prioritizes so I understand completely why the mayor is bringing this I need to understand do what is the recommendation of the administration on this policy before us so I'll be honest I've had these conversations with the chief but I'm not ready to put forward at this moment in time any kind of transition or or success session plan frankly because I've been in the job for 3 months um and I've been hiring multiple other department heads across the city trying to fill out the organizational chart it is something that I'm going to roll my sleeves up and get into um but I'm I'm not at this point in time able to commit to a timeline um because I don't know what I'm going to be up against as we get into this further okay so we're adopting a timeline but you don't feel comfortable with the timeline we're putting here I'm I'm not able to commit to that timeline today I would like to be able to look into it further y so this is this is exactly the answer you just got ladies and gentlemen is exactly why I brought this item there's there's a constant Power Play Between the legislative body and the city Administration we get along but that's what's going on right here this is this is the answers you're seeing right now and I'm basically saying that our legislative body needs to be involved in the process in one of the most important decisions that we're making and by the way with all due dis respect city manager yeah you're making selections on other departments first of all that don't get the level of magnitude and probing that others do but you've hired you've hired a procurement director you've hired a building director I'm sure they're great and I met them but I met them after you've selected them and they're basically going on the commission agenda a few days or week later that is not the robust process that I am expecting and that I think we need to have here and that's that is why I am putting these timelines in place because I am trying to force our city Administration to have us be involved in a process in such a critical decision I want to make sure and I'm not saying the person you wouldn't pick wouldn't have this but our if you look at the drop and I got the I was going to put it up on PowerPoints but I didn't want to embarrass anybody it's not embarrassing there's nothing bad that they did but it our senior level Command Staff of the police department is mostly in the drop they're going to be in a very short period of time of forced retirement if you fast forward four or five years from now when we are probably no longer on this de they're going to be a completely new Command Staff in our Police Department by by it's it just has to be because they're they're going to be en forced retirement and so we re need to really critically look at these at these issues and what I'm saying and I'm not saying the person you would pick wouldn't have it but I want to make sure that next police chief has fire in their belly to make sure that we make the changes that we are asking our Police Department to make in a good way we're great to I keep saying it because we are but there's there's more we can do I think everyone's acknowledged it I've talked to the chief about it I've talked to you about it you're all in agreement with me for example the police out of the cars you don't nobody pushes back but implementing it is another story a little more difficult a little more challenging commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor you know I couldn't agree more I mean look uh Mr city manager no offense but just because you're on the job three and a half months is not an excuse to to be to be looking for and planning one of the most important decisions you'll be hiring I mean you've been with us for I think over 10 years so that's that's not an excuse and the fact that you know you haven't had the opportunity to look into that it's true I mean this is why we're bringing this now I think a timeline of 12 months is more than enough time for you to come up with a plan of action on a secession plan which is going to which is going to dovetail right in line with with the drop of most of the senior command at the police station so look um I I like I like what commissioner magazine said I don't I don't think we should be in the business of micromanaging it I think we give a directive and um to to to the city manager to say look we we expect this to happen uh in a timely fashion um we know you have your hands full but this is a major priority for us it's a major priority for the City of Miami Beach Public Safety is number one so um I I don't think there's anything egregious or um you know there's any issues with with basically telling our Administration that hey come up with a plan and 12 months we expect uh to have a new police chief I I I don't I don't want to be in the situation that the last commission was where we're it's at the very last minute and we have no plan what what's to say that Wayne wouldn't wouldn't want to retire sooner you know there's there's nothing to say that uh he he could do that uh and he he perfectly could I don't know I don't know what's going to happen Wayne but uh you know if he wants to retire in 3 mon months we're we're what are we going to say oh well we need to wait a little bit longer to go to committee no I think we should be moving forward with this as soon as possible it's Public Safety it's number one commissioner bot thank you mayor um I don't think anybody disputes the public safety as our primary job I don't think anybody in this room certainly not the police department none of us elected officials I mean I've said it to many people on multiple occasions said our first and only real job as elected officials is is taking care of our residents and our visitors um so I'm I'm really surprised at the presumption that there isn't already succession planning going on it in the police department I mean I've spoken with Chief do you know it I was just going to finish my sentence and say that I've spoken with Chief Jones and asked him and he has said Point Blank that this is something that they already working on and you're here would you like to speak on that matter absolutely thank you for the invitation to chat on this this matter uh commissioner the fact of the matter is even before I became chief of police as deputy chief myself and then assistant chief poost who's now my deputy chief were working on succession planning the fact that I promoted an assistant chief just recently who have significant time left organization um is part of that succession planning the fact that I just promoted young Majors to senior levels of the organization is part of that succession planning sending a young lady Captain to FBI Academy for senior leadership training this summer part of that training another major last summer to the FBI Academy for training part of that succession planning I just promoted a young Captain who's got more than a decade left the organization training him up to take a part of leadership I'm about to promote two other captains in the coming months young captains energetic firing their bellies to continue forward the continuity this Police Department deserves and wants um as part of that session planning city manager and I have had plary conversations about this and obviously we need to have more conversations about this I'll be happy to provide a written plan of what has been done what will be done in the future for organization I can tell you I've been almost three decades in this organization 22 of those years have been in leadership and that once until now has there been a succession planning in the organization and so we're well ahead of the game understanding the urgency of the matter and happy happy to provide a bench like the city manager mentioned to the future of this organization if I may please um so it seems like there is already robust succession planning taking place maybe maybe there's just a lack of communication here and maybe and I'm not making this a motion to defer out of respect for your your position on this mayor but maybe there's an opportunity for us to take a pause for a second and let you guys put something together in writing that then there could be a meeting about um or it comes back to the commission to discuss it and then determine if this is necessary um I I also have a concern about a a transition plan because I know that when you have um two people in the seat of leadership leading an organization it gets very confusing for the organization we talked about it um when we were trying to figure out how um our former city manager would transition out as our new city manager our new interim city manager um that in and you know would would Alina stay here and help provide some continuity or would she step back and you know and I've been in Corporate America and I know that when you have new people coming on to lead it doesn't serve anybody well to have the former leader um kind of hanging around it sends mixed messages so I'm concerned about a transition plan like u i I'd like to know more about what a transition plan means to all the parties involved because if it's having two people trying to you know two chiefs and lots of Indians to use an outdated um metaphor um I think that's that's not in the best interest of our Collective Public Safety um so I I would toss it back to my colleagues and suggest that perhaps we we give the benefit of the B the doubt to this organization um that is already working actively and and making steps to put the team in place to lead us through the next couple of decades and then decide once we've had that conversation if it um is something that we need to codify or if we're there and and thank you chief for outlining the steps you've taken actually I think it was the first or second meeting that we had after I was elected mayor I came with this list of uh of highlevel Command Staff who are can be basically enforced retirement so um I'm appreciative of the of the measures you've taken to make sure our department continues well after the current senior leadership has uh has retired Commission Marez thank you Mr Mayor I I I think we shouldn't confuse the two the the planning that's happening inside the police department is you know part for the course for the police chief that's you know that's secession planning within the department I think what this item is is specifically talking about is the chief of police and from what the city manager has just told us there has been no planning uh to date because you he's been three months on the job so I don't think we should delay I I think like I said 12 months is more than enough time again we're all we're doing here is just giving direction to the city manager to start the process that process whether there's going to be updates to us uh quarterly sure um but it basically just tells the city Administration not the police department to you know to to make this a priority and give us give us uh a timeline so that in 12 months we'll we'll have a a new police chief to pick from commissioner Fernandez and commissioner Ros Gonzalez thank you Mr Mayor I I have to say that you know I'm disappointed that this legislation was drafted I know why you requested it I know why you requested it because you take Public Safety very seriously and the future of our our department I think the hiring of a city manager the hiring of a City attorney and the hiring of the police chief are the things that shape that truly do shape the future of our organization and and and the direction that we go in I don't know if this is in our jurisdiction but the City attorney has apped that this is in our jurisdiction and that it's on the agenda because of that and so I'm going to support you I'm going to support you in this uh because we we do need to plan for the future of the organization I do think this is something that falls on the city Administration that falls squarely on the responsibility and the jurisdiction of the of the city manager I think that that is the role of the city manager to be the one setting out this timeline those those benchmarks uh but the City attorney believes that that this is properly before us and uh we've all said the public safety is our top priority um and uh and I know how important this is to you uh and I'm going to support you in this for for the future of of our department I just want to make sure I understand does anything here talk about hiring um hiring a company like what we did for a recruitment firm or or or anything like that like what we did for the city manager no okay it it it doesn't preclude it it doesn't preclude it but I and and I know commissioner rosing I just want to address what you what you said we're we are giving direction to the city manager that is our purview that's all this item does we're giving direction to the city manager to come back and to report with to us within specific timelines and that is that is our prerogative and it actually in many ways is very open-ended to give to give him the ability to do it whether he wants to hire an outside firm or not it talks about potentially internal candidates external candidates it's it's really gives a wide range but it it it's asking our city manager to explore all avenues to make sure we have the best person fulfill the the very important role yes yes and I just want to make sure the timelines Mr manager does the timeline put here in in the one two three four five and the six were ask claws does it make it hard for you to select an internal candidate versus an external candidate or vice versa I'll be honest with you I'm going to do everything that I can to follow the direction of the resolution but I've got to be able to do my own internal process I understand Mr MRE my question to you my question is a very direct question okay very specific question does the timeline in the six were asked clause affect hiring internal versus external or vice versa so I believe if the six whereas Clause is the one that I think it is then there's a difference between when you would be looking to do that if it were an internal candidate versus an external candidate um I don't know that you would want to have an external candidate coming in for an extended transition per period um because you would be looking for change in the organization if you were going to go outside and hire an external candidate what would be the appropriate timing then for something like that so I'm not in a position to say that today I need to do more homework to be able to answer that kind of question and have conversations with my police chief to see you know how he feels and and things that he learned in the transition to that position that maybe he would do differently or maybe he thinks that it was exactly what should have been done um I haven't gotten into that level of detail and I can't answer that question today and and and I just want to understand from our City attorney this is directing for there to be a succession plan to ensure a seamless transition but the timeline here we're not tying the city manager's hands are we or do we does he because this is a proposed timeline so the timeline we're not imposing this timeline on the city manager are we the the actual operative language in the resolution is the last paragraph the recital include um indications of what the commission would like to see I also want to point out that it talks about no long you know no later than 12 months prior to the conclusion of the drop the implementation implementation of the plan should begin no later than 6 months before the retirement uh the intern Arrangements um or a permanent selection should be finalized no later than three months there should be a final preparation for leadership Handover so the the intention is that Chief Jones would stay unless he wants to leave sooner through the end of his um drop um is just it's suggesting time frames suggesting time frames such that everything can be done in a seamless transition in that in that case then I think I think it's it's responsible I think it's Forward Thinking and not crazy that we're legislating to this level of detail because you know today we're executing a man a contract with the city manager or approving a contract with the city manager and I think we need to trust the city manager to lead this process is the reason why we selected a deputy city manager that's been here for over a decade uh to guide us through these processes uh but Mr Mayor you pointed it out the the response that we got you know very open-ended response and so uh for as long as we don't tie the city manager's hands uh and he has leeway to if if it's you know three months instead of four months or you know or vice versa you know I'm I'm okay with it commissioner Rosen Gonzalez commissioner Fernandez you're addressing timelines but I think that this is not about timelines at all if you look at the wear ass Clause from the bottom there's something that I don't like here it says the city Administration will consider incorporating an interim program or Shadow effect and begin conducting an evaluation of candidates who will be capable of addressing future what does that mean does that mean that the mayor you're going to embed somebody in the police department and start EV valuing candidates and if you choose to do this wait wa wait wait and if you choose to do this what is that going to do to the morale in our Police Department among the leadership what will happen at the top of the command um why are we going to what is that going to do to overall morale I just don't understand if you strike this whereas about your this this Eerie Shadow effect interim program where you can evaluate candidates um I will support you today as of timelines but I don't want anyone from this body or especially I mean the administration sure if the city manager wants to go and confirm with the chief fine but I think that that is a very very dangerous thing for the morale for for for our leadership team in the police department and this is not at all about uh timelines commissioner Fernandez this is a police department in my opinion takeover yeah it's not a takeover but I will remove the the warehouse CL just to explain what it is there no Eerie uh it the the what I envisioned was similar to what the fire department which Chief Virgil had with big Noella and that was I heard that term being used she would Shadow him I mean you literally saw her with Chief Virgil everywhere but I'm happy to remove the uh I'm happy to remove the we CL I move the item I'll second just one last thing I um if this item is going to go forward I want to make sure that we incorporate in there that uh the current leadership and the chief have input on uh the succession plan and it's not that they're included include the police chief in discussions um another question I had was was was this something to push out the chief but I'm so happy that um the City attorney explained that this Chief can stay for his entirety um which was one of the reasons why I wanted it to go to the committee uh to discuss that and Mr M if I may I think I think some based on some of your comments I think people are reading way more into this that's I mean that's why this is a legal document and legal words are used and then I'm hearing all these other pushing out that doesn't say that anywhere here this is responsible governance mayor but on the day said that let me let me finish let me finish this let me finish the to go I didn't cut you off commissioner this is responsible governance I'm actually very proud of this item because we we have a responsibility not to allow what it's it's amazing when I when other people speak I let them speak and now I'm hearing commentary all around me like fascism it's come on come on yeah that's unnecessary so unnecessary we focus on the issue ofe why would he want to leave with all the fun that he's had well I I am proud of this item because we we as a commission have given direction are giving direction on and we do set the policy we've heard our city manager say it over and over again I imple I heard you say recently a couple of times you implement the policy set by the commission and that's all that's all we're doing here we're making sure that we have we are involved in the process and we make sure we got the best person and by the way it might be the same person who would have been anyway we'll never know the answer to that by the way um but that's that's a mood point this is this is responsible governance to ensure a smooth transition and ensure that all all of the best candidates are considered Mr Mayor we have if if if I just may oh commissioner Fernandez thank you I the one one thing that commissioner Dominguez mentioned that I do have to say I unfortunately I did start to receive a lot of phone calls because I think the community misread the resolution can I ask when you say community do you mean within the police department no residents um our community respects Chief Jones he has been a longtime member of this department he's lived in in the city and uh and our residents have a good relationship with him they trust him and that's very important police work trust and it's I think um as as is often said on this St and this in this community Miami Beach doesn't have the challenges that other communities have because they trust the men and women of the Miami Beach Police Department they trust the chief they trust the leadership uh and and and the The Command Staff and as you often mentioned they want to see more of it and they support it and so I think it's very important as part of this conversation at least for me to State I 100% trust Chief Wayne Jones I think uh the chief is doing everything in his power to implement the changes we're asking uh of him uh my support of this of this resolution is about seeing the future of the organization and making sure that we're not caught in in the last minute but not a reflection in any way uh Chief I hope you stay here to the very last day of your of your your drop period because I believe in your leadership in the turnaround of morale that I've seen in in our in our police department and uh and and I know you're doing everything in your in your power to to implement the directives that we're that we're passing along and sometimes we need more cooperation from the union at times sometimes we need more cooperation from people on the streets but I know you're sending the message and you're trying to drive that change and so I just wanted to be very clear I as a City Commissioner and as a resident of this city have full trust in you and uh and and and that's part of of of of my belief of of of of who you are and the direction that this department is going in you have made a transition and you continue to to do it and I need to say that publicly thank you for your confidence commissioner thank you and uh and I've said this publicly I've seen a lot of good a lot of increased police visibility I acknowledge that I think we're even asking for more as a as a commission and we'll keep we'll keep driving that we have a motion in a second can we call call a vote on item C7 a all in favor please say I I I I just want to make sure it's with the amended removal of the Clause as amended Clause six am removed so it's approved 70 that was c78 where the whereare six second to last okay so second to last where Clause 7 Z motion is approved great why don't we uh adjourn for lunch and let's reconvene at 115 not 1:00 1:5 e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] he he heyy hey hey hey heyy hey [Music] okay he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] for [Music] [Music] [Music] please take your seats the meeting is about to begin remember to speak into the microphone as this meeting is being recorded for public record please stand by we are going on air in 5 4 3 2 1 welcome back to our afternoon session of the commission meeting I we have a very very and I'm going to say three varies special guest in the audience today there's an individual who served our country in World War II who is turning 100 years old [Applause] today M Mr Lloyd Stern can you are you able to to or would would you rather sit Mr stern was a sergeant in the US Military and was one of the members of the Richie Boys in my understanding I hope I get this all right but the Richie boys were trained in intelligence and went Behind Enemy Lines and used mors code to relay those messages to the Alli forces who then used bombing raids to protect our country and literally save Europe I know you personally um having lunches at schmell Sam Mason's house who I know is a good friend of yours and you have a tremendous wit you have family that came in Mike your son Karine your daughter-in-law and Rebecca your granddaughter who here to C and uh we don't usually do these during Commission meeting but when you told me that you were turning 100 years old and you told me the date October 30th literally the date of our commission meeting I I think it would be remiss of me and I hope my colleagues agree not to honor you in a way that you deserve to be honored and this is I feel like the least we can do for your service I said you have a quick wi you want to say something and we should get a do we have a a standalone microphone it's coming it's coming oh he's he's even running should we sing Happy Birthday while we're waiting for the microphone happy birday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear birthday happy birthday to you I really don't think I would have survived without the community around me it's it's an honor to be part of this community and I want to seriously thank everybody very much for their friendship for the on on the tolerance because I'm not always easy to get along with but thank you for everything I I I never thought I would see this I I don't know what I did to deserve it but thank you thank you I I could tell you Mr St you absolutely earned it and uh you you you bring a lot of joy to everyone who meets you I I can attest to that thank you God bless you we are now uh well this was part of the sutnik hour that was our three minutes for Mr Sterns happy birthday um any anybody else wna want to speak can iump in sure I say happy birthday too I'm Howard Herring from the New World Symphony I I know that you guys are going to cover later in today the um the issue of the replenishment of the for estate funding that was withdrawn I just want to because I'm not sure what my afternoon is going to be I just wanted to have two seconds to say what I think could be a solution to all this I hope is a solution we know that a vibrant city has a vibrant culture and that's what we are developing we know this is a one-time only circumstance I think that's important to stress and if we can maintain our momentum which this funding will do it will be to the benefit of the citizens of Miami Beach and South Florida and to all of us here so I urge you to think of it as a one-time move and uh full funding and let us keep let us keep going the public priv private Partnerships that we've formed that's my message thank you thank you Commissioners Daniel seral with Miami Design preservation League I just want to Echo the sentiment of Mr Herring uh that uh our cultural anchors rely on funding in part from the state it was vetoed uh last year and through the vision of this commission it was approved to do a one-time stop Gap taking out of the 40 million in Resort tax reserves that have been built up over the years we know it did get pulled this morning from consent but we are hoping it will be discussed and hopefully move forward at that amount uh we really need it the the general support is so critical uh obviously we're a cultural anchor but there are other ones like woni and Jewish Museum FIU um and so many others so uh we know that it's not a big ticket item it's not $95 million but it is important for us and we hope that you'll get to it and hopefully we'll have your support today thank you thank you good afternoon Sarah deos re Sor Harbor neighborhood association I just want to make sure open you everybody here in the commission understand and we know that Sor Harbor does not have entertainment and we have establishments that want to Comm in to Sor Harbor or they're there today and they want to put the piano or a DJ or something like that you know what we said we didn't want entertainment in sanser Harbor and it should be it should obey I mean we told Harbor Club not to have entertainment we told him no DJ no violin because that's the definition of entertainment no piano that's the definition and and now they have a piano upstairs now in the Harvard Club a brand new club that is going to be open to the public and and also you know to people who pay the $5,000 for the club so I just want to make sure everybody's clear because what I'm going to do then I'm going to bring them back to planning so they understand what the rules are in the ordinance in the neighborhood just want to make sure you all are aware thank you thank you I like the orange hello my name is Rabbi Yakov burin I'm the menal of a the only Jewish all boys school in Miami Beach called haeder Miami and I came here to show respect to this extraordinary individual Mr Lloyd Stern um I brought one class up several other classes downstairs and others that couldn't come I wanted to bring actually as much as possible every single Friday I take my own son y every week we visit Mr Stern and we get to hear his wisdom the life experiences he's truly a remarkable individual who as the mayor said in some way had a huge amount of world war III's winning of the United States and the Allies that we're all here that we have freedom this country and the city everything he has a huge piece of that which is unbelievable and uh we want to wish him that we'll be here at 10 101 to 3 all the way to 120 to celebrate it every year here together with good health and happiness and we love you here and we love you thank you very much thank [Applause] care hi everybody my name is Brenda lrange I have been in business on Lincoln Road with um Spa e for the past 20 years and recently had a problem with Miami Beach and I have to thank the three three Commissioners I approached everybody I sent everybody an email Kristen Joe and T were the three that responded to me so thank you very much and so in March or April they closed me down for 64 days because I didn't have a BTR I didn't have a notice there was no notice put on the door I wasn't emailed my accountant didn't tell me anyway it took me 64 days because I didn't really know what to do I'd never been in the situation before and I I paid it all I think it was about $12,000 everything had to be paid in order for me to get my BTR it was paid and when I went to renew the BTR and just before September 30th of this year they said oh I'm sorry we can't issue your BTR because she still owe $3,500 fine I went oh if you don't pay the fine we'll close you down again there was no notice nothing posted on the doors just all of a sudden a bogus $3,500 fine appears so I don't know what Miami Beach City Hall is trying to do if you walk down Lincoln Road there's many stores that are closed many desig just closed that's a chain locan closed that's a chain we Miami Beach City Hall needs to be able to work with small businesses I have 14 employees they all rely on me to feed their families and I would like to stay open I cannot stay open and pay the $3,500 I've already paid 12 so I would like some help from the Commissioners I would like if you just email me we can we can take this up offline we'll figure out it's a way Perfect come and see us guys we've been open 20 years and a lot of locals come in and all the snowbirds come in so I'd like to see you all and Mr manager if I may um my Aid Monica responded to Brenda and copied Sasha Gonzalez and Manny Marquez to look into a solution for this so we could follow up on it uh because like you know it is a legitimate concern businesses are closing we need to help these individuals and so my Aid sent an email to your office last Thursday after we received this and Brenda I responded to you as well um the ladies not a I'm not a lady can I can I ask a question on the C May is it possible to wave this fine what what was the $3,500 fine for what did you get cited for not I have no clue they just told my accountant she has a there's a $3500 fine outstanding for what is that like a reinstatement of the BTR fee or something we we'll have to look into it and obviously we'll work with you to find a solution that's reasonable obviously we don't want anybody you know I close I don't want to close I struggled to pay that 12,000 fortunately it was the end of March so you know please speak into the microphone sorry you fortunately it was the end of March when they closed me so I could come up with 12 Grand but the the summer was terrible I can't come up with 3500 now okay he knows so we'll be in touch Mr attorney is this something that we can wave the the BTR fees um no I think that would need to be handled through the special Magistrate I know we have a number of virtual callers um this I just want to finish off and then we're going to go to a bunch of virtual callers again thanking you Mr Stern for for coming in happy birthday but I wanted to reflect on our Miami Beach Community how special it is as I pointed out you had the family his son daughter-in-law Mike Karine and Rebecca came in from Maryland but the other individuals you see here are not related to Mr St they are friends hatah a volunteer Ambulance Service came in sh Maan who probably doesn't want me to embarrass him but literally comes to his house for Shabbat meals took him to Israel with him this is special this is special when people take it upon themselves happens to be he's a nice guy and he's fun to be around Mr Stern but still it's really special when you see that type of community that we have here in Miami Beach we're very blessed to be here we have some uh virtual callers yes may our first virtual caller is Christine King Miss King you have two minutes please state your name and address hello um Christine King 916 I I have an echo coming back at me I don't know why we can hear you fine okay good all right so I want to address R5 ad and urge the commission to go back to the drawing board and reimagine the ordinance with artist input and in a spirit of cooperation and without financially hurting longtime resident artists who have the same concerns about junk reseller tables and counterfeit items Mr Suarez if you want the cream to rise to the top you can help that happen in a much more positive and constructive way I've participated in this program for eight years it's my main source of income at the moment um the responsibility of approving and certifying artists lies squarely upon the city in the past the process was strict vendor table setup had to be approved several pieces of their work assembled in front of a pen certifications have been moved to suum a completely inadequate format recently I've observed several participants that should have been denied approved and when questioning why I was told who am I to deny anyone so basically everybody's being allowed in now the city is unhappy with the results of their failed processes and are taking them out on all artists with an ordinance ordinance that is deeply flawed and seems more focused on eliminating the program rather than improving it using an obscur leg giz definition of what it is we may do to create only five spots makes no sense how does the city plan to pick and choose among 40 plus people to award only five spots in The Lottery Why has the word crafts been scratched out I'd like to point out a point to the Muse DES in Paris which translates to Museum of Arts and Crafts as an example of how the these two go together separating crabs out of an artisan program is an underhanded way to eliminate most V thank you Miss K your time is up I apologize our next virtual caller is Ronald starkman Mr starkman you have two minutes please St your name and address um Ronald starkman I'm speaking on behalf of the south of fifth neighborhood association I'm a resident South the fifth and I'm speaking in support of item r5u which is the amendment to allow some additional height on the on the Marriott Stanton project uh which the neighborhood supports because it allows the conversion of a hotel with over 200 rooms and transient uses to a 30 to a 40 unit high quality Residential Building which we think will improve the quality of life in the neighborhood uh sopna had held three meetings on this with significant people number of people in attendance also the city of Miami Beach recently held a public meeting on this and virtually everyone was in support of this project and those few who had a concern were concerned because they didn't want to lose a hotel in the neighborhood well the voters have already voted that they want to see the hotel converted to residential so that's off the table the only issue really is the height and uh it's not significant relative to the other buildings in the area and it was required because the historic preservation board uh would not allow the developer to can lever over the historic structure so in order to use all the F they needed to go up high um we support this I I can't believe anybody would say oh let's tear down a uh 145 foot residential build I'm sorry Hotel uh to build uh I'm sorry 30 to 40 unit residential building down I apologize time is up our next virtual caller is Gail Durham M Durham you have two minutes please state your name in oh hi there my name is Gail Duram um I live in the west AV neighborhood where I've noticed this year the homeless uh situation has improved a lot so I wanted to thank the commission especially commissioner Suarez for resending the 1% tax I am confident our city departments will do a much better job than the county would so thank you for doing the right thing thank you our next virtual uh speaker is Lori Beckham hello thank you for your time today Lori bacham how access South Beach Jazz Festival 1616 Michigan Avenue I'm here today to ask for your support for item c7v this is commissioner bot's item um and uh with co-sponsor of commissioner Fernandez on state funding and the inclusion of South Beach Jazz Festival in this onetime allotment the South Beach Jazz Festival was recommended over a year ago by the state committee for culture for the $25,000 grant that fell under the culture build Florida program that the state legislature cut from this year's budget we do rely on it we're consistent we're local and we love supporting all activities in the city of Miami beach with excellent programming for our community and businesses we're well supported by the community businesses and guests to the city and the City of Miami Beach and Miami day County thank you so much for your time thank you our next virtual speaker has the screen name of iPhone 42 if you can state your name go ahead please hi I'm uh Jeremy rder can you hear me go ahead please um yeah I'm uh I'm here to talk about uh Raven Robert Raven Craft's 50th Anniversary which is um happening December 31st I've already spoken to Alex Fernandez and his assistant Mo'Nique who've been real very helpful but um this event is happening in about two months from now and I think that you know it's great what you guys are doing with the street sign and all that but I think Mr craft um on behalf of everything he's done for our community including saving 17 drowning people from the ocean um I think we owe it to him to have a proper event at a proper venue and um I think with you know with the budget for for events that the city does put on it's it's something that that would be good for the community good for the hundreds of people who are flying into Miami Beach to be part of it because as of now as of today there's there's nothing planned and I don't want to drop the ball on it we have plenty of venues we have the New World Symphony the Filmore the Women's Club um the Rooftop Cinema I mean there's there's a lot of places we can have this and honor this man uh before it's too late so uh thank you Alex Fernandez for for taking it seriously and I hope uh the rest of you see how important this man is and um that time is running out so thank you thank you our next virtual speaker is someone with a screen name of BU Mal's iPhone just by's iPhone if you can unmute yourself please yes thank you for taking call I'm thankful to Mayor and thankful to commissioner Christine galz thankful to Mr Blake I'm on 13th in Ocean Drive you all can come and visit us it has been deserted there's no one basically here potential customer this change in policy of taking uh vehicular traffic and pedestrian traffic has gone down we don't have potential customers I'm a retail business owner and I'm sitting and I don't have a business we are trying to make now transition to some need based businesses we need some staff member to help us with uh planning zoning and BTR Department because our business has been here for 20 years and we've been affected due to the changes and we need help we are thankful to Mayor Mr Blake and Miss Christine Gonzalez who already have been helping us and thank you for attention I'll send email to everyone thank you so much our next virtual speaker is yav please unmute yourself state your name and address you have what two minutes hi thank you uh my name is yav atias I'm a Miami Beach resident uh 4021 and 4019 North moradian Avenue I live here with my wife and our two kids uh and on behalf of myself and my wife who couldn't be here due to a family emergency I'm urging the commission not to remove the proposed 1% food and beverage tax in Miami Beach for homeless housing and services from the ballot the issue is very important to us and we strongly believe the people should be able to vote in favor or against uh this measure especially after the proper process was followed to put this on the ballot and frankly we think that it would be an injustice to take this measure out out of the hands of the voters at this point uh so uh we want to thank you and I hope this uh proposed resolution will not be approved thank you so much our next virtual caller is Wayne Wayne State your name and address and you have two minutes hello again Wayne Roberts sou the fifth um I wasn't going to speak but there are two issues that came up that are important to me um Ron had uh talked about the hotel South of fif I I just want to reiterate something very important um the process uh that the owner of the property came forward and uh wanted to convert the hotel into a residential uh property uh he prospered at that exact moment that he wouldn't ask for f or hype uh subsequently uh probably because people got to him uh the they had a referendum for hyp I'm sorry for f uh then they got the F and now they're requesting hyp um so that process is bad it it sets a bad precedent uh we need to say look you make a profer you make a profer you live by the proper unless there's some you know extraordinary circumstances uh what that's going to do is convert many properties along that the the Ocean Drive to 150 ft because if you give the rights to one it becomes standard um and I think it actually does automatically so I don't think that is a good plan for the city I think that sets a a bad prec and it changes our quality of life uh whether it's F or height um additionally um I do believe that the the business Community along Ocean Drive is being damaged by City positions on vehicular traffic along the Avenue uh maybe curtailing it after a certain hour um to eliminate the uh the uh the Riff ra from driving up and down the boulevard but uh it's affecting the hotels it's affecting mangoes it's AFF ing that gentleman that talked earlier his his business and that needs to change thank you Mr Rob thank you so much our next speaker is Keith marks thank you I'd just like to quickly uh correct the record uh Wayne is is good intentioned uh but he's not accurate and uh what is accurate is in the sna uh letter to the board uh the this passed with a 68% uh height wasn't an issue it was about F and it wasn't asking for extra f it was asking for the F to be returned back to what the developer had when he purchased this land this this has been owned for over 20 years by one family the family has decided that they'd like to get out of the hotel business and convert to a hotel from a hotel to a condo and when they came back after the referendum it was the historic planning board who told them you cannot use the extra F because your design overhangs a historic property when the city tells someone that you get uh it goes and gets 68% of the County vote for f and they tell them that they can't keep the height because they have to narrow down their building the footprint it is incumbent if it's a reasonable request and this is a request of 18 feet above the highest point seen in this building to all all the developer is asking for is to be he got the F he was told by the city he can't utilize it if he designs it over the the uh existing building to preserve and follow the the historic board which we want our de developers to do he is asking for uh a small amount of height this is not a bait and switch this is not the way that Wayne had explained it thank you thank you our next virtual speaker has a phone number that ends in 9709 please unmute yourself phone number ending at 9709 state your name address my name is Fernando Lopez um I just want to first I i' would like to thank for remov with the homeless tax from the ballot uh we are we are taxed enough uh already and the city needs to reduce the spending definitely uh I am opposing the 1 million spending for the art uh organization and it's not our job to pay for them you know so um thank you thank you everyone has spoken once okay that will end the sutnik hour let's call r five oh I'm sorry commissioner Dominguez thank you so much and um I was asked to speak about the fundraising for making strides uh just to keep everyone informed the Cote raised close to $113,000 we are the city of Miami Beach number four on the leaderboard with making strides and we've raised $22,000 this year and Counting the bake sale is happening now and will be happening all day tomorrow as well which is the last day of this fundraiser thank you everyone for your support thank you commissioner Dominguez thank you R5 U r5u is in ordinance of the mayor City Commissioner of city of Mi Beach Florida amending the resiliency code of the city of Miami Beach at chapter 7 zoning districts and regulations article two District regulations at division 15 performance standard District PS section 7.2.1 15.2 residential performance standard districts r- PS to provide hide incentives to encourage the Redevelopment of hotels on property Zone R PS4 into residential structures by providing such properties with a hyp bonus if the applicant voluntarily covenants that no transient us uses or short-term rentals shall be permitted on the property and providing for codification repealer of ability at an effective date this is a first reading this is this requires 57s vote is item r5u good afternoon Mr Mayor um I'll just provide a very brief introduction this was before the City commission at your September meeting for first reading and it was deferred to this meeting and so it's back before you for first reading and it is for a height increase uh for eligible properties in the rps4 district that agree to convert existing hotels to non-transient uses this is a private application a public meeting was held I believe at the Bentley um Beach hotel for additional public input a couple of weeks ago and since this is a private application I will go ahead and turn it over to the private applicant to make their presentation thank you Mr Money um Mr cassen how much time will you need for your presentation uh 10 minutes could you limit it to five minutes I'll try my best thank you Mr chair we have a big agenda if we could JP PJ would put up the presentation we'll try to make it brief while it's being put up this Nissan casden and Chris pelis of aeran LLP for the owner of the Mariott Stanton here as well with Colin Gorsuch the director of development Mr casson let me just pause you for a moment Mr clerk who we said the timer for five minutes thank you thanks thank you I'll try to go through this as quickly as possible uh the project history I think you are now all well aware of it uh starting with the sof the endorsed increased in F that was passed on on the ballot by over 65% of the vote in 20 uh and going through the commission's adoption of the increase in F then going uh to uh fast forward to 2024 when the resiliency and safe structures Act was passed by the state which would allow the demolition of the contributing historic building the Stanton Hotel uh in order to be able to accommodate the F on that site and at the same time preserve the Stanton Hotel which is the preference of the city and understandably so minimal additional height very much in character with the buildings in the neighborhood is required and so this has gone through a half a dozen public hearings since then that sopna had two meetings of the sofa full Association which endorsed this request it went to the planning board which voted for it at a public hearing 6 to1 went to the historic preservation board uh another public hearing again approved 6 to1 it went to a community meeting at the request of this commission again more recently so this has been had as much public exposure and meetings as possible uh I think you know what the current zoning is of the project let me try to skip ahead this is the neighborhood context you know the neighborhood including the glass condominium across the street which is approximately 200 ft tall the Continuum buildings of the South which are over 400t tall the proposed Zing modification is quite simple uh it allows the increase in the height providing of course that the historic building is maintained uh and one thing that we would like to add uh as well in response to a comment from the mayor is that uh since the intent here is to see residential development occur in a short time frame as possible that we would have to apply for a site plan app and obtain a site plan approval from the historic preservation board by December 31st 2030 so there's a timeline within which we would have to go forward with that project so in substance this provides an incentive to preserve the historic building which has no protection today it builds on the request of the sofa neighborhood and in other neighborhoods of this city to replace transient uses with residential uses it is supported entirely by the local community not only the board of sofa we have no objections from any of the neighbors surrounding it the association for the South Point Elementary has supported it as well and welcomes this because residential character in that neighborhood versus transient character is good for a community that has school AED children it is compatible with the surrounding area and as I mentioned it has been endorsed by both the historic preservation board and the uh and the planning board and so uh that and some is our presentation uh it is a very modest request uh to enable the neighborhood and the city to achieve What It Wants thank you thank you Mr Casten commissioner Suarez and and then um and then we'll pass it back to the mayor commissioner Suarez you recognize vice mayor Fernandez U you know one of the things that I campaigned on was against short-term rentals and I think we were on the other side of each other when when that happened um funny to see you on the other side um look I think this is a great I think this is a great item um you know I'm always going to be in favor of less transient for more of a for more residential um I really appreciate the fact that the Rd family didn't have to keep the historic uh structure and they decided to do it anyways um I think I think was it like 18 ft from the highest point I think it is the existing the existing structure because remember the existing structure was built before the height limits and is higher and so it's approximately 18 ft from the point highest point of the existing structure to the new proposed height Mr limit you you were not recognized so future discussions back and forth is through the chair oh I'm sorry I thought it was asking me question um so I I think 18 ft is is a reasonable request I I I cannot stress enough to my colleagues you know I used to live south of fifth forever and you really do have a neighborhood feel and as much as we can remove a transient nature that that should be um that that should be you know um considered very very highly so um I'm I'm going to be in favor of this uh um and I'd love to hear what my colleagues have to say I'll move it second second anybody else M Rosen Gonzalez hi so we held this public meeting and when I entered into the room at the public meeting what I found to be very odd was the only residents there were Mr C and his team us and then some members of sofa so I asked the city how was this meeting noticed and I said was a notice sent out via mail um because I think in many other cases you have to send the notice VIA mail in order to really get a cred and we didn't I think an email went out I believe I spoke with Kevin he said he'd gotten in touch with sopna but I don't necessarily think that that is enough Outreach and I know that in other cases for example like with the kiosks like in in certain areas south of it they had to mail a notice I would like to ask you as we enter this creep height creep if how you guys would feel about doing a public meeting with that the residents actually get a notice in the mail so they know because I guarantee you if you would have had a mailed notice you would have walked into a room there would have been a hundred people in that room and people would have you know people would have said okay you know we're living here and this is affecting us and I I don't have you know here's my question you got the F at referendum and you said we're not going to increase the height is this project not plausible without the height I mean you're not going to you can't build it so if you don't get the height then why well the there's a good possibility that the hotel would stay in order to become a res first of all Let's us let us understand that when there was never anything in the legislation for the fa or limiting height there was discussion of it but never anything in the legislation and before before the legislation was adopted there was no uh there was nothing whatsoever about maintenance of the historic Stanton building uh which Narrows the property on which you can build a new structure when it became apparent that in order to achieve the f it and M and preserve the St historic stantin it would need some additional height and I will tell you this has got to be one of the most modest height increased proposals I have seen in this city in recent years including other proposals that are pending and so that yes the truth of the matter is that if it doesn't make sense to do it as a residential building and the height is what is one of the things that's needed then it will stay as a hotel I mean the Reds operate many hotels so I I just got attack from somebody who lives not in the Morano ground but in the Morano and they said people did not know about this meeting so that's my big concern and then what happens is something gets ripped down and another building is built and we get blame for this because we didn't notice people um I I'm pretty sure that this has a pretty heavy Lobby and it's going to pass today but as we enter into season and you know everybody is complaining about you know about density increases height increases and traffic and everything I'm going to say well listen I am saying no because I think that what we have is enough and I don't know what to do to convince my colleagues that this creep of 50 ft here and 30 feet here and the 50 it just keeps on happening and that's how you slowly slowly uh change the character of of who we are and my big problem is that you said we don't need height and then you thought oh I can get the votes for height it doesn't matter what I promised a couple years ago because I'm getting a whole new commission so I could just go and reigle my promise and it doesn't matter because my words don't matter would you like me to respond yeah okay may I thank you first of all there was never such a promise second of all I've explained the change circumstances frankly this morning you just made an important vote on change circumstances as well which is a Convention Center when that lease was done there's not supposed to be any public dollars but you know what circumstances are such that it was required iove my second another motion no no I'm not criticizing that that is a good project but I'm saying circumstances change you know now in terms of the support that has been received in the public notes this has been the most publicly noticed and have more public participation including multiple sofa meetings at which most of the members of the commission were there and witnessed and when they have their General meetings they have a large attendance at those meetings and that that at those and and and there was always support unanimous support from sofa the meeting was noticed the way the city notices other neighborhood meetings and as far as the buildings on Alton Road you have before you letter from John stimel the president of Icon South Beach in support of this you have a letter as well from John Caprio president of M Morano these buildings on the West Side support it and they have no impact whatsoever on this project and so this has broad support has had incredible amount of public meetings uh and uh and is a modest request that is needed for this neighborhood commissioner magazine in years past under previous commissions we've seen a number of projects developer driven uh and for lack of better words Ram down the community's throat the commission's throat this has been almost entirely community driven right I actually don't receive calls from the lobbyist team I don't know colins's last name I've never spoke to him besides the handshake in the hallway uh saying hi to him at the meetings the people that call me about this that are in support I'm not being lobbied by the high paid people out here I'm being lobbied by every single person in the community sofa the people at the school where my daughter goes and 68% of the voters sure we could get lost in the details and Nuance but wanted the spirit of what they voted for we're going forward in converting a hotel into residential and when we talk about traffic up coming into the season I live at the entry to south of fifth we have zero traffic off seon and the only time that we do have traffic or for these high event high impact weekends that are tourist driven so we're actually taking that stress off of our infrastructure every single goal that we're sitting up here all day meeting after meeting saying we're looking to achieve this project threads that needle we all campaign on saying well we're not pro-development we're not anti-development we're for the right development I challenge people if they're against this if this is not the right development what is on the waterfront converting a hotel high impact transient usage in a residential neighborhood back in residential right I think that is really achieving something great uh I'm fully in support of this if the neighborhood didn't come and say we want this then I'd be a bit more wishy-washy right but I'm elected to represent people and every single person almost that I've heard from once this project and when we talk about the attendance everybody's always going to say well I didn't know about this meeting I can verify there were people from North Bay Road there there were people from Flamingo Park there there were people from West Avenue there and there were a whole host of people from south of fifth so the Outreach has been done this is neighborhood driven and it's really driven by a voter referendum as well so I I congratulate you I hope we see this in the neighborhood because like my colleague this is along the Nexus of what I campaigned on as well right in our residential neighborhoods making those more resident friendly right not walking my daughter when we go to the park there past hotels but in our residential neighborhood embracing a community that this project helps deliver thank you thank you first M let me go this way I'll go commissioner Fernandez commissioner Ros Gonzalez and commissioner Suarez okay thank you and this was adopted by the electorate it was an incentive we put it we we placed it on the ballot over 60% of the voters supported supported this I think it was like 65% of the voters supported this Mr kassen you're asking for height yes sir did your initial proposal have this height or was this a height that you're having to get based on feedback from staff or any board good question commissioner this the the proposal never had a height limit there was discussion uh when it was first started about potentially but it was never included in the ballot of question it was never included as any requirement and actually uh to go back and this was the point I was trying to make about change circumstances is the original legislation did not have anything about retention of structures on the property uh and then it became clear that it was desirous to retain the St the historic stantin building and when after it passed at referendum that was studied closely in order to utilize the extra F and save the Stanton it was decided that some additional height would be a minimal amount of additional height so that was the the change circumstance that drove it drove this and I placed in the legislation the qu the U the aspect of preserving the historic structure at the request of neighbors from south of fifth who wanted the preservation of the historic structure that's correct it was you commissioner and it was not originally in the legislation when it was first discussed and let me ask you this currently how many hotel room units are there in the uh in in the hotel 224 224 and how many residential units are are there going to be approximately 40 approximately 40 so we're going from 224 uh units that cost Uber drivers and rental cars and all that to approximately 40 units so then when we talk about things that contribute to traffic and impacts in essence keeping 220 units will cause more of an impact to traffic to quality of life and the problems we're trying to solve not approving the this this what I consider to be modest height increase threatens a a historic property that today as of right because of the state statute can be demolished so let's talk about everything that we are you know really doing here we are lowering uh the impacts on traffic and we are creating uh transition in in in housing from from transient uses that we want to um move away from in addition to preserving historic assets that the state has threatened so let's not twist what we're doing here into something that's bad we're actually doing something that's really good that is aligned with our goals as as as a city and by the way even former members of the historic preservation board were in that meeting and sent me messages afterwards that they were supportive of of of the comments I made there about about this project and I believe I understand that word did get out through Constant Contact by the City to the residents of the area and the residents of the entire city I think you know it's time to move this forward um I don't think we need to go back to the community I think we've heard there's been plenty of opportunities including at snck today including at the planning board including at the community meetings that we already had and most importantly at The Ballot Box when the voters said that they wanted to see this transition from transient to residential use thank you Mr Mayor so I can I can see that there's support for this of all the hotels that we would want to convert this is probably not one of them just because it's probably one of the nicest hotels on Ocean Drive it also has 200 rooms so now what we're going to do is we are going to put First Street under construction and then cut out a hotel and that whole neighborhood is just going to like wither economically I you know listen it it is what it is I you know of all the places that you wanted to to use I would say that this is not but as those businesses those small businesses begin to suffer and close too because now we have you know encouraged this if you were going to say some other area where we had too many hotels but literally south of fth there's what two hotels and by the way if they knocked down the building they were according to the ordinance they were going to lose all of the F so of course they're not knocking down the building because then they can't keep their density increase and that was good yeah you wrote that in there so that's good listen you're welcome to support it I don't want to support it because I see it as um spot zoning it's a creep I think there are also two other hotels that are eventually going to benefit from this F and height increase so what you see is our beautiful little Skyline is um we're we're just losing the character of the city um I don't love it you know sometimes I wonder is it the design guidelines that are causing the problem as I Wasing walking down Washington Avenue the other day and people complained about the F and and and and the way that our design guidelines work what we end up getting is boxy structures so people say if we had added F then we could build it well then maybe these setbacks should not be and we would not have to increase the density and the height because I I don't know if you guys get that but I get that from developers all day long I can't build what I want to build it turns into a box I need F so if we were to relax these design guidelines that create the some of the boxes maybe they wouldn't be before us asking for this height so I don't know the design guidelines are they mandated by the planning board the HPB like I don't even know where they come from Tom what what why are they asking for more height what did we mandate from them so in in response to your question there's two sets of regulations that the drb and the HPB use in in reviewing new development projects one is the minimum requirements under the code which is intensity height setbacks and depending on the zoning district there may be other requirements the design review and historic preservation board have designed criteria that they use um that would be a little bit more nuanced because it looks at things like view corridors established neighborhood context and so each building is not going to be a one-sized fits-all in this particular particular instance the height is actually to improve the building and make it less boxy because if they tried to cram all the allowable F into a lower height a good architect could probably do that barely meet code but then you will end up with a box by giving them a little bit more height you're allowing that allowable volume to be better distributed and in this case away that is going to have a minimal impact on the established scale and context of the area the problem with the height and density creep is that I would like to encourage Property Owners to invest in what they currently have and when they see stuff like this happening and approving it building by building they say we're going to let our buildings deteriorate and then eventually we're going to get the height we're going to get the density so what it does is is counter to everything that I've been working for and to keep us like baly Island style because now we gave today we gave this height increase there's another um there's several F intensity increas is coming so if I was a property owner I would say I'm just going to sit back and do nothing to my property because eventually I'm going to get the zoning that I want because it's coming eventually so this is the message that we're sending height increase here F increase here overlay here let's give them over there so I'm just going to be a no on all of these because I'm looking at the big picture I think that these um fragmented spot zoning is extremely left brain and I would like to be more arasi and right brain and bistic when I look at Miami Beach and our Island and how we're planning and that's what we're lacking here and Mr Mooney that's what you should really be advocating for and I think that our group needs to come forward and have a meeting and say what is it that we really want because if we continue to do this then eventually it is going to look like um like a like a Midtown um Miami commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor uh you know one thing that occurred to me is that this hotel is next to a playground I don't I I don't necessarily feel comfortable with 224 transients always next to a playground okay I would much rather have a residential building next to a playground then 224 possibilities for something wrong to go happen Okay um another note that came up is was about traffic there's no more there's no single biggest impact to traffic than transient use and so when you have 224 hotel rooms that's 224 trips all day long from one very small stretch of land in south of fifth you remove that you're solving traffic traffic is going to not be solved by saying no to everything it's going to be solved by proper planning proper Urban Design you know Miami Beach is not what it was 30 years ago it's not what it was 20 years ago this is a very different place now and I know that you know but some of my colleagues may not think that but this is the future and you have to accept that so um like I said this is 18 ft I think it's a very reasonable request considering the benefits that we're getting and and and the solutions that it's going to solve and so uh I'd like to you know I can move my item second yes commissioner Fernandez thank you and I just want to be very clear Mr Casten umh to planning director I hear density thrown out a lot it's such a catchy word to throw is density being increased or decreased here with this application right now the hotel doesn't have a density limit per because it's a hotel but the residential use that is being proposed would be well under the maximum density that so this is actually a reduction in density correct okay so I think I think that that's very important to put out there because you know this narrative is thrown out there that we're increasing density and that we're increasing height I'm sorry no that is so false such a blatant blatant blatant lie when you're going from 200 units to 40 units that is not an increase in density that is a substantial decrease in density and by the way it's very easy just to say I'm going to vote no on everything because it's is it is a very convenient place to be politically just to vote no and everything and then point fingers but the reality is that later on we can't be complaining when buildings take advantage developers take advantage of the unsafe structures act that state passed to demolish architecturally significant buildings because we just decided to say oh I'm going to vote against against everything and then what message are we sending out there we're saying okay the city of Miami Beach doesn't want to work with you goodbye architecturally significant buildings because we're just going to vote no against the incentives are going to help preserve the character the architectural fabric of the city of Miami Beach that we pride ourselves in preserving just because we're going to say I'm just going to vote blanketly against everything that's going to help preserve these buildings I think we have to we can't paint with such a broad brush the there are technicalities and nuances in each of these items and that is what zoning policy is and and this is a very unique circumstance in a very unique part of our city where we want to preserve the residential character of our city and this is a voter adopted incentive that is going to help preserve a historic asset from an asso demolition that the developer would be entitled to while at the same time reducing density contrary to the falsehoods that have been blatantly stated on this day and I'm proud to be SP co-sponsoring this this item as well because I sponsored the ballot question for this and it's Mark Mark it was Mark oh okay well I I sponsored something I don't remember what I sponsored I remember I sponsored something the commission commiss what the ordinance the ordinance okay then well the ordinance I was proud to sponsor the ordinance for it he's L Mr Rosen Gonzalez then commissioner bot and I'll end it with this you were in a m this summer and when you drove along the coast I mean they just say no so nobody's approaching them anymore you know and Property Owners understand that they have to work with what they have because there's a strong message uh we our characters what makes us famous therefore you know you can't come and ask for anything go to Southampton uh it's the same thing I think if you were to go to places like Charleston I think that there's places that understand the nature of um saying no because event there's tremendous value in it when we don't look like any place else when we look like Miami Beach when we look unique because we've said no many times and people eventually say I'm not going to get it so I'm just not even going to ask and I'm going to beautify what I have that's where I would like us to be because that's our postcard that is good economic uh sense that is the only thing that distinguishes us from any place else so um you know when our Planning and Zoning does doesn't seem to you know when our Planning and Zoning is spot all over the place and people know that if they push they can get that change um that's when we begin to lose our character and that's what makes me so nervous because you're getting 30 feet next month somebody else is going to get 50 next month somebody else is going to get 40 then there's a 0.5 F increase so here we are again but I would like to encourage people to just say no just like Nancy r commissioner b um I um just want to put on the record that it is not an 18t height increase from the massing of the building this is a conversation I've had with um the owners and the some of your colleagues it is 18 ft from the top of the Spire so let's call a spade a spade and be accurate in what we're talking about it's a 45 foot increase I will say there are things I'm not loving about the process on this particular project however I I like this project I'm inclined to support it um I think that my colleague Rosen Gonzalez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez makes some very valid con uh points um I'm not going to stand in the way of this project however and I I would suggest that I think there's a a a motion in a second I would suggest that we call the vote a good idea do you want to speak just a procedural Point mayor number one remember we have made the offer uh that of an additional provision that the development incentives in this section shall only apply to projects that have obtained a historic preservation Board site plan approval before December 31st 2030 you anticipated my question I think you asked that last time uh and the other thing that I would request which was brought up last time is remember this has had had three public hearings a public meeting two sofa public meetings but because of the additional public meeting that was held this was knocked out of the current zoning cycle okay which would be that it would be uh waved not have to go in January but could go in the next meeting so I'll make a couple of points and then I'll and I'll get back to the site plan question so as you know I had some concerns about this item um I raised a lot of questions last time what put me over the top and it's my my colleague commissioner Magazine made these points but I'll reiterate sopna a very prominent homeowners association in our city has strongly come out in favor of this item that was extremely influential to me the former president and current board member of southp elementary school is has come out uh in strong support the planning board supported this uh I believe the vote was 5 to one 6 to1 6 to1 yeah okay the memo says 51 so uh what whatever it was it was five 51 or 61 um but a couple of questions one is this the last time you coming to our commission asking for something relating to this building relating to I I don't know of anything else I don't know anything else that I would ask for okay I wanted it on the record I I I I I can't can't say I know of anything else I'd ask for but I would say what this is is what we are yes this is potentially a very a good project of better use for our client and the community but this is the vision of the South Point neighborhood they want residential correct they're developing a nice residential Community there how many Hotel units today 224 okay just wanted to make sure I wanted to make sure commissioner Suarez was accurate when he used that number and how many units residential units will there be approximately 40 40 approximately so a 90% decrease well significant decrease um let's get back to the site plan um something that I've ra I raised earlier with the convention center I'm I'm literally it's an important it's important for our commission our city because what we've seen too often is we approve we approve like we are about to do today seemingly I mean this is a significant increase it's great we've made the determin and the neighborhood the south south of fifth neighborhood has made the determination this is good for their city but there's a a significant monetary value to what we are approving today and what my concern is is we approve it and then nothing happens it falls in the abyss and then when I hear and I and I had this information prepared about the December 31st deadline of 2030 for a site plan 2030 2030 I get very concerned that's not even that's not even getting to the building permits which by the way I think we should have safeguards for deadlines on the building permits as well which I don't think we have why six years well you know it uh frankly some of it depends on Market timing of course so we have to have some degree of flexibility but if you would like to reduce it to say 2029 or 2028 I think that yeah I I think we'd be okay with that 28 20 we're okay with 2028 [Laughter] I was thinking it I'm glad you mention it 2027 we'll go with 2027 for site plan December 31st December 31st we're all in agreement how about building permits I'm serious I it's uh we have to it's and it's not and again I'm not I'm not questioning the validity or credibility of you and your clients but unfortunately we've been burned and when someone gets burnt they put in c yeah I understand of course what this is doing is in the long term the vision and the plan for sof the neighborhood is to be residential so whether it happens in a year or two or happens in five or six years you you want to encourage the ability to go residential so we don't want to have an incentive that for certain unforeseen market conditions runs out and then the next thing you know that incentive is gone and it's going to be a hotel forever so I think with I think we need to be careful about getting too restrictive I I get this the site plan uh and and and going through that process but with market conditions and everything else and given that this is not a shortterm this is the long-term vision for the neighborhood go residential from from transient that this should always be the zoning now where you're doing us is giving us a little kick in the rear say do it sooner to take advantage of it but it should not be such that the incentive runs out to do the unforeseen circumstances and then it's going to be Hotel forever no I I get your concern but you get you get my concern that it's happened you know it you hold on to the property market value goes up you flip it I mean it's just it's it's it's it's an endless cycle and then we don't benefit we're trying to get some we're doing this because we believe it's best for the neighborhood in Miami Beach and by the way though uh as I think commissioner Fernandez pointed out the odit family has owned this property for over 25 years they built the Marriott they've run it as a fine business and establishment I mean these are these people are not flippers uh you know they are long-term investors and want to do good good projects yeah and again I'm not questioning you or your or your client I I've have no I have no basis I'm just saying based on our experience so I think we have a December 31st 2027 now we reduced it three years on the site plan what what what Tom what's what what's a typical what's a typical timeline from site plan to building permits does give us less time to save Mr Mayor you know if we're in the market so in our experience site plan approvals can be extended very significantly under state law as we've seen over the last decade these Governor's extensions we've had projects extended in some cases over 10 years so perhaps a deadline of December 31st of 2032 for building permits I think would be reasonable we can agree to that so we're approving something now that you're saying you're not even going to you're not even going to begin construction potentially for eight years I hope I hope not I understand I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm trying to take hope out of the equation here well but the fact of the matter is that uh uh you know there's a there's tremendous risk involved they want to do this they want to do this as soon as possible but as we see economic conditions and circumstances have an effect on and change things and we can't put ourselves in such a pos position that it's a it's an impossible potentially impossible deadline to meet so we would request that I mean we're saying 27 for the site plan approval 32 for the building permit uh and uh I guess my compassion is running is running thin on this because our commission approved putting on the ballot which was passed overwhelmingly to uh to make the trans in use change now we're approving this height increase I I feel like at certain point that if if you're right and it's all in uous and market conditions change and that's unfortunate then you probably should have to come back to may not be us whatever commission is here to get that approval um I just think we need to put in some deadlines well we agree to the deadlines that we've now gone to 2027 on the site plan and we agree with Mr Mooney's suggestion on the building permit Eric does it take five years to get building permits from date of site plan no mayor what what's typical I mean it depends on how elaborate the design is but I would say anywhere from six to 24 months okay so how about we put December 31st 2029 for building permits and non transferable it should be non-transferable they cannot sell the property get and keep the zoning I don't think that's a proper condition to put in a zoning order the zoning goes with the property it's not with the owner so I don't think that's legal mayor if I may I think that would be difficult if not impossible to to enfor for what happens with most of these properties is there corporate entity is formed to hold a property but then they'll sell the interest in that in that LLC or corporation which part is not possible to to tie uh this zoning change to a particular owner I I oh I didn't suggest that but but you know if I may if you yield Mr Mayor I don't disagree with that request but I'll tell you here's the thing I'm fine with it when my attorney tells me that I can't do it because it might be hard difficult to track and to enforce but when the applicants attorney is telling me that that is it's hard to enforce it makes me think well is there an interest in in in flipping this no that's that's what sar's going through my mind one thing is when my City attorney is telling me well for the city to do it it it can't be done but but when the applicant's attorney is telling me it's is illegal it makes me think are you is this is this your plan well commissioner it isn't but I would also well then why would you object to this I'm speaking why would you object well I don't care that you're speaking I have the floor right now no I thought you were and so and so I want to know why do you object why don't you voluntarily profer then um that uh that if if this is not the intent why doesn't the applicant voluntarily profer that they won't be uh transferring this development right well because commissioner I don't think it is a legal condition I think it is illegal in zoning to tie ownership to zoning but not if the not if the applicant voluntarily propers it to prove their point that they're not going to transfer this I okay well we'll profer that we will keep it and develop it so I I don't think it can be a condition in the ordinance I don't think that's legal cannot right it's not legal for us to impul it correct can they voluntarily profit if they want it if they wanted to well I will certainly tell you it is fully their that their intention to do it that way commissioner they will develop it they are developers uh and U and they will not be selling it to let someone else to develop it you can mark my words in case that ever changes but that this is a family that has a long track record of doing their own projects and their own developments and they are telling us that that they are doing this to develop it themselves and Nick if we put in these dates that we're talking about the site plan and building permits whether it's sold or not and and and hopefully not based on what we're hearing but though those would transfer with it those those deadlines correct that's right yes Mr Mayor if I may I would to discussing with my client sometimes the building permit process can get very convoluted and we would request I know uh instead of 2029 being 2030 to obtain the permit I mean I had about June of 2030 we'll split we'll split it in half we'll split it in half all right I will tell you I've had some project deal at least with me I have some projects that have been years in permitting now some of that is due to changes in design on the projects in the course of developing the project but believe me it can take a long time well we got a new building director we're going to get it but I have a follow up on that Mr Mayor so the hotel would continue operating you're not they're not going to close the operation of the hotel no it's going to continue operating correct until after they got their permits and until they're ready to begin construction correct I just want to make sure because yeah yeah not not to complicate this I'm going to regret doing so uh but maybe that's the more important time frame is the amount of time between the hotel closing down and the new building permits actually being obtained in up and running because what I don't want to get into is prematurely the hotel is shut down and then we have no economic engine and you know we just have uh an empty derel hole in the ground we see that up in the Collins area it gets to a broader point that I want to bring back to this commission about how how difficult it it can be to do business in this city um and it's not just the building process and things like that we do need to take a long hard look in the face but we have projects like uh the Raleigh um it's $500 million I hear they've spent and they're still no still doing foundation work and what did they save a a slab on the side you know we need to really look and evaluate and ask ourselves and have honest discussions about the best way to really go forward with some of these things um I I like commissioner Fernandez's point I don't know how we kind of thread the needo to get there I think what I'm looking to achieve similar to my colleagues expedite this as quickly as possible but really ensure that we don't have a long time frame between when that hotel shuts down and when we get a shovel in the ground may I address commissioner magazine briefly yes to that to that point as you might know or should know they own and operate 12 or 13 hotels they're they're not like a developer who's coming in and doesn't know how to operate a hotel and closes the Hotel this is a cash flowing business it's an operating business they're going to keep that business and they've kept it in good shape for the 25 years that it's been since they built it so they're going to keep it going as a hotel and as a nice hotel uh uh and that's one of their businesses this is just the other alternative that's consistent with the vision for the neighborhood we ready to vote yeah and Mr Mayor I'm going to amend uh my motion to wave uh the annual zoning cycle restrictions for this amendment and schedule a second reading public hearing for November 20th 2024 and your Amendment also includes the modified site plan date and building permit date it as amended as amended and I was a second of the uh of the motion so I don't know if commissioner Suarez who was the maker of the motion if he accepts the am Amendment okay so seconded as amended commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I would encourage you guys not to build this because I think it's going to kill all the restaurants in the neighborhood you know we see we did see that with the dille when that's shut down everything else around it kind of crumpled and here you have a hotel that's a really nice family Hotel of all the hotels like on Ocean Drive I would say that this is the most family oriented so I'm happy that you're not going to build anything until when 2030 because I do think that that's going to spell some sort of economic rune for for the rest of the neighborhood um you're taking away let's say you have 200 rooms that could be anywhere from three to 400 people that are frequent frequenting restaurants right now that south of Fifth and sna are enjoying because they've got customers and you know what's going to happen when the people from the Continuum and the 20 units that they're building there and maybe only 10 40 units only 20 people there that's just going to it's it's an economy killer so I would I don't know if we can incentivize you to keep that hotel open but um I don't know what you're going to replace that with because in that neighborhood that thri those thriving restaurants are being booed by the customers uh from that property and that property does not have any issues in terms of bad behavior um It's actually kind of a neighborhood hotel where if you live south of fth and your family's coming to visit like that's where you would stay so it's actually an amenity to the neighborhood so if you choose not to build this before 2030 and you wanted some other incentive to keep it open I would work with you to to keep your hotel open because I do think that it's a pillar in the neighborhood and I I worry about it closing call the vote commissioner magazine as amended yes commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez no commissioner Bots yes commissioner Suarez yes Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th thank you very much thank you r7d r7d is a public hearing ratified three-year labor agreement with iaff October 1st 2024 to September 30th 2027 R 7D this is an administrative item I believe Eric hi Mara good afternoon Mara lpsr HR you got the floor thank you um we are very proud to bring before this commission a bargaining agreement negotiated by the administration and the iff um we have um we're very proud of this agreement and we feel like it will bring forward for the next three years our relations with this Union and provide very good benefits to our firefighter employees in this group okay we've I know I was briefed on this uh we've probably all been briefed we got a motion I'll second it is a public hearing I have one person in Zoom Gail Durham Gail do you is are you speaking on the employment agreement with the if Gail please unmute yourself okay I have no one else in zoom and I see no one else in the audience commissioner Rosen Gonzalez I support our First Responders hi Mara um and I appreciate everything that they do but as I've gotten like studying more and more of these contracts and being in a large institution myself that doesn't get Merit pay when you add our Merit pay plus our colas we are increasing salaries 6 to 7% and in this contract in particular I think twice is it twice in one year that we're giving 4% or is it year over- year so the colas are three three and three yeah but the Merit pays are to the two four 4% steps can you explain those the contract provides for um Merit steps the firefighter the iff contract has what's called Step system in pay and so every year that a person um moves through an uh their evaluation and they have exception or adequate or or satisfactory is the right word evaluation they would move up a step uh it's like a longevity step those steps are approximately 5% those steps have a um a cap so not every firefighter receives a step in addition to um what I'm talking about the Merit step yes we added to those step that step system for year one a 4% step for the firefighters and for the lieutenants and the captains um the range moves up 4% in year one of the contract and also in year two of the contract so two consecutive years my beach is giving 7% salary increases which I it's a I I mean I've never seen that in my organization everybody in the room yesterday when we were having a conversation about it said what do you mean you don't get Merit pay at your performance room I'm like well I get my Cola I get 3% 2% some years but like never in my life do you get like Merit pay plus regular pay so I mean I guess it's just a great place to work in Miami Beach where you get 7% increases I you know I think it's exorbitant 7% two years in a row but if you guys are okay with it that's fine I mean we can't vote it down because then we would be at some sort of impass with our First Responders but I would say that this is uh why at when you look at what we're paying um in terms of salaries as percentage of our budget that it's growing to such a large number because those are unsustainable increases and I I know that we've had you know CPI increase you know but no organization I you work for the SEC I don't did you get over 7% for year well I'm in private practice now yeah but but when you were when you were you know so I I just want us to be aware of these things because I don't think that they're sustainable um so I don't want to be the only no again um yeah I I I I'm not happy about it okay I'm gonna vote now well I'll I'll not not specific to this item but I'll I'll I'm GNA actually bring up another item that it's related to this is why I think our commission should be involved it's not to micromanage every move that our city manager and our Administration takes but I believe they need the guidance that you're expressing right now they need that and when they're negotiating or whenever whatever steps they're taking and that's kind of why we need to be proactive on the front end because like you say it's kind of late in the game now and and perfectly respect your vote but we we would be in a very difficult position right now if we if we collectively uh voted no so and we do have a great fire department so thank you for the men and women in red okay this is this is my final thing well no I don't I I don't want to be a no but across the board and I also don't want our employees to dislike me because I don't think that happens in the private sector I don't I think you get a cola I think you get a yearly raise but you don't get a yearly raise plus a merit pay um yearly um and I think that this is a practice that you know it's hard to take away from somebody who has it so here's what I would suggest moving forward for our employees um is that those people who get the Merit pay continue to get their Merit pay year-over-year but new hires are just going to get colas and not this Merit pay because I think that um that will regulate our B regulate our employees over time um and you know I I think that we can't take away anything that anybody has but we can improve how we do business moving forward and that I think is what you need to do so I'm I'm going to vote for this today but I think that um we need to sit down and when as we're as you're hiring new people and I don't know if this has to be an employment practice or as part of the contracts but moving forward and maybe police and fire are different maybe police and fire forever more gets six or 7% because they are police and fire but I do think that this practice um should probably um end with new hires I I don't know how you feel about that but I think that that's sound financial practice well new hires are happy to get a position and we don't have to your mic okay you're saying not in a competitive environment I don't know I mean I I we're not the only Fire Department in town you we're not the only Fire Department in town and every day see well we in Miami Beach we are but not in the not in the region and we know how competitive other jurisdictions are and so you know we just have to be mindful that there is a lot of competition out there um and other departments and offer a lot as well and this is how we incentivize hiring people by uh by by by taking away benefits from them especially to new hires you know when you say okay new hires is not going to be in a well new hires don't know and are excited to to get the job so I mean I think coming in that need that that's where the reform needs to take place yes Eric you manager through the chair um this is a contract provision and so what we're approving today is the contract for the next three years I just don't want to create an unrealistic expectation that we can change something for new hires when we're contractually obligated to follow this set of guidelines for the next three years of anybody that joins the fire service um I'm going to vote for this today but we should do Actuarial numbers to come up with for example like how does this what percentage of budget given the salaries and the Merit pay increases and the colas that everybody's getting when you look at it over time right now let's say that it's 78% of our entire budget I would like to implement some sort of policy so that we don't end up like the school board where 88% of their budgets are salaries and they don't have money for toilet paper um in the bathrooms literally they run out of money for uh cleaning supplies toilet paper because of practices like these so I would like to look at several different models of how this is being done you guys are the expert in this area to see all right everybody who's got it is going to have it forever more and we will not take it away but new hires should probably be on a different system let's call the vote so I I'll still need a second on this one commissioner Fernandez made the motion but I don't have a second I'll second so I have a second from commissioner bot all in favor I anyone opposed item passes 70 let's stick uh with these items r5v congratulations oh Eric come on you want to say something coming up good afternoon honorable mayor Commissioners Mr city manager Mr City attorney uh Mr city clerk thank you all for approving this contract it's a contract that goes a long way in in recognizing the benefits commensurate with the knowledge skills and abilities that we bring uh every day and the risks that we take every day and also the risks that we may not take on that particular day but are expected to take if not tomorrow at some point of our careers um I just want to give a shout out to the professional staff that you all have you all know that uh the negotiating team led by Mr city manager Eric Carpenter of course Mark taxis um Jason thank you uh Jason Green uh they definitely caused some agant maybe one or two sleepless nights for Captain Adonis Garcia who couldn't be here today but uh wants to acknowledge you all for the fine work that you do you know across United States there's instances of Labor Management uh disputes that may have negative externalities and the writers in La the Boeing factory workers in the Midwest and as well uh most notably the long shoreman up on the east coast and the gulf but we don't have that here we haven't had that here and I think it's in large part because uh the amazing relationship we have with you all and the respect and admiration that you all have for us so thank you for the work uh that you do because it really is one city one team even though we're on different sides of the table it's under the same roof and um and Captain Garcia did want me to highlight something you know we're thanked a lot for our service we want to thank you all for your service on the days because you're here it's a marathon meeting one day a month and then you have another three days on top of that for committee meetings and the vice chairs and the chairs uh the amount of work that you do doing those meetings at countless neighborhood association meetings I don't think our community realizes uh just the amount of work that you put in and it's a sacrifice because I've met most of your families beautiful families and it's the sacrifice being away from them so thank you for uh what you do and I'll say selfishly thank you for letting on behalf of the entire Union and Captain Garcia letting us serve uh the community because it's a very uh impactful thing to help someone whether if you're something small that's picking a senior up in the middle of the night when they've Fallen um and they have no one ATT turn to to get just back in bed or whether you have a you know bring someone back from a cardiac arrest or an opiate overdose all those things are are very self-fulfilling for us when we leave shift and we're happy to be part of that and be able to help a total stranger in their time of need so thank you for letting us serve your residents your visitors and our community so thank you thank you and you know also just wanted to acknowledge uh Chief abello and chief Laris who uh you know Labor Management big key part of that is leadership and and they jumped into some very big shoes and just took off running and were right behind them keeping up with them uh committed to the mission of serving the residents thank you thank you I just Eric to to Echo that yesterday um when I spoke at the Heroes Breakfast hosted by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce I I gave some examples of the heroism and the extraordinary efforts that our First Responders make but I also mentioned the what's not so extraordinary seemingly but our residents have noticed and have commented our fire our police just the generosity the helping hand the smile it's really it's really very warm warming to hear it that people appreciate how how really just personable our our fire and police are and it really goes a long way and it doesn't get headlines but it means a lot to people yeah and and I know two Commissioners at least are familiar with this philosopher Dave Matthews who said uh when you give you you begin to live and really uh it's so impactful doing those even the small acts of kindness so thank you thank you okay r5v r5v is an orders of the mayor and commissioner of the city of M Beach Florida amending part one so Part B article 9 related special acts of Miami Beach city code entitled pension system for disability and retirement of members of police and fire departments amending section 66 service and disability benefits generally related to salary and minimum line of duty disability benefits amending section 79 entitled deferred retirement option plan drop related to the maximum drop participation period amending Section 8 8 benefits for members hired on or after September 30th 2013 and prior to June 8th 2016 for International Association of firefighters local 1510 I a and July 20th 2016 for Fraternal Order of Police William Nichols Lodge Number 8 fop related to average monthly salary amending section 89 benefits for members hired on or after June 8 2016 and prior to May 8 2019 for International Association of firefighters local 1510 IA and hired honor after July 30th 2016 and prior to July 31st 2019 for Fraternal Order of Police Williams Nichols Lodge Number 8 fop related to average monthly salary amending section 90 entitled benefits for members hired honor after May 8 2019 for International Association of firefighters local 1510 if and and and or after July 31st 2019 for a Fraternal Order of Police William Nichols Lodge 8 related to credited Services providing for severability repealing all ordinances in Conflict here with and providing for effective date this is a first reading it is item r5v Marla thank you to the chair um this is a companion item that goes with the iff um contract this is um the necessary ordinance changes to the pension ordinance that would align with the contract changes I move the item it's been moved by the chair second by commissioner Suarez let's call the vote I'm sorry the motion was commissioner magazine commissioner Fernandez second byz commissioner magazine yes commissioner Dominguez yes vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner bot yes fors mayor Miner yes motion carries second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th it was item r5v r5w r5w is an ordance of the mayor and City Commissioner of city of May Beach Florida amending ordinance number 789 the classified employee salary ordinance of the city of Mii beach in accordance with the negotiated collective bargaining agreement providing for the classifications in group three represented by the International Association of firefighters I local 1510 effective the First full pay period July 2025 selected pay incentives and 5% paramedic pay will be rolled into selected base pays there will be an across the board cost of living adjustment Cola of 3% affected the first four pay period ending in April 2026 there shall be an across the board Cola of 3% effective the First full pay period of ending in April of 2027 there should be across the board Cola of 3% an additional 4% step shall be added to the end of the range for firefighter classifications affected the First full pay period of July 2025 and an additional 4% step to the end of the range for the firef classification effected the First full pay period of April 2026 all fire lieutenant and fire Captain's pay steps shall be adjusted by 4% affected the First full pay period of July 2025 and all fire lieutenant and fire Capal pay steps shall be adjusted by 4% affected the First full pay period of April 2026 repealing all ordinances in Conflict providing for severability and effective date and qualification this is the first reading it is item r5w Mara thank you this is a companion to the firefighter contract uh this is the salary ordinance that reflects the bargaining agreement I move the item second's call the vote commissioner Suarez vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner bot yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor Miner yes motion carry second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th R5 AI r five AI is in ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending the appendix a of the city Cole city code roll back all parking fees and Resident Parks and Recreation fees excluding Golf Course fees at the fiscal year 2024 rates including all parking rates that were scheduled for an automatic 5year Consumer Price Index CPI adjustment on October 1st 2024 pursu to ordinance number 2019 4299 two app for an adjustment of all parking fees and related rates by annual CPI adjustments with a 3% cap and three recent certain parking rate modifications approved via ordinance number 2024-25 to confirm such parking rates in anticipation of the 5-year CPI adjustment that was scheduled to occur on October 1st 2024 and providing for repeater cability qualification and effective date this is item R5 AI welcome Jason uh thank you mayor uh the item presented uh amends the appendix a of the the code related to City fees uh the highlights of it are the re uh rolling back to the 2024 rate for all parking fees it also rolls back uh from to the 24 rates for all uh Parks and Recreation fees not related to the golf courses those are the the the primary uh parts of this uh ordinance change thank you commissioner vice mayor Fernandez thank you and I want to uh thank uh the administration for working with me on this on this item um last meeting we all sponsored legislation to roll back uh parking fees we we withdrew that item to expand on parking fees and park fees as well because those were set to go up uh with uh with CP and this this doesn't have any significant impact that can't be absorbed uh as part of our budget and so I just want to thank the city manager and the CFO uh for working on this uh on this legislation is that a motion I move the item second we have a second Eric city manager if I could just add one additional comment um this item also caps CPI moving forward so that at no point in time will CPI ever exceed a 3% cap and before and and if I may through the mayor before us being rounded up to the nearest Dollar uh which is also part of the reason why some of these increases were so drastic now it's just being rounded up to the nearest scent which keeps these uh CPI increases which we need at a more modest level mov if I can add on to that that that dollar Roundup that was removed are related to the hourly uh rates on the parking and that's the the major port of it so it will be round it to the nearest Penny on the the parking rates that had the fiveyear uh so the 5year CPI catch up will be uh taken out it'll go to an annual CPI nearest Penny on the uh 3% for those hourly rates commissioner bot so how will it be handled for places that only take um cash uh and I'll let parking come up to if there's anything I'm going to miss on this is the one thing that's going something we're going to have to take a look at but the only area that we really are collecting cash is in in our garages so we're going have to to analyze to see how we can uh handle that uh we may have to come back to make some adjustment whether it's on how we collect uh whether we decide to collect cash anymore because it's that that's kind of the industry is moving away from a cash collection basis in that area uh but that's something the administration the parking department will be taking a look at so if if I might make a suggestion maybe when you guys decide you know discuss how to handle that we could look at incentivizing people for using those garages by rounding down to the the nearest Dollar because that takes cars off the road that's why the garages should be utilized um and that that would reason give people a reason to just go straight into the garage because they could save a little bit of money parking would you like to make would you like to offer the amendment um I I would like to offer the amendment that you study it I don't want to dictate it because it might be a terrible idea but we can look into it between first and second reading because this has to come back uh for reading is that correct yes it we this would have to come back for second reading U parking I don't want to speak for parking but if they want to they be ready for second reading welcome Jose good afternoon Mr Mayor Commissioners Jose Gonzalez transportation and Mobility director inum parking director and we'd be happy to look at that uh incentive option for garages that'd be great thank you is that something you can do within the before the next meeting yeah we will we will try to have if if I may add this won't become an issue until October 1st of 2025 so we have 11 months to deal with the issue because the rates will be set at that flat rate for all of this fiscal year so that's why I had mentioned that it was a good point was the parking department will look at that to see how or if they need to modify anything and we come back at the appropriate time thank you call the vote commissioner Suarez yes vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner bot yes air Miner yes motion carry second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th and for the record this item replaces item R50 R5 AJ R5 AJ is in Ord of the mayor City Commissioner of city of M Beach Florida amending the and restating the Miami Beach employees retirement plan created by ordinance 206- 3504 as subsequently amended by creating a new section 15 application to city manager and City attorney appointed in 2014 providing before providing for severability repeating ordinances in Conflict there with and providing an effective date this is item R5 AJ it is a first reading what's m commissioner magazine um thank you Mr Mayor uh Mr City attorney Nick is this are you comfortable running through this yes sir so um this is an amendment to the pension ordinance that is intended to implement one of the terms in the city manager employment agreement which the city commission approved as part of the consent agenda that this morning uh the city manager employment agreement provided for uh moving the the the manager from tier C of the Miami Beach employees retirement plan into tier B um because the city attorney's employment agreement provides that if a more favorable pension term shall be granted to any other Charter officer that that same term shall be extended to the City attorney this amendment has been drafted to cover both a a city manager appointed on July 24th 2024 and a City attorney appointed on April 3rd 2024 there's been a motion and a second is there any discussion on the day is on the item seeing no discussion is this a public hearing item it is not Mr Mayor I you're back I'll pass it back to you let's call the vote on R5 AJ commissioner B yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes yes who El it Dominguez commissioner Suarez commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Fernandez yes mayor Miner yes motion carry second reading public hearing is scheduled for November 20th it was item R5 AJ um commissioner Fernandez has an addendum item relating to the fire station of Flamingo Park and since we are talking fire we have a number of fire representatives in management we have H save Flamingo Park representative does anybody have any objection if we call the item usually I don't call them till after 5 any objections okay C7 as C7 as is ured track at Flamingo Park not affected by fire station one construction commissioner fernandz sponsor co-sponsored by commissioner Dominguez and magazine Fernandez thank you Mr Mayor uh and I I want to thank my colleagues for sponsoring this item uh we also discussed this issue in a similar discussion last meeting in an item that um that uh commissioner bod brought forward uh and this has been a lot of teamwork I think the first call I got after the result of the voter referendum having to do uh with a fire station at Flamingo Park the call was from our city manager and we started having discussions at that point of making sure that uh there was a redesign being contemplated of the of the fire station to avoid and avoid any impact that we could possibly achieve on the track on the field avoid any impact on the students uh that uh that that use of field as as well and so and so this uh resolution that we have today on the agenda establishes very clearly that it is the policy of the city the fire station one and the construction project associated with fire station one uh shall not result in the relocation of any portion of the track and field or any uh extended Interruption of the use of of the field it further directs uh the the the administration to work with the design consultant to implement any such modifications that uh might be necessary to ensure that the running track and field will remain where they are currently located and to develop a plan for the construction uh to prevent uh extended interruptions and I'd actually I'd like to amend that to prevent any interruptions uh to the use of the trending of the running track and field and to prepare any necessary amendments that would need to be necessary whether it be uh a PSA or whether it be uh any Amendment to the agreements with the design consultant so that's that's uh that's that's the item that's that's before us going to recognize uh commissioner bot because she pulled the item and then uh commissioner Suarez commissioner B you recognized thank you um thank you for doubling down on my item from September 11th meeting I appreciate that it's different it's not the same item it's not dubbing down it's different but the same the same general idea of protecting the park it's it's it's it's materially different so I would like to PJ if you could pull up the um image that I uh sent you yesterday um I've been working with our team on this and this is something that is very important to all of us as you can see here this is a preliminary um rendering of the revised um site plan it is not a new design yet but this very clearly shows that the new uh fire station building will not be affecting impinging upon the track and field um it is Paramount to all of us that that we protect the track and field to the best of our ability um I you know I I I find it a little bit amusing that the folks who are so adamant about um protecting the track and field in the community I I I share their desire to protect um these these public facilities but you know somewhere in the next 10 to 15 years we are going to need to do some maintenance and repair work on the track and field we're going to need to resod we're going to need to upgrade infrastructure am I to take from what I'm hearing over the last couple of months that under no circumstances are we to close the track and field even to do repair projects and improve drainage and replace thead I mean that's what it sounds like from the community so I I know that's not what they what they mean but you know when we come back in a you know or whoever's next on the commission comes back and says it's time for us to fix the the underground infrastructure and we need to resod and we need to repave the track um we cannot be deterred by Voices saying I'm sorry we don't want our track and field closed because it's a safety issue um I also I I hear what your what your intent is vice mayor um to protect any closure for the track and field but I am concerned that saying absolutely no closure of the track and field is um putting undue constraints on of our on our our uh Partners to build this facility I can I can support eagerly um do everything possible to have no or minimal um uh impact on on the track and field during any part of the construction because we share that desire but if if our team tells us we need 48 hours to do one thing and we're going to have to shut down the outer layer the outer Lane of the track or whatever are we going to say no we can't do that that's I don't think that's where any of us want to be thank you thank you commissioner and and I'll just say before recognizing commissioner Suarez is that we do live in a built Urban environment and construction companies know how to do this uh in zero lot lines where you have a cons a building AB buding two buildings uh AB buding an EMP a small empty parcel and they know how to build things to the property line without affecting the uh the neighboring property and we need to challenge them to do it the same way that a private developer would with that commissioner Suarez you're recognized thank you Mr vice mayor um I'm glad you made that Amendment uh because I think that's very important to the community and and to the to the hundreds if not thousands of people who use the track on a daily and weekly basis there can be no there can be no stoppage at this track I think we were clear that um moving forward if we're going to consider this precious Green Space uh for a site that there should be no disruption to the activities at the track I think you know we're already sacrificing I think millions of dollars by by by by uh saving the Southshore Community Center for this I I think we have the the best people for the job to ensure that there's going to be uh no disruptions to the track because you know let's face it when there's disruptions they could last for months and um you know I I for one I'm not going to want to see uh after school programs where children families have to sacrifice for this so um because if that's the case I'm going to be a complete no on this just putting that on the record thank you yeah um commissioner magazine I I appreciate this item uh I was already uneasy enough uh encroaching on a single blade of green space for this but I recognize that any large infrastructure project like this is going to come with perfect consequences um whether we would have went with the Southshore Community Center whether we would have went with uh this year whether we would go for an alternative site um they would all come with imperfect consequences uh for a large fire station in a uh buildup urban area that being said My Line in the Sand of where I just lose total and complete support is Shifting the track at all and taking this track offline um when I go there every single day there are there are hundreds and hundreds of people using it at all hours right all hours so where my Line in the Sand is is putting this out of line whether it be for a week uh 6 months a year you know a day um I I don't think we are going to be so stringent where if for one day uh a truck needs to come in and you know we're going to make the reasonable accommodation we're not trying to be overly cute here um but where I think this is intended going where you have my full in unwavering support is any type of closure of the track uh due to this um and then the field as well uh I was just there for the homecoming football game there are hundreds of people I just do not want to open Pandora's Box where a one-month closure of the track turns into 6 months then a year and then we're competing with uh the Marriott Stanton for 2032 um you know that that's that's my worry about uh Pandora's Box so appreciate this item um listen I don't feel great about where this is going but I recognize that uh this was democracy seven of us we all had our ideas the entire Community got involved people at varying times and in our city uh a lot of people just kind of remain indifferent until things are impacting their backyard and that's where we started hearing from our tremendous community uh members in the Parks and wreck in the track and field I appreciate Matt you and your team getting involved so um while this was a Long messy painful process uh it was it was democracy and you know seven people came here to uh really put forth a coordinated effort and um I think we all kind of walk away with yeah that's that's that's really good um there's probably some things that we would change but any any large infrastructure project uh whether it be the fire station the road raisings there's going to be unint tended consequences and the job for us is to mitigate those um and I think this this uh legislation is doing just that real quick commissioner Suarez thank you thank you Mr Mayor just just to clarify does staff still have direction to possibly look for other alternative locations or is this the last one I I don't know if there if under a previous uh commission we gave direction to still continue to look for different sites but is that is that still a possibility or is there are you guys under direction for that so my direction currently as I understand it is to move forward with modifying the design um contracts with Wan mocker Jensen to modify the design to accommodate the West End of the Flamingo Park location and to negotiate those change orders and bring them back I think we're planning to bring them back in December that's correct okay um when you went back could we go back to the slide that has the building on it I don't know okay so this is not this it's not going to be that close to the track correct you're going to shrink this what we're doing right here it's going to be that close about 5T yeah that's about about uh 5 ft from the track I think was this included in the in the supplement for my item I believe it was yes it was it was okay and there's no other way to make it skinnier there and then given it's an H make it like wider in other places so that you're not like hitting the wall we've looked at various different options and this is pretty much the bare minimum we could get by with to your point the the track currently has a chain link fence it's about 2 feet off the track M so that's the perimeter of the track and we felt that 5et given that it's a little more than the two feet that you have to the chain link fence now was sufficient is that going to be I mean like I think in the design you'd have to make that kind of like a Breezeway for trucks right because if you make that pure cement that's that's that's tough I think when you go back to the architect I I mean I know that you wanted to keep the exact design I don't know how much the design cost but what I would say is that is is that there's got to be a way to modify that I'm not sure what you mean by Breezeway the lower I mean like open what I mean is like open air when I look let me let me just intervene for a moment but let me just intervene for a moment just just just just to put Clarity we are discussing today policy not a side plan they still have work to do there what we're discussing today is is is the policy just the policy not the S plan we've all made a commitment that we don't want to interrupt any activity at the track I don't think that that's absolute commissioner bot I think that when we're saying that we're saying we're going to try throughout the construction process to to make sure that you know that we don't interfere uh with the track I wish we did have a better site than this but I'm I I'm very grateful to commissioner fernandz you know for everything that he did and commissioner bot for moving forward and trying to find alternate locations to and you know I'm like I'm going to support it I feel bad I feel like I wanted us to do Outreach with Flamingo Park but if we show them that that's not a positive and and so and so it's a little too tight I mean like I like I think let's pass this policy change today the policy look it's taking people till 2030 to build things so what I would say okay this has to go to back to HPB remember because this isn't a historic district this has to go back to HPB HPB is the body with jurisdiction to consider the side plan and all of these other matters and that's what I I don't want us to intervene into that that that jurisdictional review because that's not our our purview here we are looking specifically at policy okay but what I'm what I'm trying to tell you is that because it's a fire station where they Park Vehicles you could with a with a really nice design you could make that Center where the track is open air and and tell the architect you want the trucks perked in there so instead of running up against a cement wall you're running up against open air there might be some Vehicles parked there but we are going to have to modify the design so that it's it's so that it's not just beautiful but but that it doesn't so that you don't feel like you have a cement wall there and that's a possibility we just have to get there you know Comm design it thank you commissioner and I think staff has gone in that point commissioner Von yeah I I don't want anybody to take away from the conversation here today that the one of the first things we talked about last week when we met as a team was how to minimize any impact on the track and I brought up the fact that in New York and in Boston where I live for years there are a million different buildings that are under major significant renovation um with people walking underneath them and and not being impacted by it so obviously this is top of for me as well so I want to put that on the record um and also this is not designed this has not been redesigned yet this is fitting in the the parameters of what can go into that space to to make sure it does not affect the track um but now it is going to go back to the Architects to reimagine what that space is because they designed the prior version of the fire station for a site location that is a very different uh character of place context right it looked kind of more like what this sore Community Center had looked like or it looks like right I mean it sort of if I may it it just kind of fit into that context so now it's going to be put at the end of a park and Greenery and and feeling lighter and feeling um like it's not a a monolith are going to be some of the design direction as well as obviously highly functional um so let us not judge on what we're seeing for a massing study um without it hav even been designed yet what what I would say can I wait can I both both of you interrupted me and I never got to spoken yet and commissioner Dominguez has has should have the opportunity before we go back and then I'm going to give it back to the mayor because he is the chair of the body but you interrupted me and then I never got to finish my comments because you interrupted me you said excuse me I need to intervene and then you never gave me back the floor thank you Vice chair I just wanted to comment I hadn't seen the renderings before I appreciate commissioner bot giving the explan ation on the Flamingo Park you know seeing the renderings it's scary like the um building is so close to the track and um if it's going to be tall how's the shading going to be how will it affect uh the use of the track with that so thank you commissioner B for explaining that the redesigned has not happened um I am concerned looking at the renderings of the use of that space especially when so many residents in that area and across our city don't want it they want the green space and we need the fire station because the other one's in horrible condition so like we need to make sure we get this right okay say something thank you commissioner Dominguez commissioner Rosen Gonzalez to finish your point and then commissioner Suarez you can resolve this whole problem by just when you go to the architect and I don't know how you feel about this the whole thing needs an under story if you put an underst story you won't like like if the whole thing is an understory open all right and then don't you have to slide down a pole anyway to get um so I mean I would if the way that you could design this in a way that does not affect the park that's what I'm trying to say it's a fire station when you when you look at most fire stations they're open on the on the ground floor anyway and the guys have slide down all right now commissioner suarz women thank you VI and women thank you vice mayor I I well just real quick the I think the underst story it doesn't make sense because that we want the trucks to be elevated above a certain flood right um but aside from that you know when I look at that drawing you know like like my colleague commissioner Dominguez here I have some serious concerns like I'm I'm I I understand that this is not the final design but under no circumstance am I going to be okay with a with a with a a new fire station 5T from the edge of the track it's just I'm just not going to be okay with that so um you know I mean I have some serious reservations on that um and you know I don't know if now is the time to also direct Administration to see if there's other sites that's possibly um at that that in the meantime while we're doing this instruct the administration to keep maybe an open mind um and uh and see if there's other potential sites I know um I think I think one of the residents brought for an idea for uh I think like taptap uh not not the whole building but there was there was an idea of a of a of a a building next to it that we could possibly use uh or or the couny um Community Health Center there that we could possibly use so look I I yeah or that's a motion is that a motion if you take the Southshore Community Center out of it look for any sites except the South Shore Community Center and I I think we already I don't I think that's a moot point right I mean that's not really well no I think you need to include that because what if we go through this whole process again and then we go back to the community center that we just there's a motion okay yeah I'd like to make a motion there there's a motion in a second before us and if and if someone that gets recognized after we take a vote on this wants to have a separate vote on a separate motion they're more than welcome to but there's a motion and a second before us at at the moment on the motion on the table to uh to approve the resolution before us commissioner bot are we calling the vote we can call the vote so uh if I don't know the mayor wants to speak on this item uh so just out of respect to him Mr Mayor I don't know if you want to speak on this item I think it's all been said okay let's call a vote and I'm sorry I didn't catch who made the second I made the motion I got that which whichis made the second this is for the original as amended with taking the words I think it's May or something like that making it def more definitive yeah right no no stopping the oper no interruptions to the track no interrup I second it yes okay on that uh all in favor please say I I I I I motion passes 70 and I have another motion for for staff to possibly look at other sites second wait wait bot commissioner bot okay so let's say hypothetically the second motion passes so now are we also spending money to continue the work on the fire I four day ruled the motion you what I 4 day ruled the motion what does that even mean can I even finish my sentence time commissioner did you say commissioner rule the motion oh four day rule commer bot first I'm going to finish my thought and then I would like an explanation from the city attorney of what a 4- day ruling of the motion even means we committed a almost a year ago to find an alternative site for the fire station that would not drag on in perpetuity we have done that we have not designed the new fire station yet we have a massing study to show that a in in the um without it being properly designed re-engineered redesigned for the site it will fit onto the space without harming the track and field which was what we agreed that we were seeking to do now all of a sudden and by the way we had the Inspector General saying that we were um uh acting improperly we had the Geo Bond committee saying we were acting improperly we had the fire department saying God help you if you don't give us a fire station we have a plan to move forward we are all very cognizant of the issues before us where exactly are we going to magically come up with a site that is big enough and who by the way M commissioner Suarez are you going to pay for an a 30 million site all all I'm suggesting is keeping an open mind for staff to explore options it's not we're not asking for a a a study or we're not putting money toward a consultant so but are we asking to not do any work I mean that's not what I said I obviously we just pass an item that uh directs us to move forward with the item that we just passed however keeping an open mind and the fact that this is going to drag on for months what if there is an opportunity that presents itself and what happens if the original item that comes back and still stays 5T from the track what are we going to do then I'm not going to vote for that so I mean you know we're bifurcating this issue and I don't see the harm and keeping an open mind on this oh excuse me if I just through the vice chair City attorney Mr City attorney could you please explain what a 4-day what was a 4-day rule rule so matter we have I don't believe the 4day rule would apply here what would apply would be a matter being interpretation can I can I finish what would apply would be that the chair could declare that the item is out of order because it was not on the agenda um so that would be the appropriate motion um now I do also want to remind the commission that at your um I think it was your June meeting there was a resolution that if the voters approved you direct the administration to proceed at this site so you would also need an item to resend that resolution which gave specific direction to go ahead and proceed complicate things commissioner Suarez just a just just a follow just a followup um can we bifurcate this to say that we're going to have City staff still look for other sites but it we we're still moving forward with the original site a motion could be made as you as you desire and it it would be up to the chair to determine whether the motion is properly before the body and one thing then commission Ros Gonzalez another question I had is um the flamingo track group had given us other options to look at which I don't believe the city Administration ever looked at so um what was that I never received any additional sites to look at for the last Commission meeting they had additional sites and I think even in uh when I spoke on the item I said for the City St to please look at other that the locations that they suggested I'll pull it up and I'll share it thank you can I commissioner Rosen Gonzalez okay so if we need money to buy an alternative site okay I would you can't do both you can't say to them go to The Architects spend money re design the building but in the interim keep looking at other options why it's either or but what we could do is say at the next election um we Bond money for a fire station and in the interim look for properties in a certain price range okay because we're going to need to buy a you know a larger piece of land I know that commissioner bot had an item on about the Rishi kapore site on Washington that I think that's interesting too I know that it's not enough space I understand that my point is is that at this point the fire station does not have any mold remediation problem so the sense of urgency regarding the air quality in the fire station is no longer present now I know we have this public safety initiative but if we do have more time and we do need more money then we have to make a decision like we shouldn't vote on this today we should come back and say you know here's how much money we think that we need to purchase a property large enough for the fire station and then go to the voter get the funding and then Bond it and then do it the right way because to CIP has so many projects right now and they know that this is there's a sense of urgency but we can't give two directives it's either move forward with the site that we have or take Flamingo Park off the table like we took the Southshore Community Center off the table and I just want to open the senior lunchroom at the souk community center before it's back on the day and and purchase let's make a new Direction and just purchase a piece of land there's land for sale all over the place um if we needed money for that where's Jason [Music] [Laughter] Jason Jason let's say that we do need a substantial amount of money to we have a design let's say that we want to put that design someplace else and we know that there are several sites and that those sites are somewhere in the ballpark we could spend up as much as much as $20 million but we're acquiring a property which is good I believe in land acquisition what would we need to do would you be able to get that funding for us do you suggest that we bond that money like what would be the best way if the question is how would we come up with 20 or 30 or plus million I'm trying not to get to 30 I was I think it would be 50 actually what well $20 million for land acquisition and then $30 million to build it because remember we still have if we need to redesign and recalibrate this that's going to be an unfunded what 20 $25 million believe then if we have a $20 million land acquisition we're looking at $45 million what I believe the last estimate that was presented was in the 15 to19 million range but that included modifications to the track so uh actually was just speaking with some of the staff it would probably be about half of that so somewhere in the 7 to $10 million range would probably what we would be needed to make this site happen or perhaps some other site uh if we're adding 20 30 40 whatever million dollars it is uh of an adequately sized and a properly located site is uh put together so if we add all those dollars together and we're looking at 30 to 50 or $60 million that's a very substantial amount of money uh you know either the city dips very very deeply into its reserves uh and then hopefully we come up with a plan to uh to refund that money over time or you put out a a general obligation uh ballot question to bond out additional money now obviously the 2018 vote uh already had uh dollars associated with that um and then also just to remind everyone we do have uh kind of in the balance about $10 million uh State Grant that's tied to this that we're waiting to usly lock down that location before we officially request uh that confirmation from the state which we were planning on doing you know to do this would be just so much money right now we we're going to have to redesign that because we cannot have a cement wall 5T from a track that's for sure so we're already going to have to spend money to design it but here is the challenge could we use this as an example of what our future architecture of what let let's make it a a example in resiliency you know um in with the under story if we like whatever it it it takes I don't think that we can go out and find an Alterna ative location it's so expensive but we could make it so that whatever the design is we pay for a redesign how much is the redesign going to cost I wouldn't be able to tell you until I get their their final proposals um the person who was designing it do they only design fire stations are they experts in that or are they just architects in general they have a great amount of experience in fire stations but they do a lot of different projects okay and just real quick I had find found the communication from um Matt in Flamingo Park sa Flamingo Park and um his suggestions were the community health center um which I think we already said is not big enough but the other location was um Walgreens came out saying that a series of stores were going to be closing and um the one on Fifth Street in Jefferson was a possibility so uh throwing that out there as a location um commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor just for the sake of this um of our meeting you know I'll I'll resend my uh motion but I will I will take on I will probably be bringing something in November for something this because what I saw on that screen I was I I was not thrilled so um Mr Mayor I'm or Mr City attorney I'm going to want to work with you on that okay thank you commissioner Suarez commissioner magazine I I want to be crystal clear here we need a fire station we need to move forward and if this is a binary choice where this can't be redesigned to impact the track I'm not going to vote to put in the track and and if there's one I'm sorry if it's the South Shore Community Center versus the impacting the track I'm going to choose the former um Ju Just laying that out there if this is a binary choice between the two sites I'm one of seven votes uh if there's six other people that feel differently uh perfect that's that's democracy um but I will not vote to put this and impede in the track because we haven't heard back definitively if this actually can be redesigned to not impact the track has that that's what we should is that definitive yes the design that was presented confirms that we can make it fit without touching the track and David um would you be able to and just tossing out an idea uh move this further west if even if it meant encroaching on the sidewalk there and there's also a city bike rack in the street the the layout shown there is a zero setback from Alton Road so it's right on the property line so so it even actually takes away the sidewalk no it's right up against the edge of the sidewalk do we off the top of my head right I I haven't long thought this out but do we even need or even want a sidewalk right by a fire station would that actually cause pedestrian issues could we actually move the fire station even further west if it would take up the the sidewalk there I believe that you're going to find the benefit of that sidewalk particularly on Alton Road which is heavily trafficked not only that you do have visitors that come to the fire station for blood pressure checks or other stuff that um the um Jason was just suggesting to me that the there's a potential the the drawing showed essentially the three floors the first floor grade floor is parking um we could eliminate that parking but then we have no employee parking and that they wind up parking on the street in the neighborhood so can we call the vote after your comments so the parking could just be open and that way they're not it's not up against the cement wall it's just open all we're going to ask you is to try to work around the cement that's AB buding the track I mean we can take that direction back to the designers okay um there is the West face on Alton that is where the building interacts so it won't be completely open there's lobbies and elevators and other stuff that that needs to work there but we can look at making that open I mean we could put the Apollo mural right there on the track you never know just kidding just kidding I would just try I'm gonna vote for um Alex's we okay so we voted on this all right and and I'm not going to vote for an alternative location because I think we can make it work it's been a long lot of work to get to where we are okay thank you uh C7 sorry what number is the ferry item r7g thank you r7g r7g is direct Administration to develop RFP for a water taxi service r7g just presenting this item I think all of us oh yeah yes and commissioner Suarez sure I I I have no problem um starting off but you know the the the previous Commission and and commissions before that I think had a really bad taste in her mouth because of the Poseidon faery uh operation um but the idea is not bad I think the idea still has uh Merit the fact that you know we're on an island we're surrounded by water it it only makes sense to have a a a transit system that's on the water um the last uh operator that we used uh you know they they stiff their employees hell I had an item on consent to repay back uh people who bought um tickets and who were basically defrauded and they weren't going to get their money back uh from this last vendor so I think with careful consideration we as a commission could really consider uh a better plan uh to to possibly move forward with a a fairy transit system uh between our Island and the mainland and so um I schedule or commissioner fernandz and I scheduled a sunshine meeting that was um also attended by commissioner Dominguez to really explore all options and availability uh that that we could take uh advantage on so uh we had discussions with staff and I I'd really appreciate to hear what they have to say Jose thank you thank you Mr Mayor thank you commissioner Jose Gonzalez transportation and Mobility director and interum parking director so this item before before you um gives the administration direction to begin drafting a request for proposal or a similar procurement document for Water Taxi Service uh within our city and also connecting to the mainland over to um Miami um I want to preface it by saying that absolutely water taxi faery service is a key ingredient in our multimodal transportation plan it's been part of our blueprint uh for many years we've we've attempted we've had several attempts at different pilot uh programs but for a variety of reasons some of those pilot programs have not been uh successful as recent as the uh Poseidon uh pilot program that that was terminated just a couple months ago um so with with this item our intent is to seek your input your direction on where you would like um water taxi service what type of water taxi service would you like to see are we referring to only a cross Bay type of service or a more robust service that also serves different points um within our Island that makes a difference in terms of the scope and the scale of the service as we put together this the scope of services for this solicitation so I'm going to give you my vision so this came up a couple of years ago the Poseidon item came up I was not a supporter of of it I voted no to it um obviously did not predict how bad it would be but I didn't like it for a number of reasons and the proposal that I have which was separate which by the way was frustrating to me because it often got interconnected with the Poseidon item but it's completely separate and I still have the item it's for the city to seek aggressively and proactively grant funding we have a grant funding request out to the state we have not done so for the federal government and there is significant monies potentially on the table and by the way what I keep hearing from the city Administration is there's a lot of information that the federal government is asking and that we needed to collect that data we need to submit that application I literally had this item passed 18 months ago and we have not submitted the application so we either I need a commitment you don't have to answer me now I'm just saying this out loud you either give me a commitment that we're going to submit this application by a certain date or on the next meeting I'm bringing an item that we hire a consulting firm which I hate to spend that money but it's important enough there's the federal government will spend up to 80% of the capital expenditures to build out the ferry system and the ferry system that I'm envisioning is not only going to Miami but literally up South and North throughout Miami Beach literally like a trolley except on water and you hop on and off similar to what they have in uh in in in parts of uh in on in Fort Lauderdale and can work but we need help we need we need some monies and we're going to need from the from the state and the county but we're not going to get that we're not going to get to that level until we sort of we move aggressively on these items we got to submit that application and if there's some information missing at least we we did it and and go from there so that's the vision I have I I'm going to I'm supportive of this item but I'm not sure the private sector is the way to go maybe I'll be proved wrong I think it's going to have to be through this type of uh grant funding and and a sort of like a trolley system where you have the the city run the operation commissioner Dominguez thank you um another thing that we learn and I like your vision mayor I agree we need something like that and I love love the way that sounds to have it all throughout our city um during that meeting um somebody that was there is already operating a water taxi between Bayside and um the marina sou southa Fifth and I did some investigating with our City attorney cgis and that person does have an active BTR they give discounts to Residents in 33139 so I think uh that person should also uh be notified that there's an RFP so that they're aware and uh expand the discount to all zip codes not just uh South Beach in Miami Beach um but uh I am very supportive of this item Mr Vice commissioner yeah thank you I um I'm supportive of this item I also would like to see this become um a a ferry system uh going north and south not making tons of stuff but maybe five or six stops on places at at places that already are already Municipal land um fire station Britney Bay Park um the land adjacent to um the uh mounts Hospital pry so that it's almost like an Express trolley um and I'm curious and Jose I don't know if you know this yet or if you need to put together process but how is the RFP going to be written so that decisions can be made about what we're actually asking for so we would as part of the RFP development process we would develop criteria uh evaluation criteria we would develop the scope itself um the the the the scale of the effort uh and that would come before you by the way this would only be direction for us to go back and work on that and then come before you with a draft solicitation doc but to your point commissioner and I think this conversation is very timely because For the First Time in many many years the Miami day Transportation Planning organization which is the the uh Regional uh Transportation Planning uh entity for the county they are in the process of putting together a water taxi Ferry a comprehensive plan which in includes Miami Beach and we are at the table and we're part of the steering Comm Committee of associated with that effort and they've identified several locations potential locations uh docking locations in our city and that's very important because going back to the um the issue of the federal grants many times the US do will want to see that coordination with the regional County uh government uh whenever a municipality um is is proposing some type of water taxi or or really this is a a regional faery service this would go beyond our our city limits could go north north of us into Surfside North Bay Village and other communities and and as well as to our to the mainland on the west so it's it's it's really a regional initiative that that really requires the endorsement of the County Regional Transportation authority and they are in the process of doing that study so at least there's something that we can fall back on and point to uh to the federal government when we apply for Grants commissioner Ros Gonzalez and commissioner suarz I agree that we have to start somewhere and I met with um people who have a prototype of a boat that looked um you know very nice could be branded with Mii Beach and if we want to be Pioneers we're going to have to show people that we can do it and once we build one boat and show that it could be done we're going to get funding everywhere the state the county State's the first person who's going to tell you your streets are at failure okay and this is an alternative but if we don't take action and move forward and show that it can be done and be true Pioneers in this and I do think that this is going to reev revolutionize Transportation not just in Miami beach but in City of Miami as well that is stuck in gridlock so I approve like I support this I would build two boats if we could um I think that this is the best way that we could allocate um our monies and you know we're going to have to make an investment and then what we should do is a dual track um approve this go out make the first payment and then go to the county and say how much can you give us toward this prototype that we're you know that we're doing of this pilot program that we're doing you know I I'm going to give a perfect example um when you first said that you were wanted to make like during brush hour those two streets in mid Beach like one ways I thought that's a crazy idea everybody's going to hate that idea it's not going to work but I actually drove through it the other day and it's kind of like a like a human bridge with the police officers in the center and there was no backup and honestly it's working very well so had we listened you know when when that happened and there was an angry mob and you spoke to this angry group of people that came forward by the way I was probably one of the biggest Skeptics um on that pilot program it works we know it works you solved the problem that really was one of our biggest problems Crossing 41st Street um so congratulations to you guys for pulling it off and commissioner Suarez congratulations um and this is very similar we need to show that it can be done and um and the sooner that we get our first boat built I think it takes about a year to build a boat um I can't wait uh you know this is something perfect a perfect example you guys want to give away like zoning height or F let's say hey you know what you want to add to uh our density well then you're going to pay for uh this new transportation system and let's get funding we can easily get funding from anybody who wants to build to put it into that pot of money so thank you commissioner we have 24 ordinances and four consent items that are on the pool list commissioner Suarez and then if we could thank you close the discussion so U as a member of the TPO I'd be more than happy to also raise the discussion as a discussion item for where we are with um the County's plan for water taxi but there's a member in the audience who is actually one of the uh providers for building boats and I'd like him to speak if the body is okay for public speaking uh for two minutes he's been waiting here all day and uh and just give us a little bit more insights into the processes if that's okay yeah okay please proce good afternoon Mr Mayor Commissioners um thank you so much my name is Jeffrey lardy I've been operating passenger boats out of seal Marina for over a decade now now uh we organize private events we also um are involved in some of high impact events to uh Ferry passengers uh for the past two years I've also been involved in constructing and building those passenger boats I sell them to private operators but I also do that to uh cities and government um mainly all in the US um to provide solution like a water taxi service um when posidon failed um you know they worked out of the marina I've been working for for a decade some very familiar with um that operation and I reached out to some of uh the Commissioners which have already uh sat down with a few of you to try to give a bit of an education on how it it should be done and after studying the pro the the the process I think I came up with a pretty solid plan on having either one boat build or two smaller boat build to have an efficient system to start in between um the seal Marina and Morris Gibs Park um you know having a bit of a rotation between 20 to 30 minutes unit um in between 20 to 30 passengers or single boat for 50 passengers that could also welcome bike bicycles and and TRS and those kind of things um I do think that the solution is viable but I do think that uh the private sector should get help by the government meaning um if I were to buy the boat and operate them I would expect um the city to pay for uh to subsidize a portion of or or the tickets at least just to make it a habit on to the citizen to come on the on those boats start to use them have a s contract for about 5 years if you're expecting you know somebody to like pay up front for all those boats to prove that this is going to work um pay for the tickets for your uh citizens um make sure that you know we get compensated for our service we operate for five years if that works um then you know we can start charging tickets and and fairs thank you thank you is there a motion on the table I'll move it it's been moved by commission Suarez second by the chair call the vote is is the chair the mayor or well now or you or you're the chair call vote question on the second okay second is Fernandez okay Mr M can I ask a question Eric um so I think we got clear Direction on looking at a multi stop option along Miami Beach I wanted to um ask if you felt strongly one way or the other as to whether we should be including some Upland improvements in this contract to make sure that we've got docking capabilities at some of the locations that we're going to be looking at or whether this should just be the transit piece of it so similar to if we're talking about an onland option we have one vendor that provides the trolley operations and then we have another vendor that provides the bus shelters should we be looking at a One-Stop TurnKey operation that runs the ferry service as well as looks at some of the docking operation or should we have separate vendors looking for some feedback well why don't if I don't mind speaking why don't you come back and tell us what the best option is okay happy to do that let's call the vote can't say no to you Sarah I have Sarah the Sor Harbor neighborhood association it's a great idea but one thing that you guys need to take in consideration when you do the RFB are you catering to the resident of Miami Beach or the people who are commuting into Miami Beach because that that is a bigger the commuting people that's a bigger bigger amount of people that come in and out that they if this if it's reasonable for $2 whatever it is they're going to take the ferry and not bring the car into Miami Beach so you have to think about which one that you're catering to I know that the residents will get something but I think you have to think about and talk to the commercial establishment to be able to provide them the free path as they work in that business that would help you because I wrote the bidon I you know it was only residents that were here you put it on in the wrong time summer everybody's away so I think that would help you but think about that in your RFB who you going to cater to too good point in the in the cost thank you okay let's call the vote so I have a motion in a second all in favor this is r7g say I please I I it passes 70 thank you we have a couple of budget items that we need to here today it's call um ARA actually no I think we have to wait till 5:00 for those let's call r7f r7f is a public hearing red light camera annual report for the record I have to read the summary it is a it is a public hearing uh the summary of this item is in compliance with Florida Statutes 316.0083 subsection 3 for the 2024 annual traffic infraction detector report for the period from July 1st 2023 to June 30th 2024 the city of Mambi Beach recorded 8,5 132 notices of violations issued 26 violations contested one violation upheld 18 violations dismissed 29229 violations issued as a uniform traffic citation 4597 violations paid and were collected State funds were distributed in accordance with State Statute 316.0083 subsection 4 and the amounts as follow as follows $345,100 to the General Revenue fund $70 per violation 49300 to the Health Emergency Medical Services trust fund $10 per violation and $479,000 to brain and spinal CT injury trust run $3 per violation this is a public hearing I see no one in the audience I have one person in Zoom Mr schaer are you here to talk about the annual traffic infraction detector report he has hasn't unmuted himself and he's had his hand up for a while so I see no one in Zoom either okay so this uh red light cameras were approved uh couple of commissions ago I'm not a big fan of them but we are mandated under state law to give this report today so that's what we're doing so if no one else and there's no discussion if I may have a motion in a second please I have a question while we're on the item Mr Mr manager what is what would be the process to do away with red light cameras in the city so I would ask our um our folks that manage that contract but I believe it would be a situation where we'd have to look at the contract provisions and see what the termination Clauses are I would imagine we must have some sort of termination for convenience if um if we've been in the contract long enough that we might not have any capital expenditure to reimburse them for their initial install then it would be a relatively painless process if they're still recouping Capital cost then we would probably have to compensate them for breaking the contract and the reason why I ask it is because um I you know I just I just know based on my observations and living right in front of a red light camera I feel that they cost more accidents with people who break to avoid a red light ticket and then you end up with people being reared uh with uh you know with these fender benders that that that happen and I don't know if it's worth it you know and so and so I just I I would like us to explore um what the process would look like what cost uh and what our and what our exposure would be happy to explore it um I can tell you as someone who implemented a red light camera program in another municipality before I came here at least at that point in time the data was representing what you've anecdotally seen out there is that the the number of accidents do go up but the severity of the accidents change from T-Bone type accidents to the rear end accidents which are much less drastic but the number of accidents do go up and when the number of accidents do go up so do our police officers being occupied responding to those accidents and uh and and that's an issue especially when when for example where I live that's area too do I want police officers responding to a fender bender at the corner of Chase Avenue of Alon Road as opposed to patrolling the beachwalk or speeding a noisy vehicles on Collins Avenue or providing safety to the business Corridor on 41st Street you know it it does take away resources from what I experience on a regular basis fair enough happy to look into it commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and commissioner bot I will support you if you want to abolish Red Lake cameras uh we've been through this before we looked at the data it does increase accidents and more importantly um I think it's the is what is the current total amount of each violation do we have that information hi commissioner I think it's $158 it's $158 I do think that you know when many of our seniors or people get that $158 violation it's financially debilitating um to them and I also think that yes I I I I think that they're there to generate Revenue the funny part is is that we're not even getting that much money from these red like cameras it's such a DI Minimus amount compared to what I thought it would be given the price of the violation but the way that the state mandated it by the way didn't the state like Outlaw RED cameras on state roads like they don't even have red light cameras um and we chose to keep them but I do think that if we have if I don't know what the temperature of this body is but I would for I would definitely um be behind removing them from Miami Beach because number one it does CA more accidents we're not getting that much money from them it doesn't necessarily change Behavior because the people running red lights most of the time it's an accident anyway they you know they're not running a red light on purpose they just kind of get caught and then because of that they're you know that's why they're stopping in the middle of the road so I'm glad that you've been observing um that Trend so I don't know if two other people would like to abolish the red light cameras but I would be on board I'd like to see the item as presented but as I opened up I'm not a fan okay one two three commissioner bot um I guess I'm in the minority here but I left work early yesterday to go to a doctor's appointment to deal with an injury I received when I was T-boned in 2017 and um I will tell you that I rather see more fender benders than more major crashes as in intersections we as a body rail about the terrible driving in the city the fact that people speaked uncontrollably the fact that people run red lights that they run stop signs that they don't seem to give a damn about anybody else on the road whether a pedestrian or somebody on a bike or some other e-mobility device or another driver so to take away one of the few things that might give somebody pause about running a red light I think is uh an an unfortunate path to proceed down well by the way it potentially could be bated some of the red lights are really intended for turnings turns and that's where they primarily get people so those might be a little different than the ones you're referring to so it might it might be we could look at each one individually do we need to get a report from police as part of this item the item was there that's the summary I read so that report was part of the agenda so you approving that report which was included in the agenda perfect I move the approval of the report call the vote all in favor of r7f please say I I motion passes report is accepted Poli least to handle call r7c r7c is a public hearing adopt First Amendment to the fiscal year 20125 capital budget R 7 C good afternoon to Stewart budget director this is the First Amendment to the capital budget it contains three items it recommends an appropriation of $1.6 million and the realignment of 57,000 from two existing projects to a new project so the first project is a 23rd Street improvements bike leaned and shared use path project so the contractor proposal came in over budget by 1.28 million the recommendation is to appropriate these dollars from interest income that has been accured to the go bond fund uh in in infrastructure division uh the second project is the Indian Creek Drive protected bike clean project the contractor's proposal has come in 278,000 more than the budget and the recommendation is to appropriate funds from the available Transportation fund fund balance and the last project is the fire station number four exterior painting and water proven project that's a new project and the recommendation is to fund this project from funds left over from two existing projects that have been completed with savings so that's the fire station for fire alarm renewal project and the Beach Fire Station security upgrade project thank you Tama you're welcome any questions motion I'll move the item I'll second it is a public hearing I have one person in the audience call in user one are you here to talk about the uh Amendment to the fiscal year 2025 capital budget hi hi good afternoon mayor Commission yes I'm here to talk on this item I want to thank the mayor and commission for their continued support and appropriating funds for making our city more walkable and more bikable it is greatly appreciated by many people in the city uh with respect to the 23rd Street uh project there just want to remind everyone that over four years ago this project was changed at the last minute and the bike lane was actually deleted uh from 23rd Street so here we are four years later and millions of dollars later and still hoping to get a portion of this project complete so as all these things happen and things are changed at the last minute there are real world implications both in uh amenities for residents and also funding implications so thank you again though for the support and moving these things forward and hope to see them complete soon thank you comp uh was this G tanov I think it was uh I think we have a raised hand again calling user one if this is someone else if not Matthew is that you again hi I'm so sorry I did not uh State my name and address Matthew Gan off 25 I recognize the voice thank you no other speaker mayor call a vote on r7c uh we have a motion by commissioner Fernandez seconded by mayor Miner all in favor I motion passes 70 r7c it's called R r7e r7e we heard the companion item this morning it is a public hearing approved lease with with moonlighter Fab Lab 1661 uh pen Avenue Pennsylvania Avenue this the companion item was approved already I move the item Mr Mayor call a vote and it is a public hearing I see no one in the audience I see no one in Zoom all in favor I motion passes I was r7e thank you thank you let call r9z r9z is discuss senior meal site programming of Southshore Community Center r9z I believe this is an administrative item Eric correct mayor and I'd like to hand it over to Dr tar otherwise known as Alba only Alba thank you Alba office of Housing and Community Services during the September 11th commission meeting the commission directed The Administration to develop a plan for reopening the senior meal site program at the Southshore Community Center during the September 16th budget hearing the commission discussed a one-time expenditure enhancement for fiscal year 25 in the amount of $175,000 to reinstate the senior meal site program currently there are three providers on Miami Beach that oper operate congregate meal sites therefore the administration is recommending issuing a request for proposals for vendors to be able to provide a cost analysis is and service plan to maximize the city's budget our proposed timeline is to work with procurement to uh come back come back to the commission to issue an RFP in December yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez thank you um you know it was interesting I had a casual conversation with Miriam from JCS um the senior lunch from around the corner has a a huge waiting list and she said that it's going to fill up like with a 100 people near almost immediately um and by the way I I know we're putting out an you know RFP but you know when she they've already kind of come up with like with a plan of of all these wraparound services that they offer too so I mean I hope when we do this I know that JCS offers transportation for seniors they have that um what are the other services that they offer there's so many different services that they do at the site they offer Case Management Services they have elderly Support Services as well yeah so they're going to fully program this iite and as part of the RFP are we just doing the lunchroom or when they once they get there do they just start to kind of operate like well we're looking to issue first the RFP to get proposals being able to get cost analysis see how much we could get for the cost for the 175 and what the vendor is proposing what it would look like and for how many people as well as the programming and then from there we would look at the best option and move forward forward okay um I don't know how you feel about this but I would like to get this in the pipeline and move the item and I'll second your motion thank you and if I may Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez so this is scheduled then to be heard at F November 8th correct yes an update but not only on the senior congregate meal I believe it the item is for all of the programming uh for the site for the Southshore Community Center okay and then the RFP the draft RFP that would be issued uh would come to the full commission for approval in January in December our our hope is to have it by December um to be able to but the latest would be January correct okay all right so I'm good I'm good with it okay want to call call the vote so this is giving Administration Direction r9z all in favor I motion passes 70 sure I'm just going to make a quick comment on how important this meal service is um in South Beach in particular but even around our city um recently commissioner Rosen Gonzalez and I were up in North Beach at Unidad for a party that they had and we went downstairs and we saw a handful of seniors and they were just sitting there like confused and we asked them what are you doing and they said they've already uh allocated the number of meals for the day so we don't have food and that was so heartbreaking that there were about three or four seniors that were not going to have food that day because we only paid for 140 and there was no more to give so I I really love this item I know it's for South Beach but if there's ever an opportunity to increase it in North Beach it's important wait and and and Laura there is a weit list of more than a 100 seniors right now that are not getting lunch that will soon be able to walk to the Southshore Community Center and and have lunch again and dance some salsa chair chair robic okay great and we had a very successful open house uh a lot of attendees uh came with some good ideas as well um it's called c7v C yes sir c7v is amend resolution 2024 33243 approving one-time funding for Miami Beach arts and culture organization c7v was separated by commissioner Suarez Suarez thank you Mr Mayor so I I separated this because um originally I thought the original ask was for nearly half a million dollars and I want to just know why we doubled it um I understand this is a one-time Grant um but yeah you know if originally they were asking for uh half a million dollars why why give another half a million dollars if May through the chair commissioner bot the original ask was the full amount and during FK we thought maybe we could um uh cut the amount down a little bit but in uh further reflection after FK it seems better to give them the full amount which is fully funded in the budget as it stands now we're not asking for any additional Monies to be allocated we're just asking to proceed with the the money that was um correctly allocated towards this um you know these arts and culture institutions provide tremendous economic impact to our city not just in terms of the jobs they provide and the benefits they provide to our residents but the people who come in for events for a night or a weekend um and I think it is Pennywise and pound foolish to Short change these organizations in a time of need um and we all know it's a one-time stop Gap hopefully the state will come back to its census and fund the amounts that were properly allocated uh and and appr improved over the number many years in the past um and uh we can just move on and keep going but um I would like to ask um uh our director of Tourism and culture to talk about the economic impact because we're all trying to be fiscally prudent and these numbers are uh quite impressive well if I if I may because I look um I just wanted to separate to discuss um I think um you know I'm okay with this moving forward I I wanted to have a little bit more insight but I I think moving forward if the original committee finance committee said um you know half the cost and then and then there was a change of heart wouldn't it make sense to go back to the committee to discuss that instead of bringing it Forward commission it just seems like it's almost like a bait and switch if you've already fleshed out a committee and then the commission you bring it in full so I I'm okay with this moving forward uh for this particular item but I think I think you know I don't want to set a precedent where we flesh something out in committee and all of a sudden we just you know whoever whoever decides to change their mind literally doubles and half a million dollars of taxpayer money is spent and and look I get it these programs are are great for the community um you know you mentioned that this is a time in need D but this is a time in need for all of our residents all of our residents are feeling the pain you know we raised uh taxes this year so you know everything that we can do to lower taxes I'm going to be a champion of moving forward in the city so U you know L you're more than welcome to talk but I'm going to go ahead and move this item Mr manager did our body raise taxes my understanding is that the millage rate was flat between last year and this year thank you and commissioner bot I'm happy to Second your motion thank thank you commissioner Fernandez and through the chair if I may um two of us uh commissioner Fernandez and I are on the on the finance committee so um I can tell you there's no bait and switch here um you know with a little bit more time to think about things uh would it be would it be correct to do it through a committee I defer to the City attorney I I I understand it's possible but I think the the correct procedure would be there is a change especially if you're doubling the amount to half you know to a million dollars I don't know I you know it's one thing if it's if it's a small Grant fund under $75,000 but you're you're literally raising at half a million dollars so um I I think it's prudent to if you're going to be doing that excessive amount send it back to committee I mean I would have been more than happy to attend that committee and discuss it but you know right now we're under the gun um and you know it seems like like the the the cake is already baked on this so I'm just saying moving forward if that's going to be the case I I I would appreciate it to go back to committee commissioner magazine um quick question I just uh noted to Peter to asked to come down I remember that the county was taking a vote if they were going to essentially provide uh some type of funding and I know it wouldn't replace the entire uh extra half a million dollars but does anybody I I can't recall where they came down I I thought the county uh gave some money does that trickle down to Miami Beach at all I'm not sure but my reg elction is and maybe Jason could shed some light on this that this was discussed at the budget meeting and I if I recall correctly it was approved yeah I can speak to that uh quickly uh the item came up during the July uh budget meetings uh it was proposed to be budgeted at $1 million which the commission uh did approve it to be in the preliminary budget that that amount it was sent to later in July to a finance committee uh where it was recommended to be approximately half of that amount but I I believe as the commissioner bot had mentioned there was a reasoning related to other governmental entities perhaps funding it might have been the purpose for that and then when it came back so was budgeted um at the million we mentioned it during the budget hearings itself to see if the commission wanted to remove uh reduce the budget allocation from the million in the preliminary to the half a million that was being recommended by FK and it was determined at that time that they would keep the budget allocation at the $1 million and that is what is in the final and approved budget 1 million so circling back to my question did the county come up with uh some type of incremental stop Gap funding they did not because they and good afternoon they s after director tourism and culture they did not they were actually facing their own challenges with their arts and culture budget and so they did come a little bit under what they would normally give I believe uh to their uh um during their Grant process but they did not we do have another municipality which is St Petersburg that they came forward and funded about close to 40 half of the recommended amount 48% recommended by the state legislature I retract the nice things I said for the RDA item I so we have a motion a second yeah I through the vice chair can we yes call a vote yes let's uh call the WR yes yes sir on c7b I have a motion in a second all in favor please say I I I hearing no NOS the item passes 70 let's call um R5 a R5 a is an Ord of the mayor City Commissioner of city of M Beach Florida amending Chapter 58 of the M Beach city code entitled housing by amending article entitled property maintenance standards by amending section 58- 298 thereof entitled responsibilities of owners and occupants to require Property Owners of houses and buildings within the city to place signage two weeks prior to fumigation and installing one-way animal doors on crawl spaces providing for repeatability codification and effective date this is our first reading it is item R5 a commissioner Dominguez thank you this item came forward from the Animal Welfare committee and it's because of cats that have been killed uh during fications because the proper protocol wasn't taken place to ensure that the crawl space underneath the homes uh was free of any animals now this item that we currently have before us um Mr City attorney I believe there's a a little bit more language to add that is correct uh we received the communication that the draft that was prepared and reviewed did not include some language that would would require that a proper owner who is going to spray uh uh remove animals that might be in the crawl space before covering the crawl space um there was also as a result of some discussions over the past couple days some concerned that a one-way door may or may not make sense so I think uh what we're thinking is that between first and second reading we will work with staff to come up with something that is both comprehensive in terms of addressing the concerns and also pragmatic for property owners um who already have covers on their um cross bases great with that I would like to move the item second r Gonzalez as the homeowner who has to tent because I have an older home every 45 years I'd like to point out a few things about this that I think we need to possibly change and then um and then approve the first things first signs two weeks prior first of all like the city certainly who's reading them the cats the only people who are going to read them are people that are going to come and burglarize our homes so by saying we're going to you know we're going to fumate my house that means like nobody's going to be home in two weeks so I think I think the sign portion should be um eliminated because I think you'll see a rash of burglaries related to it and then the second thing is I have no problem making sure that there's a vent open but this says that you have to install a cat trap door and that's going to cost a lot of money and by the way it was already like $2,000 for me to tent you know what they're going to C what they're going to charge me to install that door maybe the door itself is only $25 or $30 yeah but that's not the point it's the labor involved and by the way once you put the tent over the door why can't we just have the vent open like can you just say we'll keep our crawl space open that way they have a way out by the way anything that's trapped under the house once that tent is in and the gas is on I hate to say it um it's toast now if they have a way out but it's true I mean it's what like you you have a heavy tent well I mean you know you have a very heavy tent and but I think the the issue is just look we all have on our crawl spaces vents that can be removed right so just remove the vent so if you could just make it instead of a a one-way door just have a vent make sure that there's a ventilated opening and then remove the signage requirement that could lead to a rash of burglaries and then I I would be fine with it otherwise I think every single family homeowner is going to be upset about this because number one we all when you T the we will revise it between first and second reading and thank you for the input it really appreciate it okay thank you I'll second it maybe we could call for a vote right me the items been moved and seconded is there any other discussion from the is this item a public hearing item or no it is not a public hearing item just for clarication properly moved and seconded uh let's call the role just for the record it is as is any changes would come at second reading correct uh commissioner magazine commissioner Rosen Gonzalez but we're making the changes right absolutely yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner Bots yes mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez here yes motion carry second reading public hearing is November 20th r5g r5g is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending chapter 46 of the bach city code entitled environment by amending Article 5 entitled Turtle nesting protection ordinance by amending section 46-22 and 46-2 or3 thereof to strengthen and clarify the provisions of the existing ordinance and include recommended modifications with the flo Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission FWC and providing for repeat or severability codification and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5g I I'll take it from here uh commissioner sarz you're recognized thank you they believe this is second reading and um given the feedback from my colleagues I think we've addressed a lot of concerns I understand the mayor had concerns about an overreach um as as far as residents are concerned but I think considering the fact that you have tourists that come in who may not know anything about sea turtles um this program should apply because the the hotels will give proper notice um you know I just want to share an email that we received uh just just today um from a from a resident um on the beach you know just a quick note of support we hope to hear later today that the city approves amending chapter 46 at today's meeting as a as a 24-year beach resident it's time that we join the rest of sou the Southern Hemisphere and do our part to minimize Beach light pollution our 238 unit Condo building at 465 Ocean Drive is taking your proactive guidance and support in removing our globe balcony lights during our ongoing structural Renovations we will also be modifying our pool deck lighting which is Moonlight Ro round Globe lighting fixtures as a long time president I've seen seat turtle hatchlings in front of our building dozens of times as well in the galpagos in Costa Rica where obviously they are more protected over the years I've seen and heard stories of late hatchling stragglers headed away from the ocean by light distraction please make us proud today these little things are not asking for that much after all so with that I'd like to just move my item thank you uh commissioner I'll second your item and I just would like to note I love our level of compassion today and I think this item has a lot of merits we're compassionate towards the turtles we're compassionate towards the animals under the buildings and I think we also need to remember you know the compassion we need to extend to all people as well uh in our in our city and especially given the tone of what happened earlier today but this is a good item you know these are defenseless uh cre creature so we need to protect so I'm happy to Second your motion and thank you for making the amendments to less owners on home owners so I believe we have a motion in a second king and I see no one in zoom and no one in the audience requesting to speak with that let's call the rule so on r5g commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Dominguez yes commissioner magazine yes Vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Bach yes commissioner Rosa Gonzalez yes mayor Miner no motion carries the item is approved r5g how about the turtles R9 AF R9 AF is discuss scheduling and coordinating of sunshine meetings thank you Mr Mayor for calling this item so I placed this item on the agenda I think Sunshine meetings can be a great Tool uh for for us uh an occasion to be able to you know want to briefly explain in case somebody doesn't know what they are AR res I'm sorry interject but yes um so Sunshine meetings are when members when two or more members of the city commission wish to meet uh they provide notice to the city clerk the city clerk advertises the meeting and then um a sunshine meeting is held it's not like a meeting of the city commission or a meeting of one of our committees it's a meeting between two members of the city commission uh or more members and minutes are taken uh per Florida Sunshine laws I believe Mr clerk correct me if I'm wrong the meetings are recorded they don't have to be have to be but minutes must be taken minutes must must be taken usually we these Sunshine meetings take place in a conference room at times we've had uh Sunshine meetings at uh at side on on the field to address issues so I do believe in them as a tool what I don't like is they're happening very frequently they're happening too frequently um um and you know not everyone has the luxury of doing this as a full-time job unfortunate I'm able to dedicate a lot of time to this and a number of us are are able to but not everyone in this body has that Advantage not everyone in the public has the advantage to on a very regular basis be looking to see when is the next Sunshine meeting between two members or three members of the city commission going to be to be in a conf conference room uh that's not televised or in Zoom to partake in a discussion so I just would like some feedback from our Administration on how we can make this more streamlined and that's what I've that's why I've this on the agenda to see how we can establish clear guidelines for the scheduling and noticing of these Sunshine meetings because I don't want to overb birden our staff either it's owners on the elected officials when we have to be running from Sunshine meeting to Sunshine meeting is honorous on the public that want to be a part of the public discourse but it's also honorous on our staff when they have to be attending these meetings so Mr manager um I would like to see if there's any recommendations uh or guidelines that you can give us that can you know help us with this so Mr vice mayor I don't have any recommendations today on what would ultimately this look like I mean and I don't want to shoot from the hip so I I know that the um the clerk's office has been instrumental in in trying to advertise and and take minutes of these meetings um I don't know how heavy the staff burden has been I haven't heard um significant push back from any of my teams but I'd like to look at it a little bit closer and maybe come back next month sure sure and a minimum I'd say we shouldn't have Sunshine meetings that are conflicting with committee meetings um at very minimum um you know whether it be our committee meetings of the landew uh neighborhoods uh or Finance or let's say a our major boards like you know the historic preservation board or drb or boa uh because you know the public usually wants to participate in those as well and so I would appreciate it if you could put together some framework I'd love to hear from my colleagues and see uh this is a great tool I just feel we can't overuse this tool otherwise it becomes very honorous on us on the public and on staff and I'm Welcome to our colleagues feedbacks commissioner Rosa Gonzalez oh I mean I do a a monthly Zoom that Sunshine notice and I don't think it's a big deal because we well there's a record of it well it's not just that I mean like sometimes when we did the Southshore Community Center we made it sunshine the thing is is as long as our Aid is taking the notes I don't think it's so labor intensive I understand what you're saying because you want to attend every meeting and there's a lot of them but I wouldn't want to discourage the opportunity for any of us to speak about something so that we can be more efficient here I know it's frustrating because there's been a lot of meetings and sometimes I haven't attended or I haven't been able to attend but I mean overall I think any time that we get together to try to speak in between meetings so that we can flesh things out um is a good thing because it makes us more efficient here I don't know how everybody else feels about it please don't regulate this commissioner Fernandez commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor U yeah I wholeheartedly agree I think the more we communicate the better um I wouldn't want to put any guard rails on when we can set up meetings um um I I totally understand your concern commissioner Fernandez but you know the less we talk what I found out is the more that lobbyists win because they can get around Sunshine uh laws and take advantage of us and so the more we discuss in in a in a recorded if it's Ms or on a video session I think we should definitely encourage that um I think the issue when you brought up um that there was a meeting during a land use you know what I've been doing recently is sunshin neighborhood association meetings uh and workshops um of different um like bids across the city and one happened to run alongside a land use meeting because I I just had the dates wrong so um and I and I'm going to continue to do that so that way when we're at a neighbor Association we can speak we can speak freely amongst each other and I think that's a good thing so um I'm also welcome to hear back from any of my colleagues on this commissioner Dominguez thank you um and thank you for bringing this forward commissioner Fernandez I do tend to agree with you we have a commission meeting we have committee meetings we have a process so if uh any commissioner wants to discuss something together put an item on the agenda and we can discuss it at committee or commission and it's more respectful to the staff's time our time and um we allow the public notice and we're transparent so uh commissioner Suarez I think you're actually the father of these Sunshine meetings uh if I'm not mistaken they didn't really exist until uh until you started noticing them and I I understand the in I I could see the efficiency um in in saving some time at these meetings you are correct that we are often at a disadvantage that the seven of us cannot talk individually amongst each other so I I I get that um from day one I was not a fan of them and I think it's actually my my hesitancy to support and sign on to these and I'm not signing on I don't I don't go to them I think somebody usually from from my team goes to just to be familiar what's what's happening and I get reports is again somewhat what you just said commissioner Dominguez we have commission meetings we have our uh n our our committee meetings and I just I am concerned about that the public is not viewing there anybody could come but realistically it's not going to happen they're not televised and um so I just think the the negatives outweigh the positives especially since it is being used so often it's one thing if it was a oneof there was a couple of things but we're seeing it more and more um I'm not I didn't do anything to stop it I'll be interested to see what you come up with commissioner Fernandez I didn't I I just didn't show up so but again I I think we need to be careful and the perception as well of of how it looks to the uh to the public Mr Mayor if I just follow up on something yeah I'd be interested to know uh to know what the city manager and the city clerical could come up with um you know bring back any recommendations um you know we trust our city manager and our city clerk very much and I and and I would value very much their their recommendations on this my concern is that you know I'm not as concerned as the neighborhood association meetings is those neighborhood association meetings when they're placed on on the calendar well those are neighborhood meetings they're in the public they're with the public itself uh my concern is is when it's us as selected officials in a conference room um you know constantly having these meetings in a conference room outside a traditional setting that's televised that's easy for the public to participate in and listen in on at the very minimum uh I would like us to see if these do continue forward Sunshine meetings that are coordinated between two and more elected officials um at least have a zoom link for them so so that the public at least can listen in and know what's what's going on something just to facilitate the transparency and the participation of the public at the very least but uh Mr manager Mr clerk I count on you guys uh to uh to you know come back to us with some recommendations on on how we can make this better while not getting in the way and I get commissioner Suarez where you're where where where you're coming from and I think that there is some good in being able to attend a sna meeting or or an Allison Park meeting and have it advertised uh so that we can enter into discussions uh amongst us um but but when it's when it's here at City Hall these meetings that you and you and I may be in in a meeting to discuss policy and it's an innocuous thing on and an official calendar on the city's website the public is not able to really it's it's not really as transparent as perhaps it should be um or it could be and so I just would value the city clerk the city manager coming back to us with recommendations on that right commissioner Rosen Gonzales I would say that maybe not a zoom maybe a conference call number or some sort of you know you can have a phone number so we can at least have a phone call so that people can call in um but is it legal for us to not be able to call a meeting like if I'm calling a meeting and I want my meeting noce can I be regulated on that I mean I was elected what oh no I I mean if look I I I would be supportive if you just wanted to make sure that we added a conference call number to every meeting so that people could call in I would be fine with that the problem with that is that who's going to who is going to um have the conference call number at you know when it's an on-site meeting I I think you made your point clear about the sunshine meetings but I would caution about um regulating our ability to have as much public input and speak to each other and notice it I mean I think that there should be like more of that I would like us to be able to Sunshine everything so that we could talk about everything because one of the things that I find most frustrating especially when we're at a neighborhood association meeting we used to have to like leave the room after somebody spoke I didn't even know I didn't even know that they were being noticed now so that that's great and I would I would I feel the opposite of of how you guys feel I feel like the more the better the more conversation the better the policy the more Community Buy in we have the more communication I mean it's just open it's it's kind of taking off the shackles and recorded and recorded that's right commissioner magazine yeah I I think maybe it would be wise just to devise some sort of either official or unofficial best practices because I do think that these are a very useful tool one of the biggest surprises to me um after getting elected is the lack of actually talking to my colleagues uh intermittently I was like you know what I actually talked to some of them more when I was just a private citizen resident and there are protections that we need to hold in place so perhaps it is for any meeting having an accessible Zoom call or a conference number perhaps they're recorded to the best of our abilities and placed on a website um but I think we can certainly find uh a needle to thread where we are making these open accessible and transparent but still being able to utilize this as a form for us to discuss uh more than once a month okay so are you going to bring something back commissioner fernanz yeah I work with the city clerk and the city manager on on something and I value the feedback of of of our colleagues and and I know that you know these meetings happen out of a desire to do good for our city and uh and and that's that's why I want to just make sure that we do it in a way that is respectful to us staff and the public okay thank you good discussion let's call Item R9 AE r98 is discussed take action comment on changes to redesign phase of 70 72nd Street Community complex commissioner magazine thank you Mr Mayor um in our uh previous geobond before the arts and culture a number of projects were allocated one of the larger if not largest uh Big Ticket items was the 72nd Street Community complex uh I want to be very clear I am Allin on this project the neighborhood and Community need it they deserve it and I want to try and deliver to this uh project that as quickly and uh as thoughtfully as possible now like so many other things over the past couple of years we have seen cost inflation across the board and it has really made us recalibrate what a number of these projects are going to look like uh for the 72nd Street that cost has been ballooning um almost on a daily basis going back a couple of years I I don't know if somebody has uh um the exact statistics about what the pro the original project was allocated to and then if we kept that current design uh what that would have Bloon to but it really caused us to have to go back and uh put out the bid for a redesign that was within the uh par Financial parameters that we set out now one of the things that is driving the significant cost of this project is a rooftop uh olympic size pool and when we put this back out for redesign one of the things that um we didn't really reconsider rediscussed is can we still deliver a worldclass community center for 72nd Street if we would also take a look at the redesign of that rooftop uh olympic size pool that's still going to be an option but I think it would be uh beneficial to us as electeds and the entire Community if we would actually entertain other options uh as part of that Recreational facility as well uh if we would see some sort of soccer field pickle ball paddle on the uh top floor of that I at least think that they should come back with that as part of the option talking with the city staff uh because we didn't give specific direction of the new redesign was only considering redesigns with that olympic size rooftop pool um I am fully well versed on uh the Miami Beach Swim Team having to use that facility uh but this is a uh Community facility of the whole when I drive past things like the Miami Beach Country Club in the evening and I see the dozens if not even more people that are sitting out there at all hours of the night playing pickle ball it tells me you know what can we still deliver a worldclass facility but perhaps with a different design on the roof that actually isn't driving those uh ballooning costs so this is a discussion item I wanted to uh gauge my colleagues temperatures and what I would be looking to accomplish is uh given that this is in the redesign process uh looking to include other designs that are not uh solely a rooftop olympic size pool because I I do believe that that's driving the ballooning cost commissioner bot and commissioner Dominguez and commissioner Fernandez um so one of the things there are two things that have changed since the 2018 Geo Bond and even the last um round when you guys have talked about this one is that there has been a very clear message sent To Us by the residents of North Beach that there is insufficient parking and we're taking multiple steps to try to alleviate some of that stress but um you know I I've got an item that was on today's consent agenda about how to find parking for emergencies in North Beach right because people have to drive down to 41st Street and you know by the time they get there after work on the last day um that lot is is filled up and so now they're slapping around from you know whatever 79th Street down to 16th or whatever it is so um parking is is at a premium and I don't love the idea of spending a ton of money for a parking garage but that is what that neighborhood needs um in in a significant way the other thing is that uh and so to finish that salot I apologize um I want to make sure that we are Maxim izing the number of incremental additional spots that we are delivering um from the existing surface lot so adding you know 100 is probably not going to be sufficient and so what what does that mean to the overall design the other thing is um the Byron carile was not um contemplated as a contributing cultural amenity and Community Center amenity the way it is now that we have an idea of what it's going to be um so it is a little bit of a different amenity but where there may may be overlap in what we're um envisioning for the cultural center and maybe some uses of the um Aquatic Center uh maybe there's an opportunity to sort of reconfigure re rethink a little bit some of the nonwater activities that are are contemplated thank you Commission B commissioner Dominguez thank you and thank you commissioner magazine I I really like um where you're going with this I do think it's important now that it's been so long since this was on the ballot and there's been many iterations that we get it right I think always Community input is important and we go out to the community and ask them what they Envision for that uh if it is pick aall or paddle or any other form of entertainment it's important that we have a a town hall and meetings and get North Beach residents involved all right is there a motion on the well I guess I'll ask our city manager or David what is the time frame because I like commissioner dominguez's idea um of getting what that final uh touch would look like if not an Olympic siiz pool how long would we have where we can realistically go back to the design team and say hey please include uh some projects that contemplate this on the roof instead of an Olympic siiz pool and am I correct in my assessment that one of the biggest cost drivers here is not only the construction of the rooftop olympic size pool but the ongoing uh maintenance as well let me speak first to where we are in the project um we have gone back to the gooc and we provided them with a with a preliminary um concept for the project the 30% design documents and first costing are due uh in the next couple of weeks so we should be able to reconcile number one that we are in budget and number two that all of the program elements are are accounted for we have identified potential value engineering options should the cost exceed our construction budget um so we're ready to do that exercising and come back to you the schedule right now is that we will be going to returning to the gooc and beginning community outreach next month will also be submitting for the first submittal for uh the design review board January will be coming back to you with a presentation as well as the drb's recommendations um so that that happens between now and January um as far as the majority of the cost the pool is definitely a significant cost factor I don't know that I could say it's the greatest cost Factor um once you consider the structure itself is is costly as well um magazine was your question answered as to the timeline for change of design what would be the latest Point by when we can make that decision so David do you need further clarification on that yeah yes quick correction we're coming here before going to drb okay but when would we be able to go out to the design team and say I knew you're going to come back with a value engineered um design that includes the rooftop pool however they are under a very black and white um mandate to only come back with designs with a rooftop Olympic siiz pool if we wanted to say go back and we got input from the community that instead of an Olympic siiz pool on the roof they would like a soccer facility um rooftop track paddle pickle ball and that would actually be more in line when could we go back and give those design parameters that we want to have a design returned and thank you commissioner magazine let me recognize the city manager who can shed some light on this Mr manager so we're I think what you heard from our CIP director is that we are planning to bring something to you in January before we submit to drb I would say before we go to drb is probably the latest I wouldn't want to go to drb and get approval for something and then have to change it obviously we have for other projects in the past I would just prefer to not to I think the sooner we start um signaling that we're going to be making substantive changes the better off we're going to be with the design professionals as well as you know where we land budget wise uh commissioner B commissioner Rosen Gonzalez um so here's the concept um and I know it's late in the game but it's not too late in the game yet just a few blocks further west there is already a pool in the ground adjacent to some sports Fields it is not an Olympic pool but there is city-owned Parkland that is adjacent to that pool which could be that whole campus could be reconfigured to include uh a comp a competition level um Sports field uh swimming pool fire station excuse me no what can I just hang on please um and then the space in as part of the the community complex could then be um you know we could make up whatever field if it's a basketball couple basketball courts or soccer field we could incorporate that in the design so that it's just a trading of the location and and the benefits are still the same to the community the high school can still come up to North Beach and have a great competitive um uh swimming pool to to host meets at and we are getting everything that the community wants once we get further input from them but it does not cost us as much so I I would like to throw that into the mix as something to contemplate as you're contemplating since it's a discussion item okay okay good I'm glad you're bringing up the pool because we can't eliminate the pool because people really voted for that because of the pool it was like a pool and then an add-on garage right so I have and the idea really of a competition size swimming pool um olympic size swimming pool so we can host meet I don't think there's another where's the closest pool closest competition swimming pool it's far right um I think it's at one of the colleges or universities I think I had heard that there's one on the mainland maybe at Ransom or somewhere is the closest one possibly I mean I know we have one at MDC on the Kendall Campus there's not many of them there's like one at Mission Bay and Boer Ron there are not many this is something that once we have this competition swimming swimming pool we are going to be be hosting uh meets all the time and um so if that lot is big enough for me in order to vote on changing the garage we would and bifurcating them I mean if you can get that I know exactly what Tanya's talking about too you have a regular swimming pool and across the street you have a soccer field if you want to switch them out and put the soccer field on top of the garage and the swimming pool in the ground that's a great idea and I think your cost would be significantly less if you have the space I don't know what exactly the geobond said but a competition olympic size swimming pool is not just I mean it's a whole complex you have like practice pools were we having practice pools and all of this stuff on on that it includes a warm up pool it's not just one pool it's a it's something that you use when you when you're holding meat so I don't know that that I don't know that that field is large enough I always Envision that we would build it somehow on one of the Ocean Front lots that we had because I thought that there was nothing prettier than holding a swim meet on the ocean and at the same time you save this public you know land for everybody adjacent to the library um but I think Tanya's idea seems more commissioner bot's idea seems more um more likely to happen because people would bulk and say wait that's that's Ocean Front land that we could later and the the other place that it could be if I if I might through the vice chair um is we could you know we're very protective of of the West Lots we don't want to let those be developed but if there was an appetite among the community maybe that is a place for a pool where you still get the benefit of having an ocean view but you're not giving up ocean front property I'm I'm I'm okay with that too so um I would as long as you build a pool once you bifurcate the cost is going to is drop exponentially and we have $100 million correct uh the total project budget is 101 101 so if you were to buer like see here's the problem they're about to bring us a plan a value and cheater plan now we're going to change the plan now we have to go back and start the plan then we have to bid it out I mean like how much time are we adding on once we make these changes there's already a construction manager on board if I I would in this case wait and see what they present to us if you want I I like your idea much better but we cannot do this without the pool there has to be a pool component cuz we promised this olympic size facility I think it's I I never thought it was smart to put it on top of a garage though so we're we're and you have it on the you're you're able to I mean how what does it look like look the concept right now is not the very top level but it is a ra un elevated level what do you mean not oh the building itself will have multiple levels the pool is on a raised level but it's not the very top it sounds like the last place in the world that I want to go swimming is in a parking garage yeah especially not on the rooftop like hey let's go to the garage that's as bad as let's run next to the C wall at the track so commissioner Suarez the commissioner Bond and I don't know commissioner magazine if at some point you want to make a motion you know maybe asking staff to explore some of these ideas that commissioner bod has brought forward which I think they're good ideas asking for there to be a potential breed design with no pool on the garage because we definitely do need the parking uh as well so you know a motion might be good at some point commissioner Suarez thank you vice mayor um one one of the one of the issues that when we were talking about North Beach parking was parking garages right and so is this this is parking garage is going to add only an extra 100 spaces or or how many spaces was it going to add from the existing um from 319 to 500 so about 180 spaces correct and how much is the project costing I'm sorry how much is the project total cost total bud is 101 construction budget is 70 million so what's the total 101 100 $100 million for an extra 180 parking spaces just want everyone to understand that that that you know I think the the whole idea and the and and the the central idea of this project was for more parking so everyone should that's watching should realize that we're going to be adding 180 spaces for 100 million dollar to possibly and also add on a soccer field or a pool on top I don't like that idea I'm telling that right now I do not like that idea I don't think that's a good use of taxpayer money um I think age before we go to before we move forward on this before we spend a $100 million of taxpayer money y do we really want to spend it on 180 parking spaces in a pool and a soccer field on the top I'm not going to be okay with that so you know I just want to make my thoughts very clear now so we don't waste anyone's time um I from the sense I get up here I don't know if how my colleagues feel about that but that just seems like a boondoggle I mean I'm I'm I'm I I think it's ridiculous to spend $100 million on 100 what is the math on that well the voters yeah and and what commissioner Dominguez just says originally the voters approved it for 55 million now it's doubled so you know I I don't know I mean and not not to mention that this is going to take like two three four years to construct those 300 parking those 315 parking spaces are gone during that time so what's up just to to clarify the the scope of the project also includes the new library it includes a fitness center with a running track it includes a community center uh that that is obviously open to the public and and for Community use it includes commercial spaces on the ground floor um so there's more to it than just the garage just for clarity I understand okay but I think like I like I said the the the central idea was was to add parking I think that's what that's what I think that's what was sold to to the voters and so uh when you're telling me that it's just 180 spaces um I I I I just I think it's just nuts so um I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to say about that incremental commissioner commissioner bot so um you know we talking about the pool and and making it usable um I remember when this first came up um with a very different set of Commissioners on on the days um one of the things that we heard about why it needed to be such a big space was because when families and friends and teams come for Meats they bring all their stuff and they set up you know like warming areas and coolers and towels and they've got a tent for the Sun and they've got all this stuff so to me to I don't remember who made the point about you know the last place i' want to go swim is on top of parking lot but you know maybe it is something that we really do need to reconsider that it would be much more pleasantly cited where you don't have to go up and down in a tiny elevator or go up three or four stories um and uh have it be in the ground so it's not a super tall chunky building in the middle not super tall compared to the other things that have cropped up around there but it's not this big massive building um in the middle of this this area um and then the other thing is uh as you think about reconfiguring reconfiguring space and usage in in the building um to try to find more parking I don't think we need more retail space in North Beach we have tons of underutilized or not utilized retail space as it is now and I would be much more interested in um you know incentivizing retailers and and landlords to reconfigure their space so that they can finally rent it out because that's what we need we don't need more people taking away from you know people who are trying to make their businesses flourish now great Elizabeth I'll give you the last word even though it's not a public hearing I know but thanks for letting me speak I know you've been sitting here for a while no I just you know this is our neighborhood also and um when it was first voted on obviously it was $55 million and it is you're right it is probably double that now but we we definitely need parking spaces we need more than the 180 that we would net um we also need we need retail but we need good retail and this will transform the whole area it's not going to just be the older spaces because those are functionally obsolete they're very difficult to lease most of them are probably condemned but we still have people operating in them right now um I think that if we can maybe move the pool to the West Lots I mean I don't know I mean I this is an idea and it is Park use it's something that nobody has really ever talked about before and I'm just wanted to throw that out there because we've got to make this happen it's got to be soon so I appreciate it thank you I appreciate it and just to clarify my my full intent is to move forward with the community center and the structure I was just thinking if we could reimagine uh the elevated Olympic siiz pool we'd be able to potentially get a much nicer um Center when I hear we're going to spend a hundred million on something and we need to Value engineer it I don't like that yeah right and David do you have an estimate of how much the pool is contributing towards those costs you know because uh like my colleague brought up to construct a parking space uh at most conservative is going to be $60,000 probably somewhere close around 45 to 50 uh granted there are many other drivers here um but we're looking at uh you know 300 250 $300,000 uh per spot um so the pool has to be a huge uh driver of this I didn't bring the breakdown of of the pool cost but I should have that in the next couple of weeks when they confirm their estimate yeah okay so I guess the motion that I would like to have um and I'm open to how we include the community for their input in here is to begin preparing um a request from the design team to essentially have a community centered design at that budget with out the inclusion of the Olympic ize pool on the roof because you know my my feeling is that that's what's ating uh those incremental costs and I'll second that motion um and I and and I agree with with the points made by commissioner bod about other locations for for pool so there's a motion and a second is there any other discussion just be clear the motion is to move forward without the pool uh no so it's just to have design options to come back that also include not having a pool so we're going to get the designs that come back with the original design um how we were proposed that that will still be an option on the table but I also want to have options included of a design without that rooftop pool can we can we add maybe more parking to that an option with additional parking the the way the parking is designed we just add floors to it you just yeah you okay bring that as an option yeah so and hold up just just one second and and also I would encourage you to consider um encouraging public engagement with the North Beach Community as as to other locations where you know a pool could also be accommodated because to commissioner Rosen Gonzalez's points earlier the community was promised uh uh an Olympic uh an Olympic pool uh a competitive pool uh and we need to deliver on those promises while being mindful of cost and parking needs and I think you know there is a delicate B where we can achieve all those things you're heading in the in the right direction and I think if you just would include that community outreach because that's that's pivotal here engaging that Community seeing where where we can accommodate the promised pool uh that uh that they voted on commissioner Rosa Gonzalez but also don't don't stop this process because I think when they say value engineer the pool is not going to be on the rooftop the pool is going to be on the actual site but not under the garage right when when I said value engineered before I was we we went through an exercise of Iden identifying items that meet the criteria of the design criteria package and meet the programming requirements but are more nice to havs than Necessities so we've already identified those as things that could be removed to bring it back into budget because on that site you do have space to put the pool and put the garage and just make the garage only garage and then pool on the ground so we would be giving up something else but I mean we've gone through this process we passed this in 2018 so here we are six years later and we're finally going to get presented something and now we're going to say okay let's change it all before we say that let's see what they bring us because maybe they bring us a garage and a pool um you know together and maybe it's okay because other to do anything else is kind of like pushing it down would just start all over again as like years and I would not want to build the garage without a pool like I don't know what it is that you're going to show us hopefully it's going to be something that we all like and you're you have it ready to go for the next meeting you can show it to us at the next meeting that might be tight what I would ask is before we give any other direction could we see what they're what they're proposing so this is just requesting something in tandem right so we're going to get back this option but then we're also going to say okay what can we see without that well I know but you know the way that CIP works is you have a project maner manager and that project manager is focused on one goal and when you give that project manager two goals they're already overwhelmed and now they don't have a clear Direction what I would ask instead of doing anything tandem how far away are you from showing us the final design because I remember voting for this like a year and a half ago well we are about two weeks from showing you 30% drawings all right we are two weeks it's almost like we're like at the finish line sign and we're going to be like no go to start let's just see what we have in two weeks before we give any opposite direction would that be okay it's only two more weeks it's been six years let's just see what they're going to present and if we can reject that at that time and give a completely different direction but between now and the two weeks my ask would be to just keep this item on the agenda and based on what we see at the next meeting we can take the direction that you want would that be acceptable to you commissioner magazine just because we're so close to finally seeing something that we've paid a lot of money for so you're going to get back the preliminary design in two weeks yes with the cost estimate yeah and it's and the way that we did it was a design build I mean I think like we really it wasn't a design build or the original one was design build this is construction manager risk construction manager because what we wanted to do was it it got so out of control that we said we're going to build something that we know that we have money to pay for we're not going to we're no longer going to design something that we can't build so what all I'm hoping is that like the pool if it's not on the roof that it has some sort of sunshine because I think what would not be acceptable is a pool under inside of the concrete garage so I hope that that's not part of their design but in two weeks they could pull the pool out and put it adjacent I don't know anyway okay so whatever I don't know what direction you're going to take but we're close I don't just next item okay I think we have the dire we have the direction thank you good discussion um wait there was motion I second to keep it on the agenda until next month you wish to defer the item then to to the next meeting yeah you can just defer it yeah okay sounds good been told R7 I I'm only going to give it a couple minutes I heard it's a quick item if not I'm going to defer it to the next meeting 7 I r7i is first reading approved conveyance of air rights easement MS m mms7 fa Lane requires a 5 sevs vote commissioner magazine uh I'm going to kick this over to staff uh I inherited this uh I believe this this was discussed um at the finance committee in the previous commission uh so I'll give it for an explanation we actually heard it through uh our finance committee uh we actually kicked the can down the road a little bit because we wanted to have even more engagement from the neighborhood uh believe we reached out to all relevant neighborhood groups so if I could just ask uh Brad from Public Works uh through the chair I'll recognize you and uh hope to get through this quick it's actually an instance where we're not giving up much and the city is actually getting Revenue in sure um good afternoon mayor Miner fellow Commissioners I will try to be very brief on this um this item is simply U the owners at six and seven Ferry Lane are seeking an aerial easement um the easement has an air elevation of exactly 65.5 6 ft and has approximately 36301 cubic feet the purpose of this is for construction of a sky bridge to connect the parcels with three levels of habitable tatal improvements for a private balcony a portion of a lap pool and and a roof Terrace the only really issue is in question here is there's a public benefit to this that's worth approximately $ 83,000 250 uh and how that is going to be um dispersed uh Bea is requesting for the public benefit to be allocated as follows 69% uh towards Bell Island and 31% um in favor of Ferry Lane uh and that and that's basically they're a volunteer neighborhood association they're not governed by um any homeowners association covenants at all um and bureau's consent to the proposed eement is not legally required um but this is kind of ask you know of the item um delor is also will be here to answer any other legal questions on vice mayor thank you uh just real quick at the finance meeting I had brought up that um 300,000 of it be allocated for the dog park and so I'm just going to reiterate that again now and is that something that we're actually allocating today the allocation of the public benefit so I think I think the item is before you because you have a request from a neighborhood association that it be specifically allocated obviously the commissioner had asked for a portion of that money to be allocated for the dog park have no issue with that my ask would be that the the public benefit comes to the general fund for the entirety of the city and other than the 300,000 for the dog park that it be obviously your discretion where to allocate it Mr Mayor um thank you through the chair uh is is 100% of these funds going to the city or is any of these funds going to a third party uh entity commissioner you're not your mic's not on commissioner Suarez 100% of the funds are to be utilized at the city's descrition we've come hand inhand with Bureau with a recommendation but without doubt 100% of the funds are going to the city for this and and the administration to administer its discretion and as far as you can as far as you understand is there any side settlement agreements between bua or anyone else as far as how we vote today for any particular funds in a project none whatsoever thank you vice mayor Fernandez thank you now let's call the vote thank you Mr Mayor and just quickly with the eastment that we are giving this this air right uh is there any does it yield any increase in unit size of the uh the structure that can be built there absolutely not it neither increases the yield size the height F we are only building what we are otherwise allowed to build under the code okay that with that I'm happy to Second commissioner Magazine's motion let's call the vote I have a motion for commissioner magazine seconded by commissioner Fernandez on r7i all in favor please say I I motion carry second reading scheduled for November 20th r five Q r5q is an ordinance of the mayor and City Commission of the city of May Beach Florida amending the resiliency Cod of the city of May beach by ending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations Article 2 District regulations Section 7.2.1 cd2 commercial medium intensity District by amending section 7.2.1 11.3 entitled development regulations cd2 to modify the floor area ratio bonus for hotel uses in cd2 districts and providing for catification repeater cability and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing the item requires a 57s vote it is r5q commissioner Fernandez co-sponsored by commissioner spot magazine and Suarez thank you Mr Mayor uh and I want to thank my co-sponsors for joining me and presenting dis ordinance have removes the 05 F bonus for properties containing Hotel unit Suite Hotels um or hostels in all cd2 districts uh including the key areas of Washington Avenue and Collins Avenue in South Beach uh I believe um that we have Reed received uh support on this ordinance not just from mpu but I this has gone also before the planning board I believe and received I believe a unanimous support Mr Mooney at the planning board that that's correct Mr vice mayor well actually the vote at the planning board was 5 to one 521 uh and so and so it's a very straightforward uh piece of legislation I think we want to uh not be incentivizing uh more more more transient use and transitioning over instead to residential uses and that is the purpose of this legislation I'm happy to move it second M May commission magazine uh thank you vice mayor Fernandez um it was great to see so much cohesion uh from our colleagues agreed don't want to reiterate but we are just over hotell on our infill commercial corridors uh that being said um we've said this phrase a number of times we'll continue to do so easy to say that the city you don't want to be we also need to provide direction for the city we do want to be Washington Avenue every single time it comes up at the planning board uh at any of these land use boards it's you know what we we could really use uh some refreshing here uh tremendous strides have been made we see what these incentives did with uh very good projects although maybe you know with some caveats with a good time Hotel The Moxy Hotel uh so the right incentive package can really get uh this Corridor off in the right direction so here we're taking away and saying this isn't we don't need any more of this but I'm having trust and faith in my colleagues that were soon going to come to the table and say this is who we want to be and provide the right incentives for that so on one hand we're taking away what we don't want to be um but the next step is kind of going forward with what we do want to be a few other and um Mr Mayor this is a public hearing so no one on zoom and I see no one the audience sir okay oh Troy got it under the gun Troy Wright Washington Avenue business improvment district you know not to belabor anything that's been said so far but to speak about what commissioner magazine just said you know it's okay I guess to take away some of the things that you don't want however it's a little difficult if we have not made a plan on what we do want and I think that's something that we have to really focus on before we start taking things away is figure out a plan figure out a goal figure out a Direction um and then move before we take things away thank you call the vote I have a motion from commissioner Fernandez seconded by commissioner Suarez commissioner bot yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner Dominguez yes may Miner yes motion carries the item is approved r5q Mr Mayor I have a release from the pull list just to make it easy for uh easier so that you don't have to call it later okay C7 AI want to release it from the pool list okay thank you if if so can we approve C7 AI by acclamation just for the record C7 I accidentally pulled it and I didn't to accidentally pulled myor c C7 AI is Ocean Drive lighting and sidewalk improvements is that the sounds good is that the median no no okay may I have a motion I'll move the item C7 AI second all in favor I I item C7 AI passes what else did you pull in R9 y R9 Y is discuss update on the link l Road Phase 2 project commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes in the spirit of moving Lincoln Road along you know I was with someone oh time's up kidding I was with someone from the bid the other day who said this has been this project has been so long and coming we might as well just give up on it and I don't feel like that's where we should be so what I wanted to find out is what are we working on I'd like to have a monthly update it does not have to be lengthy I just want to hear exactly what's going on and and what is going to be presented and what we're doing moving forward good afternoon David Gomez interm director for Capital Improvements um we have advertised phase two for Lincoln Road which is the uh Meridian Meridian Road excuse me Meridian Avenue and Drexel Avenue improvements uh they're actually two different projects they are currently under the con silence but they are advertised and we have reached out to contractors to let them know that they are under the the cone now so that December is we should be getting bids back um actually December is the opening date for the bid and we anticipate starting construction March April of 25 on those two streets so we're going to be instead of working on Lincoln Road proper the next phase is to phase two is to work on the side streets and that includes what can just so that we all know that is the improvements to Meridian Avenue from Lincoln Road to 17th Street and drexell Avenue from 16th Street all the way to Lincoln lane north um the reason we did it that way is because when years ago when when we went through the reimagining of the project where we started cutting back on some of the scope to reduce impact to the uh to the businesses the the parts of the project that were easiest to transfer over and redesign were Meridian and Drexel so those are the ones that we instru Ed the designer to go ahead and revise those drawings first while they did the rest of uh the spine are they becoming pedestrian areas or are they going drexo is pedestrianized from Lincoln Lane South to Lincoln Lane North okay um so you're going to start construction in March and how long do you think construction is going to take um it's 8 8 to 10 months 8 to 10 months my big worry is for example we have that business Andre cage that just open they spent $10 million are we going to put them under construction now and have them close I mean what does this mean for for that new business the condition for the project is that we have to maintain access and accommodate the businesses wherever we are so we will work closely with them to make sure that that they are impacted as little as possible with construction there's going to be dust there's going to be noise but we will do our best to to limit those impacts did you guys hear that it's really it's not the ideal I mean this business owner and this property owner just invested $10 million and now we're going to go in and rip up the whole thing right in front of their restaurant which I guess over time is is is a positive thing I would love for them to at least get the benefit of one season I don't want to kick any can down the road but um which yeah I is there anything else that you can do like instead of that portion next I mean if you did the ridan right that wouldn't affect yeah they're both advertised now okay all right so there you have it um and what about uclid Circle that I think is something that needs to be redone I know you guys want to put a parking I know you want to put a playground there but we have a whole plan that we spent millions of dollars on James Corner famous architect uclid oval is part of the phase three or the spine improvements so that's coming and the spine is the main road and you and when is the spine going to the spine is I apologize um we are looking to the phase three project should be completing design in the summer with and beginning construction at the end of the year phase three this summer this this coming summer 2025 okay and between now and next month can you give us an update on where we are in terms of the advertising and everything can I I want to leave this as a standing item and spend five to 10 minutes every meeting discussing it if that's okay with you keep it simple at the at the next meeting phase two will still be under adver so you won't when will you know something we will receive bids mid December so it I don't know if we'll be able to come back to you for award in December or January it depends on the commission schedule so I'm going to just defer to just take this item and defer it till dece bring it back in December so that we can get an update on where we are okay if that's okay with everyone and maybe any material update a letter to commission and also can you yeah a letter to commission with a pictures of what's going to be happening on Drexel meridian so that we know what's starting in March okay thank you so not a standing item deferred to December so yes and in the interim could we get could we could we get some sort of community an LTC with pictures and um what's going to happen on Drexel and Meridian starting March so that all of us are on the same page when we start to understand and I I think the LTC proactive stance you're I'm sorry I didn't mean to for the LTC you're looking for photos of the phase two improvements show us yeah what we want to see is what's happening on Lincoln Road when what date in March you're going to start um start construction just so that we know okay okay pictures thank you so item deferred to the sum thank you r5i r5i the ordance of the mayor City Commission of city of May Beach Florida amending chapter two of the May Beach city code and title Administration by amending article three entitled agencies boards and committees by amending division 33 entitled North Beach community redevelopment agency advisory committee to amend section 2-19 0.151 thereof entitled composition knowledge and experience to allow for a 57 City commission waiver for the geographic area residency requirements under specific conditions and providing for repealers ofab Ability qualification and effective date this is a second reading public hearing r5i commissioner bot thank you so this is an amendment to the guidelines for pointing people to the north beach CRA um and it's a second reading so unless anything has changed which I don't think it has I would like to move the item okay can we call the vote let's call the vote it is a public hearing I see no one in Zoom I see no one in the audience it was motioned by commissioner bot seconded by commissioner Dominguez commissioner bot yes commissioner Suarez yes VI mayor Fernandez yes commissioner Rosen Gonzalez yes commissioner magazine yes commissioner Dominguez yes mayor minor yes motion pass motion carries gotam is approved our by R R9 a ad you said a is in David discuss action update on Police Department's AI powered camera system yeah so this is a police item I was doing some research on uh cameras and came across this and reached out to police and it's already in the works and uh I think it sounds like a great great item but just want to see where we where we are good afternoon uh Mr Mayor and Commissioners Eric Garcia major of police tech services so um a lot to discuss uh so uh we do have technology that we use uh on some on our cameras um that uh allows us to do some analytics um what they call AI or whatever uh coincidentally at the time that you reached out to us uh regarding that particular company that was doing some interesting things with cameras we had already been in the market for some uh portable cameras because one of the things that uh our chief has been uh pressing me about has been and as well as you guys has been uh quick deployability and uh so camera trailers allow us to quickly deploy to problem are areas uh we we uh looked into the particular company that you had reached out to us about I had already spoken to them uh one of the one of the ironic things is that they're called live view Technologies but uh unfortunately their system does not allow us to live view cameras uh as we would with our internal systems so uh what we ended up doing is we purchased uh camera trailers uh from our other from another vendor that uh do integrate with our system and we'll be available in our realtime information Intelligence Center and we'll use the analytics that we the analytical tools that we already have for our other cameras uh on those Skywatch on those uh portable camera trailers so just have do we actually have those this technology yet or it's on order so we do have camera Technologies uh we do have uh in we do have analytics that we use on our cameras in our existing system that we'll be able to use on our camera trailers as well got it great and you mentioned a company there was a newspaper article that I was I think that's what you're referring to I don't even know the name okay yep great so on it do you need anything from us at this point I don't think I I think we're good uh the chief the chief uh has already been on this bandwagon so we're we're moving with uh Deployable camera trailers uh we've got funding for now so I have nothing to ask for today okay thank you what is the cost pardon me what is the cost so far or do you anticipate well two separate things there's a cost for Hardware there's a cost for software so uh the camera trailers themselves they're in the area of 8 to 90,000 fully um fully loaded these are solar powered um software it's just licensing that we would add to cover the cameras that are included in those camera trailers okay I'm good thank you so much thank you for being proactive yes sir yeah c2f c2f is award ITB 2024 458 ND Citywide LED lighting project c2f and it was separated by commissioner Fernandez yes thank you um Mr Mayor um this is an item that I pulled uh because this is an award let me just pull up the item an award of LED fixtures um lighting f pictures in uh in different parts of our city bashore Lor Allison Northshore Flamingo Palm View but especially as it relates to my question relates to the fixures we're putting in in the historic districts Flamingo Park Palm View um does does this award taken to contract uh design specific fixtures that go aligned according to the historic character of these neighborhoods um I think that the whole purpose of the entire project is obviously to upgrade um the lighting we have there are about a thousand luminaries uh scheduled for this phase I have to check specifically to that question but I think all of the fixtures are are to be consistent with what these neighborhood wanted and they're all LED lighting with particular electrical components to improve the lighting throughout areas does this change the lanterns and the poles or only the lighting just the fixtures so the lanterns do but I think the question is are we replacing like for like so if they're Acorn lights are we replacing them with acorns okay okay so that's that's what I want to make sure if in an area let's say they have Acorn lights they're going to be getting Acorn lights is that correct it's correct okay and we and are there areas where we're making improvements because sometimes you have the really we have the really ugly ones that look kind of Industrial Highway is uh are we making any improvements on the Aesthetics of any of these to perhaps put something nicer uh good afternoon good evening Christina Ora city engineer the the lights that the light fixtures that we're installing are per are a approved uh lighting fixtures that we typically use throughout the city um so absolutely these are going to be you know visually Pleasant I guess uh per our standards we use a type of fixtures for residential areas versus another type for more uh commercial areas if you would okay will will we be engaging with the neighborhoods as the uh get installed so we have uh we've done some public Outreach presentations we've conducted uh surveys uh polling of the community in particular the focus and I apologize take your time I know you were running in here so don't worry um take your time so we um we pulled the community we presented actually the different type of fixtures that we're going to be using we also um asked for preference on the the color and temperature of the lighting uh more bright uh white lights versus more Amber will these be coming back to the city commission before they get installed in the neighborhoods um as far as the the survey results or the polling results we can share it with you absolutely uh well not the light fixures that the city is going to be installing with the budget that we approved through the contract that we're approving or well we going to close the loop and have the city commission approve what's being placed into the neighborhoods of the residents we represent we we can bring it back to you um well I mean that's what we're here for but typically the award of the contract would be the last time that the commission typically that would be the last time that the commission would see this item if you would like us to bring it back we can bring it back well but what what visual is there with this item what's that there's no visuals with this item how do I know then we're making today the decision of the of the fixture that's going into Flamingo Palmville Bayshore Lor Allison and Northshore that's why we're replacing like for like we're not changing out poles it's going to look the same and CU those are iconic like going across the bridges people are going to get really upset if we change that we're not replacing Lighting on the bridges as part of this project and we have very detailed plans for each area and specify which type of fixture we're proposing so we can share we can definitely mean I just I just think I just think I would like us to see for example some neighborhoods may not have received new lights in decades and decades and decades and maybe maybe they want to see something different something nicer than what is currently there where perhaps a replacement for like for like wouldn't be appropriate I really do think these are the type of things I'm very happy you guys pull the residents we should be pulling the residents surveying the residents but ultimately things like this at the end of the day need to come back to the city commission for our input and guidance because we're the ones that are representing these residents and and and it's just like you know the whole debate whether to put shade trees or not and you know a contract gets awarded and then and then you know we awarded the contract but we had no idea what was actually happening so I'm going to be very careful with these procurement items going forward and frankly I really feel very uncomfortable awarding a contract where we are actually approving the actual fixture that's going into the neighborhoods without knowing whether my constituents want these same exact fixtures or whether they want an enhancement that they've been waiting decades for or so I I don't know I kind of wish we would have had a little bit more information for us to vet with with our residents before we approved this I I would like to say if I may as part of that uh public Outreach and presentation we did provide uh information on the light fixtures that are being proposed and that are part of our prod chrisa I get that but put yourself in my position I understand you went out to the residents you showed the residents what their what what the options were are you showing me what the options are are you showing the commission what what we're approving if we're tying our votes to this shouldn't we know since we're the ones that ultimately will get the phone call about this are going to be held accountable with what is installed in our taxpayers neighborhoods I'm sorry I'm going to move to the furthest item yeah I'm going to pull this item and we'll bring it back next month with additional information I need these members to have more details because when we award these contracts this is the tax payers money that we are awarding in their neighborhoods right outside their homes and I want to know you may have the information Mr manager your staff may have the information but we don't have the information and we are the elected officials we're the ones that get elected to make this decision and we need that information moving forward I'm going to be much more meticulous because I got already burnt on when I was told that some project got underway because it got approved through through a procurement and I got zero briefing about it so I'm just making it very clear these procurement items expect a lot of questions from me about it moving moving forward because it is unacceptable that here I'm being told that I am approving what is going to go in my constituent's neighborhood and they got to see it and everyone got to see it but the people who have to put their votes to it don't get to see it and we're going to be the ones getting the phone calls at the end of the day yeah thank you Mr Mayor thank you item is deferred um and I think we did uh approve our new procurement director today last month yes uh C2 C2 is award ITB 202 24- 381 and D Flamingo Park softball field who pulled it commissioner Fernandez you're up get the joke softball field thank you um Mr Mayor um you know the softball field again this is something that is used uh by people in our community um including uh Beach High uh and I think I think also Nautilus right is it or only Beach High uh I don't know if naus uses it yeah there is a there's a softball field at nus okay but I believe uh I believe that this construction might have a potential impact and Interruption to the kids that play while they from the school have we identified and secured the location where these kids are going to be playing at during uh construction the staff from our City's parks and recck department has met with uh Nautilus uh as well as the coaches at beach high and Nautilus is open and amenable to having B Tai host their games and practices at Polo Park uh and then if there is an additional need to use the baseball field the coaches have agreed to coordinate and and see how they work that out but yes they now have a home at Polo Park okay and thank you for them Mr director um they're open and amable to it but I guess my question is does it work for they might be open and amable but I just want to make sure I get certainty because the communication that I got yesterday was at you know everything was pending a meeting today to determine whether it would work so I get they might be open and willing to but will it work there the meeting did take place today and everybody was in agreement and everything is on on the on the schedule for them to do that yes okay so it will work there yes okay all right so with that I move the approval of the item second all in favor of this item C2 H please say I I motion passes 70 C4s as in Steve C4s is a referral to the finance economic resiliency committee wave Max Grant raise historic home at 605 Alton Road uh commissioner Dominguez thank you um I pulled the item because uh the property private property adapt program was started by commissioner Mark samin several years ago and um it has become a very popular program but the maximum Grant is $20,000 that somebody can get to raise a home I have been in touch with the owner of the home in question that's rece uh requesting a Max Grant wave of I believe it's 400,000 she's in a very difficult position she does get flooding in her home it's a tough situation I've spoken to the city manager about it and I'm working on it with his uh Chief of Staff um to work with our lobbyists to open the FEMA Grant deadline again so that they can get the adequate fundings from the federal level uh so that's why I pulled this item so that um the sponsor knows that I am working on it uh with the city Administration and trying to get uh dollars from another Avenue rather than depleting their private property adaptation question Rosa Gonzalez yeah I find it very odd that the number has even come up because there has been no estimate so I don't even know where did you get that number from Michelle the home owner oh okay I didn't even know that and there was an attack online which I got very upset I wanted to just explain to everybody what was going on here um some of our residents that have homes that constantly flood are getting emails from FEMA and FEMA is telling um these residents uh in in these flood zone areas you are eligible for 100% of the grants so the residents are then reaching out to these contractors who are telling them well the city administers the program when they come to the city to uh apply for these grants the city is now being now right now now we're being more helpful but frankly uh when the homeowners approach uh the city staff there's like a very very they're they're telling you oh you you've missed this deadline and frankly we have not been able to draw down a single FEMA dollar when other municipalities across Florida are are raising homes like crazy 100% paid for by FEMA so when we saw that we could not get the FEMA funding we've been unsuccessful to date I believe we have two applications in the pipeline right now but we've heard nothing so there's something in our process that's broken because it's not fair that other municipalities are being able to administer these programs so then it's a frustrating Loop because the resident gets told by our staff you the windows closed you can't apply and then they get the email from FEMA and FEMA says and and and FEMA tells the homeowner oh um and FEMA tells the homeowner oh you have to go to the city and so you're in a constant cycle and you never quite get to where you're going so number one the administration of the program I think we need to explore what other municipalities are doing that we are currently not I think that as part of this motion what I would like to do with this item is refer it as a discussion to um committee not about raising uh this home but about you know about I would yeah because I would like to have the discussion with the prop commissioner would you consider a motion to uh refer this to Neighborhood quality of life and then we'll discuss this thank you yes and and I I think we should discuss it there because we've been failing our residents so they're getting one message from the federal government and then um it's very complex it's very complex but I do think on some level that we have not been um that we dropped the ball um and so what the reason why this came up is because I said well why don't we start the process of trying to figure out how where where it's broken in the process and take the money from that fund and then get the reimbursement from the federal government afterward because it's eligible for 100% funding but since the city has been unable to accomplish this that was what we were doing I don't know I had one meeting with the homeowner and Amy nolles and the next thing I knew I was being attacked online and called corrupt about this I'm very very upset that this happened um I would hope that everybody understands that there was nothing corrupt in this pipeline I think commissioner Dominguez you understand that right now but it was I was very unhappy to wake up on Sunday morning to a scathing post I would hope moving it wasn't my post for clarity oh um and and and and I what I would hope is that when I sit down at a city meeting and we are having a discussion the last thing that I want is to get attacked online with information that only certain city employees would have had I'm feeling I'm still angry and scathing about it because really it ruined my whole day I was being compared to Vicky Lopez me with a home raising when all I was trying to do was figure out the gr process and this is because there was some sort of breach in my meeting so what I would hope our city manager moving forward is that when I sit down with City Administration officials that they don't go behind my back afterward and and create some sort of Scandal where there isn't any I'm glad commissioner dingz that you reached out to the homeowner I have spoken to Amy nolles on the phone about this I told her I was very angry about what happened and um and hopefully we will work together with this homeowner to somehow write this situation and my hope is that when we sit down at a meeting it stays at that meeting because the last thing I want after meeting with a city official and having a conversation is to be compared to Vicky Lopez and called corrupt over over something that your department was unable to realize unable to process these FEMA grants so now that we're having this open discussion it doesn't feel so nice that's to be attacked so let's move forward let's move forward and fix the problems with the grant funding and hopefully um know that you know when I sit down I'm and having a conversation with you I would hope that we have the same type of fiduciary agreement that I would have when I sit with our City attorney or sit with the city manager it's the first time that this has really ever happened or at least that I've seen this happen to me um over time not only that but the homeowner was mortified because her face was plastered all over social media based on the meeting that I had with you Steve Rin I don't know who else was in that meeting but uh it was a terrible excuse for all of us um I do know that you this was your program and the grants were administered through your funding so um I I would expect that you know this somehow came from you and um and hopefully that something like this will never happen again and I would love to share the post with you so you could see how horrible I felt after this information that was really a non- entity became some sort of weird political attack through the chair please commissioner for the record Amy NOS chief rilian officer I did not speak to anybody after that meeting I don't know the person that did the Facebook post um and the item came out on the agenda I didn't speak to anybody about it before except for our city attorney's office at Administration I think that's very unfair and I just really do want to clear the record if something was taken out of context um that you may have heard I I really have no idea I'm not even on Facebook I don't know the person that did the the post and the item was on the agenda so I really I really think it's just important to clear the record uh we're super super proud of the private property adaptation program um no homes had been selected on Miami Beach until we started that program and we're thrilled to be able to offer this to our you know residents and businesses but it is very complex and very long and we worked really hard on that the item was brought to land use in 2022 to actually hire a special consultant to help people learn how to elevate their homes and do apply for this program and the first time we were able to submit um they have been tentatively selected for award is actually on FEMA's website so we're very proud of that the rest of miate county is looking to us as well as Leaders so we'll continue to do that and I'm happy to discuss it further and uh Public Safety so you had one so there was one home that was raised successfully with FEMA dollars using the city's application process because we sat down in a meeting last week you said that no up to date and actually have an email that zero homes have been raised success it's commissioner it's a it's a really long process um we applied for the homeowners on behalf of them they were tentatively selected last year so we applied in 2022 the second we brought the consultant on um they were selected last year they're in the FEMA evaluation process and that's information you know that that we did provide it takes a long time and um it is frustrating but we were really happy to be you know we're really some of the first in the county to be moving this forward it really shouldn't be Tak a long time because these other municipalities with these we need to reach out to the contractors because other municipalities are getting 5 10 15 homes raised with 100% grant funding and I don't understand why we have not been able to do so well since I've been in this position we've been working really hard at it and I think it is something new and it's something new for our community as well um we did a lot of Outreach we even had a special webinar on it we've sent postcards to people's homes to invite them to learn more about home elevation so we've really um really done as much as as we can in this area and we'll continue to to move forward on it I would like to make a motion that we invite FEMA to our next meeting so that to make a short presentation so that we can establish a relationship with them that I don't think we have right now so I mean I would like the grant representative person from FEMA who's making these choices to come here and and say we're getting these emails from you and we're supposed to be processing this program so that we can get 100% funding for people to elevate their homes and we haven't been able to so I don't know if inviting FEMA is the answer but I do think that it needs that I think we need to do something because what we've been doing up until now is not working I would respectfully disagree but I'm very happy to reach out to FEMA you know with our grants administrator I think that's a great idea we did have a presentation in land use about the FEMA process as well okay so commissioner Dominguez would you like to as part of this referral referring this item to Neighborhood would you like to invite FEMA to neighborhoods thenb November 6 is the next meeting okay so 16 so that would be my is that your motion or my motion uh your motion to uh refer this to the November 6th neighborhoods meeting and and invite invite FEMA okay and if we can't get FEMA at the November meeting then we would like FEMA at the December meeting Mr Mayor did you want to speak commissioner did you you're okay commissioner Fernandez thank you and I just like you know the record to reflect that the land use committee is the land use and sustainability committee um you know and so I just like to put that out there you know I got it going to finance committee when it was about waving the grants I I completely got that I did not necessarily agree in waving it because I do believe to the merits of what commissioner Dominguez was mentioning that would deplete the grant but to the extent that we're going to be discussing a you know matter of sustainability and helping homes uh on this issue we do have a committee and it's the uh land use and sustainability committee the one that serves that purpose when's your next meeting I have no idea when our next meeting is Mr clerk I let's see when the clerk says our next meeting is I think we have one November we have two meetings in in November one's a special meeting and one's a regular meeting is it a sunshine meeting the land use meetings in November are have November 5th and November 25th and which is the special meeting I don't have it divided that way the Fifth Fifth is the special meeting so November 25th uh I I'd be happy to place this on the agenda if if you're so inclined to amend your motion fine okay cool so we'll have that on November 25th call vote I don't have a second I haven't heard I'll second I'll second them to refer to land use so this item is going to land use on November 25th invite FEMA and it's going to be discussion not only on this particular propert property but on the General Grant program is that correct yes okay if so all in favor please say I I I motion passes it is referred to land use c4z c4z is a referral to finance economic resiliency committee partner with beachfront concessionaires umbrella program it was separated by commissioner magazine so I pulled my own item which I normally wouldn't do uh but um I wasn't expecting this but there was a lot of uh events here for breast cancer awareness month and this item I thank my colleague uh for co-prime sponsoring this uh commissioner Fernandez and I think there will be broader support but I don't think we did a good job of describing in the title um two separate items uh both honoring uh people and groups in our city through a partnership with our beach concessionaires for breast cancer awareness month next year uh I will I've made a referral to the finance committee that we will actually uh work to purchase uh an entire Beach of uh umbrellas that will be pink to honor breast cancer awareness month and I'm thinking about just the uh Optics and the uh aial footage that that will create um I think there will be a tremendous return on investment not that that's the sole reason we're doing it we're doing it to honor a very uh good and Noble cause uh along a similar fashion uh just recently the State of Florida took out all references to LGBT tourism in our uh from the state's website uh given that Miami Beach is an absolute Mecca um and it's sayfe safe place for our LGBT community that has historically helped put Miami Beach on a map been a primary driver and is a critical part of our community uh in a similar fashion to the Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Month uh umbrellas that we'll look for uh we will do rainbow umbrellas at 13th Street beach which has historically always been uh or lgbtq or gay beach uh and those umbrellas will each year be displayed during uh pride month for the entire month uh on a single beach in Miami Beach to show our commitment to the community um and again uh given the absence of uh the State of Florida putting this forward for uh marketing I think we will be proud to have the aial Drone footage of an entire block of our city that is synonymous with our LGBT community uh to really display um what is absolutely just critical to uh to our fiber and our DNA uh so there I I'll turn this over and thank you so much commissioner magazine for uh for putting this forward it's such a great uh display of inclusivity and uh and and you truly are a champion of in of inclusion and equality so I'm happy to uh co-sponsor uh this item uh with you and to Second your motion is there any other discussion questions debate on on the item there's a motion and a second uh is this a roll call or is this uh it's we can do this by acclamation all in favor I the referral is made c4z okay c7j c7j approved PSA with favella Miami Corp homeless Employment Services it was separated by commissioner Suarez commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor um I pull this item because I when I looked at the stats on on flla you know we were spending about $100,000 a year uh for this program and it had some pretty abysmal results and PJ if you could pull up the item and put it on the screen please um so this is what the community services sent me an email for all of last year we uh Favela well the homeless Services referred only 55 homeless people to the program 24 of them uh took part in a temporary sanitation program um the there was a flla work placement for eight um only three individuals found independent employment six were not eligible and only 20 had a programed job placement so you know do I think that spending about $5,000 per person to put them in a job placement of taxpayer money is pretty you could you could put the slides uh DJ um no I I I do not and you know I think that if we're going to be serious about saving taxpayer dollars we we we we we can't be spending it on on such abysmal results so I don't know if we should refer this to neighborhoods and discuss a more efficient program where it doesn't cost us $5,000 per person uh for for a program but I mean I I certainly cannot be voting in favor of a program with such you know um abysmal results thank you uh commissioner um I'm GNA I'm going to move uh approval of this item unless there's there's uh more uh discussion or debate on this second okay the item has been moved her second uh any other questions discussion seeing no opposition commissioner magazine uh do you want to just give your thought or feedback I'm just curious hearing both sides of the coin so we work with faella Miami for a work training program this gives the opportunity to sheltered clients um that have been placed through our homeless Outreach Services team to be able to get skill sets to be able to re what do you think of the results I think that the results with this difficult population are pretty decent um especially as we grow the program and we look at reinforcing and looking at the attrition rates and adding to the to the skill sets of the individuals and we have to also keep in mind that this is the most difficult segment in our population these are uh individuals who are homeless that favella helps reintegrate these individuals back into the workforce including employment within our own sanitation Division and they engage uh for 163 hours over four weeks uh of work and they and they help them uh not just um not just in in getting in getting this uh type of of employment but they also provide comprehensive employment assistance uh to these individuals they help them develop um their resumees they help them get back on their own two feet and reintegrated with with society and so if you challenged me to go out in the streets and engage with the homeless population convince them to get a job and then develop their skills to continue on on their own I would say that this is actually pretty impressive results and Dr tar Madame director is this in lined with the national standards of success yes it is in line with the national standards of success with that I uh make the motion to to to approve this item commissioner Suarez yeah look again I mean it sounds great I think the program is wonderful however the results are are what you see I mean we've only for a single year there's only 20 successful placements 20 and we're paying 100 Grand of taxpayer money for this that's ridiculous that's $5,000 per person to get them a job we're paying we're charging our taxpayers $5,000 per person so that they can work I me how how absurd is that I mean look if these numbers were better if there was like maybe a couple hundred I'd be like yeah look this is a great program you know we but I mean at what at what number do you actually say this is not effective is it 10 is it two I mean where do you draw the line where you say this is either effective or not I I I mean this is this is this is insane I mean we're spending $5,000 per person to to to to to put them in in a job I mean I'm sorry but it's not the it's not the responsibility of our taxpayers to do this okay I can I can I can understand shelter placements but you know with with such poor results I I mean it's this is ridiculous so thank you if I may yeah if I may I I had worked with Alba before we even had retained flla we were looking at actually a uh a company in New York to offer these Services they didn't have the capability interest coming down here we retain filla and by the way I appreciate your research uh commissioner S as you're very thorough and I can see why you're frustrated about these numbers I I have a little I have a different take on this um this and and to Echo what commissioner Fernandez said this is a very diff difficult segment of the population um I think it's something that it's important that because we are taking such serious enforcement actions against homeless who commit crimes I think it's also important even though the Supreme Court has said we do not need to offer many of the services we offer I think it's I think it's important that we do uh and the numbers may not reflect but I tell you I look at those 20 lives have completely been changed I I don't even think the monetary value and and you rais a good point and that's why we can debate this whether that's the responsibility of our taxpayers money but those 20 people I'm this is a life Cher for them that they actually have employment um it's and and I think we just need to continue and and maybe there are at the edges there are things we can do better we can improve it it's fairly knew it's in its infancy of only a couple years so I think it's good to highlight it but to me it's imperative we continue and just try to improve Mr Mayor Mr you haven't been heard yet on this right and right commissioner bot so I I think spending $5,000 to break a cycle of chronic homelessness and equip a person who's been living on the streets to be able to hold down a job is money well spent and so I will 100% support commissioner Rosa Gonzalez and then commissioner Fernandez I just want to congratulate favella and Valerie because for years before even having this contract she just had a volunteer group and was doing this work for free on the streets working with these homeless people constantly I think since like 2017 right 2016 possibly starting in even before that um and there were just so many years of of doing this work volunteer so finally we came to her and said you're what you're doing is so positive that we would like to give you more work and then after your first contract I think we expanded the work and then you set up a nonprofit to help raise money in addition to the contract so that you could do even more work so this is a woman who went from volunteer this is this is real community service in action and I'm 100% supportive and Mr Mayor oh commissioner Fernandez then commissioner Dominguez and you know it's almost as if commissioner bod took the words and the thoughts out of commissioner bod I'm sorry did I say commissioner Dominguez no no I said okay commissioner bod almost as if commissioner bad took the word and the thoughts out of my mind and just to think about that what's our homeless population sorry what's our homeless population mad based on the point in time 133 133 based on the point in time which is only a onetime count of that night so imagine IM imagine if if it took $5,000 to reshape each one of those lives you know with $600,000 we would be re we know it's not that easy it's not but for for 24 individuals for 24 individuals they got the opportunity to work with our sanitation team and eight indiv idual were able to find some sort of it wasn't with our sanitation program but with another program that maybe fit their skill sets a little bit better so those are individuals who now are no longer in the streets because of that I think this is money very well spent um and and you know I think you know we need to just realize this is a very difficult population arrest is a tool that we have it is not going to be our only solution it's not going to be our only solution at all and we need to help people yes get housing yes get shelter yes get in get get jobs otherwise it's just going to be an a revolving cycle it's going to be an issue that we send people to shelters and they'll be coming back here why because they're not getting jobs and so and so you know this I do believe is money very well spent and a good return on our investments commissioner Dominguez uh thank you mayor and um I echo my colleague sentiments I remember when Valerie was on the homeless Outreach committee and um since starting flla and working with the city I uh for the last couple years if I've gone out super early to run an errand or whatnot I've seen Valerie out there and uh she's out there with uh uh her team and checking in on people the work that she does tirelessly and passionately to help our city and the homeless um I too agree that it's money well spent okay call the vote this is on item c7j I have motion by commissioner Fernandez second by commissioner Dominguez all in favor please say i i i n we have one no commissioner sarez item passes 61 c7j c7k c7k is renew PSA with New Hope Corp ink various services for homeless it was separated by commissioner Suarez Mr Mayor commissioner Suarez this is another um program that I think has abysmal results PJ if you can pull up the c7k uh similar to uh the last item we just spoke except this is a lot worse here we spend roughly $600,000 uh a year in taxpayer money okay so right now we're at $700,000 and I wanted to highlight the efficiency of of New Hope and basically uh we have 1.8 shelter placements per week so so we're spending $600,000 of taxpayer money to shelter 1.8 individuals per week you know I brought the question at the last item where do you draw the line and decide what is going to be efficient and what's not now unlike uh favell which is a local single person operation know this is a vendor and um I as I understand it the the people that work for New Hope and who work for Miami Beach uh or or work on the beach for New Hope I think I believe there's four individuals right now they charge us for or they did for about for last year they charged us to be in the car driving from homestead to the beach and from home back to Homestead which was around 2 to 3 hours and of travel time and we were eating that cost but aside from all that again we have these results where I think everyone here should be aware of you know these are all feel-good programs but are they working I don't think so and I don't think it's I don't think it's fair to burden our taxpayers on this I would rather either bring this inhouse where we have a little bit more control over the program instead of doing this out to a third party uh that that has these kinds of results so uh you know I I'd like to hear what my colleagues have to say about this commissioner Fernandez thank you um Mr Mayor um you know what's not stated there is that New Hope is working in the late hour shifts 700 p.m. to 300 a.m. our office of community services is not open at that time our homeless Outreach line was not working uh at that time until October 1st and we brought an item to bring that forward now if we were to do what my colleague is saying bring this inhouse we discussed this Madame director to do Outreach inous as the city um as part of a proposal that I wanted to to do to expand our services how many millions of dollars uh was it to uh bring that overnight Outreach inhouse as part of our general fund operations well when we were looking at it uh Comm vice mayor we were looking at the walk-in Center uh if we look at it from a persp respective of each case worker for the City cost about $80,000 roughly give or take um and that's not including administrative oversight and and I believe that the fiscal impact uh was going to be you know I believe it ranged somewhere along 400 $500,000 if not more and that's just for Staffing in the in new hopes contract it also includes Residential Treatment beds as well as pre-treatment beds Etc and so and and so and so that's the that's that's the key thing here because with uh with with New Hope not only do we get the street Outreach workers which is four Street Outreach workers have we again correct four uh four Outreach workers and at 20% the the director who oversees the program for for outreach workers at a time when they're not getting referrals these are actually direct contacts because unlike our day unlike our daytime operations individuals can walk into the office they don't have that at night and until recently they didn't even have a phone number so these were direct contacts that they were making and so then we're getting with this investment for outreach uh workers in addition to treatment beds and pre-treatment beds that we're getting as part of this contract so it's not only the workers but it's the actual beds for the placements yes and as of and as of October 1st one of the things that we had talked to New Hope about adding into their contract is the live assistance so one person dials our phone number if they are homeless and need immediate support they are transferred to either while they're working prompt one which would directly take them to the New Hope phone line which is our number and so and and so I think I think what's not shown there in in in what was also shown is that this is a targeted service again for individuals specifically particularly dealing with substance abuse and that is a it completely different segment of the homeless population this is not just the general homeless population this is a more specific segment now and and in that specific segment they've actually done 94 emergency shelter placements is that correct Madam director correct and they've actually engaged in over 9,400 encounters and engagements is that correct cor their their number for engagements is 4,919 okay and so and so and so you know how how does their outcome you know compare to the National Standard I mean working with this population we go back to what we were discussing before it is very difficult these are hours that are not traditional working hours for programs so with a service resistant population engagement is going to be diff more difficult even in the nighttime hours so in regards to National averages there's not a lot of national programs that work Outreach at these specific hours so comparing it is is very hard and now let me let me ask you this uh besides the the Outreach workers the treatment bed the pre-treatment BS do they also offer for for example the transportation to uh shelters they they provide the transportation to the shelter for the client but they also assist our police homeless resource officers or our police officers in general if they need a if they come across a homeless individual that needs support and they are willing to go into shelter what happens is that the police officer will contact New Hope and New Hope will facilitate the transportation so that way the police officer doesn't have to go offline to do the transport to the to the shelter with that I think this is again money well spent I think we should always challenge uh these entities to do better to do more uh especially as as as we struggle uh with this with this population but we need to recognize the improvements we've made we have made improvements we still need to continue doing more and we should challenge them to to do more um but um but but this is an important contract and I will move its approval commissioner Fernandez that was impressive that's why I appointed you to the homeless trust knew you were up for the uh for the job maybe a reappointment estimate um I'm I'm trying to get him there Mr Mayor commission magazine I do think it's important we drill down into some of this and looking at these numbers I see favell and the great work they do and I see Valerie and her team visible in the community and their tangible results maybe that's because of the different hours of operating and and things like that so I'll give some Credence to that but $600,000 is a big number right and when I look at the results New Hope engagements 476 over the course of a year roughly one per day right well if I can if I um so contact engagements are two different things contacts are when you're trying to to in to talk to the person and maybe the person pulls away or maybe the person walks away or starts you know screaming obscenities those are people that are captured in the contacts not in the engagements engagements are actual that you can have a full conversation with the person you can engage them talk to them about services and that they're they may not be willing to take it but at least that there's some sort of reception that there's some sort of of of of understanding of what you're offering them and they're just not walking away from you so we're basically paying $1,700 a day for the service yeah I'm not asking telling um we're getting roughly 1.2 1.3 engagements per night $1,700 a day for one person to have one semi- tangible conversation and we're getting two people per week in a placement or pre-treatment and one person a month in a residential treatment placement I'm torn with what my colleague said is where do you draw that line bag for your buck yes these are important Services everything's important right but when I boil it down to that we're paying $1,700 a day for one engagement right and for two per week placements in a pre-treatment center and we're essentially paying $110,000 if you boil it down for every treatment placement and when I think of that those people are probably back in our street the next day or the next week or something like that yeah I start getting into is this a good return on our dollars right it's not that is this a noble cause of course it is everybody's cause is noble and it is critical that if we are going to have an enforcement mechanism do we have a support mechanism but I guess the question begs are we getting the adequate bang for our buck with this support mechanism and and that's not a that's not a tangible question that you can answer that's that's arbitrary and objective subjective to each of us but that that's what I'm very much struggling with right now commissioner s thank you Mr Mayor you know just to put things into perspective that's a 2% engagement rate 2% 1% sorry like you know what are we doing here what what are we what are we paying for now I I would rather have favella do this okay because I know I can see her she's here New Hope isn't here I would ra I want to raise and all right yeah well let me finish excuse me yeah so you know look like I said where do we draw the line on what is effective and and and are we throwing good money at at bad uh at bad initiatives I mean is this is this really a a best use of taxpayer funds and it's surely not I mean these numbers clearly show that this is not working so you know I think we should defer this to neighborhoods and and and give this a proper robust discussion on the motion Mr Mayor commissioner Fernandez I'm happy to support that motion uh because I do think we need to challenge these entities to do more uh what I what I want to know is when this goes to to committee if let's say we don't proceed with newo what's the market out there for for entities that that do that provide these services and perhaps Dr T you're able to to answer that now for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders Outreach teams are limited to the city of Miami the city of Miami Beach New Hope andos as far as Outreach goes and then Mano really focuses a lot of their efforts on on immigrants rather than substance abuse and core and so and and so I just want us to be aware of that that if we decide we send this to committee and we decide not to move forward with this I want us to be aware we will end up with a provider of these Services perhaps during our most vulnerable hours of 700 p.m. and 300 a.m. and then when I bring the item about expanding our services into the night time am I going to have the support to expand the services into the nighttime uh because you know that's the thing the service needs to be provided the results might be hard to see because it's the most difficult population in addition to that they're dealing with substance abuse issues so it's easy for us here in this air conditioned chamber wearing nice nice expensive suits having you know good food for lunch to be criticizing the work that people are doing in the middle of the night dealing with a violent population that suffers of me mental illnesses and substance abuse and from the comfort of these airconditioned commission Chambers judge and disparage the work that this entity is doing but what's our alternative and and if there's not a private sector alternative are we going to take on uh the at least $500,000 of of salary plus pension plus Equipment Plus transportation and all that to do it in-house because it goes against all the other uh radic that we've heard earlier in this meeting and so and and so we can't have our cake and eat it to we can't say we want to solve uh homelessness uh in our city but not invest for as flawed as the entity might be well let's look at the challenge it's a flawed challenge that they're dealing with it's a segment of so it's a segment of our community that has been failed by Society uh and and and yeah I'm not surprised by these numbers but I challenge any one of us to go out there and deal with homeless individuals with mental abuse with with mental illness and substance abuse and and what will our alternative be after neighborhoods once we say oh they suck it's only a 1% return rate well who's going to be out there and then what are we going to tell our constituents when they call us and tell us oh there was a man at 9:00 at night having an episode in Lumis Park we're going to blame our Police Department we're going to blame Alba because we're not following the recommendation because someone's going to take the blame it's not going to be us God forbid we take the blame where the blame is going to be bad it's going to be ugly it's going to be nasty it's going to be very public and it's going to be at someone in our staff and uh and and so I just you know what is the alternative going to be and so I hope you bring us an alternative uh of what our options will be at neighborhoods I support the motion to send this to Public Safety yeah I know a couple of you want to speak I think we have consensus to refer to NE okay is that a motion yeah second call the vote let's do the following month which which neighborhoods let's do the the the later the second November neighborhood meeting can I just make one and along the lines of your thinking commissioner Fernandez this isn't where I'm trying to pull back money I agree we need to allocate this money I just want to be sure that we are allocating it most efficiently so maybe it is this program maybe there are no viable Alternatives um but I I definitely given these numbers I think it requires further diligence go to my page um maybe have New Hope come in and also have PLL bring forward a proposal of what they could potentially do with that amount of money it it's it it is a complete misunderstanding of the challenge es of this population what flla does is very specific to a segment of the sheltered population that is being put back on their own two feet into the workforce these are individuals with mental illnesses and substance abuse issues that need detox treatment transportation and specialized Outreach workers who understand how to deal with this very specifically challenge for again it's for us I I hate to say this it's cheap politics to say maybe favella maybe we do turn because it this is the most challenged call the vote referring to committee corre referral to December second committee all in favor I it's referred to Public Safety neighborhood quality of life committees December second c7p as in Paul c7p is accept recommendation proceed with WAP lights of at portion of Washington Avenue it was separated by commissioner Suarez and commissioner Fernandez I'll take this one if you okay um PJ can you please pull up uh the Washington Avenue median like okay so if you could zoom in for a little bit please yeah so you know I do a lot of walks at night and um and and look when I saw this on on the agenda I thought it was ridiculous that the city wants or there's a proposal to spend qu Million Dollar on Lighting on the median of where those little p those little palm tree string lights are so PJ if you could zoom in just a little bit more where those the along the the palm trees yeah so all along Washington Avenue for those lights right there a quar million dollar and if you could zoom back out I think that these lights are well it's it's a onetime payment but it's a $50,000 a year annual cost I think I I I don't think this is money well spent you know these are really tacky I can understand they look great on 41st Street and Meridian but those are huge royal palm trees or calym trees these trees are maybe like 8 in in diameter the color is not even right and it just looks it just looks hacky honestly in Washington Avenue I if we're going to spend a quar million dollars on lighting I'd rather do something a little bit more you fundamentally changing for the neighborhood at least something aesthetically that that fits with the neighborhood you know this these lights it's not going to change any sort of behavior on Washington Avenue it's not okay uh if you want to change Behavior you really got to reimagine it a as a whole but you know this is like putting lipstick on a pig so to speak so I I I can't support spending a quar million dollars and and then $50,000 a year to keep these lights uh running so I I i' I'd like to see where my colleagues are on this yeah this is my item I'm on the pool list okay but it's my item I usually the commission speak first he spoke and now I'm answering the May's not here and usually the procedure is the pooling Commissioners speak first and then the I'm withdrawing my item and I'm going to bring it back um as something else okay you can she pulled it but she's sponsor is saying she's going to bring it back so it's kind of a moot point at this point yeah I I'm withdrawing I'm going to bring it back as something else hopefully something different reimagined and you know and by the way now you have blocks that are going to have lights some blocks that don't have lights you know um we're getting near the holiday season all of our resident all of our guests stay at the Lowe's and the Ritz Carlton right in that hotel you're going to pull these lights and there there's not going to be anything there and I don't know what we have in terms of holiday lighting but I would say that that picture that you posted is not necessarily fair I do think that we could do more I do think that we could do more um but that's what we have right now those lights aren in front of the Ritz Carlton by the way what those lights aren't in front of the Ritz they're on Washington Avenue but the point is you leave the Ritz Carlton and that's the first thing that you see and actually don't look so bad going down the median like that but you know what if you think that it's a bad way to spend the money I'm going to walk Washington Avenue I'm going to figure out something else that we can do we have we working with Public Works to fix some of the Landscaping no that was really bad in the Mee Sunshine meeting we'll walk oh a sunshine meeting oh okay sunshine meeting and I'll bring it back as something I'll bring it back as something else well I I would uh I'm sorry Mr Mayor um could we ask staff I don't know if it's Public Works to send kind of a map or a diagram of the lighting areas where we're talking about because I'd like to go and see in person as well all over absolutely I mean I was withdrawing it but maybe I undo can I put it back on I'm putting it back on wait uh hi Troy Wright Washington Avenue business improvement district let's get the record straight it is not a catastrophe it does make a difference it has made a difference as a matter of fact the first time it made a difference was less than one month after we raised the lights on the Avenue when we were able to see families children playing and walking down Washington Avenue and more than that it is a safety issue because the lights are staring to not work as well um and if you recall during the time um on Espanola Way East there was no lighting and what happened during that time there was shootings there were stabbings people were being held up there were a lot of issues but from the time that we put all of the lighting in there there's not been one issue and no they're not going to look like 41st Street they're not supposed to look like 41st Street but it does enhance the Avenue so what we're talking about here is beautification Washington Avenue needs beautification if more than anything else we have to think and look forward um to what we can do to help Washington Avenue so you're saying that it won't help I'm saying that it will I'm there I walk there I live there and I can guarantee you the property owners would be happy about it the business owners would be happy about it but more than that I think the general public would be happy to know that the Avenue looks better therefore it will feel better therefore there will be less crime and there will be less issues um that we have to deal with with the city I'm sorry I'm sorry I have to I have to I I'm sorry I have to this is my item I'm sorry I have to dispute these claims I have to dispute these claims they were swarm are out of order just some lights I voted for all of your lights wherever you want to put the lights I always say go ahead but you know because it's Washington Avenue and we want to redevelop it we want to make sure it looks as crappy as possible so then we can go in and bulldoze it this is the narrative this is what we do we say we are not going to beautify we are not going to fix the lights we want it to look like crap so that then we can say let's bulldoze it and honestly this type of narrative has got to stop try I'm committed and I I do think that the majority of people up here are committed to the beautification of Washington Avenue without bulldozing the entire um Avenue commissioner Fernandez I know that you are dying to speak because you did pull this item so through the chair mayor could commissioner Fernandez speak before he has a now that it's apparently back on yes so so you know listen Troy I respect you tremendously but you just said it's not going to look like just like uh 41st Street well you know what the tax ERS are going to be paying $225,000 for the the job order that we have on the agenda is to remove the old tree lights to number two put new tree lights specifically says it's supposed to look like 41st Street same as 43rd Street that is what's on the agenda to make it look just like 41st Street and here we are saying it's not going to look like 41st but you know why I have the issue with this item we have lights on Washington Avenue you know how I know it's ineffective because the property owners are not doing anything to improve 41st Street we can invest in as many I'm sorry Washington Avenue not 41st Street it's not true uh we can invest as much as we want on these string decorative lights it's worth is putting good money after bad if we have people getting stabbed outside the nightclubs where we already have these lights and so until I see a commitment from the business owners from the property owners to do a turnaround and get rid of the problem that is plaguing Washington Avenue it's not the lack of the lack of decorative lights it's not that the palm tree that the city didn't invest in putting string lights on a palm tree the problem on Washington Avenue is that we have a criminal element operating businesses in in on Washington Avenue where people have I'm sorry sir you do not have the floor you're right where people are getting killed and until we address that and until I see a commitment from the business owners and from the property owners to be agents of change I'm not going to feel comfortable supporting this I am sorry I don't see the level of commitment that I've seen in other parts of the city where where where we have made commitments to invest and that's why I can't support it why should all the taxpayers ERS of the city of Miami Beach be investing in an area that is absorbing our police resources that is causing deaths in our city that is hurting the image the brand of our city with violence our city deserves better than that and and I'm sorry the investment of the string light there is not going to be the the the the change that we need in the air and that's why I can't support this today obviously obviously it is not a cure all but I I will tell you one thing I W I got I I was at Tony Sushi uh two nights ago and it looked absolutely beautiful I go I went to Nathan's I was walking um when I went to the South Beach Seafood Festival I went outside Nathan's the wolfsonian it's the holiday time this is the middle of our tourism District these lights do not look bad the there are so many times I was at what's the what's the sports bar on the corner across Mickey Burks that is bursting are residence there every Saturday and Sunday and Monday watching football and I walked out the other day I think I have a picture of it looks so beautiful with those lights and we need what and by the way this is tourism dollars I don't even think it's taxpayers dollars I think it's coming out of Tourism tax and that is our tourism area and I vote for this La Liga thing that you had that I don't even know what it is I voted for the $50,000 this is to beautify our historic district gorgeous lights in the middle of or the holiday season and I vote for I like what you know I I there's a reason why I'm supporting this and by the way you cannot blame the property owners there are businesses that are doing fabulously on Washington Avenue sure there are a few nightclubs I don't love some of the nightclubs that are on Washington Avenue but I'm a board member of the wolfsonian I think Nathan's deserves it Tony we have so many we have so many great businesses on Washington Avenue and to talk like that about Washington Avenue I find offensive I want to beautify I want I want you to support this I want you to support it because I know that you love Nathan's I am sure that you have been to Tony Sushi which is one of our oldest businesses on Washington Avenue um we have one of the most popular restaurants in the entire United States p iino on Washington Avenue CH I'm support if you want to call the vote I would like to call the vote I would like to call the votee because I find it and and and I'm sorry tro I'm sorry because I do feel like there's a little dis yeah I'm sorry one last thing uh there's not really I mean crime is at an alltime low on Washington Avenue that's the first thing and as far as blaming the property owners you can't blame the property owners for everything a we took the first step in beautifying Washington Avenue our bill just so you know for four years of Maintenance and putting in the lights on Washington Avenue was only $100,000 initially I think that's what the city spends on one year for 41st Street so the comparison is different and it does enhance the area it does make it feel more less for the record Mr Mayor maybe a little less but regardless we I love that it's compared to the lighting project right so I mean when I said it was not going to look like 41st Street no of course 71st I mean and 71st but it's but it does enhance the area it does the job it does what it's supposed to do and I guarantee you if all of those lights are off and it is dark you will have a different set of problems that then you'll come back to the same commission and say well now we have a violence issue it's really a danger because the police will have to deal with something entirely different I guarantee you they will but look at how it was before the lighting was there and look at the way it is right now Mr Mayor yes and then we're going to call I find I find this so absurd PJ please put that image back up I I find these these arguments excuse me I have the floor oh I I find it this is so absurd to say that these string lights are going to prevent crime I think that's ridiculous that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard today excuse me I'm talking this is so ridiculous to make a claim that people it is so ridiculous to com to to claim that this is going to save lives that is the most ridiculous claim I heard these string lights are tacky and they do nothing for lighting I walked Washington Avenue with you and you agreed that these do not add any I didn't excuse me these lights don't add any value these string lights don't add any value to the lighting on on on Washington Avenue if this picture here clearly shows that for you to come here and say that this is somehow going to prevent stabbings shootings rapes which has already happened while these string lights are on is ridiculous and the fact that you want to have you want to spend $250,000 of our taxpayer dollars they're not taxpayer we we can debate this all day long let's just take the vote and see where we're at it's not what I said commissioner do you want to call the vote commissioner R yes I'd like to call the I'll I'll second it okay call the vote so I a motion by commissioner Rosa Gonzalez seconded by the mayor all in favor of this item please say i n i we have a question from commissioner bot as to what the motion is can you restate the motion please is it approve the resolution so one I heard one no from commissioner Suarez did I hear any other I'm going to vote for this but I'm going to tell you this the property owners I say whatever you want Troy and I have great respect for you the property owners need to step up to the plate and they need to step up to the plate big time because yes it's not the majority of the property owners but you have bad property owners who are attracting crime who are causing Bloodshed in our city and hurting our brand and that's not fair to Nathan that's not fair to Panino that's not fair to the bonian that's not fair to the city of Miami Beach or our taxpayers so I do urge you and challenge you publicly to identify those businesses work with those property owners and up the game because it it is bad and on that point we have an item we're going to hear in a minute but let's let's let's finish the vote so I have six1 commissioner Suarez voting no the item passes great c7z c7z is support metal detector pilot program at Miami Beach Senior High School it was separated by commissioner Rosen Gonzalez not unsupportive of this item but I was hoping that you would refer it to the committee on quality education and so that we can maybe talk to the PTA before we do this and run it through the committee if that's okay with you I I I don't have an issue uh with that and we we also have to reach out to the school board because ultimately it's not our decision and um I'm okay with that okay so that would be my motion and or second commissioner bot I also not unsupportive of this I just am curious why it's not to all the schools it could be by the way I I was uh that was part of my debate when I put it on and I we can expand it I pick Beach High just cuz it's the high school but but um I wouldn't be adverse to doing that either I wanted to one gain the appetite from my colleagues also from parents I mean I had reached out to some parents just to find out and everyone was supportive but uh certainly there wasn't a scientific study in any sense and and ultimately we're going to have to get Buy in from the school board so may we refer is a motion to refer this to the Quality education committee and bring this item back defer it to December that's fine that way I can I know bring it back that's fine so uh with a referral to QC deferral to December all in favor please say I I I motion carry 70 the item is deferred and referred keeping in with Washington Avenue r5p thank you Mr Mayor this is the CL call r5p is an ordinance of the mayor City Commissioner of the city May Beach Florida amending the code of the city of May beach sub Part B entitled Miami resiliency code chapter 1 entitled General Provisions Article 2 entitled definitions section 1.2. 1.2.2 entitled use definitions at subsection 1.2. 2.4 entitle commercial by creating a definition for restaurant sub club and by amending chapter 7 entitled zoning districts and regulations article two entitled District regulations Section 7.2.5 entitled rm2 residential multif family medium intensity at subsection 7.2.5 point7 entitled uses R rm2 by providing that entertainment uses shall be subject to the additional regulations in section 7.5.3 by amending section 7.2.6 intitle rm3 residential multif family high intensity at subsection 7.2.6 point2 entitled uses rm3 by providing that entertainment uses shall be subject to additional regulations in section 7.5.3 by amending section 7.2.1 entitle cd2 commercial medium intensity at subsection 7.2 111.2 entitled us of cd2 by providing that entertainment usage shall be subject to the additional regulations is section 7.5.3 point4 and by amending the supplemental conditional use regulations for the district by amending section 7.2.2 entitled cd2 CD3 commercial high intensity at subsection 7.1.1 12.2 entitled uses CD3 by amending the supplemental main permitted uses to amend the requirements for dance halls to provide that entertainment uses shall be subject to the additional regulations of section 7.5.3 4 by amending section 7.2.4 entitled North Beach Town Center Court District TC as subsection 7.2 14.2 and title uses tc1 tc2 but provided that entertainment uses shall be subject to the additional regulations is sub is section 7.55 point4 by amending section 7.21 14.6 entitled Town Center Town Center Central coure TCC District by amending the requirements for entertainment establish and by providing that the entertainment uses should be subject to the additional regulations in section 7.5.3 by amending section 7.2.3 intitle mxc mix use Entertainment District at subsection 7.21 13.2 entitled uses mxe providing that the entertainment uses shall be subject to the additional regulations to section 7.5.3 and by amending Article 5 entitled supplementary District regulations at section 7.5.1 entitle specialized use regulations by amending and expanding section 7.5.3 entitled entertainment establishments by reorganizing the section establishing detailed requirements for each zoning District including location occupational content hours of operation specific requirements for entertainment uses as M permitted and accessory uses standards for non-conforming uses minimum standard separation and the deletion of section 7. 5.5.7 entitled dancece halls and providing for codification repealers of ability and an effective date this is a second reading public hearing it is 57 votes are required R5 thank you for reading quickly could you just run through that in Spanish Ralph H commissioner Suarez thank you Mr Mayor this is a second reading on on something I think that's well overdue okay we just had a discussion about improvements to Washington Avenue and I think we can all agree that most of the issues that come that that arise from from Washington Avenue are these outdated nightclubs we have people getting stabbed women getting raped police officers almost getting run over murders ride share impersonators you name it it's happening from these outdated clubs and I think it's about time we plan for the city we want to be instead of the city we have and you know I I just I I can't believe like that last item that the fact that they you know that that somehow string lights are going to save lives this is this item here is actually going to prevent any more potential deaths on Miami Beach I mean how how tired is is our Public Service workers putting ble using bleach to clean off blood off of our sidewalks when is that going to when is that going to get when are we going to get tired of that and do something about it you know pardon me I'm very passionate about Washington I I walk it almost every night and I see how bad it is and it is it is it is infuriating it's embarrassing it's embarrassing going down Washington Avenue so I I think we need to move forward into the next generation of of of what night life is and what we want it to be and with that I move my item I have a question commissioner Dominguez thank you um I know that when we talked about this at land use there wasn't a clear definition on what is entertainment and the staff was going to come back with that is that included in here because I'm looking through it the uh we have a definition of entertainment in the ldrs it hasn't changed and it did not change as part of this legislation anybody else all I just need to understand if I may through the mayor um there's an area of this of Washington Avenue that is being Exempted from this that's correct okay just Tom if if if if you may for for the public walk through exactly the detailed change of the amendment sure basically what the amendment does is it um creates a definition for restaurant supper club which is a more defined type of restaurant and it establishes a separate sectional code where entertainment uses are currently permitted and proposed to be permitted and the biggest change that it uh puts forward is that it basically eliminates nightclubs and by nightclubs that's a standalone alcoholic beverage establishment that doesn't serve food at non-restaurant and it limits those to certain defined areas of the city and those exceptions would be on Washington Avenue between 8th Street and 14th Street larger hotels um and then there's another exception for um for nightclubs that would those those the two basic exceptions would be the the larger hotels as well as Washington Avenue between 8th Street and 14th street it also allows for uh non-restaurant establishments um to be open until 2 am. um and it basically summarizes the areas where that you can have entertainment um in a more Consolidated easier to read fashion within the code um as part of um the approval at first reading we included two applicability sections at the request of the commission um we also included a clarification regarding the prohibition of entertainment and Sunset Harbor as well as within the Espanola Way area along um uh in the Washington Avenue have the occupancy limits uh bit amended because I know that at one point there was an occupancy limit issue where where an applicability Clause was being proposed for for business on Lincoln Road I had concerns you know why are we going to make the regulation less stringent on Lincoln Road as opposed to just in general applied broadly yes we had we changed the occupancy previously at first reading the occupancy uh threshold was reduced to 125 persons before cup would be required we moved that back to 199 persons and that's included in the ordinance okay and then at 199 ACP would be required and that's the current requirement and so and so establishments that don't meet this definition will be able to continue to operate but they will be considered legal non-conform that's correct okay um and then for an entity entities will be able that currently operate past 2 A.M will be able to continue operating past 2 am that's correct new entities will they be able to continue operating past new a new establishments and they want to operate past 2 am uh will they be able to they get a conditional use permit if they are a supper club they would be able to do that if they're not a supper club they would only be able to do that if they're within a larger hotel or if they're located on Washington Avenue between 8th Street and 14th Street okay un understood so this is a balance this is this is a fair balance where we help drive a transformation businesses that have been part part of our of of our community are able to continue operating they become now legal non-conforming we have an area in our city where if we want to have uh these late night establishments past uh 2 a.m. but have them not be uh a supper club but be more of your smaller type of of bar we can accommodate them in this part of the city which is more defined for for his entertainment but we're now have a broader policy uh where we are putting these uh these Protections in place not only for an elevated level of of entertainment but being able to get the safeguards through a conditional use permit once the threshold uh exceeds that 199 occupancy that's correct commissioner Suarez I think this is great policy I think it moves Us in in the right direction thank you for listening to the feedback that that that was raised during the process from the community from business es from the land use Cub committee I think you've struck a good balance here I'm happy to support you thank you let's call the vote oh commission Ros Gonzalez and also there is this is a public hearing you know commissioner Rosen Gonzalez then commissioner bot look there's there's n life and then there's night life I had some friends that I went clubbing the other night cuz my friends insisted that I go clubbing so I went to this place called sizzle I don't even know if you'd call it a club it was the coolest Speak Easy on like Collins and 11th and you go into this Historic Hotel and then you go down these stairs and it was like the coolest place ever and then my friends were like wow stop here a hotel what it was in a hotel it well it was in a small Art Deco Hotel just wait it would be first I sizzled and then after that I went to do not sit on the furniture where I had never been before but which is another really cool nightclub right off of Washington and like 14th I want to say some place like that and that place was hopping too and it was full of like residents inside there was like this cool like disco and then outside there was this Courtyard and people were just like mingling and drinking it's like I I spoke to some of the people and they they were locals that live in Flamingo Park and walk over to do not sit and and I mean I think just I I'm afraid that we're we could be going in in in the wrong direction I mean these people are going to keep their licenses but let's say that do not sit on the furniture all of a sudden wants to upgrade their equipment or do some sort of renovation and they're spending $100,000 does that all of a sudden make them are they going to lose their license because of it because I don't want to do that to them if they're in an area where they become legal non-conforming so on 14th Street they likely would not become legal non-conforming because that's one of the areas that's been carved out but if an establishment is in an area and becomes legal non-conforming as long as they don't exceed the 50% rule then they can do upgrades and modifications to their establishment so it's up to 50% and like the sizzles of the world would no longer be able to exist if somebody with a cool Historic Hotel wants to open another like speak easyish place they would no longer be able to do that that's not true they would they would they would be able to close at 2:00 they' have to close 2:00 well but but that's the whole thing is business model for a hotel isn't Speak Easy it's a it's a hotel so they can totally open up a Speak Easy it's just it's going to close it too yeah I mean yeah but people go out like they I think they go out later than that many places they can go there's so many places we voted the planning board voted wait you're not recognized we have not opened the public opportunity to be heard if you could please sit until we open up the public hearing yeah I I I think with the planning director I think it's I think it's fair to to state that this doesn't prevent future businesses from opening up they would have to close it too and so I mean you know everyone on this day has been in favor of 2 a.m. roll backs along certain parts of of South Beach you know we've all voted for that so is you commissioner Gonzalez Alton Road comes to mind West Avenue comes to mind so you know where are where are all our problems most of them are in the are are in the Entertainment District you know if you look at two 2third of of all of our service calls are in the Entertainment District okay let me but let me explain something to you we have something very special that no one else has which is this tremendous night life and infrastructure so the other night um when I was at the South Beach Seafood Festival uh I was waiting in line for some talking to people there were people from um on one side of me from Pittsburgh from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania the other side they were from Cleveland Ohio they had come to South Beach just to go to this uh just to come to this seafood festival and the reason that they're coming here and you know they're they're going to the beach and then they want to go out afterward because they can't do that you can't do that in witch talk Kansas you just can't go to sizzle and Nathan and twist and all these cool places in one night and that's what makes us different so if we didn't have 23,000 hotel rooms and we didn't have this tremendous infrastructure on the beach and these events that we throw I would say yeah let's go for it but the problem is is that this is kind of what makes us famous and I didn't realize it I like until I was out the other night and I was dancing and I was having such a good time and I was thinking wow I love being in Miami Beach so I I hesitatingly I I really don't want to I don't want to stop that from happening I do think there are a couple clubs by the way that are not such great actors but even even exchange the other night which has been the site of like several shootings and stuff I went by the other night and there were all these kids dressed up in like Halloween outfits you know and uh so I think that our police presence has changed um I don't know what the crime statistics are on Washington Avenue and what's happened recently but I have seen a shift and I mean is there any way that we could like I I don't know how many votes do we need to make for this to pass I have a question on what you're asking speaking of votes let's take the vote soon have question if if I could just ask a question on what you're asking because my understanding was that that indoor entertainment may be permitted in establishments not operating at supper clubs serving alcohol past 2 a.m. if they are inside of a hotel fully enclosed with no access to the streets so so I think that that should address the concern that you have I don't know Sizzle what hotel is Sizzle in I don't even know Sizzle in some Hotel on Collins Avenue do they have more than now just kidding that I don't know um okay so any Historic Hotel can can continue to operate and open and they can operate past 2 a.m. larger hotels they larger hotels I but the exception is the TCC District the Town Center District I think had an exception I think what that applies Citywide except for a TCC yeah in the TCC they had already prohibited that prior to this and so we didn't want to change that regulation as part of this okay I like if if it could be any hotel if you could and regardless of the size if it's enclosed and you can open up like little nightclub spots inside of a hotel if it was enclosed don't sit on the furniture it's not in a hotel no it's not it's not so but but what he's saying is that it would fall in between the it's legal non-conforming it don't sit on the fch we'll be able to operate as a legal non-conform establishment unless they make Renovations that exceed 50% of the value which Mr planning director correct us if we're wrong that rarely happens because at that point they usually demolish the building and build something new because it's not worth to make that type of an investment at that point how many nightclubs do we currently have on washingt how like this is the entire Entertainment District right the Entertainment District is is largely considered Washington Avenue um so it's only Washington Avenue commissioner I have a question for you don't we have an industry nightlife task force have they discussed this why don't we refer the separate Club ordinance to the night but they're obviously not going to like it I mean well they can get feedback I'm I'm cons I'm concerned that you're prohibition across Miami Beach and I want to be able to go I would rather just vote today I mean let's just be on the record on who who wants to you know move forward on on actually saving lives and preventing death and and police being run over on the street I think we've had enough of this I mean I don't need to refer this to a committee I think it's not going to change anyone's mind I think the fact that we're even debating this is ridiculous I mean it's it's absurd I mean we just had two stabbings last week or two weeks ago from from a nightclub then and a month before that there was a shooting and a month and a couple months before that there was an execution on our sidewalk all coming from a nightclub it's ridiculous this is I can't believe we're this is even like an argument I mean look I there's great businesses out there but nothing good happens after 2:00 nothing good happens after 2 o'cl and we're not saying that you can't open up entertainment here but if it's not a supper club it has to close it two Mr Suarez I'm supportive do we have a motion in a second could I could I make uh just because in order policy getting the the key is to get to five votes motion that's key is it five votes or four second this is an amendment to Our Land Development regulations so it needs five votes so you need five votes and so you know you can always build upon a policy that you pass and the key is getting to the finish line and so and so I don't know commissioner Rosen Gonzalez if if rather than saying only hotels with 200 rooms it's hotels that have the venue fully enclosed with no access to the street because that ways within the envelope of of a hotel security is is provided and you know it's it's in the spirit of what's getting done and then you know we can see how that works if it needs to be tied in more you can always tie it in more in in the future but the key is versus to after all of these months of hard work between between committee meetings and and the community input and all that and then to have of a 43 vote on something that needs five votes and so I'm okay with that Amendment within with inside fully enclosed hotels sure yeah in any Historic Hotel just just forget whether it's historic or not any hotel just remove the number of rooms if it's within the envelope of a hotel they need to have security clearly and hotels usually do they usually have a cup and and that type of stuff that mandates a security plan but they have no access to or front the street and are only accessed from within the con finds of the hotel so that it is accessory to the hotel and and and and if you accept that motion that that now gets us moving I think to a better place so I have a question on that so like medium cool on the side of the hotel not through the confines medium cool will be able to continue operating as an existing business under a legal non-conforming status but if a new hotel opened and they had something on the side and they could a cool beautiful they wouldn't be able to open it they would have to access it from from the inside uh Mr planning director that's correct which is good yeah you don't want to I mean I think what we've crafted here is if you allow in every hotel with no access from the street I think we have something and they can go till 5:00 a.m. yeah under this yes yes all right so we've created a policy that does allow for night life as long you know um it doesn't it it's not going to kill night life um my whole intent was never to kill look my my whole intent is never to kill night life it's to enhance it it's to really up to to to upgrade it okay in a hotel it's it's more controlled you know you don't have fights and stabbings and shootings spilling out into the street you know you don't have these Q lines that now require a cup so you know we're we're we're moving forward with that and I'm I'm happy to make that Amendment second that's amended second you have a second let's call the vote well as it is a public wait Mr Mayor there's a motion to open the Public Public hearing it's a public hearing uh you have two minutes Elizabeth okay so striking the 200 room limit opens up little tiny Hotel hotels that have maybe 50 hotel rooms 25 hotel rooms 70 80 maybe even 100 and guess what those are spread all throughout residential neighborhoods that's not a good idea y'all that wasn't the intent when we voted on it and that wasn't the intent when you wrote it so if y'all want to do that I think you're opening up yourselves for a lot of problems well they can still do that now though right you can only do that in commercial districts or make it in commercial it's rm3 yeah we just read it that's rm3 is residential yeah and I I don't want to that's that's a problem but I don't want to expand where you're able to do this but the existing confines where you're already able to do so if you R 200 if you have 200 rooms y but are there districts now could any hotel anywhere open nightclub no you would you would have to be in a commercial District or an rm3 district and that stands as as is correct can why can't we make it St 200 rooms there are certain restrictions for for clubs there are certain restrictions for clubs and accessory uses that close at guess what 8:00 you're opening up to anybody from the street anybody from anywhere that they they want to go this is a problem so and I don't think that was the spirit of of of what you were doing can you speak to that Tom uh currently outdoor areas above the roof or outdoor areas in general if they're adjacent or a budding a residential building have to close at 8:00 but that's the outdoor areas the same doesn't apply to the indoor areas right okay so this wouldn't this wouldn't expand at outdoor areas right Ian this is indoor if but the but the but the Zone but the code says anything 70 rooms or more if they have less than 70 rooms it doesn't apply so you guys by eliminating by eliminating the the entire hotel rooms you're letting it just be a free-for-all what's it say well the The Proposal well what what right now currently I'm not aware of a 70 room yes minimum I am but current as written the 200 room limit was chosen because that is generally your larger hotels that Acom can accommodate that Elizabeth is Right technically somebody could take a really small hotel gain this and then open up a nightclub within the first level but they still could now they could still do that now yeah but but this would make it legal as opposed to illegal but it's legal do that now they can do that now but they can't do it if you've got 70 rooms or less I'm not aware of of that restriction El C can we look that up I guess and I don't know where it is I they have to close it yeah I I don't think that exists yes it does tell you what if it does we'll bring it back I'm just saying I don't that was not what we voted on when we a planning board voted six to zero we were missing one person on this amendment this this ordinance this is not what we I think it this is not Elizabeth I appreciate you had the public comment now we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna have to rely on our on our planning director um Mr Mr Mayor how about we bring it down commissioner Gonzalez how about we bring it down to 70 hotel rooms to make sure that just just because SW it's actually my Aid corrected me it's Swizzle not Sizzle Swizzle is in a small you know what Swizzle is Swizzle is in a small Historic Hotel what's the average amount of rooms in one of those small hotels hotels are going to have probably 50 units and so if you wanted to have a threshold I think 50 units is probably fair you go to a minimum of 50 units so I just I just want to understand because our code states that there is that there is um certain restrictions for in the rm3 for ocean front hotels with at least 100 uh with 100 units May utilize an accessory outdoor bar but it speaks to outdoor correct and this policy would prohibit outdoor this this policy applies to indoor correct and so and so and so when we're saying any amount of rooms it doesn't apply to the outdoor that stays unchanged correct and what what's being amended are the is the counts for the indoor that's correct I'm could I I I just want to if if I may through the mayor recognize Elizabeth because I see she's very passionate about this and I just want to please come to the I have good reasons with moderation please yep um you know I think that um you guys have good intentions and I really appreciate efforts that you're taking um how about you make it not attached to I don't you know just I wish i' had done this in July because I didn't know this was all going to get convoluted but um I I think we have I think we have a good I think we have a good proposal Elizabeth it it's look if if things don't work out we're still going to be here you know we could we could always amend it I think we we've come with a robust discussion it's this is the second reading and I get it I mean I do get and and we know we got to start someing on the second reading so no so is the amendment in historic hotels or all hotels Mrs commissioner Gonzalez I mean I would like to give an incentive to Historic hotels and some of them you know if they if they that would limit would that make you feel better if it was historic hotels it would be more limited okay and do you want the 50 room minimum in the historic hotels or no okay so what's and if if I may because I just want to understand because I'll you know I like how you're phrasing it as an incentive because I just want to make sure that we're not just saying historicals well there is a purpose one we're doing for for historic hotels you know historic hotels do need activation is the policy of the city to support uh the the the economic Vitality we know historic properties tend to be more challenged to activate and providing this incentive in historic hotels actually makes sense because now we're helping those properties get commercial activity support their operations prevent them from getting close down and demolish as could otherwise happen and I just want to make sure that we establish that record um just to justify why in fact it is that we are placing this in in historic as opposed to not including others commissioner bot just so that I can understand um guys if you can you take it so commissioner bot can no I wanted to ask you guys um so if we do historic hotels in rm3 if there is a a hotel in Flamingo Park which is a residential neighborhood would would they that wouldn't be rm3 or would it corrent no that's not if it's it's a hotel that's not located in rm3 so let's say it's a non-conforming hotel in an arm one District or in an arm two District they wouldn't be eligible I I think what what we're trying to get to is a balance of um limiting proliferation of bad actors um although I don't think this addresses one in particular that we have with some chronic problems but also does not limit the variety of nightlife that we have here in the city and so I do also like the idea of incentivizing historic properties to do something and upgrade their properties if they can do some cool nightlife venue of some kind but I don't want those to show up in somebody's backyard because there is was a grandfathered in Historic Hotel and you know for my years on the planning board I we see it all the time you know one property on a block can do one thing another block property on the same block can do something else and the third property on that same block who's new kid on the Block is was like yep sorry you haven't been here 50 years you can't do it so I I I want this to be Equitable and I want it to be um accomplish what the very good intent is without killing nightlife and without um putting an undue burden on neighborhoods that currently don't have an issue so I'm going to rely on you guys to tell me that that is what we are accomplishing with this change on the fly in terms of changing it to Historic hotels yes I I am concerned though that in in adding the qualifier that a hotel has to be historic uh to be eligible at now at second reading I think that is more restrictive where the discussion started was in removing the minimum number of rooms which would be a slightly more permissive change but I I I you know I think we would want to develop basis for limiting it to Historic versus non-historic at this stage do you want to do you want to just I know you want to pass it right now but can we wait one more month go through this process count how many historic hotels um there are you um like how would what what would the effects of this be and and then you know and and and tell us exactly where they are you know do you have a map of of the historic hotels why can't we I don't understand why can't we have this added in as historic we know what historic hotels are I I think my my I think the where the discussion started was if we removed the minimum number of rooms that would be slightly more permissive change which I think is okay at second reading um but I think in in inserting this qualifier that a hotel has to be historic to be eligible for the exception this has been through a lengthy process and I don't think that that that part of it has has been analyzed but you're not being more restrictive you're actually being more inclusive because you're allowing it but can't we just leave the 200 room for all hotels and just include no room limit for historic historic and I think that that that that is aligned I think that's what Tom Mooney is explaining to Nick okay how do you how do you historic versus not historic CU like Oceans 11 is not historic but something next to yeah actually um if I could just briefly Nick and I conferred and in in actuality historic hotels would be more permissive because there's more historic hotels than 200 room hotels so I think that including historic hotels would be okay okay thank commission magazine so what are we trying to get out here right let's ask ourselves this is we want to allow this in hotels but we want to prevent it happening from some barely functioning 10 room hotel that is very small and just turns into a deao nightclub right is that collectively what we're trying to prevent okay then let's have some sort of moderate room limit on it I think 200 is too much right that that's a very large hotel but what is a minimum number of rooms is that 50 right and that way it prevents some little neighborhood Hood small hotel from opening up as a deao nightclub so I think what we do is uh it's going to be unscientific and we're kind of doing it on the Fly uh but we sit there and set some sort of minimum room limit that way you don't have something that is a two or three story hotel in a residential neighborhood that turns into deao nightclub but if we would say Okay a nightclub can happen inside of a hotel as long as that hotel has x amount of rooms 50 seems reasonable but I'm quite literally just putting my finger in air and coming up with that number I do think 200 is too restrictive uh so let's kind of Meet the middle somewhere so Suarez we have to do that right now why don't we keep the 200 okay and and include historic hotels I I think that because if you're outside of a um if you're outside of the district then a historic district then you should meet that requirement of 20 200 rooms cuz and you're being more inclusive that way right now any hotel can go through the cup process anyway and get a night club or whatever you want to call it a Speak Easy right correct if they go through the cup process which is a lengthy expensive process right right okay so who would we be eliminating then at all anybody any hotel any hotel that's not historic between 50 and 200 I just I want to go back to and find out how many rooms they have it's very small how do you know yeah how many rooms but that hotel might have 20 rooms 30 rooms some of these hotels are small but it's a Historic Hotel yes right so it with with this amendment it'll be fine it it'll be able to pass but if you're not in Historic Hotel you should have a 200 uh room minimum okay I don't need I guess that's fine and that incentivize hotels that are historic to upgrade their property going back to public comic Troy Wright Troy Wright Washington Avenue obviously this needs to be thought about a little bit more and more considerations between before making such a big decision that affects so many people and so many businesses I think the idea was or is to enhance the Entertainment District or enhance entertainment in general um and I think by having supp clubs not able to have entertainment past 2 o00 is a problem because that's typic Ally when they make their money because having a DJ is considered an Entertainer and I think that there should be other other considerations made and think about really how if we're saying we want to eliminate this what do we want it to look like how do we plan on in U incentivizing small organizations bars or supper clubs to even come to the area will they really come if they know that there's a 2:00 limit I doubt it very seriously it doesn't end at two though end at five if it's as long as you can serve alcohol you're okay right so we're okay but I'm saying the incentive has to be there right um but if you know if we're going to do away with entertainment then I think that's that's that's a big problem we're not doing away with entertainment I understand that but I'm just saying if the we have to have more incentives for them to be there so um we need to really hash this out and think about really what we're proposing what we're putting on the table instead of just doing it on the Fly and maybe it's not really on the fly but it sounds like it to me thank you try any other members of the public yes sir so we have Wayne Robert Mr may can I just mention something sure this is not on the Fly this has been debated at committee multiple times and of course we're going to have discussion on on the day is because we have members of the city commission who don't sit on the land use committee we don't have even though I open up the floor to public comment we don't have public official public hearings advertised public hearings at land so I really do take offense when when when we're being told that we're doing things on the flight no we're having a discussion as a policymaking body and we're making the necessary amendments which is within our legislative prerogative and so and so no we are not making decisions on the Fly we are working collaboratively as a team in making policy and that is our job thank you commissioner Fernandez uh well said any other members of the public yes we have Mr Roberts go ahead sir you have two minutes ladies and gentlemen um here's my concern that this legislation doesn't do what uh David Suarez wants to accomplish and that is to because crime is really evident at these large uh occupancy clubs and what you're doing is you're impacting small bars in and cafes in the district and I I don't even know if it's across the city um uh the impact but um the target is clubs that are nuisances to the and and crime ridden uh uh venues that create havoc and this doesn't do that what's more I'm very very concerned that you're extending 2 am curfews to all all um uh restaurants that that exist South the 5ifth I don't know I think so I I don't know what you're what this it's very confusing way that's not true that's okay okay great I'm happy about that so 2 am is not the lore in south of fifth is that right across the board well in South theth it's 2 A.M it's been 2 a. South the 5th for some time commissioner doming the marina I don't think Mar is 2 a.m. uh well the agreement in the marina agreement so uh it's it's it's not across the board south of f um that's not correct so I I think this legislation needs to be looked at I think you need to focus on these these these high occupancy clubs and shut them down uh that create a nuisance that you know the LI is great uh uh MAA is great um place there's there's great clubs but there's there's nuisance clubs especially in Washington and that's our focus and we shouldn't be taking the nuisance of Washington Avenue moving it to residential neighborhoods to 2 a.m. that shouldn't be the policy thank you Mr Robert your time is up Mr we have okay now we have zero callers we used to have one but they lowered their hand okay let's call the vote what the am they just came back up I apologize Mitch noic go ahead please hey good evening thanks for taking my call Ralph I'm in a torrential storm taking shelter uh at p aino uh I commend commissioner Suarez with this legislation I think this is the right way forward I would just hope that sometime soon you're focusing on my neighborhood the prime ridden MXT Entertainment District where businesses exploit the public Realm creating an attractive Nuance on our street thank you thank you our last caller is s de los Rees go ahead you have two minutes hi Sarah Los Rees s har neighborhood association even though in my neighborhood is not entertainment it is a good thing but you really have to think about the residential areas that have hotels you really need to look at this and planning had a big discussion about it and they should ask planning just like you know came up really think about the number you're saying 200 and then you're saying 50 that might affect some other areas especially in residential areas so think about that thank you so much yeah Sarah we we excluded Sunset Harbor so and we specifically excluded it in this ordinance so Sunset Harbor is not going to be affected no one else requested to speak call the vote um just quick PL clarification the amendment is um the 200 minimum is for hotels outside historic districts and there's no room limit for hotels inside historic districts I second the item as amended the mayor had seconded is that okay or either the one look I'll tell you let's let's bring it back in in in six months to see how many people if any applied for any cups within historic hotels so we can see maybe we're doing something that we shouldn't you know so we can just like revisit it can we do an LTC in six months so you're aware of it oh well I suppose I don't want you could always put an item on the agenda okay all right oh I have one other one final question the applicability Clause is that still in this okay I just had to make sure that the applicability Clause is in there so motion by commissioner Suarez seconded by commissioner Fernandez uh as amenda commissioner Rosa Gonzalez okay yeah oh yes commissioner Suarez yes commissioner magazine yes vice mayor Fernandez yes Dominguez yes B yes air Miner yes motion carries the item is approved as amended that was r5p thank you all we started off with the bang ended with a bang got a lot done in I just need one quick Direction one minute uh there were planning items that were not heard today the second readings they are supposed to go to January do you want them to go in January or can we bring those back in November all the second readings we did didn't get to today bring them back in November do we all agree and one and one last thing do we need to to notify the elections Department department has been notified they they've acknowledged receipt of the resolution okay so J e