All right, everybody. It is 6:15. We're going to begin with the special presentations before we uh begin our council meeting at 6:30. I would like to invite our honore to please uh join me here. >> Excellent. Yeah, please come on. come on
up. Come join us up here >> and we'll have uh we'll have your family and and your colleagues join us in a second. Hold on, Councilman Cuadra Garcia. So, as you know, we just celebrated National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. So, I think uh it is a
perfect time to go ahead and honor your service as you prepare to leave uh you know, well, formerly the Miami Day Police Department and now the Miami Day Sheriff's Office after a long and storied career. And upon the request of your colleagues, we went ahead and prepared a proclamation for you, which
I'm going to read into the record now. proclaiming today, January 20th, 2026, as Elaine Roming Day in the town of Miami Lakes. Whereas, police crime uh anuh analysts uh uh excuse me, uh
analysis specialist Ela Roming began her career with the Miami date Sheriff's Office 25 years ago on July 11th, 2000, and spent 12 of those years providing excellent services to the residents of the town of Miami Lakes. Whereas Miss Roming's various assignments have
included investigative bureaus such as special victims and Homeland Security along with local districts like Miami Gardens, Cutler Ridge, Northwest, and Miami Lakes. Whereas, as if the aforementioned was not enough, Miss Roming volunteered for many years with the Office of Elections to assist during
major election events. Whereas throughout her career spanning over two decades, Miss Roming received numerous recommend re commendations and accolades for her outstanding performance. And whereas with a with a distinguished career spanning 25 years of dedicated
service, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to Miss Elaine Raming on her well-earned retirement and wish her many joyful years ahead spent with her children and grandchildren. Now therefore, I, Joshua Diegas, by virtue
of the authority vested in me as the mayor of the town of Miami Lakes and on behalf of the town council and 33,000 Miami Lakers, do hereby proclaim January 20th, 2026 as Elaine Ramming Day. Congratulations.
>> No problem. Yes. I just want to say thank you very much for the proclamation and it has been a real joy to work with everyone, all of my co-workers, and I miss you guys. It
has been long, but I miss you. Okay. All right. Well, congratulations, guys. Come on up so we can get a group photo with everybody. And you guys, too, come on over. And for the general public watching, uh, we will resume the meeting at 6:30 p.m.
Sharp. Mayor, I hate to hijack your meeting, but I have a po point of personal privilege as uh members of our staff have requested another special presentation specifically for you as we did celebrate your birthday last week. So, I would hope that the members of the public and everyone here will join me in
wishing you a happy birthday and singing you a happy birthday. >> We'll do that. We'll cut it a little bit. Take a picture. Thank you. Okay. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the
first meeting of 2026 of the town council. I'm calling the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Um, Madame Clerk, please call the role. >> Council member JC Fernandez, >> present. >> Council member Cuadra Garcia,
>> Council Member Garcia, >> present. Council member Hburg, >> present. >> Council member Sanchez, >> present. >> Vice Mayor Moretta, >> present. >> Mayor Diegas, >> here. >> Mayor, you have quorum. >> Excellent. Excellent. Everyone, please
rise for the invocation led by the vice mayor. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Please bow your heads. Lord, we thank you for bringing us here today to make decisions and listen to our people. Uh, help our actions today be guided by the best
interests of the residents of the town of Miami Lakes. Help us to keep them in our thoughts as we take our our votes, have our discussions, uh, keep civility amongst us, and help us to always uh, keep you uh, at the forefront of all of
our public discussions. We pray in your name. Amen. Amen. >> Thank you very much. Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance to be led by Councilman Alex Sanchez. Thank you. You may be seated. Council, are there any amendments to the agenda? We are now on deferrals, additions, or
deletions. >> All right. Seeing none, we are now in public comments. Madame Clerk, >> good evening. Welcome to the regular council meeting and welcome as always our remote public comments. If you wish to speak, you must
always raise your hand by clicking on the reactions icon and selecting raise hand. As well, if you're calling in to listen to the meeting and you also want to speak via phone, the only thing you need to do is raise your hand by pressing # number99. Public comments
will be heard at the beginning of the meeting. Each speaker will be afforded three minutes and all comments and questions from the attending public shall be directed to the mayor in a courtous tone. Please, no clapping, no applauding, no verbal outburst, and
should a member of the attending audience become unruly or behave in any matter that disrupts the orderly and efficient conduct of the meeting, such person will be asked to leave. Again, welcome. And if you're here for public comments, please, it is the opportunity
to approach the podium. State your name and address for the record. And welcome. >> Welcome, Bonnie. >> Hi, Bonnie Cron. 14770 Lewis Road. Good evening, Mayor Diegas, council members, Mr. Peterman, and
staff. First, I just want to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous year to come. And I also want to publicly extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Velasco for his generous donation of Canopy Trees. I thought that was a truly
magnificent gesture to help keep our town looking beautiful. Once I have looked more closely at what the plans for the neighborhood improvement committee hopes to do, I may have some ideas or suggestions. But one sure thing that I will not be advocating
for are any new plans or projects that would include applying for grants. I feel our town is fully developed and really has relatively few basic needs. Anything other than meeting those needs would just be adding unnecessary
expenses. And I want to thank you for continuing to try to do what you can to alleviate some of the traffic congestion. I will say that what the Graham Company has done by burdening this town with another sevenstory apartment complex is to me a
travesty. I I can't even imagine what 154th Street where it meets the Palmetto will be looking like, but that onramp to the Gratany Expressway should help to alleviate some of it. So, I'm glad you're moving forward with that. And
lastly, I just ask you to use the prestige of your positions as local political leaders to petition the FAA and the Opalaka air traffic controllers to narrow their funnel-shaped approach
and departure patterns to the um I want them to make it to that narrow east-west corridor that it used to be up until about 8 to 10 years ago. Now, too many fairly large aircraft are passing at low altitudes over a wide swath of our town,
encompassing many more residences than it used to do. And more worrisome than the noise is the black sy residue that descends on our homes daily. And we are inhaling all of that. and now a wide
area of our town is exposed to potential danger rather than a more concentrated one as it was in the past. So, thank you for listening. >> Thank you very much for your comments. Are there any other speakers here in chambers?
Seeing none, Madame Clerk, are there any remote public comments or any anyone online that would like to >> opine? Yes, I believe Mr. Abel Fernandez, at least I see his name in the screen. If you're going to be providing public comments, welcome and please unmute yourself. Mr. Abel
Fernandez. >> Hello. >> Good evening. >> Madam Clerk, can you hear me at all? >> Yes, we hear you, sir. Good evening. >> Okay, I'm having feedback. So, I'll do it and hopefully you could hear. Good evening. Uh, Mr. Mayor, Town Council,
Abel Fernandez, Chapter 119. Wanted to talk to you about a few things. First, on your report from the manager. Uh, great job from the manager's office. I'd like to talk about the choices of landscaping that you are considering for
public ways. Would like to see uh Zercape uh entertained as far as the different types of bushes that require less water, less maintenance. They're vibrant in color. Uh they're used all over in in in
public settings. So Zary escape other than just the mondo grass and the laapi would ask that you look at that. Uh recently we heard about a coyote in the town and folks complaining about a coyote being loose and uh uh dangered to
animals. So I called Mayor Daniela Levine Cava. She uh conferenced me in with the uh animal control department director and then we reached out to the Everglades Wildlife Rescue team which
operates under a grant from the Miami Day County for situations such as this to pick up animals that can be um relocated uh to the Everglades or to other areas where they don't interface with the uh urban area. So, uh, that's
they're working on that now. I gave them the addresses. Uh, I wanted you all to know that, uh, they will be coming out, uh, between tomorrow or the day after to look for the coyote and and try to capture it and relocate it. So, keep you
up to date on that. Wanted to talk to you about um, what's coming up now in Tallahassee in reference to the property taxes. I don't know what your position is, but I imagine that as concerned
council members of uh Miami Lakes, you would realize that uh cutting or eliminating property taxes as they propose um is going to be a burden for this town. Tremendous burden. and I'm hoping that you can speak to the
representative and the um senator for us in this area and voice your concern with the elimination of these property taxes. It's it's going to be incredibly uh difficult position for any government to operate like that. Uh finally, uh we
just celebrated or commemorated the Dr. Martin Luther King birthday and in that manner uh and is reaching out that we all strive for better communities. I'm hoping that in the future the communications department can put out a
message on holidays such as Dr. Martin Luther King so the entire community can see the desire of this council and the town uh to be inclusive for all. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Mr. Fernandez. Um I believe earlier the clerk stated there were no
other uh members of the public online. >> That is correct. >> All right with that public comments is closed and we are on on item seven appointments. Reading into the record the appointments. We have Haley Pto being appointed by Councilman JC Fernandez to
DEAB. Linda M. Perez to elderly affairs by council member Sanchez. Are any of them in the room today? Okay. Well that's all right. uh but they are being appointed and we had one resignation. With that, Mr. Manager, we are on your
reports. The first one is the monthly status report on the police department. Lieutenant uh Eddie Oua will present. Good evening, council. Uh Lieutenant Ed. Uh so to close out the year of 2025 uh
we had a total 40% reduction in crime in our targeted crimes. Um in addition for 2025 we had an overall um issuance of uh traffic citations. So for hazardous moving violations we had 2385.
Uh non-hazardous moving violations we had 858. We issued 391 parking citations and also issued 945 verbal warnings. Um, as it states, uh, currently right now, we're still up to par in reference to, uh, status quo, in reference to our
crimes for the so far for the month of, uh, January. We'll give you obviously an updated, uh, an updated, uh, numbers, uh, come for next, uh, council, >> council members, uh, council member, council member Sanchez, and we'll go, uh, uh, we we'll go over to the right
after that, >> lieutenant, for now. >> Yes. Yes. Um so on the parking citations 300 and how many did you state? >> 91. >> 91. Does that include um cars that are illegally parking in handicap spaces? >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We've also the the county has also
instituted uh the the project itself for the for the issuance of uh of handicap parking and we we participate in that. We've done three for the year of 2025. >> Okay. So you're working in conjunction with like the tax collector that they're on this whole Yes. hunt for individuals that are have either illegal handicap
parkings uh decals or just parking there because they want to. >> Yes. >> Okay, good to hear. Thank you. I appreciate it and thank you for everything you do and good job on your first meeting. >> You're welcome. Thank you, >> Council Member. Was it Hersburg or Gar Garcia? Okay, Garcia,
>> thank you so much. Uh amazing job, gentlemen. 40% reduction and last year was more. I mean, it's just it's getting it's better and better. I mean, it's a it's it's amazing. It's it's a safe place to live and everybody wants to live here and thanks to your efforts. So, thank you so much. Uh a quick
question about uh speeding. Um as far as I know a lot of residents are asking for, you know, uh traffic calming thing, you know, speed bumps, things like that, and there's a process there. Talk to me a little bit about I know you give a lot of warnings when it comes to speeding. Um I'd like to see possibly uh
especially residents or non-residents that are coming through our town. I know you can't distinguish, but um kind of like to to and I' I've already said this the past couple years kind of get a reputation that yeah, Miami Lake is a nice place and we're going to work with you, but it speeding is is is you know,
not acceptable, especially if they're going 10, 20, 30 miles an hour. Is there anything we can do um to start uh what what what's the process of giving a warning or giving the actual citation for speeding? >> I mean, that's pretty much at the discretion of the the deputies.
Obviously, we take a lot of things into consideration. >> Um, you know, obviously, not only the, let's say, if you're going to use speeding, for example. >> Um, you know, if they're going obviously excessive speed, then obviously we we take that into consideration, you know, there's a big difference between someone
going 7 8 miles an hour over to someone going 30. >> Um, you know, additionally, you know, we take into consideration obviously, you know, their their traffic history and obviously part of traffic enforcement is education. you know, that's a very very big part of of it. You know what I'm saying? So, uh you know, we try to
obviously at at the moment given moments, you know, we educate uh our drivers in the town, but additionally, if uh you know, if citations are warranted, we will do so. >> Yeah, I know the details help with that as well. Maybe you can focus a little bit, if you don't mind, on during school
hours, I know residents were talking about people cutting through the back uh to get to 90 seconds so they can get to Barbara Goldman uh and they're speeding through the the the the streets. Maybe we can focus that during, you know, those hours. Maybe we can catch some speeders. Uh >> so taking into consideration what we
discussed last week for the, you know, the traffic concerns, >> uh we I uh we put out that information out to our staff. Okay. Uh so additionally besides our traffic our traffic units we also have our our day-to-day operation officers that are or deputies I'm sorry uh that are uh
that are you know going to continue to do that the enforcement and also you know take into consideration also that we have the officers assigned to the schools uh they're also you know dealing with that as well in the meantime. So we're >> No, perfect. Listen, I think we should establish a no tolerance policy for speeding in this town. Uh because again,
you know, it's safety every 5 10 miles an hour over speed limit, it makes a digital injuries and could lead to death. So anything we can do to make >> No, agreed. So thank you so much. >> You're welcome. >> Anyone else? Uh Councilman Cuadra Garcia. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Uh
basically uh through the manager and through the lieutenant um I received a letter pretty extensive letter I think that all of my colleagues received and uh one of the main concerns in that
letter was um a lot of the residents well uh majority of the residents are using our sidewalks as a habit to use to park on our sidewalks. that should not be allowed. I'm seeing more and more and it's not only in my side of town. As I've
traveled at night, it's almost everywhere. If you go to the west side by Barbara Goldman, I mean, they think that the sidewalk is now a part of their parking space. So, what are we what are we doing about that, Mr. Manager?
This is a this is an epidemic completely in the town. Yeah, it's obviously something that we have code enforcement officers that work in the evenings overnight and uh it's something that you know they monitor that in addition to parking on the swailes and other things
that are uh infractions of our code. >> With all due respect to you, Mr. Manager, I've never seen a code enforcement officer in the 26 years that I've lived in this town. Not one. Well, then >> I just want to jump in here a second and just remind the council member that at
night we only have one part-time officer. Isn't that correct, Mr. Manager? >> No, the the regular uh code enforcement officers, they take turns doing the overnight and then they modify their shift and then they work overnight, >> but they generate they generate citations. So, they must be out there
somewhere. >> But what I'm saying is uh it's one person for the entire town, right? >> At in the evening >> in the overnight. Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. I they I mean we have an east and a west and then we have one that covers. So it's I don't think that it's frequent
that they both uh work the same night overnight. >> Yeah. So just you know bear that in mind that you know it's one person for the entire town and they're not just looking for parking violations. They're looking for all sorts of violations as well. Um you know so and and I can tell you I have seen especially Car Carlos Medio
and I've seen Hugo out there as well you know during the daytime. So they're out there right? um you know, so can they get to all of them? That's another that's another uh question. >> Can we get the help of law enforcement to help us? >> Well, to my recollection, that was one
of Councilman Sanch's items. And based on my last uh conversation with the attorney, I believe we were moving closer to uh entering into an interlocal agreement with Miami Day Sheriff's Office to have them help us out enforcing our our codes. So,
>> okay. Thank you. Anything else? All right. Seeing nothing else, thank you very much. Major A major designate is what I'm going to call you. Great name. >> All right, Mr. Manager. Next. >> Yeah. The uh monthly infrastructure report by our director of public works,
Omar Santos. >> Good evening, council. Omar Santos, director of public works. Keep it brief. Highlighting two projects. The Palmetto Underpass 154. This week, we're starting our milling and resurfacing operations. So, we're heading towards the finish line. And then the other project which I
have sent I think one or two updates is the 59th Avenue demo. Um over 50% completed in the removal of that building. And we continue in our design process. Our consultant is working on responding to FDOT comments on on the
design. And the last thing on the reimbursement side, we've received already our second reimbursement from HUD, which equals around 50%. Close to 50% of over of the of the $3 million grant. Any questions? >> Well, thank you, council. Uh questions?
Well, let let me start on this side of this uh this time, Councilman Quad Garcia, and then we'll go to Councilman Sanchez. Now that we've got our director here, um I would like to ask him where we are,
where we are with the canal embankment restoration program. We are letting this slide over and over and over. And what's going to happen is look
at phase one, guys. Let's take this serious. Look at phase one and now phase two is already starting to deteriorate and then what are we waiting? So I need
to ask you Mr. Director, where are we with this canal embankment restoration program? >> All right. So what we have is for phase one and there's basically two approaches to that right now. One is being led by us and it's taking the report that was
developed by the engineers. They have a inspection. They call out the length, the height, how many cells we have in a certain area and they did a really good job by doing it by addresses. So it helps us out. So we average out how many cells are there and they have a percentage of voids or wash outs. So
based on that, I'm leading the effort on developing an estimate of what it would take to get that repaired. Um once I get that done, that would be presented for consideration of funding. Obviously, we have our storm water uh the fee, the
collection that we do through that. That's something that would come out of that since it's part of our storm water infrastructure. On the other end, uh there was a question, I want to say it was council member Garcia that posed it to the to our attorneys and they are looking into it as far as uh the
contract and and anything that we can do uh on that end. So I believe that's still on the works, but once we have that, it'll be reported. >> Yeah. Let's make sure the warranty doesn't expire like the other ones have expired.
>> For which one are you referring to? If the third one starts to break, let's let's go to the warranty and this the in phase two. Let's go to the warranty. That's why it's there. >> Yep. We're doing inspections. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Sanchez. >> Director Santos, good to see you. Happy
New Year. >> Happy New Year. >> Back in October, we had a site visit at the site next to Barbara Goldman where we cleared out those trees and we were looking for ideas to prevent cars from going into that area and continue dumping and doing other things in that area. Have you been able to do any research into that? because I don't see
it in the infrastructure report. >> Well, we I priced out placing the the most economical would be wooden ballards. >> Okay. >> Um at that point, we just we're identifying funding >> for >> Yeah. We have to identify funding.
>> It would be the wooden ballards similar to what exists on Royal Oaks on 82nd Avenue. >> Okay. >> Right. That would be le the least expensive option. That would create a barrier where people can't go in there and dump like you say. >> Okay. But sometimes low. So I don't want to know what the cheapest if we have to change it five years down the road. If
we can get something that's maybe a little bit more expensive that have a longer lifespan. >> We I could present that as well, but the ones on on 82nd have been there for a very long time. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Unless a car goes through. >> Okay. Yeah.
>> Anyone else? Uh Councilman Garcia. >> Thank you, director. And I want to thank uh the director and the manager for working diligently on 59th Avenue. I know the we're almost done with the demolition. When do you foresee that site being cleared and ready for uh the
next step? >> So I'm projecting I think I sent this on the email too by the end of this month. >> Okay. >> It should be cleared out and then February is just final cleanup. Uh we have to stabilize them. Uh put some saw on top so so it doesn't create dust.
>> Yep. And then once the once the uh estim I mean the estimate, excuse me, the design is completed, we go out to bid. >> And also thank you for working with me and and you know setting up meetings with the engineers to get that design process expedited and moving forward. I want to thank you your office for that as well.
>> As far as putting sod, is there any other way to remediate dust without spending what's the square yardage of saw we're going to use on that? cuz to put saw in >> I want to say it's don't quote me on this because I'm just going off the cuff
of memory but I think it's around 9,000 square feet >> because the building itself is 15,000 but that's that's a twotory in one section. So >> So is some of the saw that we place going to remain there after or are we going to put salt and then >> the plan is to use ba? It's it's a
>> baja bajia grass. >> It's it's a inexpensive which is for this type of situation. >> Okay. >> Uh doesn't really need watering. So once the project starts, that's all going to get removed. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I appreciate it. >> Anyone else?
All right. Thank you very much. >> Right. >> Manager ATC >> Jeremy. >> Good evening, Mayor Council. Uh Jeremy Baggon, director of parks and recreation. Before you is a report uh based off of a few previous council meetings in which we're looking at alternatives if we were to go away from
the annual um annual flower change out as well as looking at mulching alternatives throughout both our pocket parks and our rideways. Uh in the report I list out uh some of the flower change options available uh that have proven to be hardy enough to withstand being on
the roadway uh survive long term and not really become an aesthetic concern down the road. Um, as Mr. uh, Chief Hernandez brought up, zeroscape is another type of option. However, zeroscape is usually going to be utilized in areas that do not already have irrigation. Um, and
typically not going to be somewhere that's high focal like a roadway. Typically, you'll have it in some pocket parks or some natural areas. Uh, P87 in uh, Florinda states is one example where it's a zero skate park. Um, so we did look at different alternatives and thinking of that. And then as far as the
options given, as I mentioned, these are things that have proven in the town and in other locations that have worked in these similar um applications. Uh so as I go through it, you'll have the flower change outs of looking at an option of installing sod in lie of any type of plant material. You'll have the
utilization of laapi throughout the landscape beds and then also the use of mondo grass in loo. It could be mondoass or dwarf mondograss. um pretty pretty common and similar. Um but those are the two those are the three options that we're looking at right now. Uh with
regards to the flower beds um with regards to mulch alternatives, um there is no direct similar product to mulch as far as a like for like and both the aesthetic appeal as well as all of the environmental um uh benefits that mulch
provides. So the options given here are going to be going with a bare soil mulch um bare soil bed. Uh so just letting it retain itself within its own um its own soil. Then there's ground covers. So there's two options I put there.
Perennial peanut which we have used before in the past in other areas as well as once again mondo grass. Um you have the cost breakdowns. Uh, also we looked at I know it was brought up by the council to look at decorative rocks or some type of uh structure that is not
doesn't need water, doesn't need any there's no growing habits. Um, but in looking into that there are some concerns with using decorative rocks along rocks along roadways and parks as it can become hazardous to kids, vehicles and so forth. Um and then in the last there you have the maintain
currentring options which would keep our flower our seasonal flower bed swap out as well as um the utilization of mulch. Any questions >> to the chief uh mulch hater. Uh we'll go to Councilman Hzburg and then we'll go to the vice mayor.
>> I guess the director to remove the mulch. So I appreciate the the report and to me I think this is a budget decision we can use later this year. We should be making I don't think we should be making motions now because this is about money and aesthetics. So that's the first thing I want to this is all
aesthetics. There's nothing necessarily important about the what's currently done. It's mostly aesthetics value. Correct. >> So as far as the flowers that is an aesthetic appeal to give contrast during as I mentioned the seasonal changes. So moving forward, one thing I will need
from the council is just going to be some direction on this next flower swap out because we are getting to that point now. For instance, we would be looking at a spring mix. So something pinks, reds, whites, something that is more spring. So that is directly aesthetic. Um now looking at mulch, uh mulch does
have uh benefits that are environmental things that uh are not recipro not be able to be reciprocated without a change. So if we left soil um that would then increase the frequency in which we would need to control our weed suppression because bare soil with
nothing else growing or deterring it from growing will create more weeds within our fl our soil beds. Um mulch also helps keep moisture which also then retains for the plants within them or the grass around them. So there are benefits that are environmental of
maintaining mulch within our beds. Um, but as far as the flowers, uh, yes, that's going to be something that can be swapped out with something else and you will lose some of the visual appeal. >> Got it. I mean, so for me, you'll probably hear this again and we'll see where the numbers come next coming up in
the summer, but uh, on the mulch side, I'm really okay with with doing nothing. I It's an aesthetics. Personally, I don't see the aesthetic purpose of it. Uh, and it would be an immediate $145,000 a year savings, right? the flowers, you know, I that's I I can it's
not as big as a savings, but it's still there. It's still a yearly cost. Option one or two are immediate savings within one to two years. So, it's just something to think about uh when we're talking about the budget. That's the way I see it. I wouldn't me personally, I wouldn't tell you not to do the flowers. It's in the budget now. We're not
amending the budget today. So I I think this is just about this is we this is for me to have when we start talking numbers coming coming back up in in July June. >> Thank you uh Vice Mayor Moretta and then Councilman JC Fernandez.
>> Thank you Mayor. I just want a little bit of clarification um for first and foremost so I don't embarrass myself. How do you pronounce number two? >> Laipi. >> Laipi. >> Laipi. >> Okay. Uh the laripe it says 64,600.
>> Is that just one time? >> Yes. >> Or are they annual or >> No, these are perennials. >> They should last. The only thing you're going to see is repairs. So if anything vehicle or uh an infestation breakout, but other than that, there is no need to swap them out like annuals.
>> Okay. So So that right there is a $43,000 a year saving. Essentially, it's a upfront cost of $60,000, but then followed by year after year savings of $43,000, right? Um, now the conversation about mulch, if I'm understanding this
correctly, is a separate conversation. Like, would we still be saying, "Okay, laopy, but then still mulch or no?" >> Yes. So, one is the flower beds and the other are the tree rings and all the other landscaped areas that are not just flower beds. >> Got it. Okay. So, so they're right away
pocket park necessarily the same location. They're they're separate locations. Correct. The places that don't have flowers. >> Correct. The flowers are limited. It's only 5,000 square feet worth of flowers that we were talking about. And then the other side of it is going to be all of the areas that are mulched, tree rings throughout the entirety of the town. So,
all 18,000 trees, um, all the pocket parks, any of our signs that are poles, light poles that are also mulched around, and then any landscape beds within these athletic and pocket parks. >> Got it. And yeah, no, I I'll echo Councilman Hsburg's sentiments. This is definitely a conversation for the the
budget period. Um but uh as as we get closer to an amended budget as we get closer to that time, you know, we should start writing some of these things down and make making sure that we bring them back at a later time. But uh thank you for the report because honestly, this is what gives us the information necessary to later on come back and make that kind
of a decision. So, thank you, >> Councilman uh Fernandez. I don't I don't think it's anybody's surprise the you guys know how I feel about this. I have an anecdotal story that um I was I had dinner with uh with an entertainment attorney which everyone
up here probably in the audience knows who he represents and he told me without he offered to me without me asking him. He said his statement was that he uh 15 years being here his office is in the town he's never seen it look as nice as it does now. So I would just keep that
in mind. I mean, I I think that there are people that are that see it that appreciate it and and are noticing. >> Any other council members before I put my two cents? >> Uh, Mr. Manager, I >> I just had a question, but I'll do that at the end once you're complete.
>> Hey, uh, Councilman Garcia, >> director, did you say you needed an answer from us for the when's the next cycle? When do you need an answer? By >> So these flowers are already starting to the flowers we currently have installed are already getting to the point where they're overgrowing and we have to look at their swap out already. >> So waiting for the next council meeting
would be too long. >> You would start to have them kind of growing lopsided. And you already have some that are starting to have some die back a little bit um just because of the temperatures and so forth. So >> I would I would prefer to start planting that already now to have a plan because it's also there's a growing period. So
on the nursery we'll have them grow in a little bit um giving them ample notice so that we don't install small small flowers immediately. >> And let me ask you something. If we go with the liopi uh what's the annual savings again compared to the flower cycle we have now? >> I don't have that number off the top of
my head. I think they mentioned somewhere around 30. All right. >> 40. >> And I think all my colleagues are are I think realize that next year, this year's budget cycle is going to be very challenging, especially what's happening in Tallahassee. And we every dollar counts. 5,000 here, 2,000 there. I mean,
we it has to add up. So, I mean, if you need a decision, would you prefer a decision from us today to get started at least? >> Well, this this year's budget is fully funded, right? So you don't need anything for >> I wouldn't need it with I I don't think at this time we would ask and there's
still potentially if we do come back to this you still have two other cycles that we can then >> Could we possibly do a a pilot program on this since you haven't used them before maybe select a couple uh curves and swailes that you could so you can practice so if we decide to do this you
already have the mechanism in place and >> I'm sorry. >> Yeah to see it so we can see it. Yeah. Could you possibly do maybe um one of each? Yeah, one of each. I I would put a motion uh to start for this upcoming
cycle to at least do a couple of each. So So we can not only you can practice uh how it works, but we can also get a a and maybe get some feedback from from the residents as well. I mean, if that's a possibility. Will Jeremy will that exceed our
budgeted funds if we do >> the laria and the mondo grass in lie of uh flower change out in a handful of uh >> essentially will it will eat into the third quarter's cycle but it can be done if we keep it small scale uh one of each
potentially I think we can work it within the existing budget at this time >> and then maybe one tree or two for the the mulch alternative as well just so we can take a look at it see how it how it because it looks great here. But the reality is >> Thank you for bringing that. Thank you for bringing that up. >> This looks amazing. This is photo day.
This is AI Photoshop. Yeah, >> this is the day one uh honeymoon phase. >> Yeah. So, >> months on months of maintenance and keeping up with it, sometimes they'll get a little hairy. >> So, would you need just a direction from us uh Mr. Manager or just uh >> No, I mean I I I think that's reasonable
and it's on a small scale and it's for visuals. So you by the time you get to decision making in the summer with the new budget, that way you'll have something that you can have a better basis than a than a photograph. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> So is there a motion? Just want to be clear.
>> I would move to Yeah, >> he said he didn't need it. >> He said he didn't need it, but >> Oh, okay. >> Well, okay. What? That was direction, but I didn't know if you meant uh if you had a separate motion beyond just kind of expressing the sense of the >> Well, I mean, if I'd move that that we direct the >> If you want to make a motion, >> I'd move that we direct the manager to
and to direct the park director to go ahead and get started. >> I'll second. >> You got a second here. >> All right. It's been moved and seconded. All those in favor say I. I. All oppose, no. >> Uh one no. Councilman Fernandez. Um, and
uh, with that, the motion carries. I'll go ahead and put my thoughts. I almost voted no as well because what I don't want us to do is to move backwards, as Councilman Fernandez was saying, with our beautifification efforts. And my and so, at least for me, I'm not going to support anything that would be moving
away from mulch without an alternative. Um, as a matter of fact, this morning driving to my office from the east side of town, um, I noticed that at the entrance, uh, feature at 154th Street, I felt that, uh, you know, you you don't have anything there right now, right? It's just dirt. And I thought that that
is below the standard of the town, especially at our key entrance feature. And so, at least for me, um, you know, I I like that we have options here. And I'm and I ended up voting yes because I want to see what what some of these options look like in person. But I'm not going to accept just uh you know leaving
it just dirt. I think uh that's us being cheap in in that situation. Um and you know again for a community like Miami Lakes and then at least uh my head if we were to make a change with the flowers my my my thinking is that um I probably
would go with the uh Liropi or Liopi. >> Laria. >> Lari. Yeah. you know how much I love to butcher names and but you know those are just my two cents on on that you know as far as where I'm gravitating but you know for sure with the mulch there would have to if I'm
going to vote to get rid of the mulch I would want there to be an adequate replacement there and I think uh again I understand you know that not not this year's budget but the following uh year's budget would be impacted by whatever gets passed by voters but again we we need we can't be cheap about these
things again we're we're Miami Lakes so you know and we didn't come this far just to take a step back. With that said, uh anything else? Mr. Director, >> Mr. Mayor, >> a Councilman Guad Garcia, >> point of personal privilege. Um let's consider that um
the underpass that we're we're expanding there on 154 Street. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Manager, uh looks in very deplorable conditions. I know that there's construction going on there, but even before construction, that area there of
the underpass, which that bridge has been um given to us by DOT. It's got a special name on it. Uh what do you call it when they turn it over to us? >> They haven't turned over. We just have an agreement with them that allows us to go
>> an interlocking agreement. >> Interlocal. Okay. An interlocal agreement. But it's been looking really really bad. I mean, >> right, part of that is part of the objective of that a side benefit to the extension of the turn lane under the
palmetto is that the southern side, the other side of the columns is going to be redone in a subsequent project uh to eliminate any of the dirt. They had some originally they had these big round uh flower bed areas that didn't make any sense because nothing was ever going to
grow there. And we're going to we're going to do that much nicer once this project is done. We're going to look into improving that southern side on the south on the south side of the columns cuz it looks way before we started that extension there. It looks really bad.
So, let's consider it u making that look uh much better than it looks. Um actually piggybacking off of that and I'll close with this is a uh while I understand I know that that that's been Councilman Quad Garcia's um main one of
his main beautifification initiatives which is cleaning up the underpasses especially at 67th you know the reason why I to date I have not supported especially as a recurring cost you know uh is because ultimately that area is just going to continue to get dirty all over again. So, I I just think um you
know, we do what we can. I think the manager just pointed out an area where that project is actually going to be helpful. The other thing I would just say is let's definitely stay on top of making sure the growing beautifully mural uh stays clean. Mama bear is always on my case about that. So,
you know, because obviously we we all pass by it on the way to the office uh you know and on the way back. With that said, thank you very much, director. And we are now on item nine, which is the attorney's report. Mr. Gustessie.
>> Okay. So, it's been a long road on the blasting issue. Um, we have kind of bad news, but I'll follow it up with what I think is good news. The town, the bottom line is the town isn't the proper
plaintiff for something like this. There's something. The first thing you have to look at when you are evaluating a lawsuit is if you have standing. Uh I can't file a lawsuit on behalf of my neighbor. I'm not my neighbor. I have
to have standing. I have to be the person. Sometimes I can file a lawsuit. And I'm not talking about an attorney. I'm talking about me individually. Uh a lot of times I have standing to file on behalf of a minor child. But if not, you have to be in the right position, the
proper party to bring a lawsuit. The the courts have basically the the count counties, municipalities uh are organized as political subdivisions of the state and constitute
a part of the machinery of the state. Municipalities in this state are creatures of the legislature and are absolutely subject to legislative control being political subdivisions of the state of Florida. The counties in
this one case uh which would apply to municipalities are not a person. We are a person to sue other people if we're wronged in a breach of contract and stuff like that. But when it comes to the specific item of voiding out
legislation enacted by the state, we are not a person. Uh and if you're not a person, you cannot bring the lawsuit. Um accordingly, because pun municipalities are political subdivisions of the state, they do not possess independent constitutional
rights to the right of access to courts and a jury trial in their governmental capacity. That's the Kakis versus Boyd case. Thus, the town could not make a constitutional claim under article 1, section 21, and section 22 uh when
acting as a governmental entity. That's essentially what's called uh the public standing doctrine. There are exceptions when the legis when the legislation itself makes you spend money or uh incur
the legislation makes you incur a personal injury. I don't believe that the legislation itself makes us incur a personal injury. I believe the blasting makes us incur a personal injury. But
the fact that this that we can't go into the courts and that we have to go into DOA department of administrative office and hearings or something like that. It's a state legis. It's an administrative agency within the admin
within the uh executive branch. So I believe the town is not the proper plaintiff. I think we would very likely get bounced on any number of reasons because of that. I I don't believe we
meet the exception. I know in Homestead uh they brought a case uh about the uh live local act and everything else and they're trying to get around the standing doctrine uh the public standing exception or
standing doctrine by alleging that they have some sort of a personal injury because of the legislation itself. uh some other public officials have brought it uh w when it comes to the disclosure of forms and things like that because
it's personal to them and they are quote suffering an injury. Whether whether the courts will will accept that is is up for debate. But in our specific case for this specific legislation, I'm deeply concerned.
uh if the town were to file it, uh pay us a bunch of attorney fees and everything else and then leave us holding the bag. It's not something that I'm anywhere near comfortable doing at this time. As a result, Councilman
Hsburg and I uh believe that this is really improper legislation. This is not good legislation for the homeowners, which is the ultimate reason as to why you are doing this. You're not, you know, it is really, really bad
legislation for residents targeted at our residents. There very few people outside of our uh geographic area h have this problem. Um I don't think it's fair. I don't think it uh you know I I
don't think it should stand as it is. So, Councilman Hsburg through his law firm and our our law firm have are going to be taking on four plaintiffs, four individuals uh at no cost uh to those individuals.
Uh it's an uphill battle. It's strong. We are not going to be profiting from this in any ways. Uh in essence, you know, I I think we're accomplishing some of what the public policy goals of the council are. Uh, I
was not aware of all of this stuff. Councilman Hsburg is really led the fight on this. Uh, he's really knowledgeable on this issue. I've seen a draft of the lawsuit. Um, it's it's interesting. Uh, I make no guarantees
whatsoever. It's an uphill battle. We're talking about a very well-funded uh opposition with a state legislature and executive branch that you know really favor the legislation,
let's just say. Uh so it's an uphill battle, but I think uh it's something that we should do. I think it's something we you know and I I feel compelled to do now about how much I know about it and everything else. I don't want anybody to think that I am
putting this case in our law firms at the expense of you know enriching ourselves or something like that. It is 100% completely the uh completely the opposite. It is pro bono. We will not be
using town resources or town administrative personnel or anything of the sort. It is completely on us. Uh I don't think the town should spend the money. Uh and that that's kind of the decision I've made. Uh if someone wants
to file a motion or or present a motion that we should proceed, that is something that is to up to you. But under under these circumstances, uh and just so you know, we did get a second opinion uh from this. We retained uh the
Gay Robinson firm and they gave us a memorandum. Uh, and I'm pretty much in agreement with what it says. We had we had formed our own opinions. We had not told them, look, this is what we see or
what we find. Um, but they came up with those reasons and others uh as as to uh why we should not do this. Um, >> well, I'll give Yeah, I'll give
Councilman Hsburg the first crack at it before I I put in my remarks. >> Thank you guys. And you obviously we've been looking at this closely. I've been looking at this closely for years now. Um, and it comes down to a very simple fact that I believe the strongest claim
of this lawsuit is the right to jury trial. And the town simply does not have that right. So, you can't go to court saying the law is unfair because we don't have the access to a jury trial when the town doesn't have that access. So, uh I have signed up three individuals already that are affected by
uh these blast. I'm about to sign up a fourth. I think that would be the four. Uh the complaint is basically ready. I do plan to have it filed this week and we'll move forward there. It's not a town issue. I'll make a motion shortly to take it off the this body's hands.
This is a private party issue moving forward. I will not be discussing it much on here because this is between my law firm, Mr. Gassessie's law firm and our clients at that point. You'll hear about it, right? We're definitely going to talk about it, but it's not going to
be a town issue. It be no town resources. We are taking this proono. This will cost us money. This will cost our law firms money. Um especially who have to litigate in Lyon County. But we'll uh we'll see where it goes. I I agree. No, no guarantees from the hours
and hours I've spent. Uh I I like our chances. I think we I think the law is on our side, but you you can't make any guarantees in court. But that's what we're doing. So, I'll make a motion to uh I guess the framing would be to remove uh and move that the town does
not proceed with filing the litigation based off the report from the town attorney uh regarding the blasting. Second. >> Any uh discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor say I. I. >> All oppose, no. The eyes have it. The motion carries. And Council Hersburg, I
just wanted to thank you. I also want to thank the vice mayor for your time uh that you guys early on put researching this matter. And I want to thank the attorneys as well for being very thorough. As I had mentioned previously, if if the standing issue was not resolved to my satisfaction, it would be
very difficult for me to support um a suit notwithstanding the the importance of this issue to our residents because at the end of the day, you know, we can't be throwing good money after bad. Um but of course, I'm I'm glad to hear that, you know, you're you've made alternative arrangements. Um and I wish
you well uh in that endeavor and and you as well, Mr. Castessi. With that, um who else? The vice mayor. and then I'm going to turn it over to you, by the way, to chair the meeting while I go do something outside. >> Sure. Thank you, mayor. So, I want to say obviously as someone who came into
office campaigning on this issue, it was very near and dear to my heart, still is near and dear to my heart. Uh I something I actually didn't notice until right now was that from here there every single person from from me uh to
Councilman Quad Garcia is a former member of the blasting advisory board. Uh so it it's near and dear to all of us. Um in discussions with uh Mr. Gastes with uh in the past when we were in the blasting advisory board together with uh
Councilman Hersburg and with uh the deputy town attorney uh Mr. Goa, they know that I've come up with crazy ideas to try to get standing. We've jumped through hoops trying to get us standing. Uh I think I proposed the most
tangential thing ever uh to try to say that it hurt our the our property tax rules and therefore it damaged us directly. So we we really did exhaust exhaust all options. And what I did not see was this last piece of the puzzle,
frankly, because uh I didn't expect anyone to be this generous and anyone to actually step up. So I do want to thank you, Mr. Gesi, uh as well as your partners who are also taking this risk on uh along with you and you, Councilman Hsburg, as well as the partners at your
firm who are taking on this risk along with you because it is a risk to your firm. uh there is a risk that it goes nowhere and and and that there is no ability to recover. So uh you've taken this risk upon yourself as you said it becomes a private matter in the world of
litigation. It doesn't necessarily uh rescend or or stop the efforts of the BAB on the executive and uh legislative fronts but it does continue but it does discontinue them on the the judicial
front. Uh so I I as being and by the way with this issue I always did feel like I brought it to the forefront and then you brought it home. Uh you really did you you did a phenomenal job of taking that that mantle up. Uh and I thank you for all those efforts as well as um Gastzi's
firm. Um but but yeah, this is pretty much the end of the road and and I've tried my best to avoid it, but we are there as far as the litigation is concerned. Councilman Hersburg. >> Yeah. And if I may, you're right. It's the end of the lo road of the litigation, but a separate road away is
just start being built, right? But it's certainly not the end of the road for our legislative priorities. Uh I have spoken to representative about our plans. He's still always told me the strongest plaintiff was always a resident. It was a matter of an attorney
and residents speaking up. I was able to get three residents are able that will be putting their names on a document against the state of Florida, right? Um, but I do believe that once this is filed, uh, there is an opportunity potentially to try to push legislation
because now it's a matter of well, here's a lawsuit. Read it, see if you agree with it or not. If you agree with it, then maybe you guys want to do something in Tallahassee. Uh, which could make potentially make the lawsuit moot, right? if they do something that's constitutional, which uh repres the representatives current bill is seems
pretty straightforward, um it could make it move, but we'll see if there's any movement. So, I would say we're not done yet from a town council legislative standpoint, but the litigation is done. That'll be a private matter. You'll hear from me, right, personally, but you won't hear from me necessarily up here.
And not only that, if that lawsuit, God willing, is successful, I would be the first one arguing for resources from the town to help create new plaintiffs and and bring more people to now because what you would be doing essentially is
creating a pathway to uh relief to the residents, but now they need to be guided onto that pathway. Uh, so you know, the the the way uh Fabricio's office can sometimes help you with um whether it be Medicaid benefits or
things like that. I would be looking to see if we can set up something similar at, you know, no cost or or or a very very low cost in order to help guide our residents towards uh uh how they go about making a claim uh for for >> if the if the representatives
legislation was successful >> or your litigation. >> Right. Yeah, the one thing I wanted to say is as far as Tom Fabriio and his office, they could not be more accommodating. >> They are behind us 100%. Tom and his wife are lawyers. Tom is constantly
saying, "Hey, how about this angle? How about that angle?" He is. He is >> He's been our biggest defender. >> Yes, he has. Unfortunately, he's only one vote. Uh it's the the other area legislators I'm not going to say have been unsupportive, but I can tell you
Tom, Representative Fabricio's uh support is uh is is off the charts on this. >> Councilman Garcia, >> thank you. Um well, I want to thank you, Mr. Castelli, and I want to thank uh the Councilman Hzburg for um taking this on.
It has been a a battle for decades. And um and I just want the residents to know this is not us giving up on the process. This is us adjusting to the fact that since we don't have standing, we we basically can't do anything. I mean, we
can't ask for relief if we don't have standing. So going through the residents, which are the ones that are getting hurt anyway, and the ones that deserve relief uh through another avenue is is is a a great strategy. Um, so we ask, you know, the support of of the residents to to support this this as
well. And as you were saying, the legislative part in Tallahassee is still there. We're still going to be battling to get this legislation passed uh to get that through to give relief to to our uh to our residents. If that doesn't work, then again, this this is another avenue.
Again, we're trying different avenues to help out. None of us here um well, as you said, Vice Mayor, I think everybody on this side has has has lived this and and fought for this. Um so I want the
residents to know this is not us saying and we're giving up on this note. This is us saying, "All right, first half didn't work out. Halftime, second half, new new we have new new plays running. We have a new strategy and we're to go with that." And again, the fight
continues. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Councilman Garcia. Any other Council Garcia? >> Thank you, Mr. Um, thank you to both law firms. Kudo to both of you that took on the challenge. Um, I always want to remember to both law firms that we've
talked to Goliath and we've told them where we needed to be. They didn't want to listen. Remember, David went against Goliath and and knocked him out. So always whenever you think that always think about David
and Goliath. So um that's all I could tell you. Congratulations that both of you have the courage to move forward and um I know that uh you guys are going to make it happen. >> Thank you Councilman Garcia. Any others? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and move on
to committee reports and vice mayor. Oh, >> just one one question. And is there now since this is going to be put in the hands of private litigation, >> is there a continuing role or purpose to the blasting committee continuing? Uh so
that's kind of what C councilman uh Hersburg and I were were just talking about that there is still a role uh to advocate on the executive, administrative and and and legislative uh side of this equation.
This only takes out one leg of the government, which is the judicial. >> Okay? >> Uh the rest are still in play. Uh because like like uh he said, if they see this lawsuit and they say, "Oh man, you know what? Taking a look at the facts in this lawsuit as drafted out,
this kind of makes sense. This is a dumb thing we're doing and it is an unconstitutional thing we're doing. Let's go ahead and change change the law because that's what they can do." Um then that renders his lawsuit moot and he can drop it and now the residents
have relief. So it it all a and um the former chair uh Miguel Martinez, he was always big on and so was I think all of us on multirong uh attack. So you're attacking the the from the legislative side, from the executive side as well as
from the judicial side at all times. Uh that way whichever side opens up, that's the route that you take. So and and listen, I've honestly rambled that idea in my head. I think that there the time will come for the BAB to sunset. I don't
think it's here just yet. >> Got it. >> Okay. On to committee reports. We're on to the public safety committee report. Mr. Carlos Andres, come on down. Okay. And Mr. Junker. There he is. Okay.
Council. Well, mayor's not here, but uh vice mayor and council, town management. Uh thank you for having me. Carlos Andre with the public safety committee here to do our uh bianual report. Uh this has been presented to you all. You should have it in your agenda essentially uh
you know where we stand today with our budget. I know it looks kind of uh funny with the way it's set up uh where our actuals are, but essentially what we're trying to present is that you know our available budget um is approximately $7,000. Now why is that? because we have a carryover and this includes um you
know funds that we uh raised from the car show from cars for heroes and we'll as I go down line by line uh we'll get into the car show and discuss more about it. Uh but you know before I go in into our initiatives I just want to extend on behalf of the public safety committee
safety committee our congratulations to Lieutenant Yola. He's, you know, uh, has been wonderful to work with, um, public safety, as you all know, very closely with our sheriff's office and our fire department. Um, and it's been an utmost pleasure working with him and we're really excited about his new role. He's
someone that, um, you know, we've seen be very close to, um, you know, the folks that work with us and an exceptional leader and, you know, so that thank you, Mr. Manager, for for for appointing him and we're all very excited to work with him. So, um, going
on on our accomplishments, uh, from, uh, the last time we met, the 911 event, uh, our annual recognition, uh, to the sheriff's and the fire department, our national coffee of a cop, which is October 1st, and then now the cars for heroes, the cars for heroes, I'm I'm
very glad to report, and I believe most of you were there, was a huge success. Um, and I have to say I was pretty surprised myself. You know, what a success it was. Uh, you know, we had, uh, 99 cars that paid. I think there was more cars that probably got in that
didn't pay. Um, but, you know, we'll we'll we'll we'll take that donation. Um, well, Hersburg, we can get you next in next time since you're giving some proono work. We can get your car in, help you offset some of that cost. But, um, you know, everyone had a great time. And again, the the main purpose of the
show was, you know, to show our residents and really Miami date county at large what our sheriff's office is and what our fire department, you know, can provide with their specialty assets. And, you know, it's it's, you know, it's really contentious, right? Because, you know, contagious because people other
departments were there. you know, you had City of Halia, Homestead, Village of Virginia Gardens, uh the state troopers, uh could have they actually were going to bring their specialty cars, but uh they had a lot of resources tied up uh with Alcatraz right at that point. Um but, you know, there's
other divisions that are really excited about coming to attend this year and we have the support of the grants, you know, to give us more space for next year. Uh so we're we're extremely excited about it and uh so just to give you all, you know, some of the numbers and how how we uh made up, we did a
little over $10,000 in uh donations and and that includes uh you know, people that registered for the car show that day, golf carts, golf carts, you know, enjoyed it as well. Um and sold some t-shirts. You know, we were smart about our t-shirts. That was really the work of our committee, Johnny Torres, who
spearheaded that, uh, to make sure that we didn't put any year on those t-shirts so we can reuse them. Um, and our cost, you know, we were very, uh, you know, uh, let's just say careful with our expenses to make sure we made a profit. So, we ended up a little over $3,300 of
profit. So, um, again, kudos to the the team, you know, everybody, you know, from myself to everyone. And like we said from the very beginning when we met with this body last year is that we wanted to donate a portion of that profits to two organizations, right? So
we want to we would like to donate $500 to the PBA which the police association love fund. Um just some examples, you know, that organization has helped officers at their worst time. If you know, there was one officer that got hit by a car pulling over somebody and they
helped with the arrangement of, you know, taking care of him when he ran out of sick pay. That's just one example. And then you have uh we want to donate $500 to the resilience fund uh for the fire rescue. And again, you know, uh firefighters
uh they see it probably, you know, probably worse than anyone else. And we see it, we see station 64 and station one, how active they are when they're responding to calls from R826. Uh so this helps them with mental health >> through the chair. >> Yes. >> Uh just quick question, M. Manager, do
we need a motion to for him to be able to donate or is that part of the his >> I think it was already approved. >> It's already approved to be able to donate >> approved when the event was approved because it was brought up >> the donation. Yeah, I believe so. >> Yeah, he he had brought it up at that time. >> Okay. Okay. So we don't do anything on our side. All right. Thanks. now and and
thank you uh Councilman Garcia for bringing it up because what we would like to do if if at all possible is that when you consider the donations of $1,000 in total, we we end up at $2,300 of profit. We would like to earmark that
money. In other words, not spend it on our operations, but save it for next year's car show. Um so that's something that why do we want to do that? That way we don't, you know, we don't spend it on our recurring expenses on what we're doing and making sure that uh when it comes time to next year, we don't have
any of that issue with, you know, the budget being reset because our car show is very close to the new fiscal year, right? Um and it also will help us with the difficult conversations that we'll be having this summer on budget. >> I'd like to move we uh
>> earark >> earmark that remaining um >> Yeah. >> $2336. and second. >> All right, a motion is made. There's a proper second. Any discussion? Seeing none, those in favor say I. I. >> Again, say. >> Motion passes unanimously.
>> Thank you, council, uh, for that uh, support. Uh, so now moving on to our, uh, accomplishments uh, or I like to call them accomplishments because I really feel that they are. Uh, we had holiday safety tips. I don't hopefully most of you saw it. Again, just some examples. You know, some people are
like, "Hey, you know what? That's we we know that." I'm like, "Yeah, but you forget." And this is showing our residents what we got. You know what we have at at at you know, like perfect example is when you're on vacation, you know, you do a watch order. A lot of people know we don't have that. All
right. So, um that was a huge success for us. Now, future initiatives, we have something coming up tomorrow. We're going to be joining the NIC uh for the event they're having with the HOAs. This was something that uh Councilman Fernandez uh you know requested that we see how we can work with the HOAs public
safety. So that's we'll be attending that tomorrow. We finally got our um RFID pouches um done today literally by Vita Customs. That's going to be something we give out our future events to people for people to get their um key fobs in there so uh folks can't steal
their signal. We have we're planning our next uh fire station event. So that's in March. Okay. So the weather should be much better. All right. A little hot last time. And uh yeah, so uh we we're going to be uh uh we actually have a
partnership. I know this council has discussed to for committees to work together. All right. How we can streamline initiatives? We're working with the NIC to have an event in April uh for Earth Day. So it's going to be like Earth Earth Day slash okay who wants to shred their tax returns or personal documents. So we have a sponsor
in place uh you know to come in and he's done this in the past before. This is shred force. Um, so you know, get folks to come out and shred any of their personal uh, you know, or you know, delicate uh, documents. Um, we have law enforcement awareness month in May.
Coffee of a cop in May. Something that's been a hot topic that we keep hearing from residents uh, both online and in person is golf cart safety. So, uh, something that we're going to be doing is doing a uh, similar to holiday safety
tips, but golf cart safety tips. I know our previous mayor uh major uh did that uh a few years ago. We're going to go into more detail, right? So, we're going to talk about uh you know, county roads, Miami Lakes roads. Um you know, some things that are not law but highly
recommended for safety like kids that are being carried in golf carts without you know uh car seats. You know, I know that's been I've heard that a lot. Uh so, we're actually and to make it even better, we're going to partner with the Miami Lakes Golf Cart Club to do that. That way we're addressing this both with
not just the town of Miami Lakes, but their community as well. Uh summer safety tips. This was something we started last year with the Graham Companies. It was a document that we sent out and we put in the Miami Laker. Well, we're also going to do a video this year, kind of similar to Holiday Safety Tips, but now for the summer. We're going to relaunch uh I don't know
if you all remember when we came in last year where we had the signs, the yard signs, drive like your kids live here. We're going to do that again. um probably a little bit different, you know, make it a little more obvious like yellow or, you know, attention seeking. Um we're we're playing around with the
idea depending on money to relaunch the challenge coins. Uh that was something that it was done when it was still a police department. Now there's a sheriff's office. We feel that's a nice token to the folks that, you know, serve our town. Um you know, and and and when I when I go to the, you know, the different fire stations, they're really excited about that. Um, we also want to,
you know, give that for for children that, you know, do that, uh, you know, the right thing at school or whatnot. Um, and then, you know, we're we're really going to be starting planning for the car show much sooner than later. So, that's going to be either October or November. And again, things like what uh
Councilman Guad Garcia brought up, you know, the block in the sidewalk, that's something that we can do as well, you know, so we can do that as a PSA, you know, and put it into some sort of a video or some sort of a uh you know, an image because people people forget that's actually against code. Um and and
we see it across town. So that's something that, you know, we can you can use the public safety committee as a front uh to put that out to residents. So uh with that, I'll open it up to any questions. Any questions from the council? >> Through the chair. Um, one second. Council Garcia. Um, Mr. Attorney, did
you have a question? >> I normally don't. >> Huh? >> I normally don't. >> Okay. >> But as a golf cart owner, boy, as you well know, go ahead. >> New golf cart owner, near and dear to my heart. Um, you guys might want to think about putting all that stuff with the
golf carts in their >> What do you mean? >> In their wheelhouse. um you know things having to do with golf carts or looking into the golf carts and everything else in front of them. I guess >> putting putting them into the public safety committee. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean I I think uh we've learned
to give the committee their discretion, you know, they're the ones that are there in the front lines when it comes to public safety. And I I personally, I won't speak for everyone on the DIS, but personally, as also a recent golf cart uh buyer, uh especially since you already stated you're going to be
working with the Miami Lakes Golf Cart Club, uh you know, something that isn't going to be imposed on that community, but rather done in collaboration with Absolutely. Uh so, so I think it it makes complete sense. Uh, so yeah. Um, Mayor Diegas, uh,
Councilman Garcia was the one that was >> Councilman Garcia. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, Vice Mayor, um, again, great idea. And yeah, piggybacking on what Councilman Garcia said, yeah, when you're when you have those sidewalls blocked, people have to walk around into the street blindly
sometimes and it could lead to to accidents. So, absolutely, thank you for doing that. And again, I mean, you are everywhere, brother. I mean, on Friday he was at Main Street Live helping the cultural affairs committee with that uh event. By the way, amazing event. It was
great weather. The um the artists from Brazil were amazing and everybody had a great time. So, thank you for being there as well. >> But again, I can't say enough about what you've done for this community. I mean, you've taken uh public service and volunteerism to another level. So, thank you so much.
>> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Councilman Herszburg and then Councilman Quad Garcia. Thank you. And thank you, Sure. Same thing. I mean, you you you've done a great job. I knew I thought I knew the car show would be a success. I'm glad to see it continue. And like I said, when you were thinking
about doing it, use it as a way to fund your committee. That's something I think we're go you're going to hear from us on all committees. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And you have the tools now to to fund your committee. So, I think that is important that you have that tool and you continue to use that. The the events you did over the past year were great. I
love the firehouse. that that was a phenomenal event. Uh so I would just say keep doing what you're doing. Maybe not try to take on everything. I'm just going to trust you. Whatever you request right now, I'm going to approve. But you you your committee has done a great job
for the past year, I think. Uh so just just keep doing that, but don't try to over overcommit at the same time, right? Because you it's it's hard. It's a lot of work. You know that. Your committee knows that. But overall, if you think you can handle it for now, all right, let's do it. So that that's as long as you have the money too, right? Uh so
that that's all. So keep doing a great job. >> Thank you. >> Want to congratulate >> Father Garcia >> and then Councilman Sanchez. >> Want to congratulate you again on the the last car show. Uh we had people from
Davyy. Uh and also a couple of people that I knew came uh all the way from Weston. So you you actually had penetration all with you from Weston. and Davey there at the show. >> Thank you, >> Councilman Sanchez. Carlos,
congratulations. Public safety committee is leading from the front as we do in Miami Lakes on on multiple things from our police department to the from the high visibility lights to now having the I believe it to be the first ever car show where law enforcement and residents
get together to promote public safety and police equipment and everything like that. So, congratulations. I'm very proud to be a supporter of yours and as as as Councilman Hersburg said right now, anything you need, you can count on us. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chair,
vice chair for your report. With that, ladies and gentlemen, we are now on item 11A, report from Miami Lakes Food and Wine and Miami Lakes Town Foundation upon reaching the $100,000 mark for donations. And for that we have Miss Lin
Matoss representing Miami Lakes Food and Wine. And we have the man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Fred Senra representing the town foundation. So, good evening uh gentlemen and ladies. Um we are very proud to uh you
already mentioned it but I think we we need to do it again. We need to mention it again. the funding that it is provided by the food and wine since it started um has been used
through the town foundation which I happen to be one of the members of the town foundation um to be distributed among local schools, local organizations that present the
need for certain grants. for certain program that they would like to uh develop or or you know uh use for um and um with the grants that we awarded uh this past week I believe it was um we
surpassed the magic number of $100,000 that all the all that funding has come from the food and wine. That's why we need to uh continue to support and continue to help Lynn the efforts that
Lin Moss, you know, has made with uh she she always says that, you know, with Jeppi, but I know that she's the one that uh she's the heart and soul of the uh of the of the food and wine and she will continue doing so. So, thanks for your support and we will continue doing
our job as far as uh uh giving the grants to the local people. Thank you very much, Mr. Sen. Miss Moss, would you like to say anything? Or Lynn, as we simply like to call you, excuse me, call you. >> It's been a minute. I'm Lynn Moss, and I
am the excited and proud co-founder of the Miami Lakes Food and Wine Festival. So, I'm going to take you back in time. There are a few in this room that were here. Josh probably is one. Mayor, my apologies. Um, and was a chilly night, not quite as cold as it is in here
tonight, but and the then manager, um, Rey, I approached him. He was standing up against the wall and I said, "I have an idea. I'd like to have a food and wine festival." For those of you who remember, Alex Ray's wife Kathy worked
for the city of Miami Beach and was involved in the food and wine festival there. and he looked at me and his eyes lit up and he said, "I think we can do this." The rest of you know the backstory about the wine and the conversation and all
that. I've told that story before. But as I stand here tonight in a room full of amazing people, the foundation board who does such a remarkable job and the gentleman standing to my right who you
know is a legend in this town. There's hundreds literally hundreds of people who have joined us in this journey and people say oh you know how much money do you raise? It's not just about the
money. It's about the passion and the community and the small businesses and the celebration and the kindness component and all of you and all of those people since 2017 that stood next
to us and made that happen in this community. The sponsors, the participants, the community partners, everybody gave a little. Everybody gives a little. And for those of you that bought tickets already, thank you. I appreciate you. That's amazing. And the
rest of you, I hope you can make it. We really, it means the world to us. and having attended some of those events where I saw in action the grants that the foundation awarded, the model UN conference, the civics bowl, the events
for the dance and the um the mock courts. When you see it in action and you see those kids, it makes every single moment where it's late, I don't sleep, I'm worried, you
know, I'm at the park pulling weeds and doing all the things that I am so crazy to do. But I can't thank you enough. And I've been so blessed to have just an incredible team. And I'd be remiss if I didn't say thank you to the original
group. Andy Perez, Tony Fernandez, Nancy Rogers, Heidi Sarah, um Gloria Garcia, of course, who's still with us hand and glove, and just some incredible people that have been with me
throughout this entire journey. It's $100,000. Every dollar, we start at zero every year. It's every door, every sponsor, every ticket sold. And without the foundation board who just is so
incredibly remarkable for the work that you do, I'm not on that board for those of you who don't know because there's an appearance perhaps of impropriety and it's a direct pass through. I keep saying that in case anybody's confused,
but I just sit there and smile because the work that they're doing is just so incredible. So, I know you got a lot ahead of you tonight and and I sincerely appreciate the time that you've allowed me and I
hope it keeps going. It'll keep going if it's the will of the community and the town to give back, to be kind, to drink wine, to celebrate the small businesses. And I truly think that it's remarkable when we
started in 2017. Think about what the restaurant scene was like in Miami Lakes and what the transformation has been and how many great restaurants have come and thrived and grown and are just doing amazing things in the town. They're such
incredible community partners. So, I overspoke, talked too long, but thank you so much. I appreciate each of you and all of your support and the foundation. There are no words without you this wouldn't have happened. And so when I researched those documents in
2017 with one of my favorite CPAs and said, "Can we do this through the foundation?" And he said, "Yes, you can." You know, that was just the beginning of where we are today after all these years. So thank you so very much. Don't go away.
Um, if it is uh all right with the council, I'd like to uh invite down here the members of the town uh foundation, Mr. Peterman, Gina K,
>> we'll take a a fivem minute recess to go ahead and take photos uh and whatnot. >> Thank you. Just to take a picture. >> Yeah. Yeah, no worries. We'll take a fivem minute recess. and colleagues, just for the order, let's let them go first, just the board and uh and Miss Moss, and then we'll
join in uh after their initial photo. right here. Ready guys? Ready guys don't kiss anyone. She'll put right on top of Everybody >> ready? One, two, three, one more. And
then over here. ever. >> Oh my god, I forgot the date. February 7th, 2026 from 7 to 10 p.m. mlfoodwinefest.com. Thank you so much. >> We're over three minutes.
You guys Hey, >> perfect. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to continue now. It's 7:56. We are on 12A, the consent calendar. Is there a motion? I'll move the consent comment. >> I'll second. >> It's been moved and seconded. All those
in favor say I. I. >> All oppose? No. The eyes have it. And the and the motion carries. Thank you. And uh with that, we are now on 13A, ordinances on first reading, naming rights, sponsorships, policy, and
letters of support by Vice Mayor Moretta. Mr. Attorney, please read the ordinance into the record. So this is a naming rights sponsorship. It's an ordinance of the town council of the town of Miami Lakes, Florida, deleting town of Miami Lakes Code, chapter 13, article 12, naming rights, sponsorship policy, and letters of
support. Creating chapter 2, article 5, division 5, naming rights, sponsorship policy, and letters of support, creating and providing for inclusion into the code, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. >> I'll move the ordinance in first reading. >> It's been moved. Is there a second? It's been seconded by Councilman Sanchez. any
uh well it's first reading so with that madame clerk please call the role >> item 13A ordinance in first reading council member Garcia >> he's council >> he was in the break room he's here now
>> council member Garcia we're moving the item 13 ordinance in first reading >> council member Hzburg >> yes >> council member Sanchez >> yes >> council member Member Cuadra Garcia,
>> yes. >> Council member Fernandez, >> he stepped out. >> Absent. Vice Mayor Mora, >> yes. >> Mayor Diegas, >> yes. >> Ordinance and first reading, item 13A passes. >> Perfect. Councilman Fernandez, how would you like your vote to be recorded on?
Okay. As a yes. Excellent. >> Thank you. By your vote, the ordinance passes on first reading. There are no ordinances on second reading. Instead we have resolutions 15A beautifification master plan update by myself and director Bagdown. Where is director Bagdown?
>> Or Mr. Manager if you feel comfortable just presenting. >> Yeah, we can do item B if you don't mind. I don't think >> going to recommend moving on. >> Oh, he's there. He's there. He's >> Oh, never mind. >> Have faith in in poor Jeremy. This is here for mulch again. No.
>> This is about adding mulch. >> July. July. >> All right. You you are recognized to go ahead and present item 15A, the beautifification master plan update. >> Um so yes, this is the item that was deferred back in November uh to take a look at the updates being provided to our beautifification master plan which
originated in 2014. This is taking a look at um everything we've completed, creating punch list on what is still left pending, what is still missing funding, but more importantly is also kind of the lessons learned, where were there some uh obstacles that we could not overcome and some hurdles that we
had to kind of shift our focus on. Um align with that also there was some input from the council as the things that needed to be looked at. adding some of the uh under passes that weren't originally within the plan, as well as taking a look at public art is going to be one of the big new uh features that we're putting in this plan and looking
at ways that the town can leverage some of its public space to incorporate and add more public art. Um the plan is before you. I know we had a little bit more time to review it now since the previous meeting. Um if there's any questions or any comments that we'd like to discuss,
>> I'll move item 15A. Is there a second? >> Second. So, it's been moved and seconded. Discussion. Uh, beginning with the Council Fernandez. No, no, uh, discussion. Okay. Councilman Herszburg and Councilman Garcia. >> Sure. Sorry, I thought you said Councelor Fernandez. Sorry. Um,
I I like the plan. Understand this is sort of like a guide book of when you're making decisions, let's look to see what the decisions should be focused on. Any anything major could still come before us. The only thing I would like to see is a focus on as little sort of like what Mr. Fernandez stated and and I
spoke to the manager previously, focus on plants that require as little maintenance as possible, focus on native species. Like I remember looking to looking at the plan and I I guess I saw that it's it showed types of plants, but maybe that's not the focus of it because it didn't really say let's focus on
native plants or these type of plants. So, if you can just share a little bit of how the town makes those decisions when you do make updates uh on making sure you're trying to be as cost effective as possible on what we plant, right? Because that's it's not just buying the plant over a few years. It's
now maintaining it, which is the biggest issue. >> Yeah, definitely. The biggest thing is we we can build a lot and we got to maintain it for the next 25 years, right? So, um the plant was built with species that are all uh conducive to the South Florida area. um it believe it only mentions twice native. However, all
the species that we're looking at tree-wise, right? Your dahoon hollies, your pigeon plums, your live oaks are all Florida natives. Um same thing with our green buttonwoods. And then there are other species of plants that may not be listed as non may be listed as non-native. However, they're non-invasive. They are recommended by
for planting um and so forth. So all the plant material um it is kind of a uh a combination of over the years what we've seen works what is conducive to our area and obviously yeah if we see there are certain plants that I didn't put before you that we had issues with obviously we
take into consideration our experiences with things that we know are going to require more maintenance are going to require more repairs or replacements. So those things we kind of steer away from. The plan, as you mentioned, is built as a a guiding principle of what we should be focusing on, but any projects that come forth, mainly those that aren't
funded, right, will have to come back to this council to look at anything funding wise. At that point, we can talk over the species and what's planted. But what you have listed within the uh beautifification master plan is essentially things that are going to be conducive for our South Florida region. Um and things that are going to be of
lasting impact as far as the need for replacements or any type of things that may require more maintenance >> through the chair. >> Councilman Garcia, then Councilman Quaza Garcia. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um well again and the mayor hits on it every every time we're up here beautifification and making sure
that the town um you know is at a certain level right uh what can be more beautiful than native our native plants right so I I think we can make that work and I think what what our council is saying let's make it work uh and let's make it work as smart as we can you know
make it sustainable now now I'm looking at 53 culde-sac beautififications 53 culde-sacs and 53 beautiful streets with neighbors all around. Um I think we're going to need the help of our neighbors and our residents to to especially with art and public places if we want to put
some art there. Do we have along with the neighborhood improvement committee uh some sort of process where we can include the neighbors in each culde-sac to kind of adopt a culde-sac and help with not not the overall maintenance but maybe help out uh with certain things if they want to plant something or help say
we're going to plant some native trees. have the kids in that neighborhood, the families come out, make an event of it so they adopt that culde-sac, make sure it stays clean, uh, you know, involve the neighbors in the process to to help not only your staff, but also help help the town be more uh get more involved in
their in their beautifification in their neighborhoods. Is that something we've done in the past or something that uh we've >> So with culde-sacs we haven't we do have the adopt a road and adopt a park uh that just kind of went through and uh we had a recent update to it that incorporates different uh ways that you can adopt a park or adopt a roadway for
plantings of this sort. There's also the family tree program. Now we could look to incorporate culde-sacs within that adopt a park program so we can add it as an asset that a family or two neighbors can join together to maintain their culac. That's something we can definitely look into. maybe some
originality to to the culdesac, make it their own kind of thing, you know, help out. Maybe there's something they want to do to make it their own. Be it an art sculpture or like you said, maybe, you know, uh pavers or something that, you know, or something that that that
for a family member, something that makes each unique, you know, to that neighborhood perhaps something that will encourage people to come out and participate in the process is something that we might look into. >> We can take a look at it uh down the road. It's just the way that the culacs were improved where kind of uniformity
plant material that we know because we have to maintain it but we can definitely look at options in which there can be some >> a little space where they can personalize their culde-sac you know maybe just I'm just trying to get people involved in the process and and uh so they understand what what it goes what
all the work that is being done to make sure that their neighborhoods are at the level that they that they deserve. >> Definitely. And then also just on a side note to that, right, and making sure that we're informing our community whenever we have a reforestation program where right now we're just finishing off the Sevilla estates um reforestation,
removing the Cuban royal palms and placing green buttonwoods, right? We go out to the community, our staff will actually hand deliver some letters that give them options. So when we looked at what we wanted to plant in the Sevilla estates and 166 um corridor, we gave the options. Do you want silver button? What's green button? What's pigeon
plums? We like to get feedback from our community before we make these decisions. So, it can be something along those lines where if we're looking at a renovation of a culde-sac, getting those homeowners that are adjacent, do you like these options? What else would you like to see? And we can encourage that a little more often. >> I don't want to slow down the process at
all. I just want to give them, you know, a say, you know, and say, what do you think? Okay, great. Not not to have encourage, you not to have five, six meetings, but no, just a quick, hey, we want you involved. What do you think? and then boom. It's it's typically a mailer um in which we list the options out and if there's any questions they
can always email us direct. Um but definitely like I said we can look at incorporating the culde-sac side um and looking at what that would impact the maintenance and making sure that it's obviously nothing that's going to be um an issue to maintaining that that culde-sac long term. >> Councilman de Garcia and then councilman.
>> Thank you. Basically uh got two small items. I'll try to make it as brief as possible uh to Mr. Baghdad. Um, one of them is, uh, we had talked about in the past that we are going to be having our, uh, our tree nursery. Is that something that we're
working on? >> Yes. Right now, we're evaluating um, some of the locations to come back uh, uh, to review before we come back with an entire plan. >> So, basically, as I'm going to echo what uh, Councilman uh, Ray Garcia said, um, let's get our neighbors involved. Look
at uh what Dr. Gilbert did for us. you know, nobody knew that he was you, he wanted to be generous and he wanted to help us. So, let's ask our gen our our general public, whoever wants to be generous and nice, they might want to donate some trees. So, always keep that
in mind. So the next one is um we have seen the mistakes that Miami Dade County has done in the past on planting these oak trees, all these real aggressive
root trees and they never thought about planting them in areas that where we needed a big or bigger um area for them to expand. So I have asked yourself, I have asked the town
manager that when you're planting these trees also keep our town council myself to come out and see when you are putting those root barriers to see how things are going. Uh we have planted a good amount of these trees and I've
not at least myself have not heard anything when you've planted these trees. Can you please keep me up to uh up to breast uh Mr. Manager? >> Yes. >> Thank you sir. Councilman Fernandez. >> Thank you, Mayor. I I love the idea that
Councilman Garcia brought up uh regarding the neighbors and getting them involved and having them um contribute. I I would just say this, I think it's in regards to grass, plants, flowers. I'm all in. The only thing I'd like to be
cautious about is inviting them to install artwork because people have bad taste. Have you seen >> started with you? Some people >> I I'll include I'll include myself. But what I what I what I'm what I'm afraid of is that they're going to put in
statues and call that art. It's very subjective and that you're going to open up a can of worms. >> Maybe we can give them some choices if pick one out of three. I know I get you. >> I'll be I'll So I'll close out on this item and um I'm glad to see that it
appears it's going to go forward. I think it's important that we u make sure that on beautifification that we have a a plan that we continue to work off. I believe the last time this was seriously uh uh done was in 2015, right? That Councilman Mester at the time was
proponent of this and I've kind of picked up the mantle uh since then uh on the on the public art which is was also an initiative that I had pushed forward um with council support. I think it's great that we're incorporating that into the scope and it would be great to to see what comes out of that. At least for
me though, the intention was for the town, yes, to be the one deciding what goes up. Um, but of course, some kind of input process wouldn't be uh a bad thing. But, you know, the idea was for us to go ahead and and be able to, you know, not fall behind, right? You know, our sister city of Halia has been
incorporating um all sorts of art pieces and their entryways, right? They they're also incorporating them. I forgot which part that is that that they have a bunch of statutes in. Um so I didn't want us to fall behind, you know, when it comes to culture and beautifification. Um you know, which we were for for a while
there, but I'm glad to see that we're back on track with that. Um this being a resolution, uh voice vote. All those in favor say I. >> All oppose, no. >> The eyes have it. The motion carries. We are now on 15B, adoption of the fiscal
year 2027 federal legislative priorities um by Olivia Shock and Manager Peterman. Although I'm going to go ahead and just uh say that um for the benefit of my colleagues when I met with Congressman Diaz Bolard a few months ago and when the manager and I spoke with our federal
lobbyists, these uh priorities are listed here all passed the smell test, you know, in terms of what the congressman was willing to to accept uh from us. Um, so with that, I'm going to move item 15B. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Yes. >> Councilman Sanchez,
>> I'd like to add um if if the council if it's the will of the council to request funding also for the veterans the the wall of honor that we want to do a veterans park, >> even if it's a percentage, a small percentage of the total cost. We're
estimating it to be about 350,000. >> So why it's a small >> friendly member? Well, well, it still needs a second. >> No, no. I I would like to make a friendly amendment to what he's proposing, >> but he >> he didn't get a second. >> I'll second. Yeah, there we go.
>> Now, I'll make I'm willing to make a friendly amendment, which is just have uh Nash uh determine what are the potential sources of grant money because I think right now you're limiting yourself to federal only. Uh but that let's see is there federal, state,
private, nonprofit, etc. All of the available and if there are federal for them to be added to this. >> That research has been taking place over the last few months. I actually sent a few resources um to to Miss Shock um but they they were not they didn't produce
any any fruits. >> Yeah. And and remember what you what you do here is sometimes these are even though we put the total cost of the project, we coordinate them with whether it be state legis state appropriation or a grant. So, what what I would recommend
um if this item passes is to put it at $400,000 just to make sure that we have enough for how construction goes and before you know it, you blink and then there's uh inflation. So, I would put veterans uh monument at $400,000 and if we are able
to obtain other funding sources, then we'll coordinate that with the uh with the representatives office. >> Right. And we can sell this to the federal government as a way to help as a recruiting tool to show how the town of Miami Lakes honors its its veterans and you know eventually maybe high schoolers
will see that and want to be a part of that and will either enlist or or or dedicate themselves to OCS but it can be used as a recruiting tool as a tactic to tell the federal government >> the manager's recommendation as my proposed amendment. >> All right and and I'll second that. So,
with that on on the vice mayor's amendment to the amendment, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> All oppose, no. Uh, okay. And I'm going to close discussion on on the that the amendment p the amendment to the amendment passes. And now we're back on the amendment. Um, I'm going to support
the amendment with the caveat that when it comes up in in meetings in DC or with other officials, it is not going to be my top priority. >> Right. >> Obviously, you know, our priority is drainage and and and public safety, of course. So, you know, I'm I will be clear to with them that if if uh they
which I know they have a limited budget, I mean, look look what's going on in DC right now. Um you know, even if we can get a lot of money as we have from them in the past, we we we have to prioritize from these projects, right? >> Um so with that, all those in favor of the amendment as amended say I.
>> I. All oppose, no. >> The amend the amendment as amended passes and now we're back on the main motion. All those in favor say I. >> I. All oppose. No. The eyes have it. And item 15B passes. There being no new business, we are now on um my report to
the council. I simply wanted to uh you know give you an update as to where I'm at with my travel expenditures. Um you know, last year you all allocated roughly $3,500 uh dollars for my travel. um for day days day so far because I'm I
haven't decided where I'm going to drive or or fly. But uh I've spent $725 and then between room and flight in DC we're at about 800. So, just wanted to make that report to you and uh for those of you that are going up to date, please
uh you know, through Alexis and JV, send me if there's any particular representative or senator outside of our uh our representatives in Tallahassee that you would request a meeting with and then, you know, we'll go from there on which meetings get scheduled and
whatnot. But, uh just submit your your request if you have any um to JV. just, you know, keep in mind that while this is a working trip, it is also a period of time that's very stressful for our senators and representatives. So, you know, it often happens that those
meetings get to be very short, especially when um when you load up a lot of other meetings, right? So, just, you know, be strategic, you know, don't don't just throw everybody that you ever wanted to meet, you know, on there, but just give me uh you know, who who you'd like us to talk to our Tallahassee team
about scheduling a meeting with. With that there, uh, do you have anything else? >> No. >> Okay. Well, with that, there being no further business, we are now adjourned at 8:15 p.m. >> The under winds.