so so the last Good evening everyone welcome to our regularly scheduled commission meeting April 23rd 2025 the time is now 7:04 madam clerk roll call
commissioner Irvin here vice Mayor Kelly present mayor Taylor here as we stand for our invocation led by Eternal God Father we thank you for all the many blessings we thank you for this day we thank you God for the great city of Opalaka continue to give us wisdom
knowledge and understanding do those things that you're pleasing in your sight in Jesus name we do pray amen amen pledge of Allegiance i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all all right um Madame Clerk do we have any awards proclamations or acknowledgements at this time no Mr mayor all right we're going into the approval of the consent agenda do we have any polls deferrals or deletions at this time uh no pull okay so I'll pull that
item under consent 131 all right can we go to the approval of the consent well there is no consent agenda the approval of tonight's agenda move it moved by Vice May Kelly second
second by Commissioner Irvin madam clerk vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right we're going into the approval of minutes uh the regular commission meeting minutes March 26 2025 can I have
a um moved by Vice Mayor second second by Commissioner Irvin madame Clerk commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right our workshop meeting minutes April 3rd 2025 motion motion moved by
Vice May Kelly second second by Commissioner Irvin madame Clerk vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right sunshine meeting minutes April 8th 2025 motion was made by Vice M Kelly
second second by Commissioner Irvin madame Clerk commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right moving the last one is the regular commission meeting minutes on April 9th 2025 can I get a motion moved by Vice
May Kelly second second by Commissioner Irvin madam clerk vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes three moving on to our District 1 District 2 reports do we have any Madame Clerk we do not Mr mayor all
right any public presentations no Mr mayor all right we're going into our citizens forum can you please state for the record how to participate in citizen form yes thank you Mr mayor good evening city of Opalaka Commission meetings are held in person at the Opalaka Government Center City
Commission Chambers 780 Fisherman Street 3rd Flor Opalaka Florida members of the public wishing to address the commission may do so in person or virtually those persons wishing to participate virtually should register prior to the scheduled
meeting time on the city's website at www.opalaka.gov when speaking before the commission please make sure to give your full name and address for for the record there is a threeminut time limit for public comments please adhere to the decorum policy which is a part of the
commission meeting agenda city commission meetings are aired through li live liveream at www.youtube.com/ youtube.com/user/c city of opalaka and Mr mayor at this time we do not have any virtual public comments all right so we're going to open up the um citizens
form for those of you that are in the chamber citizens form is open good evening mayor commissioner commissioners uh Brian Dennis address 2140 Street what I'm about to say does not affect the new interim city manager
the chief need to be fight he got to go and what what's happening is we still seeing the remnants of the old city manager still being here did y'all know that y'all almost had an incident in the police department life with steel
between two female officers now and it it's funny how the chief works here but he's reporting to the interim city manager
wherever he is discrediting the interim city manager and that's not fair when that's his boss so now what makes you report to a person that tried to tear down the city and here's why I'm saying he needs to be fired because the inter the old city
manager brought him in here if you concerned about him suing the city we can go back and get the tapes how many times he don't stood in the front of the commissioner's eye he can't sue nobody but the morale in that police department is out of
control meaning it's down if I had a vote and I know this got to go off for bid you wouldn't the city quiet the city ain't been this quiet since baby shiver every manager since Shton had to
sit in the upward it is quiet you can sleep but what's going on in that the police department and how they got that little team weight going because everybody that's got something to do with this is still tied to the former city manager and that's not fair to the interim city manager who's in the blind to a lot of this
stuff if that situation with officer steel and the officers that happened with a taser we forget we we we can't forget that they still strapped so now we still got people here
that knew that the former city manager open up bank accounts and finance where they at they still here i don't think it's fair that that chief is still here with
all this foolishness going on and even when the interim city manager came in and the chief left Chief Starks was still in code enforcement the city quiet let's keep it that way great job interim
management citizens form is still open citizens form is closed all right madame manager no I'm sorry madam attorney 131 a resolution of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida prohibiting the rehiring
of former city manager Darvin E williams providing for incorporation of recitals providing for an effective date this is sponsored by Commissioner Irvin all right can I get a motion move it second oh sorry go ahead and present
sorry yes um I bought this um resolution uh this week because when I hear of what we things
that we thought was being done that wasn't being done and things that were being done that we had no idea about especially when it comes to the opening of the bank accounts and just something as recent as last commission
meeting with the the property and the I I just feel like that there was some kind of deceit going on there and who was going to be the financial gain of all of this stuff happening and we're not going to be sitting on this day as
always and I just don't want for the another commissioner be it 5 years down the line 10 years down the line another commission wind up being put in the same situation we were where we have somebody
that we that gives a good front but the back is not exactly what it seems to be and then the city is in a horrible place years later when we could have prevented this from happening by saying we don't
want him in our city as a well what we can control be it um the ma a manager going forward again it's it's not personal it's just I feel like had we he not we not got rid of him when we did we were going to find oursel in some well
not us that was going to well we would have been um the problem of some missing funds down the line or some other stuff going on that was not like what we want to present our city to be presented with
and there's been rumors I have heard rumors that um he had planned he was coming back And um as far as even who he's going to fire when he get back and stuff like that we can alleviate all of that by you know
you came here you started out well you ended out horrible um let's just let you stay where you are and continue to move our city forward without having to worry about him coming back and working in our city later in
life i'll answer any questions all right any questions for the sponsor of this item [Music] um I guess to the to the attorney really
madame attorney um I've not really seen this too often although I I'm told it does exist uh what what is your your legal thoughts on this this is a commission decision can't hear
you it's a commission decision it's a commission decision yes sir okay all right if if I may say um Vice Mayor
um the idea of this actually came to me when I was trying to have conversation about a previous employee and I was told that they were not rehireable because Mr williams had
them on the do not rehire status well I I'm not referencing former employees i just want to know from an attorney she says it's really a commission decision which means you've given it your your legal sufficiency
yes you all um are the uh persons who determine hiring and firing of the charter officers and those are the folks that you control obviously you control contractual um issues that have to be passed by the commission first so those
are the things that you all control so um if you choose that this is something you want to do you are certainly within your legal um parameters to do so another commission could decide they want to do something different but uh you all could certainly put forth a resolution stating that this is what you
um intend to do and this is your intent thank you thank you Mr mayor okay um madam attorney I just think this is borderline one if we we hired him as a charter
officer but if we pass this let's just say if it does pass then the manager can we we cannot tell the manager who to hire in other departments right it's just to me it's in another department no but this that's
why it's written narrowly for the as as um Commissioner Irvin said for the for the um the offices that you control so for manager city manager interim city manager for contractual issues so it's written narrowly tailored for those
things that you all as a commission would control all right any other concerns for this item all right we can go ahead and call the question
sorry commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor no um motion passes to one all right moving on to 16 A1 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida adopting and
enacting a new code for the city of Opalaka Florida providing for the repeal of certain ordinances not included therein providing a penalty for the violation thereof providing for the manner of amending such code and providing when such code and this ordinance shall become effective
deferred from the April 9th 2025 regular commission meeting this is sponsored by the city clerk madam clerk yes thank you Mr mayor so this ordinance is first reading it was deferred from a previous meeting at the request of
um I guess the the the commission and also the city attorney um requesting additional time for review this is for the recottification of the city of Opalaka code as I previously explained to you
all and I'm not sure if you guys have any further um questions at this time with regards to this item all right can I get a motion move it moved by Vice Mayor second second by Commissioner Irvin this is a public hearing item public hearing is
open public hearing is closed all right any questions to the manager on this item i mean sorry to the clerk on this item could you present all the items hearing none we can go ahead and call the question commissioner Irvin yes vice
Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right moving on to item number 162 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida amending chapter 2 article 2 section 2-28 of the
city's code of ordinances entitled date time for regular meetings to amend the start time for regular city commission meetings to 6:00 p.m rather than 7:00 p.m providing for adoption of representations providing for conflict and repealer providing for inclusion in
the code providing for scriveners errors providing for an effective date this is sponsored by Mayor Taylor right i'll go ahead and present and I entertain a motion so simply put is to change the time of our meetings from 7:00 to actually 6:00 um as we can
see a lot of residents don't really participate in our meetings the only people that it really affects is our staff and they're here since 5:00 so that 2-hour buffer to me is just a lot um and it doesn't it still allows
for our residents to participate we have if they want to do virtual uh through our city clerk for virtual comments or they can do write in letters but they still have the opportunity to participate so it doesn't stop that the the flow at all but it just allows us to do business earlier and it doesn't we're
not going to get go in early to stay out late correct but allows us to get in and get out get in and get out so I entertain a motion at this moment move it moved by Commissioner
Irvin all right so at this point I will relinquish the Gavl to second the motion and I relinquish it to Vice Mayor Kelly it's been moved by Commissioner and second by the mayor um we're under discussion um we don't have a lot of folks come to
meetings unless there's an issue they want to discuss but I also know a lot of times we have um shade meetings or things that come up that we normally do prior to a commission meeting because it's on that same um date and so now I'm
concerned with that happening you're either going to have to do a shade meeting a different date or something come up workshop that we want to try to capture in the same time frame or you going to be trying to push it up earlier
knowing that uh some of uh some of us are working or have other things to do and which means if you're having a workshop or the like the public will still be impacted because now it's an earlier time for that uh I I understand in some regards to wanting to push it up
so we're not here um too late but I do have reservation that even residents can get here at 6 um if they worked i'm not talking about those who retire but I'm talking about those who are working get off from work most times at 5 in traffic
get home or come straight here for 6 we're starting at 6:00 so public uh presentations or public forum is already probably passed by the time they get here at 6:15 so I don't know why I don't know if that's a a good thing to do um I
know we don't want to stay in too late i don't have a problem with that um I am somewhat sympathetic to the fact that staff has to be here a buffer we call it a buffer 2 hours but staff also most of
the folks here don't punch a clock so you know they're here late or early they can come in later the next day um if need be i can understand to a degree but I think on the resident side or business owner side starting sick really creates
a conflict but not a conflict but a challenge to get here at 6:00 and to get heard considering that we um normally do our public presentations or hear from the public early on in the meeting so
that that's really my concern um with the legislation i know a lot of not a lot some cities do have it early some even have in the middle of the day some have it at 7 like we do um but I'm concerned about the public actually have
an opportunity to be heard if they're not here at 6:05 or 6:07 because they're coming from work or even get stuck downstairs trying to find somewhere to park to get up here especially coming from work and so that's why I have the
concern about um 6:00 p.m i know we want to get out i know we don't want to be in there all night long etc but that's really my concern about that um legislation and then to our colleagues who work cuz sometime it's a challenge for them to get at 6:00 for uh workshops
or special meetings um and so that's the concerns I have when you put it at 6:00 p.m to start that the public really will have an opportunity to be here to be heard but um I understand the legislation is put
on the table so I just want to put my concerns on there any other concerns or thoughts vice Mayor Taylor all right so um to address some of the concerns um shade meetings we usually have early but I know for the last couple weeks we've
had sunshine meetings that have started in the middle of the day some residents have attended some haven't also and those have been at 3 at 2 at 12 but they have been properly noticed and ample time for people to get here if they so
choose also when it comes down to public comments there are three ways for every resident to participate under citizens form and that's via um letter to the clerk via um um virtually or in person
so it doesn't stop any resident from having their voice heard and I understand what you said about the urgency that people are getting off work and things of that nature but changing the time we do it second and fourth Wednesday so planning ahead i think the
residents what we've what we've seen that when residents want to do something they do it hot items this place is jam-packed and it doesn't matter what time we start special meetings we start at 600 5:00 and this place is packed to speak on those hot items but our regularly regular commission meeting
meetings no one is really here so this just allows us to start earlier do conduct business and get out earlier that's all that this is thank you Mr mayor um just to clarify I wasn't referring to sunshine i was referring to shade where the attorney calls those
because she's trying to catch us when we're all here i referring to sunshine i know those we've had in the daytime i'm really referring to shade meetings which usually occur for the most part before a commission meeting not sunshine meeting but I appreciate your your answer any
other discussion if not we can call for the vote you got to open up a public um here oh okay public hearing is open on this item public hearing is open seeing none public hearing is
closed no other discussion madame clerk roll call commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly no mayor Taylor yes motion passes first reading 21 yeah we're going back to the mayor thank you all right
moving on to 16B1 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida approving the selection of leasing 2 Inc to finance the acquisition of the city's new street sweeper with a three-year capital lease an interest rate of
5.89% and three annual payments of $14,49044 uh providing for incorporation of recital providing for effective date first reading public hearing was held on March 26 2025 this is sponsored by the interim city manager all right this is a
public hearing item but we'll let the manager go ahead and present and then we'll open up for public hearing staff have recommended the acquisition of a new street sweeper due to the excessive malfunction of the current equipment three quotes were obtained to an analyze financing options leasing 2 Inc offers
the best leasing proposal if approved payments will commence in in October 2025 and Mr anathan is available should you have any questions i do apologize can I have a motion for this item move it moved by Commissioner Irvin second by
Vice Mayor Kelly this is a public hearing item public hearing is opened public hearing is closed any questions to Mr anathan or through the manager at this time hearing none we can call the question madam cler vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor
Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right moving on to item 16B2 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida adopting a complete streets policy to create a safe accessible and multimodal transportation
network for all users providing for implementation measures responsibilities and design standards provided for incorporation into the code provided for conflict and repealer severability and an effective date first reading public hearing was held on March 26 2025 this
is sponsored by the interim city manager all right this is a public hearing item can I get a motion move it moved by um Commissioner can I get a second
i know i know i just make your mind which one you going to I'll second it madam manager go ahead and present the complete streets policy will establish a commitment to design build and maintain roadways that accommodate all modes and uses of
transportation it also broadens the city's mobility goals the policy has been created and is being presented for second reading and adoption miss Gross is also available should you have any questions all right this is a public hearing item
public hearing is open public hearing is closed all right any questions for Miss Gant mr mayor Miss Gross I just have one uh question really to the manager or to our
design um once we adopt this policy what would it take to change anything within the policy would it require legislation or just managerial directive or since we're doing this by ordinance to create this
um policy i you going to speak on you i don't think she can i believe it's going to have to come back to the commission since it's policy okay so would that have to come back it would have to come back to the commission yes okay that answer question all right thank you all right if no other concerns we can go
ahead and call the question commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 all right moving on to 16B3 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida adopting the
safe streets for all comprehensive safety action plan to enhance transportation safety improve infrastructure and promote equitable mobility throughout the city in conformity with section 163.3177 Florida statutes providing for incorporation into the code providing
for a conflict and repealer severability and an effective date this is sponsored by the interim city manager all right I'll allow the manager to prevent and then I'll entertain the motion go ahead with the assistance of vision vision zero the city has developed the safe
streets for all comprehensive safety action plan which highlights transportation safety challenges and counter measures to reduce traffic fatal fatalities and serious injuries this item is now being presented for second reading and adoption and Miss Gross is
here should you have any questions all right this is a public hearing item public hearing is open public hearing is closed all right um any questions for Miss Gross or the manager at this moment hearing none madam clerk call the
question um I need a motion in a second it was move it second thank you thank you Commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly
yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 30 commissioner Kelly had got me throw up there i got to blame somebody why not i can take it we're moving on to our um city manager report madam manager you have the floor i did submit a written report to the
city commission on yesterday however I would like to add that the internal accounting team CFLG has been working both on-site and virtually since late March 2025 together with city staff we are making progress with all items required for the production of the
financial statements for fiscal year 24 we have provided Markham all of all of the planning items on time as required currently we are in the field work phase we are developing schedules and reconciliations needed for Markham to review we anticipate delivering those
items on time as we did in the planning phase we have been in communication with Markham and we're all working towards issuing a timely audit i'll take any questions you may have at this time all right any questions for the city manager at this moment
i was just about to say great job manager great job and for the record it's due June right so the external auditor will have it June we'll we'll have it to be submitted to the state by June june yes okay and it's um late
What's the Is there an actual day or is just June 30th okay i heard you thank you all right any other question madam manager great job and I just want to say for the record this will be our first on-time audit
yeah good job Madam Manager we're almost there almost there all right u but since we're in that same vein but I didn't put it under my report but I asked it and I thought that you mentioned it a couple weeks ago how far are we from um curing
the remaining 99 findings um Miss Ashley Walker and I are working um a lot of those items are policy driven so we are working with the departments on trying to get those items presented to the city commission within
the next by by the second meeting in May to try to get most of those um findings cured okay i have to give a written update um this week on where we are is that something that we can do in the interim before we submit that way we
once we we're done no it's submission to the commission okay that's it yes okay i just want to secure it as soon as possible all right any other questions to the manager all right hearing none moving on to our official board reports we have none um
our mayor and commission reports i yield to Vice May Kelly thank you um Mr mayor as you see under my uh report uh I want to start off with those the C program initiative which
um C as a part of Meet Me Monday and also Miami Dade Emergency Management along with FPNL was um at meet Monday and one of the programs that they still do after many years which I was surprised is the SER program which is a
program that will train staff have citizens anyone um on how to assist in case of a natural um disaster they are willing to come here on site um we've been in touch with the representative
who um presented and they are definitely amunable to coming and holding the classes here in the city so I wanted to bring that to the commission and get any thoughts you have on it whether we wanted to allow uh just put it out in a
fly and see who responds or we wanted to have certain um the manager had any certain staff to attend i know some of the directors have probably attended some of these kinds of trainings but I don't know if all of them have but it is something I think would be beneficial
for our community and our residents in the event of a natural disaster because they train them on how to assist um in various phases of things that are going on as a result of a natural
disaster so I wanted to bring that to the commission you have any thoughts on it if not we're going to proceed and and working with the manager to come up with um some dates and get back with them to kind of finalize uh the program so we
can initiate it here in the city of Opalaka vice Mayor mhm okay so I was happy when I saw this item we a couple weeks ago myself the manager and our planning department went down to the actual center to tour and this is one of the
programs um this plus some other programs that they wanted to bring to the city of Opalaka so I am all for the initiative and I think that when we talked about it we talked about um having two separate programs one yes specific to the residents and one for
staff as it relates to emergency response so that was the only other the only change I would ask you well the only I would I don't have a problem with two separate um classes but I do know um
sometimes it's also good to have staff interacting with citizens because in the case of a natural disaster they're going to be kind of working hand in hand there's some things from a governmental side staff knows but you know residents know Miss Susie Mr bill Miss whoever
that has challenges or might need um some attention that staff has to go locate and find out that they may be aware of i have no problem supporting you know separating them out with a city staff class and a citizen class that's
that's not a problem so we want to do it that way that's fine um I've seen it done both ways uh years ago when I was an employee it was done um with staff and I also saw one did with residents and staff so I know it can work both
ways so if the manager has enough folks cuz I know they'd like you to have a certain number to bring it to you as opposed to going down there so if the manager has enough we can put it out for citizens to sign up for it um because we do want folks who are committed to it
and we want to trying to get that training done because we know we're right on the heels of hurricane season but the good part about this as you probably found out it's not just uh limited to hurricane season it's any any disaster so I think it's good so we
could work towards that end a staff class a resident class or you know however it works out um I have no problem with it with with either way and the only other thing and I'm sorry um vice mayor is to let's try to couple it with the CPR class that we were going to
do with them as well so they were willing to do both and I don't remember the other the third class but I know it was CPR and something else yes it's CPR first aid usually um it depends on how extensive we want to be and how much time we're going to put in it but
usually it's theert and um CPR for sure you can include first aid i think that's that's already included in Well I'm just saying that's for for the residents okay um especially to get certified in that but we can look at all phases of it i guess the question is to make sure we
have enough people so we can do both classes but I would still suggest some layover even of those who may have attended um so they could be aware and the citizens could be aware or business owners for that matter of the staff who would be involved in case there's a
natural disaster so they'll already be you know on the same page so we'll work on that and the manager I'm quite sure will uh give update as we go forward um putting it together and meeting with them and then if there anything else we need to add we can certainly do that
obviously it's free there's no cost to us except for the space obviously and probably having to provide maybe some light refreshments or something but that's minimal cost um if you don't have me going to school I need more than just light refreshments pardon me if you have me taking a class I need more than just
light refreshments but as long as you don't break that sternum when you trying to do uh Commissioner take care of refreshments um but that that's good okay so we'll follow up on that the next thing um unfunded state mandates and I
put that in my report because as all of us aware we're seeing a lot of things coming from Tallahassee um that are requiring us to do or wanting us to do but not necessarily um are funded in any manner just kind of telling us what to
do and in inclusive this new um and we all got I think the email that the governor set up now for this um agency to review all of everything policies and everything so I put that under there cuz I wanted the manager to
make sure as these mandates come down um if there are costs attached to them even though we have to do them that um we're aware of it since we're especially coming up to the budget um process so that's why I wanted to bring it up in in
uh my report the other thing I wanted to um get update is the citywide park master plan um I know we we've spent quite a few dollars or at least budget a few dollars how much money we actually spent madam man you know cuz we still
have not got a park master plan for the whole city and I know we've done we're doing some things a a you know playgrounds i saw in your report that we've passed um upgrades that you know for basketball courts but we haven't got
the park master plan that deals with all of our parks and all of our green spaces and so I want to know what that looks like before we go any further doing anything else to any of our parks um so do we have a you have any update if not
you can get it to us later i do we've spent $150,000 um the draft plan that was presented was not good we had major problems with it staff has met with the company on
several occasions the latest meeting was actually held today um Miss Ashley Walker the parks director um the CIP manager they've had meetings with them the plan has eras it speaks on it talks
about other cities in it things that doesn't have anything to do with Opalaka um we've voiced our concerns we've given them all of our concerns to make edits to it they'll have a follow-up meeting on next week Tuesday in that meeting we'll have multiple
department directors because a lot of our directors should have been engaged in that plan and they were not so we're working with the company it it needs a lot of improvement okay um but to this date we've expended
$150,000 yes yes madame Attorney and Could you via the manager take a look at that agreement and I want to see it again myself cuz I don't remember the all the the fine points but I know it had some deliberals some time frames some expectancies and I
I want to follow that timeline because we really can't do anything with our park green spaces all over the city um we spent that kind of money on a on a master plan for the entire um city and I'm assuming it also is going
to make some recommendations about some green spaces that we had not identified or the commission has previously talked about possibly seeing so I'd like to um yeah I'd like to to see what that looks
like because we're over I mean I've been back here two years now and um they've been working on this for a while too long so I I want to find out what the challenges are because I get asked by
residents all the time because we did the surveys we had them at some of our meetings and whatever and to hear at this point we don't have anywhere near a finished product we can't move forward on any of our really big plans for parks
until that occurs um because all of that encompasses not just our three parks but also all of our green spaces Kaboom and everything else so I I would ask that you would give it to managers uh madam attorney look at
that agreement uh madame manager I will definitely be meeting with you on that cuz I'm not happy to see that we're not farther along than we are to see where the breakdowns are um okay and so until
then I'll just reserve my other comments on on park program until I see what that looks like um the last thing I had under that I had written here was city staffing um are are we sufficiently well
not sufficiently are most of our positions filled or do we have a lot of vacancies still i know we've been doing um I guess recruiting uh I know we've been to the outreach and had the table there um
where are we at on staffing we have been actively recruiting we do have vacancies still do we have a lot no we don't have a lot anymore because a lot of the positions have been filled and we're still filling them um police and public
works are the two departments that we have a lot of vacancies but just today we did onboarding for multiple departments so we are onboarding new employees and when when employees are leaving are we doing exit interviews to
find out yes we are okay and I I'm saying that because we we have not still received um that updated pay plan correct in order to see where we are in terms of if there needs to be any adjustments made to a pay plan within our salary
structure and of course because we're going into the budget process it'd be a good time to look at that so I don't know where we are on that pay plan um because I know that was a a major challenge before um through HR so do we
have any up updates on on that where we are on that miss Adams will give an update thank you madam manager um to the the deis we do have a pay plan that will be a part of what I'm submitting with the
other human resources documents and it is an updated and what we consider through research a um competitive range we will we will actually have a salary range for every
job instead of just some starting wage number do we have a anticipated time for it to be presented to the city commission i've I've just submitted uh this evening by working with the city attorney uh to put
this information on the second week of May agenda for first reading okay so we should have something on that somewhere towards the end of of May in terms of that because one of the things we hear sometime is um people leave
because of you know salary or we don't pay enough whatever i don't necessarily believe that's always the case and that's why I'm always curious about exit interviews what people are saying when they leave be probably about 30% but it also depends on the
department and some departments have not been as competitive uh they've actually been stagnant uh because we've not looked at the total department we looked at uh historically like one job opening and so that's why we need a pay
plan and we will have Okay i I'm mentioning that because again we're coming up on the budget yes process and I know we can't cure everything overnight but we we need to do the best we can within the parameters that we have and if the commission has
that information available then it would be um helpful as we're navigating this budget process and as a part matter manager somewhere in that document those exit interviews and what they're revealing as to why people may not be
staying and leaving um so forth so I'm grateful to hear that that's coming down the the pipe and you said most of the other positions are being full you still have a few that but most of them Yes um have been filled um HR went on today and
started removing some of the ones that were filled so there are some that's that hasn't been filled but for the most part they are recruiting and the ones that are still available are online you can Yes access it online to see yes it's online okay all right that that takes
care of that one i would look forward to to that um I had that under my report of course I have other things but I always put those because I know if you put those they get traction thank you
i'm just being honest it gets true though wait before you move on to the last part of your report vice mayor if you don't mind me to chime in on the staffing madame manager and I asked this before um the police department you spoke about the police department having a lot of vacants as well as vacancies as
well as the code enforcement a couple years ago public works thank you public works we did um legislation a couple years ago to sponsor police officers to go into the academy so that we can create a a a program where are we with that it's in our budget and Miss Adams
go ahead so we're actually working with twommies the Miami Dade Academy and the one near um oh um it's about two hours away so there are twommies we're working with
but the other one is so far away that it's it's probably not going to be as beneficial to have someone come to to our city but no not that they come to us the how these programs work with other cities is that the city will hire un
non-certified officers put them through the academy pay for it and in return they have to work for the city for 3 to 5 years oh yes and then that that's what I wanted Opaaka to do to start that it's not a farfetched idea we have a grant as well remember there yeah but that grant
was was said they were going to use that which I had to issue with for um for salaries yes that was what was told to the commission two for two and I was like I thought we were going to use that for education so I'm a little the grant was for two bodies but what you're
speaking of the academy it is in the budget i did speak to Chief Otley about it recently i can give an a written update he did tell me that they were going to start working on that but it is fully budgeted i also spoke to Bob so we will work on that okay so this is my desire when I respond to that i wanted
the city of Opalaka to hire a number of non-certified officers we pay them uh whatever salary that you all decide we put them through the academy and then in return they have on a contract they have to work for Opaaka for a certain amount of years a certain amount of years and
then we go from there and we repeat this process over and over until we beef up our department yes that was discussed in the last budget year and it was included so I'll I'll get with Chief and um Miss Adams to see where they are with that because I did speak to the chief on it
okay you get a report ma'am you will be getting a report yes ma'am and then the the other thing is to Commissioner Kelly's Vice Mayor Kelly's point we have a lot of vacancies why can't we do a job fair and promote it so we do have
vacancies but we don't have a lot of vacancies for a job fair we can do one but there's not a lot for a job fair like we used to have like we used to yeah we don't have a lot but then what about through social media just these we have openings these positions with a flyer or something blast it on social media definitely put
the exact position we'll send it to people to apply to hip rockstar tomorrow so they can put it out and you said the it's in park not parks it's our largest vacancies are police and public works public works parks had five new hires this week oh
congrats parks all right i'm sorry Vice Mayor you You still have the floor i'm done go ahead i'm done you want You want to chime in
um you you you hit that hornless leg and you know I don't mind hitting it i don't mind hitting um okay thank you thank you for Commissioner Ready to go she got that look that 8:00 she got that 8:00 look that hard stop at
8:00 look that's why she Well we got six minutes i'll take three and you take three um we're still under under report i wanted to just um also give an update um in supporting the city's bunny jam at Ingram Park uh that
was hosted by the mayor um great job i got there late i didn't see no real eggs but I won't get into that supporting the glow in the dark a pool and funday commissioner Irvin I didn't bring my bathing suit but I was there uh that you had with the booster club and parks and wreck great idea and we've got to figure
out I don't know how we've got to figure out to try to do that more often without it being a special day if you follow me i don't know if we can do it monthly or by I don't know we need to do something like that because that has a lot of the
community out um and it's just a fun time for all ages uh very diverse so we've got to figure out and I'd be very supportive work with you on it i I know we do it for special holidays i know you got one coming up for Memorial Day we got to figure out to kind of do
something like that in the same vein that we do for uh bingo i think it's a great um thing that that's occurring we also hosted um monthly meet Monday last week at the Helen Miller Center uh informative with guests as I said earlier for Miami date emergency
management um and FPNL getting ready for um hurricane season and I know madam manager you had given us a while back the the booklet what have you and I doubt too many things will change but you could just if it has to just update
it i know the mayor um always was talking about having something leading up to it so I'll defer that to to him and be supportive of that um also represented along uh Commissioner Bass was there as well the managing of the
staff representing the city um in the mayor's absence on receiving the date heritage trust award last Wednesday um for our restoring of historic city hall um very nice um opportunity showcasing
um the city and despite what we may not understand or realize or forgotten historic um Morris architecture is still exciting and so we got to make sure we don't leave that out going um going forward um and by the way where's that
where's that plaque at uh is where's it at where's it hanging at miss Gross has it but it's going to historic city hall miss Gross has it oh I guess CIP okay she st I didn't even get to like we should have brought it to the
meeting i thought her and Mr gay was fighting over this nice nice award but yeah so the commission maybe next just bring it yes it's nice um to be recognized for um the res restoring of historic city hall and so that that's very good as move forward
and I know you're still working on a plan of what we will eventually possibly doing in the building so we look forward to getting that from you um supported Earth Day yesterday with Commissioner Bass and my colleagues with the plant uh
giveaway very uh nice as well and we also invite everyone next Thursday 12 noon to Helen Miller Center and 6 PM um outside historic city hall lawn area for the national day of prayer
observance we're going to um have um prayers both English Spanish creole and speakers and um praying um and I'm co-hosting that of course with Commissioner Bass and Commissioner Santiago and really the whole commission is a part of that so if you can't make
both of them at least try to make one and we invite the entire community all of our churches we do have a lot of churches that um hopefully have committed to participating we'll be there as well as we come together for the annual National Day of um prayer i
want to uh madam manager commend I don't see her here but Miss Evette and Miss uh Emma from the clerk's office for trying to get that um banner and thing done for it to get it out uh madame clerk from your office and the manager's office thank them so much for getting it out
i'm a firm believer if we're going to do things we got to get the message out a lot early and I know it's been a task just trying to get a banner and as I said to them getting a banner especially when it's generic because it's something we do every year um but they did send me
a draft um that hopefully will get made and be able to get out before the end of the week so that we can get out in the community let folks know that it's coming so I want to thank them for that as well um having said that Mr mayor that's all of my report you can take the
last three minutes uh Commissioner Irvin thank thank you so much just going to leave me out there um Mr mayor of course I do apologize for not making your event apologize for not making um Meet Me Monday last week but April 15th is a
special day for me we know okay i just wanted to make sure that show up for that yes I I apologize for not making that um I did was able to show my face at Bunny Jam and for me the most
exciting part about me being on Ingram Park that day unfortunately wasn't so much of the Bunny Jam i appreciated it but it was me seeing the people on the tennis court playing tennis that took me for a loop i am so
immediately I start saying "Oh we got to get these kids out here." for tennis lessons so if anybody know tennis and they hear my voice we need an instructor to teach our children to play tennis and pickle ball and and pickle ball
and we we can work we can work on that because USDA will bring instructors out once we get to that point thank you yes i was really excited about that no oh that's how I look directly at her i forgot about that sorry and and I want
to say thank you to all of our residents and friends that came out to our glow-in-the-dark well our family day the glow-in-the-dark Easter egg hunt in the the pool we had right about 200 people there
more than what I expected but praise God we fed them all we had enough everything for everybody and they were excited and uh like um vice mayor said it got the people to get out and and fellowship and and make friends new friends the booster
club even made some new friends um also Miss Ray I hope I don't mess this one up next next commission meeting I'm going to try to have them there but we are the proud champions of the 8U
basketball team 8u yes we are we are champions that AU brought championship home so the basketball team so three three three championships okay
so we're going to have them here to uh show them that we appreciate them at the next uh commission meeting and and also um Commissioner um Williams told me make sure I didn't forget to announce it so I had to make sure I didn't forget
cuz her son is on that her nephew's on that team so yes and today is administration day i might mess this one up too but I think it's administration day and I want to say to all of our administrators everybody that come here every day with
a smile on their face regardless to how they're feeling that day to make our city run like a welloiled sewing machine okay thank you all thank you all thank you all and um
that oh and if you can do one more thing for me keep Rosco Pendleton's family in your prayers as he's going to be funeralized on Saturday um and there's another one of our friends our our residents that passed i only know him by
his first name it's Manny um and he's been to several meetings when we were going through the RV phase young man 30 years old yes and he's on Sher he's already been funeralized but I think
we're going to present his family with something at the next meeting so keep his wife and oneyear-old child in your prayers as well just tell God you know Manny over on Sher he'll know who he is okay I'm done thank you all oh I know
you took me out with the Manny one that Yeah all right um and I'll make it short and sweet so um the pickle ball thing just took me out and I was not trying to say that but I forgot about that i love you
though um the mayor's round table was great um we had all of our newly elected um constitutional officers from Miami Day County here in the city of Opalaka allowing our residents to do a meet and greet and for them to tell the services that they have for our residents so I do also thank you all for your support on
that also Bunny Jam thank you all for your support on that it was great to see Ingram Park activated the way it was and so I was happy to see that as well um Commissioner Irvin also next Saturday is
Tri Rail is having their ride and play here in Opalaka and it's a big thing for them and for the city of Opalaka because Opalaka has been named the fastest growing station um in in their network the fastest growing and number one in the network so
they're coming here on that Saturday to honor the honor the city of Opalaka for that for that purpose and reason it starts at I have no idea it starts at 12:00 p.m 12:00 p.m thank you Madam
Clerk no I'm sorry 11 11 a.m 11:00 a.m so we're asking everybody that can and will to come out so that we can support Opaaka in that and also other than that I think we are good um um Commissioner Irvin
already talked about it administrative professional day so thank you all for what you do in the city of Opalaka and we will definitely keep Manny's family in prayer and Manny was a good guy and was young and that Yeah you shot you shot me with that yeah yeah so um with
that being said we can Are there any official board no we're not doing board appointments mr mayor ma'am um there is a need for appointments to the historic environmental preservation board so if you know anyone or any member of the DAS
that's interested in serving if they can please submit a board application um I believe at this time they do not have a quorum to meet so um it's a nine member board and we have five vacancies on that
board okay u Madam attorney let me ask you this because I know there was an urgency for that board to meet can the commission sit um as that board temporarily until until No sir um the Miami date
county um ordinances is very specific as to the membership of the board which does not include the commission okay so how urgent is the appointments so I know we were waiting on the you all to bring back the recommendations from the manager and the clerk so I guess that's
is that a Mr gay question or is that a So Mr mayor um I I've submitted immediately following the the board workshop um where the presentation was made i have submitted that request to both the manager's office and the city attorney's office to draft the
ordinances um for the revisions to um the board um ordinances for each of the boards that were discussed at that um workshop i'm not sure what the intended date is to bring those back but perhaps
um management or the city attorney's office can address that all right we don't have to guess it now just just let us know let us know so in the interim do we need to appoint well I have no appointments do you have somebody that's trying to get on the board Madame Clerk
i I don't have any pending board applications we can we can move on mr it's individual appointments or are you at large appointments or commission appointed at large okay so we just could submit um that name or that person can
contact you if they're our appointment yes and we'll reach out to them all right okay is it is it urgent that's an um It's not urgent so there's no Okay it's not urgent all right then I I Oh it's not urgent it's not urgent that's because you made the announcement i
thought it was urgent i do apologize Miss May i was under the impression that it was urgent to appoint members to that board but if Mr gay is saying no then then we can wait until the amendment to the ordinance so we're good all right all
right all right um it's 8:08 so I I feel the need to like let's I think we should sing a song and hold hands and because we get out it's too early move it met just said we got to go but we got to get out of here can I get a motion to
adjourn i gave it move oh second not you trying to leave move by vice may second by Oh Commissioner Irvin is this meeting ajourned but it doesn't adjourn until we hit the This meeting is a journ