--------- good evening everyone welcome to our workshop March 26 2025 the time is now 6:22 madame clerk roll call commissioner Bass here commissioner Santiago here mayor Taylor
here as we stand by for the invocation led by Commissioner Bass Dr bass almighty Father God we thank you for this day we thank you oh God for our community we thank you Father God for our city oh God that you'll continue to grace us with your presence help us oh God to rule according to your will in
Jesus name amen to the flag of the United States of America and to the reps one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right we're going into public
comments however unlike citizens form public comments here you have to stay germanine to the topic at hand and we're talking about um boards city boards so public comment is open i think it's on commissioner
hello okay good evening audrey Dominguez 1147 Jen Avenue um I'd like to speak in regards to the current boards that we have available um I know that we have seven boards one which is active which is the
planning and zoning which I am part of the board i'm also part of the um board member of the um civil service board um I know that the civil service board we had a couple of meetings but then we
stopped it because they stated that it needed more teeth that we needed an HR director to help us out in the process now we do have an HR so um I want to know where we stand with that um
because we did have the HR um and we have lost a lot of good employees staff members that have been fired for personal reasons and not because of violation uh violation of of city policies um I would like to maybe
suggest to have applications printed out um also give a full description of what the board members will be doing or what it entails so they'll know more or less if they want to be in that particular board because you're going to want to
like it you just don't want to just join to join so you know just give them out an events i'm pretty sure we can um recruit many residents because we have a lot and they probably are retired maybe they need something to do so I would
just encourage to maybe do that thank you all right thank you Mr mayor thank you thank you Commissioner okay public comment is still open public comment is closed all right i'mma turn
it over to the city manager and city clerk but something wanted to add yeah and I'd like to ask in something to um former commissioner um Aris Dominguez is mentioning something there that I that I surprised that she say that the we don't
have no um a charge director how's that no that's not what she said she said at the time we didn't have an HR director but we have Oh okay okay well I misunderstood i'm very sorry okay forget about All right no problem all right so we turn it over into uh city manager and city clerk you're all
hand um thank you Mr mayor i'll go ahead and um take over the for the presentation on the boards i'm sorry something's wrong with my voice but um I'll start off let me just wait for it to put up
the presentation uh is the presentation included in the packets no Mr mayor but I did um email it to the members of the commission okay I'll follow that do you need a copy no no no i'll follow
on the screen why don't you put it up it's a beautiful meal you can go to the next slide please so we'll talk a little bit about why we are here so basically at the January 8 2025 regular commission meeting the
mayor requested that the city clerk along with the city manager draft a report for city commission review um to make recommendations in terms of the city of Opalaka boards a detailed report was provided to the commission at the
regular commission meeting of February 12th 2025 the purpose of the report was to address functions and concerns of standing boards provide suggestions for improvement through legislation or
internal procedures next slide please so this next slide is a basic overview of the board um some recommendations for the city boards that we made as part of that report so at so
at this time the majority of the boards have consistent intent procedures and objectives some of the recommendations and meeting with staff and the board clerks that that um that came to us was to amend ordinances to
define board scope of work for better advisory capacity address issues of quorum unclear roles lack of training and vacancies administrative needs allocate line items
for administrative costs training and materials adopt rules and procedures for board operations encourage board clerks to submit draft minutes for commission review in the board report section of
the regular commission meeting agendas as I go along mayor if you all have a question you can stop me and I'll be able to answer the question um next slide please so right now we're going to get into the specific um concerns and
recommendations for each of the city of Oblaka boards that um that came about in as we met with um with some of the department heads that are over the boards along with the board clerks so this first board is the community
relations recreation and activities advisory board so the concern that um was raised with regards to this board was the lack of definition within powers and duties and the recommendation was to amend the
ordinance to define community relations special activities and programs next slide please the teen and young adult advisory board the concerns for that board um in
terms of challenges lack of appointees attendance issues difficulty in identifying individuals in the age group of 16 through 21 years of age staff recommendations add language
to include appointee recommendations from local educational institutions include incentives for board members service hours recommendation letters etc next slide
please the planning and zoning board the concern with the planning and zoning board was had to do with quorum issues current requirement of a four member so currently the board requires four members for a quorum um and it's a
seven member board the recommendation um by the director was to amend to a five member board three residents two professionals set quorum size to three members add two alternates to ensure
quorum is met and this would also um prevent delays in community development items and ensure board operations um madam clerk yes so planning and zoning how many members on the board today currently there are seven members
um on that board so if we were to reduce it to five we would have to remove two that is correct and right now it's three resident oh well well technically they want to amend it to a five member board
with two alternates so it would still be per se a seven member board but two of those members will serve as alternates in the event that with the five members they don't meet the quorum okay and I see the um
three residents and two professionals how is that broken down today today um it's I believe and this is off the top of my head um there's four resident members and three prof professionals mr gay that's correct yes
can can um one board member hold both requirements both be a resident and a professional but have to be completely separate and apart so that I I won't be able to provide a response i would probably have to get with um Mr gay and also legal to have those discussions but
at the end of this workshop the intent is to be able to get recommendations from the members of the dis so that we can take back and any recommendations we can incorporate into whatever future legislation um to amend okay
Commissioner Santiago uh yes question um okay why do we have to reduce uh the number of member madam clerk so right now um so the members of all of the city of opalaka boards are on a
volunteer basis at this time um it's it's difficult to meet a quorum for the planning and zoning board as well as the historic preservation board so in if you reduce the membership then the quorum instead of being a four member for a
quorum now you're talking about three for a quorum if you reduce the membership which three would be the majority yeah I think that I heard that before but I want you know to you repeated here in public but now um for learn a little bit more about it okay
when you say the three residents and two professional what does that mean for the two professional two people from the city staff no so it would have to be two individuals um they could non-resident
individuals that have professional background and I believe is um real estate architect engineering things of that background that nature and that's two professional people that they're going to come voluntary or or
the city have to so so commissioner so commissioner Santiago the way the board is now it's a seven member board we have four residents and three with professional background and that board has all seven members currently so it's the same
concept the only thing is you're reducing the membership so now instead of seven you have five three residents and two with professional background as opposed to four residents and three with professional background okay thank you
yeah now I understand but before I don't that's the reason why that I ask you madam clerk i want I want to know what is the mean of two professional people and the board and and and also part of the package you have a copy of the ordinances for each of the board which
has that breakdown in there it it tells you the membership you know the the requirements to serve the terms all of that is in the ordinance all right thank you madam clerk you're welcome okay Madam Clerk before you before you go on any further because I know you said you
wanted recommendations I don't know about anybody else but I'm okay with the recommendations thus far from the board that was already presented which I believe was defining um who and what and the duties so we can take a poll real quick and then we can just move on so so
I I would prefer that we complete the presentation because at the end u me and Miss Lawson also had individual meetings with um several members of the commission and I've included those recommendations at the end as well so that you all can take into consideration
so I would like for you to hear all of it go ahead go ahead and then provide some some direction um so the next board is the charter review board um currently there are no members um as their appointments
have expired and as you all know the charter review board is established by resolution on an as needed basis and that membership is for one year um and the charter review board is comp comparable to similar boards and other
municipalities so at this time we don't have any recommendations for changes for the charter review board historic preservation I'm sorry next slide two slides um
Phil thank you historic preservation and environmental pre environmental board the concerns for that board is similar to the planning and zoning board the the difference is that this is a nine member board they are currently um facing
quorum well right now they don't have enough enough members to serve on that board so but when they did they did have the same issues quorum issues um the current requirement as it is now is five members for a quorum which is difficult
to meet with the nine member board um the potential concern is the county taking over the the board which could delay the process in you know any applications that come before that board the recommendations to amend to a five
member board three residents two professionals set quorum size to three members add two alternate to ensure quorum is met and retain the board to maintain local control and prevent delays those are the recommendations for
the historic preservation board um the next board is the charter review board the concern with the charter review board in terms of previous discussion um a repeal ordinance was presented at
the July 10th 2023 regular commission meeting however motion died due to the lack of a second the recommendation is to adopt the repeal of the civil service board as it does not comply with the city policies
and creates legal risk repeal ordinance reviewed has been reviewed by the city attorney city manager and HR director [Music] the next slide is um as I previously
stated um we've met with several we had individual meetings with several members of the commission and out of those meetings these are some of the recommendations that you all can take into consideration next slide i'm sorry I keep forgetting i'm sorry
Phil um so the first one is to create incentives to motivate board members the next one we have is schedule board me board meetings on Saturdays and um we also have incentives
for salaried employees so this is um I know like the board clerks and some department directors and staff are required to attend the the board meetings and they are salaried so they don't get paid for those extra hours so
this was one of the recommendations um for incentives for salaried employees um boards to pro provide a quarterly report at commission meeting so basically on the commission meetings we do have a section for
official board reports and one of the recommendations was for you know one member or the chair of each of the boards to be able to come before the commission and just provide a quarterly report include several slots in the
community relations recreation and activities advisory board for teen board members as I previously discussed we're having issues with um getting volunteers for the teen and young adult board between the ages of 16 and 21 so the
recommendation was to just eliminate that board and possibly just include several slots in the community relations board for members that are teen or young adults between the ages of 16 through 21
um board member terms to coincide with appointing commission member term um not in favor of at large appointments that was one of the recommendations recruit board volunteers at city event meetings um we have
started to do that um this recommendation just you know if if someone from the clerk's office attends any of the city events we're going to start having um board applications and just assign maybe on a table or something you know just indicating are you interested in serving on the city of
Opalaka I'm volunteering on a board and just have the applications and maybe a QR code if they want to do the application online where they can just scan it and fill it in and and turn it in and that was one of the the recommendations from a member of the commission
um allocate funding for board training and also um so we had another recommendation for incentives for board members and and it would include recognition appreciation banquet things
of that nature just to you know to give the board members something you know for their volunteer work that they do um for the city of Opalaka just to recognize them maybe on an annual basis um resident expertise needed on boards
and then also amend civil service board ordinance so I think one of the recommendations was to repeal but a member of the commission wants to make sure that um the civil service board ordinance is amended to have something in place for the employees to be able to
be heard and that concludes um my presentation mr mayor at this time I will take any questions recommendations from the commission all right any questions or recommendations
from the commission start okay so we gonna start and we going to go go ahead Commissioner left or right left or right good evening everyone um the feedback that you have gotten from those that who has been in
communication with you I think is really good awesome feedback um former commissioner Dominguez spoke about being able to um more publicize that board and I really like what she
said because I think a lot of times that we work really hard as man commission and as employees but somehow our residents don't get the information that we're trying to share with them i'm in favor of stretching out a little further before we um get rid of
the team board because I know that there are teams out there that are willing to do the work we just need to find the way to get to them and I'm thinking maybe we should get in communication with the um the high schools as well as the like
someone said colleges and the uh what do you call those schools between college and trade schools trade schools yes and trade schools again I like what's been said what's been said before us so yeah I'm just going to wait and see
what my colleagues have to say but I I'm supporting what has already been put forward all right thank you Dr b commission i'm not a little afraid to talk um yes I going to supported that but
question again for the clerk um I think that we have a conversation not a while ago about the uh 16 years old uh member that we choose to be in the
uh um you explaining to me that sometime they left before they ending the turn or something like that for some reason because they change school they change uh they're not dependent on them they're dependent on the family or the parents oh I can explain Commissioner Santiago
so so the age group of 16 through 21 a lot of our members were high school age and they were graduating high school many of these kids go away for college so they're no longer in Opaaka and
that's where we're having an issue in recruiting that age group okay I'm happy with that answer yeah I doubt I if if I may just uh say about the teens a lot of times from what I'm thinking the issue is a lot of those
kids are extracurricular activities after school band uh track and all those kinds of things so it makes it even that much harder for them to get here especially during the week and then if you're in certain activities those
activities happen on Saturday so the busier they are the harder it is for them to get here for board meetings and stuff like that just quick question how often is that board meet quarterly
um it's a monthly board meeting maybe we can adjust it for monthly that might help i don't know they don't have form right now they don't have quum right now so they're not meeting at all so that's what this is they have to set that up yeah currently there's only one
member on that board we had several resignations for that same purpose that I mentioned the the members they went away for college you still have the floor i do or no Commissioner Santiago still has the floor yeah good point that
you bring i um my question again is um when they get together Saturdays as we're talking about that they um had the meetings once a month so do we do we have something for them to motivate it to come to these meetings
um right yeah yeah right right now Commissioner Santiago we don't we don't okay but it's something that maybe okay we can uh create it in the future to make them to come to this meeting a little bit more excited that's was the recommendation
okay but I don't read that part but that's that's a good one okay yeah i've included your recommendation in the vice mayor thank you Mr mayor um the recommendations that were put forth by
um original here and those were some changes that came up so I guess the question becomes which ones are we going to um actually adopt or or ask the manager and clerk to bring back because some of them uh coincide but some of
them don't uh one of my biggest challenges concerned with every board is that it doesn't coincide with terms so therefore you could get elected to a term and don't have any say so in a board appointment in some cases particularly when it comes to planning
and zoning particularly um so I I still want to see where the boards coincide there's always going to be overlap because you have a 3-2 on any um election but I know for example when I came in and probably even when uh
Commissioner Santiago came in we really didn't have an appointment initially um to anything i know when I came in 20 u two I didn't have an appointment because everything was already filled it was not going to come um to fruition and some of
those folks that on some of those boards in my opinion may not share uh my thoughts or the folks who elected me thoughts so I wanted to revisit that that concept of um coinciding with the terms i'm not against at large
appointments but I think the appointments ought to come from the community and the community comes from our appointments because we're part of the community um that's my biggest um challenge with the whole board concept i I agree with the incentives i agree with as we started to get the word out more
and communication is always our challenge so that's the only um thing the other one uh Mr mayor and to my colleagues is the civil service board which I know needed to be uh repealed and had a whole lot of things need to occur um and I see that's on there um
again um for repealing and to pass something um and I know that's been an ongoing challenge so I I'll just ask the manager Mr mayor um and and your recommendation since you're a manager has HR had a chance to
review that document yes HR and myself we both um reviewed the document miss Adams the HR director could not be here with us tonight because she's ill but we both um reviewed it and she does have some recommendations say again she does have
recommendations for the board well obviously she's not here so we need to get those recommendations i'll make sure they're provided outstanding thank you Mr mayor all right no problem commissioner I'm I'm good with the recommendations
and everything i'm good okay thank you um Madam Cler can you put up that last slide with the recommendations for me please yeah Phil is doing it now okay um I Totally well I will say this i totally
agree with um Vice Mayor on the board members coinciding with the appointed the elected official that appointed them i do agree with that i definitely agree with that and but also I um Commissioner
Bass brought up keeping the team board and the what was that the parks and rec board separate i do think those should be combined because they essentially do the exact same thing so I think combining those would
work that's in my opinion and are you going to bring back something with the recommendations from the HR director madam manager yes I will get that to the commission yes okay the only thing that as it relates to appointments
the the rotating what you call the revolving what was those people the the two two extra the alternate the alternate thank you the alternate do you have a problem with that being at large that would have to be at large right that have to be at large the alternate
would have to be at large so so that's a discussion that we would have to have because obviously we've never had alternate members on the board i'm not sure how that would work i would have to get with Mr gay and also um Bernardet and we probably can um meet on
that and provide you all with some with some information as it relates to that or perhaps um Miss Norris Weeks can provide a response in terms of the alternate members on those boards okay and the other thing is the the second to
last bullet point resident expertise needed what what does that line mean i didn't know what that meant yeah that's what I was trying to get back to what does that mean so that came out of um and I'm not sure which member of the commission that recommendation came from
but it was in my notes and if any of you all don't recall sitting up there then I can't really elaborate right now you can just scratch it off nobody said listen if I may go ahead when it
comes to I'm not sure if that might have been me i'm not sure but what is intended to say is instead of because our expertise people that we have that sit on these boards they're not out of opalaka opalaka have some of those same
expertise right here in our city okay that meant that's why I Yeah so that we can try to At least we know who the guilty party is it was me but just in case that's guilty i feel like Yes let's before we pick out somebody else outside
of our city let's see if we can get that in inhouse first okay so I want to go ahead and wrap this meeting up so we can have a a nice little buffer between break in between the fivem minute break so it is it is my I agree with all the recommendations
uh I'm sorry sorry can I say something quickly go ahead go ahead i agree with you um commissioner but I also want to know uh what about including business partners in the city of Opalaka I mentioned that as well so I agree with
that get our businesses included in some of the boards and stuff says that relates that relates to business right that relates that too yeah okay um so that's an an additional
recommendation that was added so you have you encumbered everything that was said thus far we're good yes Mr mayor but I do have the recording as well so I can always go back to it all right so the only thing you said you needed direction from us i think we're
all in agreeance with what was said thus far the only thing that there seems to be a little struggle with was abolishing the teen and young adult board and combining it with the the U community relations board so I guess you can bring forth legislation and then we can vote it up
or down at that at that present moment okay um madam manager are you going to bring forth legislation to do everything at once or you going to it's going to be bifocated no we'll bring back legislation to do everything at once at once yes all right okay um all hearts and minds clear all
right can I get a motion to adjurnn all right this second the motion to adjurnn was um by Commissioner Santiago seconded by Commissioner Irvin this meeting is adjourned i see you all at 7 o'clock at our regularly scheduled commission meeting this meeting is adjourned Part: 2
awesome we're ready good evening everyone good evening everyone welcome to our regularly scheduled commission meeting uh March 26 2025 the time is now 7:08 madame clerk roll call commissioner Bass I'm here
commissioner Irvin here vice Mayor Kelly present commissioner Santiago here mayor Taylor here as we stand for our invocation led by Vice Mel eternal God our father we thank you
for all of your many blessings we thank you for this day we thank you God for the grace of opalaka continue God give us wisdom knowledge and understanding to those things which are pleasing in your sight in Jesus name we do pray amen amen amen 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 all right so we're going into our awards proclamations and
acknowledgements and madame clerk I see that we have two presentations on tonight so the first one is coming [Music] from myself well your office myself um Vice Mayor Kelly and Commissioner
Santiago it's a women's history presentation is Miss Em here oh yeah i'm not sure where she went Mr mayor oh she she's in the back okay
so simple we just want to tell you to Oh she's coming she's coming all right so from myself Mayor John Taylor Vice Mayor Joseph L kelly and Commissioner Lewis B santiago and it reads "As we embark on this special month we celebrate the incredible
achievements and contributions of women throughout history and in our lives today from trail blazers who fought for rights and equality to everyday heroes who inspire us with strength and resilience women have helped shape the world and the city of Opaaka in profound
ways so to all the women here in the city of Opalaka we thank you for your courage your passion and your unwavering spirit and we want to say happy Women's History Month and that is from that is from myself Mayor Taylor
Vice Mayor Joseph L kelly and Commissioner Santiago and as you see our police department is walking around passing out roses to all of our women that are present on this evening what a nice so nice long building
um I hope we got enough though this many people don't forget that we had two ladies here oh we can wait okay we'll get ours on Saturday yeah we'll get ours Mr mayor i don't
even know about that tonight saturday okay so that's from again from the men of the commission to the women in of the city of Opaaka because you are our strength you you you what help keeps the
city of Opalaka going so we just want to say that we appreciate you and thank you for all of your hard work and dedication amen that was All right so moving right along we're going to turn it over to the hands of our um chief of police uh for special
presentation from the police department good evening on Saturday February the 8th 2025 Opalaka units responded to 171st Street and Northwest 37th Avenue in reference to a request for emergency backup from Officer Kirby
Nord officer Nord was in route to the city to begin his regular shift when he witnessed a black SUV speeding in excess of 90 mph before he could react the driver crashed into the rear of a white vehicle occupied by a family of eight including four
children that vehicle was pushed into a gray SUV causing the white SUV to be crushed between those two vehicles this caused the death of a grandmother and four children
today we'd like to award our officers for their bravery exposing themselves to the dangerous liquids that that spilled from the crashed vehicles extracting the victims from the vehicle and ex uh
beginning life-saving methods that without their help and without their involvement uh many more would have perished offer to be awarded center march yes uh commissioners could you come down and assist please
just this in solemn recognition of your extraordinary bravery and unwavering dedication we commend you all for your heroic response to the tragic accident that claimed the lives of five individuals including children on February the 8th 2025 in the Miami
Gardens area on that heartbreaking day you demonstrated remarkable courage and professionalism as you arrived at the scene of devastation faced with an unimaginable situation you acted swiftly and decisively providing critical aid to those in need while navigating the
profound grief that enveloped enveloped the scene your commitment to protecting and serving our community shone brightly as you offered comfort to victims and their families during their darkest moments your compassionate presence provided solace amidst tragedy and your
efforts to ensure the safety of all involved exemplify the highest standards of law enforcement this award stands as a testament to your selfless resilience and humanity your actions that day have left an indelible mark on our community reminding us of the profound impact that
dedicated officers have in times of crisis thank you for your unwavering service and your embodying the spirit of heroism and compassion you are truly deserving of recognition with heartfelt gratitude the city of Oblaka March 12th 2025 for
this so the first recognition is awarded to Officer Kirby Nord he's also being awarded a bronze medal of valor and a lifesaving award the we do it all together the second one is going to
officer Tyrie Johnson also receiving a a bronze medal of valor and a lifesaving award thank you next to be awarded is going to officer Timothy
Bourne also receiving a bronze medal of valor and a life-saving award i've known you for so many years i've never knew your first name was Timothy [Laughter] right exactly
our next awardee is going to officer Jasmine Ramos also receiving a bronze medal of valor and a lifesaving award our next awardee is officer Rodney Jean Baptiste also receiving No he's
receiving the chief's commenation nice chief's commendation and a life-saving award thank you thank you next awardee is Officer Marie Noel Finland okay so we know who brought the peoples
out she's also receiving the chief's commendation and a lifesaving award thank you the next award goes to Officer Jamisha McKinney clearly she brought the people out too she's receiving the chief's accom
accommodation and the life-saving award the next one is going to Sergeant Lowry Simon who's also receiving the chief's commendation and a lifesaving award next one goes to Sergeant Lawrence Harour better known as New
York he's receiving a chief's commendation and a lifesaving award well yeah we can do that okay so th this one I'm I'm I'm ecstatic about i'm happy about because I grew up
when this person was here so certificate of appreciation Opa Police Department formerly recognized as retired Chief of Police Cheryl Kase well it's a whole lot to say but I want to say this chief Kasein has been retired from
the city of Opal for years and y'all know you like Commissioner Baz just said you never knew that she has been retired she has never stopped working and serving in the city of Opaaka no matter in what capacity you need her to she's
always a phone call away if you need advice if you need somebody to fight for you if you need a prayer if you need to beat somebody up she is right there so I am I am excited to present and appreciate Chief
Kase retired Chief of Police in appreciation for your continued dedication and commitment and um to the residents of the Opalaka Police Department and the city of Opaaka so we ask that we take a quick
picture our manager our chart officers come down attorney They want right here officers dismissed what you're welcome anytime
always Congratulations okay so again we thank we thank Opaaka and uh we have in the city of Opaaka the best officers the the best police department in the USA i don't
care what y'all say and I do want to say this shout out to my manager and the police and the police chief because even they followed this all the way through our officers went all the way to Homestead the day of that service yes so I just
want to tell you all thank you for a job well done you all represented the city well so we appreciate it we appreciate you so we're going on into We're going on into item six which is the approval of the consent agenda do we have any pulls deferrals or deletions at
this time yes commissioner Santiago you said yes go ahead um and I want to pull up for discussion uh number 11 number 11 is that for the consent agenda
yes sir congrat no no no this is Yeah but this is not for the concern yeah that consider agenda 111 okay yes please okay we're going to ask that the the audience keeps the noise down we're going to ask that
the audience keeps the noise down we have to continue business thank you all so um Commissioner Santiago you said you're pulling number 11 any other polls all right no other polls hearing none all right
um can I have the approval of tonight's agenda move it moved by Dr baz second second by Commissioner Santiago second by Commissioner Santiago madam clerk commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes
commissioner Bass yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 50 okay so we're going to the approval of minutes i'll read all of the dates into the record and we'll vote all at once mr mayor uh I'm sorry Madam Clerk um we need
approval of agenda i'm sorry i thought we did okay can I um have a motion to approve tonight's agenda moved by Vice Mayor second by Dr bass madame Clerk vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes commissioner Bass yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor Taylor yes
motion passes 5-0 all right going to the approval of minutes i'll read them all for the record and then we'll take one vote so we're approving the regular commission meeting minutes um January 22nd 2025 the regular commission meeting minutes February 12th 2025 the special
commission meeting minutes February 25th 2025 uh the regular commission meeting minutes March 12th 2025 can I get a motion mayor second yes you'll because this is not under a consent item you'll need to do these separately
you tried to get away with that mayor i was but you could have said that madam attorney when I announced that I was going to do that all right so can I have the motion to approve the regular commission meeting minutes for January 22nd 2025 moved by Commissioner I mean
Vice Mayor Kelly I'm sorry second by Commissioner Dr bass madam Clerk commissioner Santiago yes commissioner Bass yes commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 5-0 all right can I get the approval of the minutes from the regular commission meeting um February 12th 2005
moved by Vice Mayor Kelly second second by Commissioner um Irvin madame Clerk Commissioner Bass yes commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago mayor Taylor yes motion passes 5 okay the approval of the special commission meeting minutes February 25th
2025 moved by Moved by Vice Mayor Kelly second by Dr bass madam Clerk Commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes commissioner Bass yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 5-0 all right last but not least the regular commission meeting
minutes March 12th 2025 moved by Vice Mayor Kelly second second by um Commissioner Santiago madam Clerk vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes commissioner Baz yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 5-0 all right do we have
any District 1 District 2 or state reports at this time no Mr mayor all right so I do see that we have a public presentation from um Hill Growth Thrive you have the floor oh that one that's Rachel
good evening my name is Rachel Vadia and I'm an LCSW a licensed social worker um and I am also the executive director of Hillgrowth Thrive i want to start by thanking you for the rose and thanking you mayor Taylor Mayor Vice Mayor Kelly
and all commission and inim city manager for this opportunity to share with you what we do um I had the great opportunity of meeting with um assistant city manager Ellis and Miss Walker a few
months ago and they gave me some insight as to the needs of the mental health uh situations going on in Obalaka and they gave us as as a result of that meeting um we have expanded a lot of the services that we offer so if you give me
a few minutes I'd like to share with you what we uh do we uh currently have a center in Liberty City um in uh Tacos i don't know if you guys are familiar with that uh we've been there for four years uh we also service Miami Gardens Myar um
Plantation and we're here to offer um the city of Obalaka the same services we have created a very unique way of approaching mental health um as we know a lot of our communities struggle with understanding what mental health is all about and there's a lot of stigma
associated with it so we create we have created a program that's very open in addition to the mental health services as a result of my meeting with Mr ellis we have expanded our services to partner with uh Dr rosalyn Pascal that's here
that will also uh share some words um pediatrics they've been around for 70 years and Mr lawrence Hall from uh New Life Resources um to offer a comprehensive package for the city of
Opalaka so I the way that we offer mental health and the way that we create programs we're not here to tell you what you need because every city is different and every city has different needs so what we have done in Liberty City and in the cities that we service right now is
we have come and worked with the community leaders to create the programs that are needed um when I spoke to Mr ellis he did mention that Gloretta Gardens and um con the Cordova courts apartments um may
need some services so we're here to create we're just here to share with you what we do but not what you need because you will have to share with us what you need um our specialty right now is pediat is working with children from 4 to 17 we have a very important program
that we have created that is a very safe space for children um we service over 100 children right now in Liberty City and in Miami Gardens and Myar areas where we um offer them an afterchool program we do a Saturday program for
them um and we do summer camp as well to reduce help them deal with their anger management and reduce hopefully gun violence and other situations that we're dealing with in the community so we'll expand on that but with that said I want to give the opportunity for Dr pascal
because I know we don't have a lot of time to share with you what they offer and what they would bring to the table along with us if you give us this opportunity to work with you so Dr pascal it's a pleasure being here at this time this is the first time I've ever been to
the city of Opalaka or should I say in the city but not in the hall my name is Welcome Dr thank you my name is uh Fletcher Pascal my wife it was Dr
rosalyn Ha Pascal MDPA she is my wife she passed away in 2017 and I'm the distinct honor of being her husband
at that time and we met at University of Florida and that's where we met i'm a doctor of pharmacy and she was a doctor of pediatrics and we later on after she passed away in 09 well Dr dazelle
Simpson if you're familiar with her started this practice in 1953 today that practice is 72 years old and is still going now
my wife joined that practice in 1977 with Daisel to help her along with the practice because it was very active and very busy later on in 1995 Dr dael Simpson retired from
practice she sold the practice to my wife and we had one office on 54th and 10th Avenue at the time and we were very fortunate and blessed now that we have
well the 10th Avenue and 54th Street has moved to 79th Street at North Side Shopping Center because of the construction of a apartment building then also we we moved to another office
at Jackson North Medical Center and we have an office there and then later on I move we created another office in plantation so we've gone from one office to three offices and the the beauty of
this though is that when my wife graduated from medical school I was very pleased to say the least but my real ego or should I say very difficulty in getting into this room was when my daughter
graduated from medical school and completed her pediatric residency in '09 so I'm a big papa with a big inflated ego cuz she has taken over the practice and my
son he runs the operation i used to do the day-to-day maintenance of it so he kind of took that over and they told us me and my wife at the time you only take a vacation so I thought about it and I
thought that was a good idea you know we take a vacation they're taking it over but then I figured it out they were going to change the keys on me so I said "No I'm not going to retire thank you for your time
good evening my name is Lawrence Hall i am a to I am a former teacher of 25 years of Day County School Board and not only am I am I a former teacher of the Day County School Board I am now the owner and CEO of New Life Resources it
is my distinct pleasure to be here we appreciate the time that you're allowing us to be able to speak and very briefly I'd like to also uh let you know that we have a collaboration of mental health but we're also a Dade and Broward County
school partner so what does that mean that means that we are providing social services to all of Title One schools including Opaaka and so and not only that I have the pleasure of being a
resident of Opalaka and and and in doing so in the collaboration that we have that we have put together we've come to we we came to a point that the mental health social services medical
pediatrics as well as well as medical for the adults we decided to uh turn this into a one-stop shop so in the office that Dr pascal uh did not mention I'd like to mention we are DCF and what
does that mean we are an excess partner what we provide we provide Medicaid food stamp cash assistance we are also as opposed to the Medicaid food stamp cash assistance 30 days uh what the parents
the students and the communities would do they would have an appointment and as opposed to 30 days or as opposed to going into an office and going on the computer or or either uh going online they can make an appointment in our
office and be approved within 24 to 48 hours and we would like to extend those services in the city of Opalaka if you would allow us to i I know that there are several resources but we have additional resources that that we like
to provide to the schools the students the the community to everyone our demographics with New Life Resources extend all the way from West Palm Beach to Homestead and what we are doing we we have within our network we assist with
um with with Medicaid food stamp cash assistance firsttime home buyer uh shelter a food pantry mentoring program for the mothers and the youth and 500 role models uh role models program and and a host of more uh I I'm just just a
pleasure i'm just ecstatic today uh this is my first time being here i'm I'm ecstatic to bring these resources to you and to your community i think it will be a great partnership with the city of Opalaka this is something that we've been discussing for a while i've been a
resident for well really didn't want to tell my age but um but I I've been a resident for about 40 years so I if you would allow us we would love to extend these services we
are not only a partner of of uh of Liberty City but we are a partner of Homestead Police Res uh resource we are a partner of City of Miami Resource we are a partner of Miami Gardens resource and the only one that's left out is
Opaaka so we would love to partner with you at your at at your leisure we'd love to to meet with you so that we can pretty much uh allow these services to be assisted in New York County as well thank you so much have a great evening
so I would like one more minute and I know we we've gone over um so um thank you Mr for giving us the recommendations and we have taken his recommendations and that's why we are we have expanded the services to really offer a one-stop shop
uh solution um to cater to the needs of mental health and other social services along with pediatric psychiatric and other needs of the community so uh I hope you give us the opportunity to offer these services um we've discussed
maybe um I I spoke with Mr commissioner Santiago and city manager Lawson of maybe um providing us with a space so that we can create these programs for the city of Opalaka and I hope you give us that opportunity so thank you for the
opportunity tonight to even speak with you so thank you thank you so I just want to say thank you all for coming to the city of Opalaka and I want to say um Dr pascal your wife is a shero like you saw I I went ear to ear with smiles and
so did um because we remember her and for Yeah and the great work that she's done in pediatric care um I know that the city of Opalaka is about to launch a social services um department pretty soon once the manager puts her tweak on it so we will definitely be in touch
with you all and we we thank you all because mental health is a taboo conversation in many communities because a lot of people are ashamed of it but it's a needed conversation so we thank you for bringing that to our forefront and we appreciate you so I want to open up the floor to my colleagues to see if
they have any comments or concern um Commissioner Bass thank you so much i what you presented to us has always been a dream of mine since 2018 to see in the city of Opalaka if I may I would like for you to add one thing to that if
possible job readiness and when I say that teaching um resume writing and how to dress appropriately for that um job if you give me the opportunity we have a program our our Keystone program that we
do in in Heal Growth Thrive is a psychosocial rehabilitation program that focuses on teaching kids life skills where we touch on everything from resumeumés to etiquette to how to eat properly what to eat how does that
affect your mental health how to deal with your anger um we we uh really give them a very different approach than most mental health centers if you come hopefully one day you'll come and visit our center or we'll have one here but even the environment when you come into
our centers is completely different um and I'll send you a a video so that you can appreciate it um because we feel the environment is very important so when you come into our centers it already lets you know you're in a different place and we really make them feel it's a safe space for children um this life
skills program that we offer we do it over the summer and I've had kids that have been with me for three years and you know what happens happens when you teach them and you change them and you just create a space for them to make mistakes and learn from them um and you take the time to teach them the families
lean in so the moms come in and when you really take that stigma off the table and you let them know that we all need someone to talk to every once in a while we all have things that we're dealing with we all have some something in our lives that have bothered us and it's okay we can process it it's okay to be
angry i tell them you know we're all human it's okay to be angry it's okay to to be hurt right it's just what you do with that and these are very very important skills that I don't know back in the day when I was in school uh you know they used to teach us we had home
and in home they used to teach us a lot of these things but they've taken away those life skills so now these children don't have many places to get this and I I'm I wish today I took them on a field trip and I wish you guys would see children that have been with us for three years that when they started would
get into fights every single day now are able to sit and breathe and go through a meditation and they'll tell you breathe in miss Rachel come down you know and it's really magical uh to see so I hope that I invite you all to come out and
see it because we have a program every Saturday and now we did a spring a spring fling for them and we have a a summer program that we do um that I would love to do here and as I said we have a very unique way of connecting with these children because we make it fun for them so they're learning how to
uh apply all these skills into their life and their everyday life but they don't even really understand that they're learning because they're having fun i feed them well we have fun you know I give them a lot of discipline and structure but in a very safe and fun environment okay and um I don't know if
anybody else but I have one one question and then we're going to close it um do you all deal with children with autism yes okay so what's the age i know a lot of the pro there is a pro a lot of programs that we have around us children age out I believe at 23 or 25 right so they have nowhere else to go do you take
on those actually our first program our first program that we started at Hero Growth Thrive was to um help um young adults because they're not children without that with autism that really didn't have any other programs
and we were very successful we um you know we we did a lot of meditation we did a lot of a lot of resources that we provided them with but again every community is different so if you allow us the opportunity we would come in we would sit down with your social services
like Mr elvis gave me a lot of insight and we would address your specific needs and we will find the specialists the psychiatrist to address the needs that the specific needs of the city of Opalaka thank you any other Oh Commissioner Santiago yeah thank you um
Mr mayor uh first can you repeat your name please rachel Badia richard Badia miss Richard Bada okay i um I'm very um excited okay with the presentation
that you do especially that I see that you have one worth in you that make you powerful and that word is love and that's a winning in many people of the great city opal i want to welcome
you to my city because I going to do the best to one of these day have some kind of program to helping our children and our teenagers and all the people that they really need that kind of help here in my city you're very welcome thank you and
just counting in my support i hope we can work that with you yes and madam I think that he want to say something else just one more in addition I would like to just uh inform you that we are also working with we have anou a partnership
with juvenile detention where we are assisting these youth with all of these programs with the uh community service hours with the mental health uh with all of the the the uh DCF we're also partner we're also partnered with other
organizations for job placements for the adults and for the children okay thank you thank you oh go ahead i just want to say thank you so much for considering Opaaka um I'm sure that we could benefit
from a lot of your programming thank you so much thank you thank you all have a great Thank you again all right so thank you again Hill Grow Grow Thrive so we're moving on to our citizens forum madame Clerk can you please state for the record how to participate in
citizens 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 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 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 live stream at www.youtube.com/user/c city of opalaka
and Mr mayor at this time I do not have any virtual public comments all right so those of you that are inside the chamber citizens form is open naomi Brea 936 Cordash Street as you all know I come to these meetings and I say nothing however this past weekend on the
corner of Ruthland and Cordash Street we had a pipe bus i called the emergency hotline that was no help he gave me another number instead he told me "Oh Opaaka is closed and we can't help you but call Miami date." Miami date tells us "Hey that's not our location we can't help you here's another number to a
gentleman." I called another gentleman left a voicemail till this day I have still have not gotten an answer finally after calling about five numbers I had to do the who you know why should I have to use the who you know number to get a result as of today we finally got
workers to the corner of Rootland and Cordad but here's the thing they've been there all morning the whole street is now flooded i literally had to wear boots to get at my house to get into my car to get here tonight it is flooded from Rootland all the way to Open Locker Boulevard even though they're working on
the corner why is there not a pump there pumping out the waters the whole block is complaining and I have elderlys on that block and of course those that know that I do participate in Oblak and stuff they're coming to me asking "Why is the street flooded why is this like this can
we please not only get somebody to help on the emergency hotline on weekends but also if we're doing road work that has to do with water can we find a way to pump out the water where the residents are not stuck in their home to a flooded area thank you
thank you citizens forum is still open citizens forum is closed okay um madame manager so yeah do we have an answer about the flooding because I did see it on my way
here and it's now it's all the way down to Yes so on yesterday I was informed of a water mane break in the area and I did send notification out to the elected officials on today we had a contractor
that mobilized um it had it was a lot of water that was a part of the the repair process they are out there working and it will be complete finally complete in the morning Mr austin I would like for you to provide additional information
with regards to this water main break the cause and additional information and while he's gearing up to address that can we address the non-emergency number because that's been a a challenge for Yes I'll have Miss Walker get the information get the phone number that
she's calling to find out where those calls are being directed i do know that we have a non-emergency number for after hours that goes to our security at the front desk i need to make sure that's the right number that she's that she called to see why those calls were not
addressed accordingly okay and do we have anou with the county that if I if we don't answer they take over or something like that because I heard it was a back and forth between us and she said it was us it was a water main break so that was that was on the city okay
good evening Austin public works director the water line that broke in this case is one of the old main lines from our water plant and we could not turn the water off we had to work with divers in
place to keep the water flowing any interruption was going to shut the city down so we chose to keep the water going the flow of water was so great that we could not pump it anywhere it was some something that we do not have any
available uh estuaries for us to pump the water to in this vicinity and we are going to be pumping the water slowly away from the curb the repair is now complete and we are pumping the water away from the
roadway reloaded that that oh that's where the the water the water plant Oh that's why you couldn't cut it off because it would affected the was going to shut the entire city down so we had to work on the on the repair on the water we had divers there doing the repairs with the
water continuously flowing and I think you said the timeline of completion it will be in the morning so I thought about that today repair is complete it's the restoration is is still taking place is it still leaking or running over or no there's no more flow on the street it's just the cleanup process is taking
place at this time oh that's the part that will be completed in the morning got it okay Mr mayor um Commissioner Santiago thank you it's a question when that incident or accident happened when it it occurred uh on Can I
hear from that lady again when that happened saturday morning sat this Saturday morning yes and today is Wednesday wednesday wednesday yeah wednesday the 26 okay and my um manager know about that yesterday tuesday
tuesday how is that we work how is the manager know about that incident or about that problem on Tuesday not on Sunday or same night Saturday or Sunday the later we were working on the problem internally until we understood the
magnitude of the problem but that happened here in Opalaka that don't make no sense it's an emergency it's an emergency commissioner Santiago I share the same concerns as the elected officials and I will be addressing this with staff tomorrow thank you madame manager that's the way to doing it
because I'm not going to accepting that there's something happened here at Saturday afternoon and you the manager the one in charge in the city have the you know the notices or the note on Tuesday the 25th what about if we have that a
catastrophe or something like that it was yeah it was not acceptable um no I'm Commissioner B you got to put your mic down and turn residents on that street been notified what was going on yes they were well
apparently he doesn't she say no we we issu we issued a a warning to all the residents the the the staff went door to dirt hold on Naomi okay let's Can we reissue another notice to the residents yes sir
thank you Commissioner i'm sorry who the manager madam manager can we reissue i'm sorry i take that back madam manager can we Oh one second vice vice this morning
from Saturday we we did not start the process we we had to locate a contractor that was capable of doing the work that's the reason why we have public work the water was flowing yes got to stay in the area and it was not
determined to notify i'm trying to not get a voice up that's why Leave it yeah I wanted it off because I have challenge already with nonresponsiveness or issues when residents have challenges as a manager i
appreciate you um from having it but I'm going to say this general sense i'm tired of it i don't like that you're the manager folks are operating their own little circles those days are over you're the manager you have
residents on the street flooded my colleague we find out when you find out which is two or three days later i didn't and not to mention the numbers that she's given and I know this challenge is not even the same thing we do Monday we got four or five different
numbers going all out for things in our city and none of them reach where they supposed to reach on time and here we are Wednesday and a notice went out when that notice this morning yes this
morning we and we mobilized and from Saturn because somebody should have known we're not going to correct this because you just said you got to go get somebody and mobilize you could turn the water off or it shuts the whole city down so you knew that was going to be
water all over the place unfortunately so it's hard for me to fathom that nobody would have said number one to the manager and number two we need to go and tell folks today i.e sunday sunday here's what's occurring
it's probably going to get worse before it gets better because we can't shut the system down unfortunately that came out of her because the manager didn't get it till when she got it we got it we got calls obviously from residents but I like what
she said she shouldn't have to drop a name to get a response unfortunately sometimes what occurred doesn't have to drop a name to get something done that should not occur i'm looking at you when I'm talking to the man that should not occur
nope that should not occur and nothing happened with public works happen with other departments and it should not occur so folks that are sitting around here that think they can operate their own little hole and then come out when they want you're the man you're the man
really like fishing you run there today but for a res come here and say I got four or five number trying to find waters all over the place and like my colleague just said today is Wednesday you found out yesterday i pastor a church let me find out something three days later happened in
my church somebody going to be looking for another church to make sense you got resonance impact there that make sense not at all and it's not just happening in your department it's happening other
department i'm tired of it happening hear it all the time maybe Monday i I look at the numbers i call sometime i go through process i know their frustration just having any Monday a few weeks ago a resident got tell about a big pile of trash and apartment building and
everybody should have saw it way before it end when the resident mentioned it I mentioned it man get it it gets done somebody had to see that before then so I'm glad this occurred in the city since you had to come up here because I was going to bring it up in
the report i apologize to you and all the residents obviously as the management decade has been taken care of the restoration part is ongoing i know it bring you comfort but at least you know but madam manager the mayor is
asking those members to find out where they go and to have a centralized member for those emergency because it did happen over but I'm I'm tired of that i'm really frustrated cuz that was on my street just like any of our street we wouldn't want to be and every resident
city deserves the same kind of treatment and fair and acknowledgement of what's happened even if you can't fix it even if you can't fix it let them know hey you might need to go to hotel for a couple days unfortunately it's just rough because we can't shut the whole
city down plain and simple plain and simple thank you sir mr mayor um Commission Santi last words i I'd like to say thank you to to that brave resident hello uh to the resident
that bring that concern to us do you see we don't know anything about it but now we know what's going on thank you very much to coming all right so the only thing I'm going to ask like I said is that we look at those numbers to see the ones that actually
work and provide those and then do a a outreach to the residents and letting them know that this is the right number and we need a status update on that problem that issue one tonight and then one tomorrow once it's fully completed we'll do all right thank you Madam
Manager all right moving on to our action items we're going to 1311 a resolution of the city commission of the city of Opalaka Florida rescending resolution 24-124 regarding acceptance of the proposal of Florida Industrial
Properties 8 LLC for the sale of city-owned surplus property identified by folio number 2129-00005-1621 in relation to RFP number 24-0512000 effectively denying all bids in relation to the RFP number
24-5-0512000 authorizing the interim city manager to negotiate the sale of the property at the more recent appraisal fair market value with the Florida Industrial Properties 8 LLC or implement a new process for the sale of said property based on a more recent
appraisal representing fair market value providing for incorporation of recital providing for an effective date this is sponsored by the city manager can I get a motion move it moved by Commissioner Santiago second by Vice Mayor Kelly madam manager
an RFP was issued for the sale of the city-owned property also known as the water tank site one bid was received prior to the adoption of resolution number 24-1124 the city received an updated appraisal in the amount of
$420,000 for said property it is my it is my desire to request permission from the commission approval from the commission to engage with the proposed bidder to negotiate a fair market value of said property
all right so I'll yield to Commissioner Santiago since you pulled the item yes sir thank you very much um Mr mayor to give me that opportunity um this is something that I found out Monday uh this past Monday at
night in my uh commissioner uh meeting brief brief yes okay then and I see that and I don't even know about that process from before because that happened sometime last year when I not used to be
sitting here in the date but what I say and my question is how how that team pass 50 in this chamber when we don't have let's say we don't have okay I'm part of this chamber
right now the complete information about the two information that we have here today I got it today not Monday or not I got it today all the numbers and all all the days and information why Why we
passing that and we award already that uh contract or that uh sale to the company that uh coming to the bit and I found out there's only one company coming to that bit and they are the only
one there they do the whole pre uh procedure the legal way everything and now today uh uh what is that of March 26 we had that in the table when already the commissioner approved that and now we're
going to come with something else it have to be some kind of answer for that because I see here somewhere okay the the first the first um a pressure that they bring into the attention of the commissioner at that
time that bring you for $280,000 and that's the appressure that that company do for that uh particular uh uh lamb sale okay and after uh 7 months or 6 months we come in with another one for
$420,000 well it's it's a change yeah but it's they already vote for it how can it's coming now that's that my question i can't be wrong but before before you go on cuz I see where you're going with that when when did we cast that vote the commission approved the
resolution on September 11 2024 the updated app appraisal in the amount of $420,000 was sent to the was done on May 1st and sent to the city of Opalaka on May 14th so you all had the the new appraisal but didn't I did not have it
but it was given to the manager's office and staff on May 14th in an email okay the commission cannot vote on it because that information was not shared with the commission yeah but it what did you say by the
manager i get it but I what I am doing is I'm bringing this updated amount to the city commission requesting approval to go back to the to the um company to see if we can
negotiate based on the updated appraisal okay yeah when we talking about negotiating we're going to negotiate with who with the one company who submitted a proposal oh okay okay well let's let's see what's
going on now from now on to see what are they going to say and and what is the proposal that we have because my concern is there's already be a word to that company and I don't want to see anything legal coming against the city again we
have so many and I think it's enough to be paying here and there and spending money for no reason for a mistake or for something that somebody do that not is not the problem for well now it's a problem for the commissioner yes but in
that time the only the only paper the commissioner have is that one something is not right here something is going on we don't have information on time we receive everything in the last minute we
had to go crazy and looking for all kind of documents to see what is the real things about it and that's I for me I know about the situation Monday when they bring it to the commissioner
brief at 9:00 i don't know nothing about it but now I know and now I know what's going on let's Let's see how can we fix that because I don't want another lawsuit for the city i don't
Mr mayor madam manager and everything that I want to hear from now is from the manager from the manager because he's the one uh in charge in this i just have Oh I'm sorry i'm sorry commissioner no I'm No it's fine i finish for now
go ahead okay I just want to make sure that I'm hearing you correctly in May this was sent to our previous administration and they held on to it I'm assuming i'm not sure what happened but it was sent to previous
administration in May okay and then the previous administration I guess came up with the the amount that we voted on that was the amount that you guys voted on was based on the first appraisal that
was done on October 7 2022 that's the first appraisal okay I got it okay I got you thank you Mr manor yeah the issue that I have and this always comes up that you all put the commission in a bad
spot the the appraisal came in October 7th 2022 the new appraisal amount came in May 1st 2024 we did not vote until you said September 11th 11th September September
11th september 11th of 2024 yeah so that mean from that time to that time nobody knew that this new pray appraisal was received by the city mr mayor I can't speak to that because I wasn't in this seat at that time i was not involved in this process when I was
made aware of it I brought it to the attention of the commission this this stuff like this got it's not you but stuff has stuff like this has to stop stuff like this madame attorney yes
i I just want to um weigh in uh with the manager and I think from her standpoint she is doing something that is totally appropriate she's bringing this issue to you all and making letting you make the decision because at the at the end of the Yeah no I I I get it no at the end
of the day at at the end of the day um if you were to pass this this would still allow her to have those conversations with the current um you know um bidder the the this this is not a um this has not been there
has to be a closing for this property there has to be a sale while we prepared the documents that would um carry that through i think that this is you know a totally appropriate action on her part and if you pass this this would still
allow her to have those negotiations it may be that this um this one bidder um and we don't know i you know I I I haven't seen any of the information how it went out if it actually went out um for a bid i'm assuming that it did
hopefully um but you know the manager would still be able to have a conversation and maybe maybe that one bidder may come in at some amount that more be may be more reasonable for the city because as it stands right now um
it is a big gap in terms of what that previous appraisal is and what this new appraisal is and you all may want to allow her the flexibility to at least have that conversation um the legal issues we'll deal with them whatever
they are but this just allows you to give her that authority and um and I would certainly back her up and support her being able to do that madam Attorney I I thank you for opining in on this issue but however we got that part that
she's clean curing uh a wrong however we have a stack of emails that go back all the way to 2022 as it relates to this issue with staff with with the administration
so there's still a systemic problem here and the problem is that the original thing came in on October 7th 2022 and the new one came in May 1st of
2024 and we voted months later so people knew the commission didn't know it was never brought to us that the appraisal amount increased drastically but we I thank you Madam Manager for taking the opport the initiative to cure it to to try to fix
it but it's still an issue now I I will say this i do agree with the resolution as it is allowing the manager to go back and coming back with the number whatever they agree upon what whatever that number is whatever that number is i'm not holding her to a
number i'm allowing her to negotiate as she is the chief negotiating officer of the city of Opalaka but it still has to stop mayor Commissioner Kelly Vice Mayor Kelly sorry I um just made a statement previously
we're talking about the water main break and it probably fits this analysis as well uh I I support the manager going back um and having a discussion but I'm pretty sure the
discussion is not going to go far i'm just going to keep it the way I see it but I do support you going back and see if you can get a um better offer i support that and as the attorney said she has opined in that
she will uh believe this is a thing that we ought to pursue or give you an opportunity because what has occurred and I I certainly support that um I do have challenges when folks bid on things and I remember this because I've brought
it up in that meeting number one only one bidder number two there was such an eagerness to get this done um which caused me great concern but having said that it goes back to the thing that the mayor's is softly mentioning but I'm
going to mention a little harder is that I'm looking at documentation that folks knew folks knew just like the water plant uh main break folks knew about this they knew
about this prior to because it's right here and black and white even if the commission had decided not to pursue that new appraisal the information should have been given to the commission because we are the policy makers and so
to me for that not to be given is um a challenge in itself but I I do support the resolution to go back and see if you can negotiate but more importantly that you brought it to the commission's attention um of what has
occurred and again as the mayor said it goes back a long ways and I'm looking through this document and I see names and email uh CC's of folks that are still sitting here today still sitting around today that
know about it i'll leave it at that Mr mayor all right any other concerns call the question yes Mr mayor um I think that we have um I think the hope um uh I think that's part of the company and we uh
listen to them what they have to say no I'm sorry i don't think it I would rather not i would rather you our attorneys speak to each other along with our manager and y'all come together but this is not I don't think this is the platform for that if I just can say one
quick thing I'm not going to argue i let's let's let it be the way it is and you all can but we're not holding you all to a number whatever you come up with that's what we will you all see what the the the flavor can I just ask a question then it's just a question so
the resolution just says rescend or a new process so the statement made was that there would be negotiation with the last person that bid but the resolution just says or a new process so I'm just asking what the direction is that's what we're voting on today right so I'm just
asking for Okay yes sir so um the resolution is open-ended so it allows you to do with what you are um I see where you're going with that in any event the an issue it will be
brought back to the commission so if you all approve this we will bring it back to the commission no matter what okay so I am asking that we So Mr mayor I would like you to negotiate that's my desire my desire is
to be able to negotiate my desire is not to reject i would like to be able to negotiate not to not to Yeah yeah mr mayor when we say negotiate what does that mean for negotiator because the point here is say to send him back to B
no no what we're saying now is to amend this amendment okay okay there's no amendment needed cuz we're giving a directive she said she's going to come back to us no we're giving a directive she has to bring it back to sale anyway um so we're giving we're giving a directive i don't know the the the how
everybody feels but I know I'm saying for you to negotiate with the person that was awarded saying negotiate too okay so that's two will we um So you you have the the will of the Well no we don't i'm sorry yes yes three so you
have the will but and bring it back to the commission at the proper time madame Attorney you're looking No I was just looking at the item at the title um you're looking a little worried about No I'm not worried yeah I mean and and the
reason why I'm sir I'm not worried okay good you're not worrying but I'm worrying that that day that I asking the uh the city authority that you sending to my meeting and I ask him that question and she say no it's not a problem nobody going to do anything
against the city what what when that's what I heard from the uh meant when was when was this we have not had a meeting on this issue okay can we um I want to I want to I want to close this conversation i want to close this conversation um madame attorney the the
the will of the commission is for the manager to Well you heard from myself you heard from Commissioner Irvin you heard from Commissioner Bass you heard from Commissioner Santiago commissioner Santiago and Commissioner Kelly are you okay with her negotiating i I don't like these the resolution
speaks for itself that's what um the manager told you what her intention is and it's on the record we don't need to get into these side discussion the the resolution speaks for itself the manager told you on the record what her plans is and she's speaking to her bosses so she do something else than that then as her
bosses we would hold her accountable deal with the resolution on the on the on the item that's that's how you deal with that she's made it clear her intent to go and negotiate she she's hearing loud and clear what the commission is saying so we don't need to do anything else but deal with the resolution to
allow her to to do that be very clear on Got it that's why I'm trying to close the conversation so we're all good we're all on the same page madame Clerk you can call the question commissioner Santiago no commissioner Bass yes commissioner
Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 41 moving right along to item 16 A1 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% 89% and three annual payments of $14,49044 providing for incorporation of recital providing for an effective date
this is sponsored by the city manager move it all right this is an order stay again for discussion it was it was moved by Commissioner Irvin second by Commissioner Santiago madame manager go ahead and present and then we're open up for um public hearing staff have has
recommended the acquisition of a new street sweeper due to the excessive malfunction of the current equipment three quot three quotes were obtained to analyze finance financing options leasing to Inc offers the best leasing proposal if approved payments will
commence in October 2025 i can also have Mr bob Anathan approach the podium if you have any additional questions all right so this is a public hearing item public hearing is open public hearing is
closed all right um Madame Manager real quick you said that um the it will commence in um October 2025 so next year's budget it won't affect it okay all right that's what that was my concern
all right any other questions or concerns to the manager or we can call a question all right hearing none madame Clerk commissioner Bass wait I'm sorry you You said you wanted to open up the discussion you guys have No you already closed man m No I did not close well but it's fine with
me okay uh we already purchased a one long time ago and we doing another one okay if he uh I'm only one vote got it Madam Clerk commissioner Bass yes commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly
yes commissioner Santiago yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes 50 first reading all right moving right along to item 16 A2 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 providing for incorporation into the code providing
for conflict and repealer severability and an effective date this is sponsored by the interim city manager all right can I get a motion moved by Vice Mayor second second by Commissioner Urban madame Manager the complete streets policy will establish a commitment to
design build and maintain roadways that accommodate all modes and users of transportation it also broadens the city's mobility goals the policy has been created and is being presented today for adoption i also have Miss Adelina Gross here to answer any
questions you may have all right um this is a public hearing item public hearing is open public hearing is closed all right mayor Commissioner I mean Vice May Kelly um I I agree with the safe accessible
all those wording that make it sound good my question is really simple we got a lot of um sidewalks currently that are either half up and down whatever tell me how creating this policy
um is going to be able to work towards getting us to that um safe accessible uh and multimodal transportation network good evening um vice mayor wait while
you're answering that question I want to add to that um also we never addressed the issues that are already in place for example 17th Avenue coming around that bin that we um what was Jan Commissioner Williams was it Jan Avenue and also
there's no crosswalk over here from the train station to on the other side so yeah please okay so as part Adelina Gross CIP division manager as part of the safety analysis
that was concluded um last year for the um safest streets for all this is the policy that has been created for the city the idea of the policy is to make a standard for the city to create to once we are constructing new sidewalls or
replacing sidewalls that are uneven um crack or any other defects that they may have we build them to a standard that will be a minimum of 5 ft with ADA ramps in all intersections and also adding uh
crosswalks where are needed regarding the issue of crosswall in Alibaba we did requested funding for the se uh and and actually it's not it's not only crosswall we need a high um traffic
crosswall in that area because of the of the the speed of the of the cars and trucks going through the true Alibaba we did request that funding we also requested um support from Miami date county uh it was not approved uh last
year due to funding concerns from FDOT and that because we did requested through the TAP grant the transportation alternative program grant the from FDOT it's going to be uh be brought back
uh to the county to do an study because they did not approve basically uh to install a crosswalk since it was too close to a railroad it didn't make a lot of sense for us because we see the traffic every day and they also have a camera on that
area that uh counts the people that crosses that intersection oh Commissioner Kelly Vice Mayor Kelly stay the floor and I I'll check i'm waiting on my for your answer sir uh as mentioned before uh the new sidewalks
that are going to be constructed replaced or within the city they will be built to a standard we have areas in the city that have no sidewalk at all that's the ones that we are trying to uh reduce the gap of this of the
mobility on those sections for replacement of sidewalks i know public works have a program that that they are working on currently for with a with within this year's budget for replacement of crack and uneven sidewalks
okay yes ma'am well maybe they need to come up because when we pass things like this and residents see this and they see complete streets policy safe accessible etc for everyone but if you got sidewalks that are uneven or cracked or
whatever going on right now it's good for the new sidewalks i got you the the handicap accessibility but what are we doing about those and so I need to I want to know about that program um cuz in passing this this is more for futuristic I guess that's and because
your funding is like you said even for something we passed before we didn't get the funding so now we're reapplying again um trying to get funding for it yes okay is that something Well how much was that cuz I think one of them was as you mentioned area over here I think it
was another area uh near the school maybe or something uh we're trying to get funding for the kids coming across wherever it was we didn't get funding for any of them for the crosswalks um and correct me if I'm wrong Mr austin uh Miami date county did an study and they
did not recommend a a crosswalk well they did not recommend they did not recommend crosswalk from the trial station how does uh no for for the school for the school uh for the for the tri road station we will be requesting a
new traffic study for that area they just simply deny at that moment um because they said it was not um feasible because the railroad crossing was too close to the to that area but are they waiting for somebody to get hit before
they put it there i mean what's the rationale there is no rationale from my point of view i'm sorry go ahead well it it's a point that's worth notating because they figure it's not um
a high priority and so we're going to reapply for funding from the same entities that didn't feel it was a high priority are we looking at another uh source of funding we are looking at additional sources funding as part of the uh safety plan that we did uh this
is basically the first step for us to get additional funding for complete streets and renovation on the roadways so for the safest streets for all they we have we create the plan first the adaptation plan that is the one that we will be adopted today including the
standards and policy and once we have that in place we can apply for additional funding for projects and that pool of funding is bigger and it's basically federal okay so basically we got to create the
plans and the paper then go after the money to actually keep folks safe that's a hard sale to a community but I I still need to hear Thank you for your answer but I still need to hear Mr mayor through the manager because while we're as I said while we're doing these safe
streets or whatever we got these ongoing issues so you mentioned that we have a program going on now um so maybe that can um encourage residents to know that we have not forgotten about those who have sidewalk issues
already arias and public works director the program that we have right now as Adelina said before the standardization is asking for sidewalks to be a standard 5- foot width currently the sidewalks that we have in the city are narrower so we have in
instituted a program where we're bringing in a company that assessed the needs around the city and we systematically grinding the sidewalks to make them safe so all of the sidewalks that are uneven are being ground down so they're safe and does not present a trip
hazard until we could replace them with the wider sidewalks mr mayor then okay so you grind them down how's that process where who has that list where are they at now how does that work we we have a list in public works we could provide it to the manager for your review citywide citywide yes sir so that
you've identified our need to be grinded whatever yes sir so until you get to them what what is done in in there's there's not an interim fix for those for those sidewalks okay so for folks who may be
walking you know just walking wherever on the sidewalk we don't have a we don't have we mark the sidewalk with high color paint to make it visible so you you Okay so you now you you mad manager you sure now
because you know I'm going to look for the markings tomorrow if I don't see them because I I get those complaints when people walk they they walk you know I'm not a walker but I get people walk and they say have challenge because when they're walking sometime they're not even when they see
the new ones they see the yellow the handicap they like that but some of them in the in neighborhoods already and they're walking they're getting older can't move as fast and so if we're marking them that's great because I know we can't get to all of them at one time so you're saying we mark all of those in the city with some kind of Yes whatever
green yellow whatever red and the manager have m you give the manager that name give the I'll provide the manager with a list of the assessed sidewalks okay um Okay i I'll hold off right there on that one but I Okay i I think you
understand my my concern um Okay Mr mayor thank you yes sir um I I might be a little wrong i'm not sure but when we start repairing or replacing
cracked sidewalks I'm at Shabbundi every day walking not always the same time there's a lot of broken broken broken that has been identified that has been identified she bothered no I was there today i didn't
see no markings but it need to be done cuz I'm not the only one that's out there walking there's a lot of us that walk different times and um we're kind of we're kind of laughing but it it's a serious matter and so
madam manager we'd like to get that list and and the commissioner said she's walking Shabbani and she didn't see the marketing I wouldn't refer to Shabbani other areas the resident brought to my attention Um so I'd like to see and make sure that we do identify them not with a cone cuz
somebody take that out but at least with the markings or whatever we can and for those that are really severe how we can do that because that's a major um uh challenge thank you all right and we we go ahead i just want I just want to uh
to bring uh the concern of my of commissioner uh we have identified the area uh the area has been secured by public works and they will be replaced with additional um areas to walk around
thank you i don't know is there something you want me to check i just want us to keep in mind the traffic study that was supposed to be done in the city where is it where i know we're off off off subject really quick but the traffic study and I know
Commissioner Williams wanted one when she was here on Jan Avenue right after that that that crash that major crash into the actually we included that as part of the safety analysis and that was identified the recommendation there is
to place um stop signs and additional and possibly u a stop light on on that on that intersection okay so where are we now with that cuz that's that's been up since last year it's cuz it it shouldn't take that long to
install a stop sign no I would I will follow up on that okay and the other thing is the traffic study that includes 17th Avenue that was done we asked for that a couple years ago come around that bin i 14 into it and follow up on it they
tore down the fence over there and tore up well she knows there five cars and thank God no kids was out there but every other every other month there's an accident they hit a school bus they they did the situation that happened last week and we have to stop being reactive
and I just want the city to be proactive i will look into it all right thank you Mr mayor really really quickly is there a way cuz I recently was in a ritzier neighborhood and on and where so you don't think we're rich ritzy neighborhood we we don't have that kind
of money but and like for Jan because it's a bad um avenue that they will allow us to do the like it's a it's illumination you can't you cannot miss uh the reflectors on the pole that leads
up to the stop sign could you maybe see while you're talking they would allow us to do that on our stop signs that are you know run frequently we can we can look into Yes thank you we don't have that kind of money but Mr mayor all
right go ahead go ahead commissioner um Santiago and then we go ahead and call the question um to Commissioner Irvin listen avenue is the people that not respect the law there it's a very nice role yeah but uh
everybody talking about safety and no kind of of regulation stop sign red light and all that but we forgot about what we been talking for so many uh months or years or whatever in days a
story um for the traffic is the uh speed bumper especially in that avenue the commissioner mentioning Jan Avenue am by us up there okay the accident that I see there in that corner uh between John
Avenue and Amad they very very ugly and bad that's bad and I know that you say uh something in that meeting on Monday the the fire department they don't like it to have it but that's the fire department we had to be uh woring about
the resident in that area to be safe so to be safe that's safety speed bumpers as the regular standard design that we used to see that we are used to see on every other street are not recommended due to for emergency services because
that adds time to and delay to to the response and they have Yes uh what is being recommended and is a little bit more costly uh but it has a better efficiency is the race intersections as
part of these uh of analysis and the recommendations that we receive and that's where we are trying to to apply for funding and uh later this year is to bring um raise intersections into song streets and including Jan Ahmed and
actually Burlington Street race intersection just as we have it here on Pervis Avenue and so you see where the papers are that's a race intersection so that immediately uh the driver has to at least slow down um
is it's always going to depend how far away they are you know each uh corner that you're going to fix because if you do that let's see it in um um in Jan Avenue by the circle and we're going to finish soon she had to go to Yeah okay
giving us the eye not a problem not a problem the only thing that I say always for Opaaka is the hard the hard way rules that they want to put to us the fire department whatever okay but all the city have the bumpers and nobody say anything they
don't say anything to them convers and the fire department did not complain uh I want safety in this row i don't want I hope that I don't see so bad accident there in that intersection let's see what we have to do but I I want the speed bumpers that's it i love
to see it in that row thank you Commissioner Bass we We going We We rushing for you today is Commissioner Bass's wedding anniversary and she trying to go home that's why she keep giving us the eye but she said she don't want to leave the husband is if no other concerns of
this item we can We can vote to have you leave did he bring a limo oh my god focus call the question madam commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes commissioner Baz yes mayor Taylor yes
motion passes 50 first reading 163 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Oblaka Florida adopting the safe streets for all comprehensive safety action plan to enhance transportation safety improve infrastructure and promote equity mobility throughout the
city in conformity with section 163177 Florida statutes providing for incorporation of into the code providing for conflict and repealer severability and an effective date sponsored by the interim city manager moved by Vice Mayor Kelly second second by Commissioner
Irvin um Madame Manager with the assistance of Vision Zero the city has developed a safe streets for all comprehensive safety action plan which highlights transportation safety challenges and counter measures to reduce traffic fatalities and serious
injuries it is now being presented to the city commission for adoption and Miss Adelina Gross can elaborate if you have any questions all right this is a public hearing item public hearing is open public hearing is closed any questions to the manager i remember this
presentation any questions to the manager or um Miss Gross as it relates to this item nope madame clerk vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes commissioner Baz yes commissioner Irvin yes mayor Taylor yes motion passes
50 first reading all right moving along to the last item of the night um 16 to4 an ordinance of the city commission of the city of Abalaka Florida adopting and enacting a new code for the city of Opalaka Florida providing for the repeal of certain ordinances not included
therein providing for a penalty for the violation thereof providing for the manner of amending such code and providing for such code and this ordinance when it shall become effective sponsored by the city clerk
all right um can I get a motion moved by Commissioner second for vote commissioner Bass second by Commissioner Santiago madame Clerk um yes Mr mayor thank you as part of the city of Oblaka recottification project
Civic Plus conducted a complete review of the city code to address areas that were outdated and inconsistent the ordinance before you will incorporate the updates provided by Civic Plus in addition the city's land development
regulations is being codified for the first time ever as part of the new the new code a link to the new code has been provided via email for your review i am available to answer any questions at this time all right this is a public hearing item public hearing is
open public hearing is closed any question to the city clerk all right um and Mr mayor I just want to um state on the record this is a voluminous um project and um and we are making some assumptions as a city
attorney's office that the codes um the information was accurately put into the codes and the amendments are reflective of how they were passed by the commission so I just want to put that on the record and with that thank you Madam
Attorney so you did because now you now you're adding to No I'm I'm I just because this process has taken years it is a voluminous project voluminous process but I I'm letting you know that I'm supposed to be No we have we under I
mean taking on this process at the attorney's office we have looked at it it was on your lap cuz I've been on my lapis but since you brought up this voluminous process no this was ne this was never on my lap this was a re you never saw this yeah of course yeah but
why did you say we're assuming but I'm saying we are take making some assumptions that the information was mut let me just say this i've been doing this work for over 30 years and I have never been a part of a recodification process i don't even know exactly what
that is i just learned of that in every city what Munich Code does is it takes information from the city clerk's office and it updates the amendments what I'm understanding from this is that they would not update the amendments unless the city passed all of these codes and
ordinances at the same time i'm not aware of this i don't know of any other attorneys who are aware of this but this is what they are doing with the city of Opalaka so I'm letting you know for every word that has been adopted by them and taken and put into this code that
you're now readopting you know we you know we have reviewed to the best of our ability but I'm we are making some assumptions also that this process has been um reviewed by the folks that you contract with to
do this work and so you know we're not in the business of you know making sure that every word that they put in nothing's been changed or anything you are in the business because your job as legal is to keep us straight so well we we're assuming that they have typed it correctly i wasn't going to say anything
but you since you brought up this voluminous process i love that word by the way should we pull this allow you 30 days to go word by word line by line and bring it back to the commission that way you're comfortable with it because we've been asking for the codification recodification for a couple year i've
asked for it some of my colleagues has asked for it and we've all got the same response right this is this is I I don't know where you got that this is something that's been on our lap it has not but what I understand but what I'm telling you is what you contract with Munich Code to do is to update your
ordinances i don't know of a city that hasn't had ordinances updated for years okay so for them to then say unless you adopt everything at one time I've never heard of that ever if you want to wait 30 days you can do that it's not necessary but it is necessary because
you just said you are assuming and as legal now I'm a little leery because I want to make sure that what we voted on is being uploaded to MUN code madame clerk go um cuz you I I you you open this door yeah no I'm happy to open it i told the clerk I would open it because I
want you to know that for them that this is not something that they typically do they typically update the codes as you go along as you pass ordinances every you know four or six months or whatever the clerk sends it to Municode and MUN code updates it into the system i'm not
aware of any process where Municode has taken the position that they're going to wait years before they update hasn't this been with your office for the last couple years it's not No nothing what do you mean it's been at my office you didn't know anything about the musical of course i knew this has been going on for a long long time but that's that real lies my Go ahead
so So Mr mayor just to clarify cuz me and and the city attorney have been over this via emails over and over again there's two processes one is the normal cotification process anytime the commission adopts an ordinance amending a section of the code that ordinance is
sent to MUN code to be codified into the code of ordinances the recottification process is a more extensive process that deals with outdated sections in the code and they have um MUN code which is now Civic Plus I'm sorry um they review the
entire code make recommendations and it's an attorney that works for Civic Plus that makes those recommendations we've been in this process for several years we've have meetings after meetings after meetings that included department directors and the city attorney in those
meetings recommendations were made we went over all of these changes you know we discussed you know what the city wanted changes the city wanted you know the the attorney for Civic Plus made his recommendations and so we've been in
this process for a while so it's kind of you know surprising to get here and we're still confusing the two different processes one is the normal codification process which we do on a regular basis anytime there's an amendment to the code
this is not that process this is the recottification meaning they're reviewing the entire city of Opaaka code to identify outdated sections sections that may not be consistent with state or local law and they address those
sections and then they provide their recommendations for us and for our legal which is our city attorney to review obviously I don't have a law degree unfortunately cannot review that information got it so madam madam madam attorney cuz I was ready to vote but you
said what you said so and so I'm uncomfortable so I'm going to ask that you all defer this and you all educate yourselves on the recottification process and when you are and bring it back at the next meeting and at that time hopefully you are comfortable with this and then we can move forward
because this has been going on for far too long and that right and my and my point Mr mayor is it should not be going on for far too long it doesn't happen anywhere else okay everything else they update if there's a new change in the law they automatically do that got it so
what I want you to do is because obviously you all are saying two different things educate yourself on this educate whoever who I don't want to point the finger on who's right who's wrong and whatever but you are illegal you are not illegal sorry you are legal and your job is to keep this process
legal so I'm asking as the mayor that you all defer this item to a date certain that you can you all can meet and bring it back to us when you all are on the same page cuz this right here we can't do this anymore gone through oh no no no no now you're saying you got no
we've looked at it but what I'm telling you is I'm vote i'm voting no i'm voting no but I'm asking you to defer mr mayor I'm fine mr mayor I'm asking you to defer i I just want to say for the record I've never been through a recottification um project either i've
been here with the city for 30 years going on 30 years and we've never done a recottification so this is not a normal thing that happens on an everyday basis or that cities are doing on a regular basis this is something that if you have an outdated code or sections in the code
that are outdated and need to be updated this is a task that they take on to review the entire code not just one particular section it's the review of the entire code so I'm going to ask that we close this and I I need to state something else for the record because
right now until this ordinance is passed our updated code will not be available online so right now we're still operating off of the old ordinances which has not incorporated any new ordinances that the commission has adopted for the last couple of years so
if you need to review a section that's been amended you're not going to view it online until this ordinance is you all bring it back defer it and bring it back at the next meeting and at that in the interim of that you meet and get comfortable cuz it's not our job to do
stuff to explain stuff like this it's your job and if the clerk is saying one thing and the attorney is saying that she's a little leery then I'm pulling back because it's your job to defend the city so if you're not comfortable that every word matches and every vote is
encumbered then we don't need to be voting on this it shouldn't even be here so I'm asking but again I'm on the wrong vote i don't know how my colleagues feel but I'm asking that you defer it to a certain date certain which to me is next commission meeting and we can state that for the record but yeah this this is
Yeah and Mr mayor one more thing i'm sorry so So I emailed um Mr marian who's an attorney with Civic Plus and I asked if this was a normal process that city go through for recottification in terms
of the adoption of this ordinance after Bernardet gave me her concerns and he responded yes all municipalities who go through the recottification process go through the same process of adopting the ordinance you could only incorporate
changes to the code by adopting an ordinance you have to adopt that order he is right and and my only point is I'm not aware of any city that has gone through this process in this way where it's been years in Commissioner Bass is
trying to get home to her man so that she can have her anniversary i'm asking that you defer it we my colleague are okay the date I'm not comfortable the date certain will be March 9th because Commissioner Bass is trying to get home
to her husband so March 9th I'm sorry April 9th I'm sorry April 9th and in the interim of that you all can meet and you can familiarize yourself with the process and get comfortable so can I get a motion to defer this item to a date certain which is April 9th move it moved
by Commissioner Santiago second by Commissioner Irvin madam Clerk of Oh I'm sorry i know you want to leave but it's okay i'm really baffled what's going to be different nothing what is going to be different the mayor wants you to familiarize yourself with it you're saying you've looked at it what's going
to be different in and Well they're only updating it up to last year sometime right Madam Clerk um since we've been in this process for a couple of years they're updating through ordinances through April of 2024 but they do have
any updated ordinances that will be part of a supplement up to today however we need to adopt this ordinance first in order for them to issue that supplement what again what's going to be different and April 9th and what are you going to
look at that's going to come back so you're not going to make that statement you just made that gave the mayor the the Let me just say it would in order for me because that's not that's what you pay these folks for that's why I'm putting it on the record for me to to
to be comfortable with this I would literally have to since it last has been updated which I don't even know it's been like more than 5 years I think so since it was last updated I would actually have to pull every single ordinance go in the clerk's office pull
every single ordinance and make sure that those ordinances match up with any amendments that's why it's such a ridiculous thing to throw back to the city and say "City City you all should do this because I don't know of them doing that anywhere else." And so that's what I'm telling you all we work with
MUN code or whatever it's called now everywhere there they that that this does not happen so so if if you'd like for me to to do something that looks like that process I can certainly look at the ones that are
most meaningful or something like that but to do to to do their work that is not that is not normal it's not usual i'm not going to pretend like it's usual and so you know if you if you want to kick it back I'll I'll start doing something i'll try to identify the really big deal things like land use
things and maybe pull some attorneys in here with me and you know look through the clerk's files or what have you but this is really something they are responsible for doing this is very unusual this never gets put the liability never gets put back on the city especially after years of not
updating their you know the ordinances which you pay them for all right so there's a motion on the floor and I will say this in order to Commissioner Williams your statement gives me pause i'm not comfortable but there is a motion on the floor to defer the item to the next meeting which is April 9th so
we can vote the motion up or down but if we if we stay with the ordinance as I'm voting so the motion was made by Commissioner Santiago commission Santiago um by um Commissioner Irvin madame Clerk we can vote on the motion
commissioner Basser yes commissioner Irvin yes vice Mayor Kelly yes commissioner Santiago yes mayor Taylor yes motion to defer passes 50 all right so we're moving on to the We have no second reading ordinance to
the city manager's report i would like to thank the city commission for passing and approving the legislation that was presented to you this evening i have submitted a written report to you i did hear the concerns raised by
the city commission and the residents i do take them serious i will be addressing those concerns with staff first thing in the morning updates as um requested on sidewalks will be presented to the city commission as well and I will entertain any concerns that you have at this
moment m questions um Commissioner and then Commissioner Santi okay um Madame Manager um can you please have staff to schedule a workshop for me and
my colleagues that are co-sponsoring events with me um cuz I I know before when I was doing events uh with the mayor I think uh the clerk's office actually scheduled a workshop so that we can discuss
um what we have what we're doing for for the events that I can remember i know it's the city's birthday Junth 4th of July and we can go as far as the back to school drive if if you if we want but I
would like to um get those things workshopped as soon as possible she talk it's it's with the um clerk's office the sunshine meetings that we used to have yes the sunshine yeah yes i'll work with the city clerk yes also [Music]
um Miss Gross mentioned um the raised um I forget what they call it the raised intersection yeah the raised intersection on Shabban um uh Sharazad and Perviz almost took me out the game
last week so it's unleveled if I stay on the left and my truck is a high truck if I stay on the left side it's a easy go down unfortunately this particular day I was on the right hand side and I don't know what was happening for real for
real so I don't know if there's a way that we can make that street level off um if so I would really appreciate that also Meta Manager thank you so much for
having whichever one of our departments that did it today they actually cleaned the pavers in downtown Opaaka looks very nice well I don't know how far downtown they made it but in the area that I see on a daily it looked
amazing i'm not sure if they are going to do the second part to that but and I I have pavers at my house that need the same thing but there's usually a coat a clear coat or something that they put on it to kind of give it some protection so
that they stay clean we may want to look into having that done um is there something else that I Oh also um I looked at I'm sorry I tried to follow us on
social media and I admit that um I'm learning Instagram i'm learning Instagram however if my learning is going great I noticed that I realized that bingo was on March
14th and as of today when I was coming to commission meeting I realized there's absolutely not one picture from Bingo on our website and that was March 14th so of
course there was events that were the next day they're already on social media the pictures from those events so of course we all know that being a karaoke is definitely not on there yet but
um we we we pay people to make this happen and if you could look into why this ain't happening on a timely manner I would like to to to know definitely I will reach out to our PR company with regards to that okay and the last thing
I have for you is um if you could you tell me where we are with our HR policies and procedures the HR policies policies and procedures were drafted by the HR director and submitted to the city
attorney's office i know that they have been meeting um maybe the city attorney has additional information but I do know that they have been meeting and it's ongoing okay yes they we have been meeting we're about probably about 80% done so they should be coming to you all
soon the the um what we what has been some um part of the delay is we are in also negotiations with the union uh unions and um incorporating some of the
things um or seeking to incorporate some of the things some of the changes in that in the union contract as well so well how are you incorporating the changes if the union contract hasn't even been voted no no no no the the there there are things no there are
things that wouldn't um let me say this if you'll allow me to speak with you about it there are some they're not things that could not be done independently but we were trying to get buy in for a process so um but we are almost done which is the answer to the
question okay thank you any other questions commissioner Santiago do you want to go first you want to go home no you sure okay thank you uh madame
manager um oh can I call him mad manager or inter madame manager yes um myself I don't mind that they talk about that i call you mother manager um two weeks ago or 3 weeks ago I
um a request from you to try to clean the uh park equipment that we have in Gloretta buildings uh please I have a call today again that nobody passed by
therea and one of the concern that they have or I have of the city us is we don't need any incident there when any of these children when all these nails and broken items that we have in that
park I think it's better to take everything off of up there and made that that part that is belong to the city safety for that community i like to see something you know going on this week to see if we can
clean it out madame manager another thing is um I'm be very happy today with that presentation that we have for our police department um to recognize the good job that that they do
here in the city and even out of the city and that's something beautiful to say thank you to all this police department for the great city of Opalaka but I want to do something um for the
next uh two or three months madame manager uh let's started started to see how can we implement or we hiding another five or six police
officer that we needed here in the city i've been reading about population and I think the um uh city of Palaka is very close to the 20,000 people already living resident in the city and if we
see the percent of police officer that we supposed to have for each resident here in the city we supposed to have for that amount of people right now around 80 or 85 police officer and we only have
44 and that's a very hard work for them to take care of everybody in the city please I think the police department deserve okay to be better because they doing a great job i see a lot of improvement here in the last two months thank you chief if I can say thank you
to him thank you chief because I see a lot of action between Sharasar the point there my god man they really they really disappear from there and the gas station okay from 27 and this is the way that
we're going to make the city safe clean and make people to come here and visiting okay and that's one of my goal i need more police officer in the city thank you so with regards to hiring police officers we do have vacancies and
I did include it in my bi-weekly report to you um we do have candidates that have already gone through the process they're being reviewed by the chief of police so we will be onboarding additional officers very soon oh that's good that's good to know including also
you know like my police my police department can I say that Mr mayor like that my police my police department in the city yeah i need to see them when everything that they need to make the city safe we talking about if they need horses they need motorcycle they need
buy they le let's supply with that please thank you my manager just to piggyback just real quick I know I asked them to put in the budget about um recruitment that every year we are to rec I wanted to recruit two officers to
put them through the academy where are we with that is that program have we initiated that program or did we No but I I will be speaking to to the budget um analyst about that okay and if I would like to see horses for Louiswis I mean
Commissioner Santiago's police department she said no she's not the budget any other questions for the manager just quickly just one question uh in regards to the water break on Saturday i know anything above 25,000 comes back to
us do you have any idea how much that costs according to Mr austin I asked him as I was coming into this meeting it is below the $25,000 threshold even with divers yes oh wow okay all right thanks if that
change I will inform the commission right away but as of right now that number is below 25,000 okay perfect thank you any other questions or concern to the manager one one thing really really quickly um when did we do Friday last week Friday
on my way to Seagull Park I happened to pass by the canals i had that in my report it was beautiful y'all did that it was beautiful it was I
was like hold on let me look again i was like okay very nice thank you all right anything else commissioner Vice Kelly yeah all this all this love is just Let me bring y'all back to
reality no I I appreciate the efforts of everything you're doing Madam Manager um couple of things and I do see it in your report for some of the um improvements with the basketball courts and at Ingram Shabbandi and uh some concerns raised
about uh parks my colleague I want to ask a question um and I guess the attorney can keep me on track if necessary um last year we had uh several investigations going on in the
city that we couldn't say anything about couldn't do anything about we're waiting on those investigations to conclude um have they been concluded yet and madam attorney um keep me on board because if they've been concluded as much as can be
given to us I want to know what the findings were because we had well I'll say me I had concerns about some of the processes and things that were done and only thing we were told is this ongoing investigation so we could not ask
anything or be told anything etc so if they're complete uh I I'd like to be able to get whatever reports that can be released to the commission well I want I don't know if many else want it but I'd like to have it and you can work with the um attorney madam manager what you
can release to us or can't release but there was a whole lot of can't say this can't do this can't whatever because everything is investigated and now it appears I guess they should be done if they haven't been um but if they are I'd
like to see what the results because there were a lot of things were said or at least um insinuated in some of those uh comments before the meeting and before the public and so I I wanted to know uh what those actually um came to
be the other part is while we do uh need officers and we need staff and we need uh folks hired um it's not just hiring but it's also retaining it's not just hiring it's also
retaining and I'll speak to you more on that so we can move along with the meeting but uh thank you for the report uh as always you got my full um support and um what I said earlier still stands now thank you Mr mayor all right and
madam manager minds is real quick um the only thing I'm going to ask I know we're getting ready to go into budget season i know we we have to put it in the new budget but I want to complete your Bundy Village the back part it needs to be paved and I've been asking for that for the longest it's just gravel um also
well she already said about the canal good good job and today um when I was coming into the city on the welcome sign I said that you all are restoring it and the F dot project is somewhat complete so kudos it really
it really looks nice and I know it's not complete but it from what Yeah it stands out and you can see a mile away all right the only other concern that I have on um 135th Street and 27th Avenue they blocked off the road right there and what what are they putting there
it was blocked off for maybe about a week every night for about a week 135th 27th Avenue oh that's by the mobile gas station between by the bridge the bridge the bridge it was the bridge is that f is that a part of the f you can say it
from there yes or no that's a part of the f program pedestrian friend okay yeah i just wanted to know yeah and that is that completed because I know every night for about it's still going on okay okay and I think they start around like at 10:00
11 o'clock or something they block the street off you got to go all the way around i did see them at night as well yeah okay all right and I will say this madam manager I was me on the phone the other day you did something you were riding around the city and going through the
parks at all you be everywhere man and you were able to when you were as like Commissioner Irvin do policing the streets and you along with the police department saw something that happened
and we were on the phone at that time and you hung up over me to fix it but kudos to you and the police department for jumping in because that's our part and our children so yeah it could have went another way but y'all intercepted it so shout out to you all thank you for
that the only thing I one criticism the report and I asked this before can you provide it prior to the meeting like the day before yes that's the only thing I one that's it all right all right um um do we I
don't see any boards here so no official board reports um can I get that water we can go to the what you sure can have my water thank you sir um we're going into the commission reports um Commissioner Bass I know you got to go we'll start with you
thank you i just want to say to our residents let me apologize for um the event that we had as it relates to uh what is it called
again eticy the class that we had it was not intended for the whole community it was only intended for five students i'm sorry 15 total students from three of our schools but because of the feedback
that we received we will be doing it again on May the 3 we have had countless inquiries about our residents want to be a part of it and even some of our staff members so with that being said look forward to see the
information coming out where you can register um for the that class and is it going to be at the same time or was it it was really nice by the way go ahead yeah thank you for coming yeah same time i'm not sure yet we're working with scheduling first okay and then we will
go further and I also want to thank um Queens Academy who contacted me to have this event along with Jay Seavoy and those are partners that are valuable to what we do in our city so I just want to say thank you for that oh and also on
the 5th which is the first Saturday Commissioner San Diego and myself will be hosting um checkers along with chess so you're more than welcome to come chat and dominoes he says and dominoes which
checkers at the park um from 12 to 1:30 or just Domino's is a good game you you can go i can challenge you that's it thank you thank you ask her oh by the way one more thing karaoke i enjoyed myself
all right Professor Santiago thank you um yeah I heard about the karaoke i love the karaoke because I'm been working that night whole night up to 4:00 in the morning i'm sorry but they say that's beautiful next time I'm going to be there you're going to see me singing
oh yeah you got your boots on the ground for sure okay yeah for uh for my report the only thing that I can say um I want to say thank you to uh uh Madame Manager and uh Madame Cler for all the help that
I have in the initiative for the meetings that we have for my photo July event i think that we going there and we're going to have a good one this year um like I say uh I know but I tried to do in better
mad Irving okay please okay let me join that i'm just let for the record let me be known i know no no we have a beautiful Asia i know i understand that but we tried to do we were we tried to do it you know uh let's put it like that
better and bigger and everything okay and the only thing is that I I wanted to announce that I planning to not use any funding for the city that thing it's a budget there but
that happen when I not be there but I I love to do that to not cause for the city uh I'm be I'm be going to be talking to the city attorney about that um soon and and I think that is going to be a great uh event for the city uh the
next one and yes I like to say thank you to Commissioner Bass to make me a co-sponsor for uh chess uh Domino and what is the other one oh checkers okay um yes and I think that we're going to have the fifth a very good event because
it's a lot of people already told me and called me that they coming they coming in we're going to have a full house and I don't think that it's going to be for an hour and a half maybe it's going to be a little longer just be prepared okay that day you're going to play with me in front of everybody chess okay thank you
this is my report for now all right all right um Vice M Kelly thank you Mr mayor um we didn't meet last uh two weeks ago so I want to go back i want to acknowledge um Commissioner Santiago for hosting
Dominican Republic uh day celebration i did do a video message and uh I'm told by the residents they appreciated that and so I want to thank you for hosting that uh event we held our monthly bombshare distribution um that first
Wednesday we serviced over 300 families in a three-hour period we encourage uh residents to come early and not wait until later because it is first come first serve while supplies last as always I want to thank my co-host Mayor
Taylor M irvin and the support of my other colleagues Commissioner Santiago and Commissioner Bass I'm sorry um beating um South Florida which I'll mention in a moment but just because it's so quick Farm Share will take place
next Wednesday uh at 9:30 a.m as well we attended the Florida Black Caucus uh local elected officials conference in Orlando uh earlier this uh month um the annual conference really towards the end of last month annual conference for
elected officials um discussing issues that we all face in this political climate and of course I shared the information with the ICM um I was also honored to represent our great city uh at the Florida League of Cities
leadership class which was an invitation uh process i was proud to be a part of that uh body for officials across the state of Florida that took place up in Orlando and I also want to just acknowledge because he uh probably not
going to do it to acknowledge our mayor who was elected part of the leadership of the Florida Black Caucus um as parliamentarian someone could acknowledge you and for your leadership and uh you can meet me at
Longhorn later for pay me for that but but no uh we need to recognize it's always good we can show the leadership that exists here in our city so I want to commend you for uh that of course hosted our monthly uh meet Monday um at
the church pastor Cruz church highlighting various serious departments and madam manager I want to thank you for the departments that presented and uh answered questions the readers were there we're really appreciative that we're going to continue um to do that in
the coming months if you so desire um I want to thank all of the officers that participated really with that the clerk's office for that happens always with us for meet me Monday and the police department always being there as well um of course we did
have our feeding South Florida distribution um last Friday the first time component with um several resource vendors uh including those there for housing early childhood education the DMV on wheels and of course HR was there
as well for those who are looking for job um opportunities as always I'd like to thank all of my colleagues being supportive my co-host Commissioner Irvin and the mayor and really the entire commission for their support and um
making that initiative um so great uh I want to also say for the record unfortunately Mr mayor and Commissioner Santiago I will not be in attendance this Saturday for the women's history brunch uh I certainly salute our leaders here on the commission all of the
honores including the two that I have selected former commissioner Jordan and former commissioner Rose Titus i won't be able to be there and also to salute all of our female employees as well i'll be out of town funeralizing one of my longtime uh members so I will not be in
town but I know the mayor and commissioner Santiago will host a wonderful salute and tribute for our um lady employees those who attend for the brunch and of course um the honores
so having said that uh Mr mayor I'm going to stop right there and thank you very much okay thank you Vice Mayor Kelly um so we're moving on real quick um I just want to say that I thought
you was trying to say I was too long he got I got to use the bathroom always i'm sorry i make it as fast as I can um I want to say thank you on um I had u one of our oldtime residents come
to my job to say thank you she was at Walmart and saw our freebie card that said Oba so she talked to the guy and got all the and she's a bus rider and she's like Miss Diana is her name and she was like I I got all the information
he gave me everything i don't have to catch that 32 bus no more i don't have to do I can just call them they gonna pick me up in my house and take me to Walmart and I was like "Yep that's exactly how it goes." And when leaving my office she said "I'm just going to call Freeba just dropped me off." Hey do
what you do so she's really she was she could not thank me enough she was I was like "Well that's a collective effort." So I just want to share the resident um excitement phoenix South Florida too they got a ride yeah yeah they did they were there they were at fleet feeding
South Florida in freebie cars also um karaoke was amazing i want to thank everybody thanks to the staff that did their part even though they were they said they were going to sing they chickenened out but I'm not a chicken so
no not you and the other participants the vendors that were there my colleagues that came out to support those of you that didn't see of course you haven't seen any pictures yet cuz none is on social media but baby them shoes that our city manager had on we
don't have no social media in there on the ground baby she had her boots on the ground baby they were definitely on the ground i um some of you may know my story some of you didn't but in 2020 my life was turned upside down for a long time and
if you know me you also know that I walk with a a limp at times as well so this Saturday I totally stepped outside of my comfort zone cool and I attended the 5K walk
thanks to our ex employee Angelina for helping me get through it i say I have passed my truck twice i passed my street twice and y'all want me to keep walking my limit is a mile and a half she was like "But we're almost there we're almost there." Yes so I want you guys to
know I came dead last dead last but I did it and I was happy thank you so much Mr mayor for have me being able to participate in that uh walk with you i really appreciate it um bingo bingo was amazing
our theme of course was western our residents and friends they came dressed for the occasion they had their Yes they had their their jeans and their cowboy stuff and their hats we gave them peanuts and popcorn and hot dogs and
they really really was excited and um even my my officer New York hat on his cowboy hat at both bingo and karaoke I may add yes and I would like to say again to our
officers thank you so much for making us proud for what you do not just on the clock but what you do off the clock thank you so much from the bottom of my heart i thank you all when I passed that scene that next day and our officers was
you know I didn't know exactly what had happened but I saw so many of our officers i'm like "Hey y'all okay?" And they were like "Yeah we're fine." And then I found out later that afternoon what had happened and to know that our officers was doing their due diligence
you know and beyond really made me proud to be an Opalakian if nothing else that day thank you all i ask that you continue to do what you do because we bomb okay you got it all right so real and I'm keep it brief
um we took our annual trip to Tallahassee myself Madam city manager um our finance director and our CIP manager and we got great feedback from the state and it's looking good for Opaaka
so it's really looking good for Opalaka and this is the first time that we went up there and our name wasn't Mr ellis remember this we wasn't on the blackboard opalaka wasn't there they looking at other cities we wasn't there but I I do want to caution madame manager we know what's happening in
Tallahassee and the things that are coming down the pipe and a lot of this stuff not only it affects a lot of municipalities all municipalities in the state of Florida so we need to be cognizant of what's coming down the pipe doge however when we had a meeting we told them "We've been Doge since 2015 so
we we used to it we're used to it but we still want to make sure that we are prepared for whatever is coming down the pipe." Um what we presented in Tallahassee the manager will make sure that everybody has a hard copy and then she can answer any details and a lot of
stuff will be coming back in legislation form so that's a quick quick on the financial oversight so I also want to say um the 5K run walk shout out to the police department chief who did not walk at all he he rode he rode a
bike he rode a bike whatever he rode a bike but he was there and the other officers that drove their cars they didn't they didn't they didn't ride um um Cooney uh Law New
York but they were so excited to do it and finished and finished y'all act like they act like they was done beat us down but they joined the cause we're not giving you a trophy hey too commissioner Irving that
came out it was a great time um this is I think one of the biggest ones we had we had was 70 almost 80 something people and we were able to patronize a business here in the city of Opalaka so it was it was great and it was a lot of Opaaka residents that participated that's what I love and they were here at 6:30 in the
morning and we were Yeah these streets were full of people so also I just want to say that the freebie program Madam Manager the ribbon cutting was nice it was beautiful and I'm happy that I see these cars around kids talking how they get to Miami day get to school on time
and we're loving it so that's that this Saturday Commission I mean Vice May Kelly already mentioned it we're having our our Hatitude brunch so we're asking that everybody come out you all everybody's invited it's free i promise it won't be all day we just want to make sure we we're honoring our women the
women of the city of Opalaka so meet us there on Saturday at Shabbundi Village and last but not least um Ashley wants me to announce that's that girl right there that the scholarships are available until May 2nd so if you know
of any seniors in the city of Opalaka we're asking them to apply and sometimes we don't seem to get a lot of a lot of um participation when it comes down to our scholarships but this year we want to make sure that all of our seniors are getting the information so I know um she
put it through our feeder pattern schools which are was it HML and um central Miami central so our residents know that the scholarship is available for them so other than that I am done thank you all thank yeah I'm done my done so um madame
manager we're not doing any official board appointments at the time right correct that's your recommendation still okay so and we're going to move can I get a motion to adjurnn move it moved by Commissioner Santi can I get a
second second um second by Commissioner Irvin this meeting is adjourned again happy Women's History Month and we'll see you next commission meeting