[music] [music] [music] Thank you. >> [music] [music] >> Hey guys, it's uh 5:45. Sergeant Risco, let the mayor know it's 5:45. >> 5:45, folks. All right.
Madame Clerk, good to go. >> Mr. Attorney, good to go. >> Colleagues on the commission, good to go sir. >> Mr. Mayor, give me a thumbs up. Good to go. Thumbs up. >> All the time. >> All right. Here we go, folks. Uh, roll call. Madam clerk,
>> please stand for the invocation. Would anybody like to give the invocation? >> All right. Dear heavenly father, thank you for granting us the gift of life, the gift of family, the gift of friendship, the gift of freedom, and the gift of
service. Service before self, service to our country, our state, our county, and our beloved city of Sweetwater. Please bless us to make the important decisions necessary for the betterment of our residents. Please continue to bless our firefighters, our police
officers, and the greatest military in the world. In Jesus name, I will always pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. All right. Item four. The city commissioner sitting as the local planning agency will consider the following ordinance.
An ordinance of the city of Sweetwater providing for adoption of the proposed earbased amendments of the city of Sweetwater comprehensive master plan is required by chapter 163 Florida statutes amending each of the plans elements. Future land use, housing,
transportation, economic development, sanitary sewers, storm drainage, potable water, recreation and open space, capital improvements and special educational facilities. providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Uh,
Mr. Mayor, uh, do you want staff to have the floor to give an explanation? >> Good evening. Uh, uh, zoning planning and zoning official. Uh basically what you have in front of you is every seven years the state requires that uh we look over our
comprehensive master plan and make adjustments to it and see what what sections and objectives we have uh met and what we haven't met and if any adjustments that need to be made. We also adjust the capital improvement uh
section of it and it's it's added to this uh comprehensive master plan year amendment. And this is uh seven years since we last did ours. We need to do that so we'll be able to stay in compliance with the state and also be able to anytime we want to change our
master plan be able to do it or else they won't let us do it unless we do this. >> Great. I have a question. Does that [snorts and clears throat] at any mo at any point in time we can go ahead and revisit this if we want to go ahead and make any amendments. We don't have to wait for the next seven years. Is that correct? >> Correct.
>> Great. Does anybody have any questions? >> No. Does anybody want to give uh make a motion? >> Mo motion by commissioner. Second by commissioner. Uh this is an ordinance. Roll call. Madam clerk. Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Uh motion passes four to zero. Uh note the absence of the other commissioners. Motion for adjournment. >> Move. All in favor say I. >> Meeting adjourned. Go to Bolito.
[music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. Heat.
[music] Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Nat. Hey. Hey. Hey. >> [music] >> Heat. Hey Heat. Heat. Heat.
[music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey, don't be a Heat. Heat. Heat. Hey, Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> When is he? seems to be the latest.
pulling the strings. >> I was talking I was one of the sent were there. We were there. How long you been on? >> And I know you know you will leave your sandwich. I bought the house.
>> He's born 17 >> next to a Chinese place. Okay. Tony Lamb used to own the Chinese. >> Oh, really? I'm the one with highly kid. All right, Madame Clerk, good to go.
>> Mr. Attorney, good to go. Colleagues on the commission, good to go. Mr. Mayor, good to go. Staff, good to go. All right. Uh, regular commission meeting date, Monday, August 3rd, 2026 at 6 p.m.
Commission Chambers, 500 Southwest 109 Avenue. Roll call. Madam Clerk, Uh even though we just had a local planning agency meeting, we're going to give another invocation. Please stand with the invocation. Would anybody like to give the invocation?
>> All right, let's bow our heads. Dear heavenly father, thank you for granting us the gift of life, the gift of family, the gift of friendship, the gift of freedom, and the gift of service. Service before self is how we should operate here as city leaders. Please continue to bless our city
leaders to make the very necessary decisions for the betterment of our residents. Please continue to bless our staff for if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to have any events or move the city forward. Please continue to bless our police officers, our
firefighters, and the greatest military in the world. In Jesus name, I will always pray. Amen. >> Please remain standing for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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, have a seat. We have an actionpacked meeting agenda today. Uh special presentations, Mr. Mayor.
>> Yes, we do. We have a special presentation. Uh, the employee. Are we talking already the employee of the month? >> It says special presentation employee of the month award. >> Let's go. >> We'll go ahead and do them just out of the blue because >> All right.
>> Richard Ruby. >> Come on down, guys. >> He's new at the game. We got to teach him. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> No, it's okay. You hold on to him. Mr. Ruby is our building official and as
uh the building official and all directors when they have employees that go above and beyond what they do as far as beyond their normal duties and signify themselves further to us that's very important as a city as basically
like you said in your prayer are great employees that make it happen for all of us. So, we're very proud when there's a certain issue that takes place. In this particular case, it was helping Venezuela after the hurricane. Hurricane sorry the
>> earthquake. >> Earthquake. >> Earthquake. Thank you. Close disaster with disasters. >> But, uh, after this earthquake, we felt compelled to be able to help the citizens of Venezuela. uh even though that nation has gone
through [snorts] so much, it uh breaks your heart to see what they were going through at the moment. So, the city of Sweetwater in conjunction with our commissioners, especially these two that are right here, that would not miss a day working, came out along with our employees and started helping uh as much
as we could through the weekends and through the week and in every way we could. And we're very proud of that in the city of Sweetwater, what was accomplished. We not only did this And I'm taking a little longer to say this because this was very important. Not only did our employees doing an
incredible job, we had other cities bringing stuff to to Sweetwater and also Uber University that also did a lot of donation and time. But also we found in our city a 163,000 foot warehouse
square foot warehouse. And that warehouse by the time we were done a couple of weeks later was full from one place to another, from one side to another. So, these employees are very significant because the whole time they were there, but they weren't just there. They were working non-stop. Next
meeting, I'm going to bring a couple of others that did the same. But these three really stood out. I'm really blessed to have them working for the city of Sweetwater, but also the work that they did was done from the heart and from wearing that patch of the city
of Sweetwater and making us look good. So, the three of you, you want to start naming them? Uh, Mr. Jesus Flores [applause] right here for the side. Next one. Uh,
>> Mr. Alberto Moes. [applause] Cool. >> And Janet Santi. [applause] [laughter] [laughter] >> All right. >> And before before we take this picture, once again, I want to thank you personally for the hard work that you
guys did. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. >> Let's go. Right there. >> One, two, three. >> Perfect. Thank you. [applause] >> Another one. Yeah,
>> good evening. Major Messa, Sweart PD, >> here to read officer of the month for June 2026. You might see a familiar face in the crowd. On Sunday, June 28th, 2026, while working in offduty detail at Dolphin Mall, Detective Aridondo recognized an
individual who was wanted in connection with the retail theft that had occurred on June 1st at Dolphin Mall. Without hesitation, he maintained visual surveillance of the suspect while requesting backup, ultimately detaining the individual without incident. The subject was subsequently arrested and
charged in connection with that June 1st theft, as well as an outstanding bench warrant. His diligence extended well beyond the initial arrest. Further investigation revealed that that subject was linked to an additional 16 investigations throughout Miami date county, including four with Aventuro
Police Department, four with North Miami Beach Police Department, one with Sunny Alles Beach Police Department, and seven with the city of Miami Police Department. Detective Ardondo's actions demonstrate that professionalism and dedication extend beyond regular assignments and duty hours. His alertness while working in offduty
detail resulted not only in the successful resolution of an open Sweetwater case, but also significantly assisted multiple neighboring agencies in resolving numerous outstanding investigations. For his exceptional vigilance, initiative, and commitment to
law enforcement, Detective Angel Ardondo is again recognized as officer of the month, this time for June 2026. [applause] You're going to have to bring your family bro. >> I hope you got a big enough wall. >> Keep bringing it.
>> Wait, you got a you got a big, you know. >> Oh my god. >> Keep bringing it. Hey, you want that front back there? >> Perfect. >> Congratulations. Good job. >> That's it, right?
God, >> that's good. I think there's no other presentation. I don't >> You got somebody else? >> No, I just wanted to alert you guys to uh >> Yeah, why don't the chief we'll sit down so you can Okay. I'll let you pass this around.
>> Not as big as >> So, [clears throat] good evening, Sergio Diaz, Chief of Police. I I have something written, but I'm going to talk from the uh the heart. So, that that plaque that um I'm passing around um was
is a statewide challenge. And that challenge is called the um Florida Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Challenge. This is the whole state of Florida. and we were in the category of
100 officers and less. So what this challenge is is uh is all the traffic units. Uh we're talking about 40 50 police departments that were involved. Uh they give a an award from
for first, second, and third. We won first place in the whole state of Florida >> for the traffic unit. Um, I am extremely proud at our our our unit. Um, this happened this past week. We're the uh
first place winners for 100 and less officers uh for the whole state of Florida and I wanted to share that with you. I'm extremely proud. Uh, it's a big deal. Uh, I beat out Thank you. I beat out some friends.
They're still hurting, you know. I still got phone calls. Oh, okay. Next year we're on. And I said, "Absolutely." So, I just want to let you guys know that our traffic unit, if you see one of our motormen or paw in our traffic unit, congratulate them. I appreciate your your attention. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Chief. [applause] >> Everybody, that makes me happy. Reports of officers, boards, and committees. None additions and deletions to the agenda. Petitions communications and
remmonstrances. >> Consent agenda. Do I have a motion? >> Motion by Commissioner Ronaldo Ray, second by Commissioner Eaniano. All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion passed. Consent agenda passes.
And that was items A, B, C, and D. Staff items. A, an ordinance of the city of Sue Water amending chapter 54 of the city code establishing penalties for collection of solid waste without a permit and for late payment. Authorizing the mayor to revoke permit after proper
notice, increasing required insurance for permites, providing for authority, providing for severability, providing for an effective date first reading. Mayor Diaz, uh, this is a public hearing. Anybody wishing to speak on this item, please come forward. Seeing nobody come forward on this item,
the public meeting is now closed. Mayor Diaz, you and staff have the floor. >> Thank you, Mr. President. And uh this is an item that our CFO uh director of finance uh basically put together along with our attorney because we were were
brought to our attention through some auditing that our director was doing. found that a lot of uh especially several uh entities that uh picked up trash, commercial trash within the buildings uh did not pay the fees that
is required by the ordinance that this body put together uh some time ago, but I'll let him explain it even better. >> Scott Mendlesburg, finance director, city of Sweetwater. Um, we noticed that there were an awful lot of dumpster companies in areas two
and three in the annex that are not currently registered with the city clerk and they don't have the permit and so they're not paying the franchise fee. Um, I asked the mayor if he could instruct the code enforcement department to do a little field work. They put together a pretty comprehensive report
of all the dumpsters within the city in areas one, two, and three and all the companies that were collecting trash. We cross referenced that with the list from the clerk and found out that we have 17 companies that are not paying uh the franchise fee because they don't even have a permit. Um some of them that have
a permit were not paying the franchise fees and these range from large companies to small companies. So I take a look at the franchise ordinance, the solid waste ordinance. I noticed that we don't have any provisions for fines for collecting without a permit. And unlike
some of the other municipalities, we don't have a penalty for paying your franchise fee late. So, I worked with Ralph to put together some changes to the ordinance. And this is the ordinance at first reading. Uh the next step is to do an audit of our franchise companies.
We are going to uh once we brief the mayor and give him the details come up with a company that has done this in many other uh states that will be going in and looking at the books of those solid waste collection companies and determining whether or not they have the
proper controls to determine whether how they should pay our franchise fee which is 20% of gross receipts and then we will make sure that they pay the current fee and any back payments that they owe. >> All right. Does anybody have uh any questions for the director?
>> Yes. >> Commissioner Sal. >> Yes, Scott. This is only um you you said municipalities. So, every municipality is doing the same thing. >> Yeah. I mean, all the municipalities I know of with the exception of Miami date counties unincorporated area have a franchise fee and municipal uh revenue
is collected based on the amounts that are build for each company in the collection area. We are not going to charge obviously Miami date county who does our solid waste collection for the residents. Um but those people who serve businesses and have dumpsters, they need to have a permit per our ordinance and
they need to pay the franchise fee per our ordinance. >> And h how much is it? Is it a percentage or >> it's 20% of your gross receipts and the franchise fee is a small amount. Um but we're also adjusting that to make sure they have the proper insurance. Most of the companies that are not doing this
are smaller companies, but we do have one that is a very large entity. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, um, our police department used to do the background investigation to all the tow
truck companies and all the, um, waste companies, garbage companies. That was done every year. And there was a packet that was sent to city hall. Is this more or less what you're talking about? There is a packet that is collected by the clerk each year annually where they
certify that they are collecting waste in the city and that they will pay the franchise fee. >> Got it. All right. Well, good catch. Thank you. Uh do we have a motion on this item? >> A motion by Commissioner Dandiano, seconded by >> Second Commissioner Sal Diaz. Uh all in
favor say I. >> I. >> Wait, this is a Sorry. Roll call, Madam Clerk. Roll call, madam clerk. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Good catch, Scott.
All right. Item passes unanimously. Uh item B, an ordinance of the city of Sweetwater providing for adoption of the proposed earbased amendments of the city of Sweetwater comprehensive master plan as required by chapter 163 Florida statutes amending each of the plans
elements future land use, housing, transportation, economic development, sanitary sewers, storm drainage, potable water, recreation and open spaces, capital improvements and public education facilities. providing for conflicts, providing for severability, and providing for an effective date. Uh
first reading, anybody wishing to speak on this item, please come forward. Seeing nobody come forward on this item, the public meeting is now closed. This is the same item that we spoke about um in the local planning agency. Mr. Mayor,
do you want the floor? Do you want to just motion? >> Just motion. >> All right. Uh do we [clears throat] have a motion on this item? >> Motion by Commissioner Daniano, seconded by >> Second. Commissioner Ronaldo Ray. Roll call. Madam clerk. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Item passes unanimously. Item C, an ordinance of the city of Sweetwater, Florida, amending the city code of ordinance by including section entitled requests for supervisor during law enforcement encounters providing
that compliance with a request for supervisor to respond to the scene is discretionary with the officer. Authorizing the officer to satisfy such a request by providing the supervisor's name and contact information. providing for conflicts, providing for cerability,
providing for codification, providing for an effective date. First reading, anybody wishing to speak on this item, please come forward. Seeing nobody come forward on this item, the public meeting is now closed. Uh this is an item that I uh drafted. Uh
let me explain the legislative intent. If uh for those of you who watched on social media on YouTube and all these social media justice warriors and all these um self-proclaimed sovereign citizens, when they're stopped by a law enforcement officer, uh that is not the
time to file your grievance. When you're stopped by a law enforcement officer, you are to comply with lawful commands. When a law enforcement officer takes a traffic stop and asks somebody for their driver's license, understand that your driver's license is a privilege and you
must submit that driver's license to a law enforcement officer. We have seen too many videos on social media. It's happened to plenty of police officers where an officer will go ahead and take a traffic stop and say, "Give me your driver's license, registration, insurance." And the person will say, "I
watched Law and Order last night and I feel like I know what the law is because I watch a lot of YouTube. I'm not giving you my license. Give me your uh give me your supervisor and they'll go ahead and roll roll up the window. Well, that doesn't work that way. So, this is a way for us to show our law enforcement officers that number one, we support
you. Number two, we're going to create a law that shows that we support you. Um when a person upon a traffic stop gets into an altercation with an officer and says, "You know what? Give me your supervisor." That person assumes that that traffic interaction is going to
stop. No. uh you're not entitled to a supervisor here in the city of Sweetwater. You're going to hand over your driver's license, registration, insurance, and if you fail to comply, you're going to go to jail. And however that turns out, you're going to go to jail. Now, after the interaction, it is
the officer's discretion to go ahead and say, "You know what? My supervisor is Sergeant Dier Frisco, and uh I'll give you the station number." And when they say, "No, I I want his cell phone." No, there's not Burger King. You can't have it your way. I'm going to give you the phone number to the station. Have a good
day. Those are your citations. So, this is basically showing our police officers. We're going to back them. Does anybody have any questions on this item? >> Yes, I do. >> Commissioner Salas, you're the floor. >> Yes. Uh, Chief, I would like to ask a question. Maybe you have the answer, but
I would like to ask the chief. Um I mean I I support the the police department too, but um what's what's our standard when it comes to something like day a a resident or anybody wants to
talk to a sergeant? Is this uh part of the rules that we already have established to the uh sergeant to come by or >> so? Yes. Uh [snorts] most departments have a general orders or departmental order that says if somebody requests a
supervisor we'll request it. It really doesn't change anything because after the commissioner called me, I thought about this. A person still has a right to come to a state the station and make a complaint and I can assure this
commission that every citizen that wants to make a complaint will be listened to and we will take it. So all this does is um it kind of diffuses the situation at the moment and then the person can then
contact a supervisor. There's several ways of doing that. They can call and ask uh our our station. They can come in in person. We do have the pamphlet in the front of the uh lobby. If you want to make a complaint, they can make a
complaint uh even without getting a hold of the supervisor. they can fill it out in the front desk and turn it in and the next day or when we can the internal affairs officer will get a hold of them. So it doesn't change anything in my eyes. Uh person still can make a
complaint. It's just a matter of that moment. Uh sometimes a supervisor is not available. Um so we I I can tell the public that we will investigate all complaints. I come from an internal affairs background and it's they're
going to get looked at. Any any complaint is going to get looked at, >> right? I mean, this is a very very small department. >> Okay. >> I mean, I'm pretty sure >> not anymore. It's not as small as it used to be. >> Well, but you guys got one sergeant to the whole city or or to a specific [clears throat]
>> No, we we have uh usually on on and on on a crew there's usually a lieutenant and a sergeant, but we have other sergeants that work here. uh not just we have sergeants in the motor unit, we have sergeants in the administration. So
there's always going to be some somebody available. However, if I have an internal affairs officer here, which we usually do during the business hours, that internal affairs detective will take the complaint.
>> Okay. But my my my question is I mean you you have one sergeant for the whole entire city >> or >> not all the time. >> Not not all the time. >> Nope. Sometimes we have more than one. >> More than one. >> Yes. We have other units other than patrol.
>> How many how many areas do we have in the city of Sweet Water? >> Three areas. >> And every on those three areas you got one supervisor? >> No. >> No. Usually in patrol we either have two supervisors. >> A sergeant. But then there's more. There's a patrol, there's a uh motor
sergeant, and also the other units that we have of that are either proactive or I don't like to get into too much uh when it comes to strategy. >> That's fine. I'm just trying to understand it because I mean, I've been around and sometimes when I see like a a car accident
>> or something like that or or just a call and I pass by, >> right, >> my Harley motorcycle that I have, I I see the supervisor there all the time. I see a sergeant on the scene. >> Right. You're not always going to get a supervisor on every call. That that
hasn't happened in in 37 years that I've been in law enforcement. Uh >> but but they're out there. >> They're out there. We we always have a supervisor on duty. Always. >> Okay. >> That is something that is the norm here. >> So So So I can understand it. You get one supervisor and one lieutenant at
night on shift. >> Sometimes more. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Chief. >> Yeah, Mr. I again as I walk away here I want the citizens to know that we will listen to the complaints. >> Yes. >> And so just be sure of that. >> Yeah. I'm I'm sorry. And I want to ask
that the city attorney. I mean you obviously you went through and you saw this. I mean I'm I'm trying to look for the better of the city, not a lawsuit or or something like that. Um as a as a an attorney, can you >> as as a [clears throat] lawyer and on as
a personal observation as well? Um, I have I I don't like um reality TV, but I'm fascinated with YouTube videos of sovereign citizens. And this is precisely Commissioner Binova is exactly right on the spot. You stop them, they
will ask for a supervisor, they will tell you you have no right to do this, that they're traveling through the town, they're not driving, and it becomes, you get two or three of those at the same time for whatever reason, it becomes a really difficult situation. So, is
this lawful? Yes, absolutely. >> Okay, that I was going to ask you that. Now, I was going to ask >> and any other municipality that did they have this ordinance or this is the first one that you hear from? >> I couldn't answer that. I do not know. >> I I don't know. >> No, I don't.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> So, let me let me respond to you. Uh, Commissioner Sal is let me let me paint you a better picture. This ordinance gives our officers the discretion to contact the supervisor and and let me
paint you a better picture. Officer goes ahead and takes a traffic stop because somebody's texting and driving, right? Or somebody's videotaping while they're driving. Not a not a felony, just a traffic infraction. The officer goes ahead and takes a a
traffic stop, notifies on the radio. Now, all the other units in the area know that that officer's uh taking a traffic stop at that location. When the officer approaches that vehicle, the person immediately takes out their cell phone and says, "Why'd you stop me? What are you doing? I pay your salary." And
now before the officer even has a chance to interact. So, when the officer says, "I need your driver's license, registration, insurance." Person's now videotaping. No, no, you need to tell me why you stopped me first. Well, again, this is not buring. You're not going to have it your way. give me your driver's license registration insurance now or
you're going to go to jail. And yes, the officer can make that arrest. When the person says, "No, I want a supervisor." What's happening is, and we see this on TV, uh some officers either don't know the law or their city government or their police department don't support
them. They stop the interaction because they don't want any beef. They don't want to catch an IIA and they go ahead and request a supervisor. So now that person is sitting in the middle of the street for maybe 20 minutes waiting for a supervisor to get there with a police officer with the lights on sitting in their car waiting for a supervisor to
arrive which is a silly stupid interaction. The the initial traffic stop is the reason for that interaction. So when a person says, "I want a supervisor." No, you're not entitled to a supervisor. After we're done with this interaction, I'll go ahead and give you
the supervisor information. Not to mention all of our traffic stops are recorded on body camera. None of our police officers are taking traffic stops without body camera, which is good and bad. We all have, you know, my opinion. So, if it's all recorded on on the
interaction, then we shouldn't have an issue later on. It wants to be investigated. The person wants the supervisor's name. Yeah, my supervisor is Major Messa and his phone number is 305529900. No, I want to know your Beijian, your name, badge number, and they just want
they just want to continue that interaction because the greater majority of people who are having these altercations with law enforcement are Karens, our people with a huge sense of entitlement. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to show our police officers and I'm trying to uh be an advocate for
our for our law enforcement. Show them, hey, we support you. Go ahead and do your job. You don't have to be worried about doing your Don't be afraid to do your job. We're gonna back you. >> All right, Mr. Mayor, you have a question. >> Actually, I I wanted to further enhance
what you said, Mr. President. I think times have changed due to either YouTube or any of these shows or social media. And it seems that more and more and more we have these uh people entitled to do whatever they think is appropriate at
that time. Therefore, I congratulate what you're doing. I think this will take a trend and it does already it's like you said it's common sense for a police officer to know but just in case it codifies it even further and that way
uh we support our men and women that are in law enforcement. It is a very difficult job and I know you're extremely pro police officer too, uh, Commissioner Diaz and and to further enhance what the chief said, we make
sure that we have adequate coverage at all times and they've done an incredible job making sure of that and having the senior ranks always supportive and be on top of things and inspecting and making sure everybody's doing the job that they're doing. So, one of the things I
did say in the last meeting when we talked about it, um, Mr. President, was that I will be extremely supportive of this item and I wanted to make sure that it reflects here that I will be supportive and also alongside you and I once again congratulate you and I hope
this is something that will be picked up in the League of Cities and so on so it could be brought out to other police departments because are these people that do this job, it's not a pleasant job most of the time. you only see so glory and especially in a city that
protects our officers. We give them that pat on the back. Thank you. Thank you for going the extra yard and so on, but you know, they don't see them when they're out there in the middle of a storm like they were right now with a tree that fell helping us deal with this and things like that. You know,
unfortunately, you have these people that maybe had a wrong day or something happened in their life and they want to take it out on somebody. So, here's the best little pick that they could get because they just got pulled over and that just made their day worse. So, with that, once again, I uh I'm extremely
supportive and I think it's a great item and it should be picked up by everybody else and all it does is codify because the law is the law >> uh commissioner. >> Yes. Uh uh besides thanking you because I understand you know exactly what you're saying, I can give you a very
simple sample. My son came over on Friday to see me and he says that he stopped this guy on the um turn pike because he was speeding but he stopped. He says I need to call 911 because I don't know who you are. He said really with the patrol car and dressed up as I
did. The guy did call 911 and then he got the call and says I'm here. I mean so I know exactly what you're saying. you know, you get all those people that watch too much TV and that's exactly because that's like I thank you very much by doing that. Thank you, sir.
>> So, I I I want to reiterate, nobody ever calls the police for something good. Nobody's ever called 911 to say, "By the way, my my daughter just graduated from kindergarten. We're cutting a cake. Come on by and invite
the firefighters." Because, you know, invite them to. Nobody ever does that. They're They always associate law enforcement with something negative, right? They're killing me. They're raping me. They're mad me. They're robbing me. And a traffic stop. No one
has ever gone, "Ooh, yippy. I'm getting stopped by the police." I've been stopped by the police. Uh so it's not a it's not a positive interaction, but I'm always going to be respectful and I I expect our law enforcement officers to
always say, "Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Sir, ma'am, I I expect them to be, ladies and gentlemen. Um, I I thank you for for your questions. I know that you're also an advocate of law enforcement, but there are those myths
in law enforcement like you have to give your name and badge number. That's a myth. Uh, there are quotas for tickets. That's a myth because if it was like that, I would have won the toaster some months. But there is no toaster. There are there are no quotas.
Um, and again, this is another myth that in the middle of an interaction of a traffic stop, if you say, "Give me your supervisor," the a force field happens and the officer can no longer do anything. It doesn't work that way. So, uh, does anybody else have any other questions? >> No. Commissioner Salia, do you have any
other questions? >> No, sir. That's it. >> All right. Uh, do we have a motion on this item? Motion by Commissioner Yan, seconded by >> by Commissioner Ronaldo Ray. Roll call, Madam Clerk. >> Yes.
Yes, >> yes, this is uh first reading. We're going Okay, thank you. >> Yes, >> thank you for that support. Uh item 12, reports. Mayor's report, >> Mr. Mayor, you have any report?
>> Thank you. I wanted to first and most uh thank our our parks department. Uh she Miss Garcia is not here, but I want to thank her and her team uh and the people that she hired for the summer uh
to make sure we had an incredible summer camp. It was absolutely astonishing to see how well everything ran. Everything was done on time. Everything The kids were extremely happy. most of the time they didn't want to leave after a certain time when
parents were trying to pick them up and that said it all. Another thing that they did is an event this last Friday. I had to leave early. I had it was double booked and but I got to stay there for at least for the beginning and see the talent and and the people and how those
kids performed. It it makes us very proud to to have done what we've done and the changes that we've done and to see those kids really enjoying themselves. It uh it was a great thing. So kudos to our parks department and
putting this together and their whole team. Um by the way, thank you for those that were able to attend. Uh I think it's always important to support and show and be with them at all times. Um there's a couple of things. one Domino
Park improvement. Some of you I know have gone by and seen all the improvements we're doing on Domino Park. It's the last part that park was abandoned. Unfortunately, when I got to examine it, it was rotting, falling apart. Actually, um it could have been
pretty bad the way the the the roots were rotten and everything else and the and the several other situations going on there. So, we've uh redone everything. We put it uh really going ahead and trying to get a couple of more
spaces in there too for parking. Uh all the cassibos have been are being redone. I think they start uh started yesterday on the the roofs. I don't know how well they've been able with all this rain and
everything going on, but we should uh get it done pretty soon. I know we tried to move forward before the summer, but unfortunately it just uh didn't u take place as fast as we wanted it to. Um national night out is tomorrow. The
police department was setting up an an incredible exposition of our department and having a great time with kids. We even had an ice cream truck rented to give out free ice cream and everything else, DJ and everything else. Unfortunately, we can't take the
chance and having people, you know, go ahead and buy all the stuff and get ready to come over and then it's raining. So, we canled the event. Uh, as of today, it's been cancelled and I want to publicly say that so those that are watching could uh understand that. And
we'll we'll do something maybe on a little later and and try to catch up and do the event again in a different way. So, that's done. Um, as far as the mobility study that you guys have been waiting for, it's done. It's been presented, but I have
yet to review it and we should get it sometime before the next meeting and Scott and we will bring it to you and uh see where we stand and what we could do to to improve our areas. One of the things that I did was we've had some
issues with the electrical power in the city. We have three blocks and one where my actual my own mother lives and former house is and two three blocks there between each other and I'm actually living on on the other block. Those
blocks the wind blows a little and apparently the trees hit the cabling and there goes the power grid for for quite a bit of time. We're we walked out with the Florida Power and Light uh team uh to be able to look and see what we could
do. We came across certain things and one of the things where we think some of these outdated polls and the service in itself have outdated themselves. You look at one part of it and you got all these gen, you know, um cabling and so
on and the poles and everywhere and then you look at the other part where it's a new, you know, the parts that were done after the fact and it's all underground. It looks beautiful, very nice. So, I'm going to be looking into a study and to see with Florida Power and Light is to
see as we continue to improve our city and as we've discussed many time to be able to bring the power underground and that's something that I'm going to be working very hard on along with our team and trying to figure out
how best to be done. And it's not cheap, but the residents deserve better. And that's one of the best ways of showing an improvement. And also also I'm going to be bringing to you later on is probably that any underground any new
development, any new type of buildings coming in have to work with underground utility and start there and whatever the area is just like any other city has done now in the future. Even though most of course most new developments already
do on the ground because that's what but this is something that we'll look into for the future. Our water situation we have a [clears throat] couple of areas on the flooding issues that we're dealing with. Uh they're very
small. They're mostly in the there's a little section off of Sixth Street and about 133rd court. And uh we're working on that. We have a grant that was uh brought by the state of Florida that we applied that
was about $800 and something thousand dollars to do a hookup from 103rd Court and Sixth Street to the pump station that's right there on 103rd Avenue and so on. So we could not have that area kind of like flood on us. So we're
working on that grant that it was cut in half as you well know all of you. But uh hopefully we'll get uh that done and proceed forward on it as soon as possible. But that also brings us to certain areas that we still have to deal
with with some of the water issues and so on. So the maintenance um department has gone in and has looked at all our pump stations again. Uh we have uh gotten ready. our emergency management
team with uh with uh also that we have uh Martin and Frank that are both uh incident commanders under me to make sure that we're prepared for in case of anything any storm that comes and and so
on. So, we have a lot um going on. We're constantly checking, adapting, looking what we could improve on. If there's anything that you guys come up, please don't hesitate to come by the office as you do and come by and and we'll talk
about it. Uh because uh now is the time and to the report uh the safe street um grant that we also received that's going to take a little time to process. We were told that the last one was process is being no the last date that's being
processed is 2023 and we're in 2026 going uh into 2027. So also talk to Scott and see how we could start working on our own programs and looking how we could continue to improve
and that works to the five-year study that we want to make sure that we get and we establish. So, there's a lot of things we're doing and uh we'll continue to do so and any ideas you have, please bring it forth. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh commissioners report. Any commissioners wishing to report? Commissioner Stuff? >> Commissioner Ronaldo Ray. So, uh, just a few days ago, I got, uh, I was together with some of the guys from station 29
and, um, they were giving me information about the station itself and I wanted to reach out. I told them that I'll reach out first to the mayor and make sure, you know, we get something done for them along with the commissioners and, you know, the city. They are this is their
50th anniversary this year and they want to see how what we could do with them together to maybe do something, you know, with the city, you know, maybe with us and them together there and, you know, just give them something and, you
know, see if we get together there, maybe a barbecue or something. And they really wanted to do something to show it out that, you know, they've been strong there. They are one of the busiest uh stations in the nation. So, we got to give back to them. I still hope that that second rescue stays there, but it's
a long ways to go, but wanted to see if the mayor I mean, if no, I know the mayor will see if we get together and and get something done for them. >> I'm glad you reminded me of it. Um, that's something that we're looking at and thank you for bringing it up. Uh,
and we'll work together. That is something that's extremely important. Um this will be my 36 years in office and before that I don't know you remember uh I don't know how many years of auxiliary and so on here and
one thing I will tell you station 29 is probably the best station of all the stations out there and it wasn't one of no they led the nation several years in
calls and then timing of of actually getting to those calls in a in an expedited manner. I know we were small but still you could have multiple calls just like police and be delayed for some reason. So they led the nations for quite a while. That station when I was
commissioner, I had it rebuilt and as Scott Scott Scott had a good hand in there and make sure we we built the very best station that could be built. And um and the naming on the station and everything else, it's been very significant in my life for a long time.
And if you rem I don't know if u you remember but that's the station that actually worked real clearly during our major floods that we took people and actually deliver them to the station because we couldn't go anywhere else because everything else was kind of
underwater. >> So and they saved uh a couple of lives right there in the hanger, you know, in the garage there of the of the station right there in them from people with heart attacks and so on. So, it's very significant and I agree 100% with you.
We will do whatever we can to help them because they are a vital part of our existence, too, because they've taken care of our residents for many, many, many years. So, whatever we need to do to help them, absolutely. One thing I want to add to that because
I do always I'm always going to get on that point because we're going vertical now and with what's coming into Little Abner, it's just on another level. We did receive station 68, which I remember you were there as well and I remember Scott
being there for station 68, but there's no rescue there. And you know, I know I'm I'm preaching to the choir and I'm going over and over again, but this is something that I want to get not to you, someone up in the county to make sure that that happens. >> That's already been addressed.
>> Okay. No, not once. Several times, Mr. President could actually testify to that. [laughter] >> I want to I want to continue hitting that because, you know, we only have station 29 and 58 is a little out west, but they also have their share. So >> yeah.
>> So >> great. Any other commissioners wishing to speak on anything? >> All right. Um so I want to congratulate uh M I want to congratulate you, Mr. Mayor. I remember um [cough] [clears throat] uh many years ago being
a a very young kid and seeing those two uh hurricanes in 99 and then the no-name storm in 2000. Um, I had never been a part of anything like that as an employee. And I I know that it shaped me in public service. Um,
I've seen many municipalities try to emulate what we've done when it comes to disaster, but I think we've perfected it. It's just my my personal opinion. And right, wrong, or indifferent for all the administrators that have come through Sweet Water. um you know, some
good, some bad. All I think all of them have done a great job when it comes to disaster relief, but um you definitely took the cake. So, I want to congratulate you for uh the food drive that was done for Venezuela. I want to thank all the employees um who were there. I really really
appreciate it. Um, it's funny how other municipalities came to Sweetwater and and began to emulate and how you managed to fill 16,000 square foot warehouse is beyond me. I I I do want to thank Commissioner Sao Diaz uh even though he
questioned uh my ordinance now. That's fine. I'm going to throw eggs your house later on. Um and Commissioner Yano for attending. I know Commissioner Real D was there briefly. Um I could not attend. I I was on vacation. I wish I could have been there, but I want to
thank everybody for doing that. Um, I want to thank um our building uh director, uh, Richard Ruby. Uh, Mr. Mayor, you did good. If you do bad, I'm going to tell you, you did bad. But I
got to say, I was a little hesitant. Uh, you're a young guy. I didn't think you had a whole lot of experience. I was wrong. You're doing a kick-ass job. So, I I want to thank you for that. I will second that. >> Yeah. Um, I want to again congratulate you,
Mr. Mayor, for Scott, I can't believe I'm gonna say this out loud. Scott Mendlesburg, our our uh our our finance director. We've had plenty of bouts out here. Um, Scott, you're doing a kick-ass job, man. You know, keep doing what you're doing.
Uh, if I got something bad to say to somebody, I'm going to say it. If I got something good, I'm going to say it. I I could care less about people's opinions. It's just how God created me and how I am. So, keep up the good work to you and your staff. Thank you. Um, I want to congratulate our parks director who's
not here and our park staff. They've really turned that park around. They really have turned that park around. That part was abandoned for eight, nine years. And um, summer camp last year was the first summer camp in eight years. It didn't go as planned.
This year's summer camp was amazing. My kids were in summer camp. They tried to give me the employee discount, which I refused to accept. I'm sure they told you about that. I don't I don't take discounts. U unless it's Cuban coffee and donuts.
Um we had three field trips a week at the summer camp. And again, I got to say, for many years, it was abandoned. I remember years ago, we used to have great summer camps. My oldest son was part of the summer camps there. And then for nine years it went
to crap. The end of the summer camp show was great. Any type of community engagement, you know, I'm I'm all about it. Uh and I want to talk about new development. So, we all know how the trailer park was u
vacated. The owner of the trailer park told the residents of the trailer park, "Hey, I'm I don't want you as as uh my tenants anymore." and we lost 95 units. Um, I think based on realistic numbers, there was probably
about 4,000 people that lived in that trailer park. I would think so. But, um, part of the new census, Lil Abner 2 and Lil Abner 3, wasn't counted on the new census, and those are 650 units. Um, and
then we have the Upland project which is 1,700 units which are currently being filled. And then we have the 900 units um off of 110 and I think Northwest 16th Street. So that's 3,250 units. And per
FBI statistics uh when you multiply that times 3.5 uh you have 11,375 residents. new residents that that are in the city right now. Now, we all have
to prepare and we have to project for our new budget. Everybody knows that my first [clears throat] care in the world is going to be public safety. So, I want to make sure that we have healthy dialogue when it comes to our workshops.
I'm going to be advocating for more police officers, for extra positions uh without breaking the bank. I will do so tirelessly. Uh so I want to make sure that we all attend our workshop meetings when it comes to budgets. We have to
make some tough decisions. I'm not I'm not never going to raise taxes and I never want to terminate employees. I always I think the city's moving forward and I think the city's doing an amazing job. It's only going to do a better job having more employees. So, if I have
police officers, uh, more police officers in the city, I'm going to be happy with that. Other than that, I have nothing to add. Uh, anybody else wish to speak? No. Okay. >> One point. >> Mr. Mayor, you have the floor. uh on
when you said before that uh and I appreciate your words and thank you [snorts] but uh one of the key things that in order for us to do the emergency [snorts] management and in order to do what we do is that we all play together
in the middle of a disaster. What does that mean? That we [snorts] all work together and we work hard and we all there's no egos, there's no nothing. There's just helping the people around and making sure everything gets done right. going back to the days with Da
Yano, Commissioner Yano was uh the head of the Civil Air Patrol back in the day with I think it was 20 some odd kids that or more. >> Oh, we used to have 60 >> 60 but 20 at a time basically. >> Yeah. >> And working on the streets and doing it.
It doesn't happen just with us, the administration. It happens with everybody working together. even the residents will come out and support and work and from from all the things we've done this is a part that makes us special and I
just want to clear that that part that it it's not just it's everybody working together in the right cause it wasn't just one person trying to do the difference it's uh it takes everybody on this because it it's not easy because you don't know you don't really know how
it could go so we're prepared prepared to the most and we're making sure that uh the city is in a great financial position. Each one of you when you come and see me as if we as we've done the last three years, I know you probably have your wish list of things that you
want to see improved and things that want to be done. [clears throat] Uh please look at the budget as it is raw right now, but it's done pretty balanced. It's done very well balanced and every director was asked what they wanted and it's pretty much there. But again, we want to do the right thing,
move forward. Uh like you said, Mr. President, we we can't break the bank because we need to be frugal and making sure that we don't [clears throat] end up like some cities. There's 14 to 16 cities that could disappear. It won't ours won't be one of them, thank God, because the amount of commercial
property we've taken in and commercial type businesses and industrial. But at the same time, we got to always be cautious. But we always got to stay with a high level of service and that's something that you spoke very well and stated it very clearly. So with that,
thank you so much again >> to the chair [clears throat] >> commissioner. >> Yes, I totally forgot about it and it's my mistake. I have to congratulate all the cadets that participate on the Venezuela event. There were 12 of them. They're working very hard. Yes, they
went more than once. They went twice. So I have to thank her like always that's a program that whatever we need the cadetses are there they just I only have to make a phone call and they were there to serve us to help the city. So I have
to thank them for the the job that they did. Not only not only in Venezuela every time we have a movie night we have 12 cadetses helping out. >> Yes. >> Thank you for for saying that. I have forgotten that part. One more thing. Um,
I don't know if the movie night is going to take place on Friday. >> We'll see how the weather goes, but uh I think that it'll take place anyways. We just have to move it inside. Okay. That's why we have the two screens and
and so on. But out in the field, which is the way people really like it, might not be able to happen. But I just want to prepare you all and we'll stay. I think by by Thursday we should know which direction it'll go. But either way, I think we could still have a movie
night and move forward. And that's why we prepare for certain things like this. I don't think too many people have that that choice, but uh we were able to get that choice done. >> Yeah. I I I thank you for for bringing that to our city. We've been begging for
that for years. Unfortunately, the last administration, we didn't have the best of uh relationships. Uh and look, we have moved the city forward leaps and bounds in a lot of things, but we do have some deficiencies because we're asking our police department to work in
conditions that they've outgrown. Our police our police station or this building was built in what, 1972? Um, and they've outgrown that office back when we were 22 full-time police officers. And now, last I checked, I
think we're uh 85 full-time. Is that accurate? Somebody give me a head nod or Yep. Um, we don't have 24-hour coverage in our dispatchers in our front desk. Even though we call them front desks, we don't have 24-hour coverage. We don't have crime scene. So, we have our
detectives conducting uh processing crime scenes. Um we're we're asking a lot of a command staff that came in um that's done a phenomenal job. Our they really raised the level uh of
policing in our city. I'm very proud everybody knows I'm very proud of Sweetwater PD. So I know that we want to be frugal but there's a time and a place for being frugal and we've had this administration for three years and it's time to go ahead and
Not so fast. [laughter] >> City clerks report. >> You don't want me to answer that. >> City attorney's report. >> Uh just quickly, we have a new lawsuit. Uh it's not a major matter. This is by Judice Lady Ramos and Jessica Ramos. And
it involves a car crash with a city employee. It was filed uh in very late July. Uh the matter has been turned over to our insurance carrier for defense. Aside from that, um, one of the major issues or the many issues I've been
involved in with the these matters has been essentially coordinating discovery and coordinating depositions between staff and the uh the insurance defense council. >> All right. Um, if you could give uh the commissioners a little private what the
hell you're talking about uh email. >> Sure. In >> instead of speaking in tongues, I'd appreciate it. >> Sure. Uh police report attached. Uh building and zoning report attached. Code enforcement division report
attached. Public works attached. Finance is gone. Attached. Community and elder service report attached. Parks and recreation attached. Unfinished business. New business.
Good of the order.